wedding photographer

The build up and preparation for your wedding can be both exciting and stressful. From choosing vendors, a wedding venue and picking out the perfect dress, many of the decisions that you will have to make will result in your wedding being a success or not. With other vendors (florist, baker, musicians), you are able to see, hear or taste what you are going to get, but with a photographer, you only know what you are going to get after the fact.That being said, careful research, interviews, and selectiveness regarding personal style, artistic style, and demeanour need to be considered when choosing your wedding photographer.

Here are 5 of the most important tips to follow when choosing a wedding photographer:

  • Style:

 

Before you start with researching photographers, you need to decide on the style of photography that you prefer. Some of the photography styles that you can look at are; documentary, fine art, portraiture and edgy. The type of style will also depend on the type of wedding you are having, such as; a beach wedding, church wedding or garden wedding. Not all photographers are skilled to do all these styles, so look for one that specializes in the type that you like.

  • Do Your Own Research:

6 tips to follow when choosing a wedding photographerNostalgic Photography

Once you have decided on a style, look-up potential photographers. Look at all their social media pages like FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram. Look at their testimonial pages and see if their clients were happy. The design and style of their social media and website pages will give you a clue about their personality as well. Also, chat to other newlyweds and get their thoughts on the process.

  • View Full Wedding Albums:

Photographers will generally post their best pieces on their website. Do not choose a wedding photographer based solely on this. Ask to see three or four full wedding albums, and be sure that these are weddings that they have captured and not their colleagues. Have a critical eye when looking at the photos, be aware of the lighting, capturing of tender moments, sensitivity to the subjects; do the people in the shot look relaxed, composition and crispness of images.

  • Set Up Interviews:

After you have found al least 3 wedding photographers that are available on your wedding date, set up some time to meet with them. Your photographer is probably one of the most important vendors at the wedding and will be shadowing you for most of the day so it is vital that you click. You and your photography should have a synergy and a similar vision. You will need a professional who is assertive enough to get the best shots but also someone who has a firm grasp of social graces. Your photographer should also be open to listening to your ideas and also be able to advise you in a respectful manner. There has to be trust between the 2 of you. A good wedding photographer asks a lot of questions and listens. There will usually be more than one photographer at the event so be sure to meet with all the people who will be part of the team.

  • Ask for Post-Production Details:

wedding photographer

Most photography contracts stipulate that the photographer owns the rights to all photos taken at the wedding. This means that your wedding photos can be used on blogs, social media and as promotional images.That also means you can’t just post the digital proofs they send you and you have to buy the rights if you want to print the proofs. Be sure you are aware of the conditions that the contract stipulates. Know what your package contains and what you will get; will you get all the images in low-res on a hard drive, will you get high-res images sent via dropbox, how many images will you get, will you get the retouched images on disk as well? Ask the photographer if anything is unclear and get a definite date of when you will receive everything.

As with everything else in a wedding, there will be a few challenges that you will have to face, but if you follow the tips above, your photography journey will be smooth sailing. Happy clicking!

 

wedding photographer

 

 

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