Houston Wedding Photographer – Photographics

OK, I know what you’re thinking….”He’s going to try and make me choose him.”  Well, yes, but I also want you to know that it’s not just about choosing me.  In fact, I can recommend several great photographers (see the link above about Wedfog -The wedding photographers’ directory), but I mainly want you to see the difference between hiring a professional verses allowing that special friend or your Uncle Bob or Aunt Sally to be your wedding photographer because they just got a real nice digital camera.  I also want you to see why you need someone with experience over someone who just started shooting weddings last month.

Experience

I was talking to a friend of mine recently and she is getting ready for her wedding in a few months.  When I asked her how the wedding planning was going, she replied “great! and I found a wonderful photographer for my wedding!”  I was happy for her, but continued to inquire about the “professional wedding photographer” and found out a few things that worried me.  First, the person had never shot a wedding before.  The photographer was a portrait photographer and according to the bride, had some wonderful portraits on her site, so they should be able to shoot a wedding.  While this sounds good, it’s not always the case.  I am a portrait photographer as well and when shooting a portrait, you can control the client, the poses, the environment (in some cases), and the lighting.  Second, they had no albums to show her.  How can I know how “great” a job you’re going to do for me if I have no proof of it?  Third, they were restrictive in what they were offering.  My friend wanted an image to place in a newspaper announcement and wanted to choose it herself, but the photographer wouldn’t allow it and they insisted that they had more experience in choosing the proper photograph.

Shooting a wedding is completely different.  Each location is different.  The ceremony location may have large windows, or no windows at all, high ceilings with lovely lights, or low ceilings with ceiling fans.  The wedding photographer may be able to use flash, but some places, especially Churches do not allow flash photography during the ceremony or any photography at all and the wedding photographer with experience can adjust to those conditions whereas someone who has never shot a wedding before may not be prepared.

When you meet with the wedding photographer, make sure you are able to view samples of their work from any wedding they have shot.  In fact, that should be one of the first questions that should be asked – how many weddings have you shot?  In this new digital age, many people are becoming “professional wedding photographers”, but you have to ask yourself, do you really want someone to practice and get experience at YOUR WEDDING??

In this present economy, quite a few people are finding “wedding photographers” on places like Craigslist, and while that may seem like a way for you to save money, I can give you several stories of brides that have called me to ask if I can fix the pictures the person they hired shot for them (see the paragraph above about experience).  I agree, cost is a concern in this economy, but most of us can work with you on payment plans to still give you what you want for your special day.  Be careful of those that offer you everything and the kitchen sick for a very low cost.

There are several wedding photography “companies” that have started up recently, that claim to have the best photographers on staff.  Some of them even provide you with a list of those photographers who also have their own studios as well.  The down side is that if you book with one of these companies, the chances are slim to none that you get any one of the wedding photographers on the list they showed you.  the chances are greater that you would end up with someone with little or no experience in shooting weddings.  Even worse, you won’t find out who your photographer is until it too late to do anything about it!  I’ve spoken to some brides that didn’t know who their photographer would be until the day of the wedding!

You also want someone who understands that this is YOUR WEDDING DAY and not their creativity project.  The wedding photographers’ job is to make your memories and not theirs.  Your wants and wishes should be the priority.

Equipment

Wedding photography is far different from most other types of photography and the equipment that the professional wedding photographer carries is essential.  Brand name doesn’t matter (Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus, etc..), but make sure that the wedding photographer has the proper camera bodies and lenses to take care of you.  If they are shooting film (yes, some of us still shoot film), make sure they have enough to cover any issue that may arise.  If they are shooting digital, then they need extra data cards as well.  While not mandatory, it’s always good for the wedding photographer to have at least one “spare” camera as a backup in case something happens to the primary camera and most non professionals only carry one camera body and only one lens and if either breaks or fails to work, then you are left without wedding memories!

This, in a way, goes along with experience, but needs to be addressed separately as well.  As technology advances, the cost of equipment goes down so much so that almost anyone can afford the latest and greatest “digital toy”.  I shoot freelance sports for local local publications and while on the sidelines, I notice a lot of parents with equipment similar to mine and in some cases better!  Often, even with the better equipment, they do not know enough about to be able to adapt to the different lighting or environment issues that come up in weddings (dark churches, candlelit ceremonies, different types of light at the reception, etc.) and therefore can’t make the necessary adjustments on their camera to compensate for it.

Along with shooting digital, professional wedding photographers have the computer equipment, software, and knowledge necessary to produce a good final result, whether in print, album, or CD.  the latest 8-10 megapixel camera, the fastest computer, or the latest software program is no good unless the person knows how to use them properly.  Professional wedding photographers have experience framing, cropping, retouching, and enhancing your images to give you just the look and feel you want.

