|
Image quality: Are the exposures the right
color & density (Too light or too dark). Are they sharp when enlarged.
Do the pictures look natural, not overly posed or staged. Do they
communicate feeling through expression.
A High Package Price
is not a guarantee that you will get quality Photographs. I assume that my
customers have perfect knowledge, & is why I have done some of the
smartest visual people in Washington's weddings. Advertising Art
Directors, PR people, & Marketing Director's hire photographers all
the time, & they know how much to pay for the photographs they buy. I
have been blessed from their helpful advice & personal insights. One
told me "I really should raise my prices." I love what I do, it's like an
emotional joggers high while taking pictures.?
A Low Package
Price: Photography is not a generic product. Comparing print prices
for example; presupposes that you have similar products to compare. "Where
in the emotional content, & weight of the medium, true value can only
be judged in a very selective way after the photographs are seen &
viewed for their content." So "Price Shoppers", be notified, that in the
pure Aesthetic sense, the cheaper product you purchase may have a true
value of "0", & in effect be less value, than a likeable product
fairly priced. The last class I took at the U. of W. was "The Philosophy
of Art."?
Shortly after I decided to become the Artist; & after
25 years it is given, that I made the right decision!
I just completed
a 30 page Renaissance Wedding album from my Sapphire Package 5. ( 5 hours
of wedding day coverage) At the recommendation of my friendly accountant,
I kept track of all my time involved in the Wedding, & was very
surprised when I found out that it all added up to 30 hours of my
time!
Wow! Even I didn't realize how much time I was spending per
Wedding! The more services you are provided, the more time it takes your
photographer. So it is also likely that if you Price shop you will not
only get less quality, but also much less service & help from your
photographer.?
Portrait Studios: If you are considering hiring a studio
that has more than just one photographer. Make sure you preview his work!
It is a common practice to show their best photographer's work & then
send some else. Insist that you meet with him or her, before you book the
day. Chemistry between you & your photographer is a least as important
as skill; trust your intuition & feelings about their level of
sincerity. Real love & joy, is what great wedding photography is all
about.
Black & white: does the photographer care enough
to do his own b/w prints. It is almost impossible to get good b/w prints,
unless the photographer does them himself. You can tell how good a
photographer is, by spending time looking at a photographers b/w prints.
Composition becomes more important in b/w. Look for a rich tonal range,
with detail in the high light areas, & Pure Black in the shadows. I
have seen some very pricey wedding photographers, that had no idea how to
properly print black & white, within the zone system developed by
Minor White & Ansel Adams. Don't be fooled by so called special
effects. Large grain size & too much soft focus is rarely considered
pleasing. Infra -red makes good scenic, but rarely good
portraits.
Hand colored & fiber based prints have become
popular again. I also make selenium toned prints from a process developed
my Ansel Adams, for some of my clients. They are so beautiful & the
only Black & White print most museums will accept, because of their
archival permanence. It is a two day process, a real labor of love! In
three hundred years, those prints will still look beautiful, & I hope
your great grand children can say, "Joe Meadows hand signed it", with the
delight & glee of some one that just found a Lewis Comfort Tiffany
tulip glass today.
Medium format cameras are a must for
formal portraits. They allow much greater freedom for enlargement &
cropping. Hasselblad, Maymia, Bronica are the main camera brands. Fast
shutter speeds are necessary to balance natural light & flash, so the
faster sync speeds available from medium format cameras are a necessity
for an outside summer wedding.?
Small format cameras are
easier to operate when doing candids. That's why the great
photojournalists use them. Ask if the photographer uses both camera sizes
at a wedding, I do.
Lighting: Studio strobes with soft boxes
& umbrellas make much softer lighting. Look for detail on a pure white
wedding dress. Do the faces show 3 dimensional shape, or are they flat,
& one dimensional. An indication that he uses straight flash instead
of a softbox.
Wedding Negatives
Be wary of photographers
that offer to give you their negatives as a bonus. Telling you how much
money you will save on enlargements. Quality enlargements from medium
format negatives almost always have to be printed at a professional lab.
It can be time consuming to do a wedding print order, & those labs
won't spend the hours it take to do a typical wedding print order, waiting
on you at their front counter, so you will wind up masking each negative
by hand yourself. I care about my wedding clients & give them finished
enlargements from a professional lab. They cost me lot more money, but it
is not worth the hassle to have to redo them many times, just to save a
few dollars per print.
A professional photographer makes the money
to keep his equipment in good working order through selling photographs.
Not by giving away his negatives, & his best work. So be very wary of
this lure!
Awards & Credentials: Most photography
organizations will allow any one to join, as long as you pay their dues
& fees. Awards can be used as an excuse to charge you more money. Many
wedding photographers win one or two, sooner or
later.?
"Greatness comes through humility". I shared a
Studio with Jerry Gay, a 1975 Pulitzer Prize winning photographer. "He
never brought it up." But there were many times I looked over his shoulder
in the darkroom, I was humbled by his passion for life, & inspired by
the feelings in his photographs!
So Beware of "The Award Winning
Wedding Photographer" ads. Great photo's were great photo's before the
award. Look for magazine quality photography that is expressive & has
feeling. Published work lends credibility. Ask to see other photographs,
landscapes, commercial, journalistic assignments. A photographer's eye,
(style) is sometimes easier to see in other examples of his work. The
fuzzy portrait school is a whole different style than the photo-
journalistic school. Look for a reoccurring style or theme.
The
Contract: "A verbal contract is not worth the paper it is printed
on!"
Sign a contract & make sure to read it completely. Ask the
photographer to clarify any questionable parts. Make sure it spells out,
hours of coverage, photo's included in your package, refunds for
non-performance or errors, the date & time you are to start taking
pictures & reprint prices. Be wary of "Prices subject to change with
out notice." If his print prices are on a separate sheet have him, sign
& date, what time frame those print prices are good for! A good studio
survives on quality enlargements from happy customers. I do raise my
prices from time to time, but always honor the price at the time they sign
my contract. Even years down the road!?
Shooting List: I use
a photo selection list. It lets your photographer know what pictures you
want & is in effect, what your are getting for your money. Include any
special shots you would like to have taken. Grandma & Uncle Jim with
the bride & groom. Try to limit the formal coverage & don't go
overboard, as the real memories come from the candid shots. I like to have
2 hours at least, for formals before the ceremony. Also don't allow guests
to take pictures during the formal shooting. This can be very distracting
& even ruin some of the professionals pictures! Multiple flashes can
over expose even a professional photographers film. It also robs them from
sales, tell your guests to wait until the professional is done to take
pictures.
Ask if the photographer is a full time professional.
People do what they do best! Not just on the weekends. Generally, a
photographer that spends his whole life making pictures, brings much more
experience to the table than a weekend warrior.
Does he have a
full time assistant, & how many years have they worked together.
The pace of a wedding is breathtaking but fun! I use a Hasselblad Camera
& Studio Strobe to shoot the in door formals. It takes us two fully
loaded trips, just to carry the in equipment! I feel very Lucky. Jim has
helped me with weddings for 10 years. He taught Photography at the Art
Institute, & is without question, the very best assistant in
Washington. In fact, is a much better photographer that 99% of the wedding
photographers in Washington State. The stress level for an assistant is
different. I think he just likes to see me work! Any way it is a real
pleasure to have his kind of back up help. The Ultimate
Pro!
Enthusiasm: Caring about people is a determining factor
about how well the whole process will turn out. Referrals from family
& friends, caterers & other professional wedding vendors are the
best source, not fancy ad campaigns & an impressive booth at a bridal
show. Look closely at his other wedding photo's. By looking at the
expressions on faces, you can tell how well the bride, guests, & the
photographer were getting along during the wedding!
A great
photographer lives by his reputation & happy customers were my only
advertising for 20 years. Look at the photos, not just the brochure. Great
photos Speak out & they will touch you, & if you find the right
photographer, you will remember them, & your day for the rest of your
lifetime!
1A. Who is photographing my wedding?
#1A. You have hired a professional photographer to take beautiful
and memorable pictures of your special day. It is important that the
professional be allowed to do his very best. To this end, please ask
your friends and family to be sure and wait until the photographer has
finished taking his pictures before they start shooting. This is
especially important during the formal pictures at the church in front
of the altar and at the reception during the cake cutting. There are two
reasons for this; first of all the photographer composes the formal
pictures as well as those at the reception to produce the best images
possible for your album. Secondly, in most cases, a professional
photographer uses more than one flash unit both on the formal and cake
cutting pictures. These other units are called "slaves" which means they
light up just at the instant the flash goes off on the camera. The light
from other people's camera flashes will also trigger the "slave" to
flash. The "slave" is battery powered and requires a few seconds to
recycle for the next flash. If the flash has just gone off from another
person's flash, the photographer might miss a good picture or you will
get pictures where his flash did not fire because it did not have time
to recycle - thus a bad picture.