One thing to consider also when hiring friends or family to shoot your wedding:  they are your friends and family!  During the ceremony and especially during the reception, they could lose sight of the fact that they are “hired” and forget about taking pictures and start having fun.  A professional wedding photographer is there to serve and work for you.  You will only have one opportunity to make these memories and they are too important to trust to someone without experience.  There are wedding photographers in every price range and in every budget so please do not let cost be a factor in deciding whether or not you have someone there to make your memories all that they should be.  We photographers have a saying:

The food and cake will be consumed before the evening is out

The reception hall will be left behind at the end of the night

The flowers will all be dead by the end of the week

But the Photography lasts a lifetime.. plan for that part first.

and in your planning, plan on getting a professional!

Top 10 myths about wedding photography:

Credit for this post goes to Brad Barr of Brads Creative Images Photography.   This page kind of goes along with the truth page. But since there is so much misinformation out there regarding wedding photographers I thought I’d break it down into some quick and easy top 10 style lists. Its also a work in process. Very likely it may end up with more than 10.

1. A family member/friend can take all the pictures we need.

This is possibly the biggest bit of misinformation in the wedding business. Many brides make this mistake each year and one only has to do a quick search on any of the bridal chat boards to see how devastating this mistake truly can be. A quick example, the lady that runs the DJ company in our office made this mistake. She has exactly one usable image from her wedding. Folks, even photographers that specialize in other areas i.e., commercial, landscape, advertising, etc etc don’t try to shoot a wedding. Most will defer to the specialist just as I would if someone wanted to do something out of my specialty. They are quick to recognize the pitfalls. They recognize there are no second chances. The experience of an accomplished wedding professional is simply too important. He will know whats about to happen. He will know whats going to go wrong often before it even happens. He can adjust for difficult lighting situations. He has the backup equipment to ensure your day is captured in all its glory. Most brides comment after their wedding that the best money they spent on their wedding was their photographer. Or perhaps it was the most expensive freebie they ever had!! There are places you can cut corners. This shouldn’t be one of them.

2. Photographers have it easy since they only work 8hrs a week.

Boy do we wish!! In actuality the number of man hours it takes from start to finish with each bride is really between 30-40 hrs. Nobody remembers the 3-5hrs spent in consultations, meetings, answering phone calls etc, then there is the 8-10 hrs on the wedding itself, of course you have to get there long beforehand; and then break down thats another 2 hrs overlooked. 8-10 more hours of post production time, another 4-5 on print production, dvd slideshows, archiving files etc, 10-12 for custom album design. The time racks up pretty quickly. Not to mention the fact that really we only can work at shooting on days when wedding actually occur. i.e. Saturdays, and the occasional Friday or Sunday.

3. You need to give your photographer a shot list.

This one comes from all those bridal magazines mostly. Unfortunately these lists typically are not written by real world wedding photographers. Ask yourself this question: Would I rather have my photographer covering the action, or reading a list? We generally dont know who the people on the list are. Most of the suggestions on the lists are shots that will be taken by any experienced wedding photographer anyway. Ex: Bride with her Father (really??) The Cake (really??) Many more are simply superfluous groupings only listed to make the list look good. In reality, if you must have a list, the best way to utilize it is to simply give it to a family member or bridesmaid who actually knows the people on the list, and make them responsible for gathering them up. Not only will this save some time for you but this also will free your professional up to create the kind of images that attracted you to him in the first place.

4. Table shots.

Sounds great right? But the reality of it is this: The only time when everyone is at the table is during dinner. The images really aren’t typically chosen to be part of the brides album. The guests normally aren’t going to want them unless the bride and groom are in the photo with them, so really you need to go to each table with us to make the images mean anything. Now when we get there, they are all going to want to talk a little, and in order to see everyone, half the table will need to go stand on the opposite side; so you are going to average 3-5 minutes per table to get it set up. Now say you have an average crowd of 150 people. Tables are normally 8 each. Thats 19 tables at 5 minutes each which is an1-1.5hrs of your reception devoted to taking image of folks gathered around a cluttered table. Kind of a long way to go for shots like this. A much better idea here is the disposable cameras. They are perfect for these “grab and grins”, and free your professional up to do his job and capture the images that made you hire him in the first place.

5. Our Job is easy now that its digital.

I love this one. In some ways sure its easier. In a lot more ways its much more difficult. Heres why: When shooting film, the typical wedding took about 200 images. Now that has swelled to often more than 1000. When shooting film, the film process held about a 5 stop exposure latitude, which means that as long as you were in that safe zone, the lab could make a decent print. With digital we have about 1.5 stops. No problem if you know what you are doing, but sadly many struggle with this every week. Uncle bobs dont stand a chance here. When shooting film, we simply dropped our rolls off at the lab, and returned a few days later to pick up the prints. The “lab guy” did all the work and made us look good. Now with digital, we are the “lab guy” and often spend countless hours in post production doing what the “lab guy” used to do. Also, top of the line 35mm film cameras used to top out at around 1700 bucks and would pretty much last for 15 years or more. Top quality digital slr’s from those same companies are now often 5-8K each, and seemingly become “antiques” about every 2-4 years as technology increases.