#2. How big a wedding album or package do I want -
how many pictures?
#2A. Well before your Wedding day, the couple should sit down with
members of your Wedding party, family, and friends and draw up a list of
pictures you want to have in your album and to give to others as gifts.
In addition, family and friends will want to have pictures also. The
photographer should have a standard set of pictures which he takes for
most albums, but he has no way of knowing your special needs if you
don't tell him. You may want formal pictures with certain people - a
special friend or relative, for example, or you may want an informal
picture at the reception with a special person. It's always best to give
him a written list of pictures you want taken well in advance of the
Wedding day so you can go over it with him. Some photographers will have
a check off list which shows the pictures that they usually take. In
addition, there should be space on the form for you to add your special
requests.
#3. How much time should we allow for the taking
of the formal pictures at the church?
#3A. This depends on the size of your Wedding. On average, I would
say most photography of this type takes one half hour or more depending
on the number of pictures wanted for your album and how many different
groupings you would like.
#4. How can we cut down on the time it takes to do
the formal pictures?
#4A. To make this time as short as possible we suggest that right
after leaving the Wedding ceremony you and members of your Wedding party
get out of sight by going downstairs or into a side room. After the
church is emptied, all those participating in the formal pictures then
return to the altar area and the photographing can proceed very quickly.
If you would like to have a receiving line, this could be held later at
the reception.
#5. How to make the formal picture taking go smoothly
and quickly?
#5A. Before the Wedding, assign a friend or family member to help
the photographer locate the people who are to be in each of the formal
pictures. It may be necessary to have 2 helpers; one for the groom's
family and one for the bride's. Sometimes, someone - a groomsman or a
parent, for instance - may leave the sanctuary and this can hold up the
photography for quite some time while the search is on to locate them.
The photographer is often accused of taking a long time to do the
formals, when in fact it was the people being photographed who caused
the delay. Please request that all those who are to be in the formal
pictures, remain in the sanctuary, or, if they must leave, to let the
"helper" know where they are.
#6. How can we have more informal, candid photographs
at the reception for a minimal cost?
#6A. One way to get additional candid pictures of your reception is
to place the little, one-time-use, throw away cameras with flash on each
of the guest tables and ask them to take pictures. They return the
cameras to you at the end of the reception, you have them developed and
printed and then have more pictures than you ever dreamed of having. We
have these cameras for sale at our studio. They are attractively
packaged with a wedding design of ribbons, flowers and rings.
#7. Are there things I should do to make my
photographs better?
#7A. Special precautions at the reception for the background behind
the Wedding cake will result in better pictures. Avoid shinny walls,
mirrors, windows, exit or no smoking signs, coats racks, etc. The best
backgrounds are plain walls or drapes.
#8. Should I decorate the cake cutting area?
#8A. Adding wall decorations or bordering the cake table with
flowers can add a lovely frame and color to the cake cutting pictures.
Wall decorations could include ribbons, paper bells, streamers, balloons
or just a pastel drape - all of which define and frame the area. If you
use flowers in the church that are arranged in pedestal baskets, these
can be placed at the ends of the cake table, if there is room. They add
to the occasion and bring in more of your colors to the several
important pictures that are taken at the cake table. It is best to not
have any balloons on the cake table itself because they will cast
shadows onto the bride and groom from any side lighting that is used.
#9. What else should I remember to bring for the
photographer's special photographs?.
#9A. At the reception, after the cake has been cut, we always like
to set up an artistic arrangement to show your wedding rings on your
hands. Included in this image are the bride's bouquet, the top of the
wedding cake, the signed Wedding Certificate, the wine or toasting
glasses, and any other small remembrances of the day. This results in a
very popular picture for the album. Please arrange for someone to bring
the Wedding Certificate to the reception so that it may be included in
the photograph. This is a good assignment for the mother or father of
the groom who can sometimes feel a bit left out as far as helping out on
the Wedding Day.
|
|