6. We don’t even need proofs.

Well this one is unfortunately propagated by professional photographers. They say this because it eliminates a huge cost and lots of time. In truth, wouldn’t you really rather have 500 actual photographs to keep and share rather than having to load a cd or log onto a website and fool around with passwords, waiting for images to load up. What if your internet’s down?? or what if you’re not near a pc?? This one is a biggie. Consider that maybe 10% of your images are going to make it into your final bridal album. What about the others? If you have your proofs, you have them all right there. Besides, most photographers now give you the files anyway, so you can still do the pc thing should you want to. Key is you don’thave to.

7. Its best to find a company that does both Video and Photography .

We dont hear this as much as we used too now that video has faded from popularity somewhat. (20% of weddings according to a national study). But it is an interesting one. Heres why this isnt such a good idea as it may seem. Sure its easy to write one check. But…..most photographers and most videographers are good at doing one or the other. The methods of capture are completely different. Very few are actually good at both. The old saying “Jack of all trades; master at none” rings true here as well. There are even companies that suggest they can do it all…Limo, video, photo, dj, invitations, etc. I’ve worked with most of these companies. Fact is, they simply are ok at each of them. If they were really that great at any one, they wouldn’t need to be doing all the others. The best practitioners in any field are called specialists. Isnt that what you want for each vendor? Someone who specialized in just that field? You wouldn’t have a podiatrist do your eye exam would you? Or have a civil lawyer defend you if you got arrested? Of course not, you would want someone who specialized in exactly what you need. If you want a videographer, fine, find a good one; but be wary of the guys trying to sell you a package deal.

8. Photography is overpriced

This is one again that we hear lots of discussion about. It seems like a logical statement, as good photography is not cheap. Actually considering that the resulting images become some of your most treasured keepsakes, its actually priceless. Similarly, the regret faced by those whose job botched, makes what we charge seem like a pittance. Remember, the average wedding professional will spend 30-40 hrs on you and your job. Similarly, the national average net “salary” for wedding photographers in the USA is 28K per year. Why? Because of all the expenses, overhead, and the limited number of events we can work in any given year. Please read “The truth about wedding photographers” page for more info on this. Bottom line; not very many rich photographers out there.

9. Photographers charge ridiculous prices for reprints.

On first glance it may seem so, with many charging 30 dollars or more for 5×7 or 8×10. Even a little 4×6 can run 10-20 dollars. Why should it cost so much since we all know what walmart charges right?? Well, frankly speaking, you arent buying the paper, you are buying a smaller version of the image that was captured by your professional. The print is merely the container for that image. Your professional is also skilled at making each print look its best, and the time it takes to prepare a print is the same regardless of whether its a 4×6 or a 24×36. Many photographers nowadays will include the files in your packages and as such you are free to print them as you see fit and make this complaint a moot point; however, many still prefer to have the professional do it, and not have to hassle with sorting, organizing, print optimization, and cropping issues to name just a few. Simply put, most find its well worth the extra price to get it done right.

OK, I know what you’re thinking….”He’s going to try and make me choose him.”  Well, yes, but I also want you to know that it’s not just about choosing me.  In fact, I can recommend several great photographers (see the link above about Wedfog -The wedding photographers’ directory), but I mainly want you to see the difference between hiring a professional verses allowing that special friend or your Uncle Bob or Aunt Sally to be your wedding photographer because they just got a real nice digital camera.  I also want you to see why you need someone with experience over someone who just started shooting weddings last month.

Experience

I was talking to a friend of mine recently and she is getting ready for her wedding in a few months.  When I asked her how the wedding planning was going, she replied “great! and I found a wonderful photographer for my wedding!”  I was happy for her, but continued to inquire about the “professional wedding photographer” and found out a few things that worried me.  First, the person had never shot a wedding before.  The photographer was a portrait photographer and according to the bride, had some wonderful portraits on her site, so they should be able to shoot a wedding.  While this sounds good, it’s not always the case.  I am a portrait photographer as well and when shooting a portrait, you can control the client, the poses, the environment (in some cases), and the lighting.  Second, they had no albums to show her.  How can I know how “great” a job you’re going to do for me if I have no proof of it?  Third, they were restrictive in what they were offering.  My friend wanted an image to place in a newspaper announcement and wanted to choose it herself, but the photographer wouldn’t allow it and they insisted that they had more experience in choosing the proper photograph.

Shooting a wedding is completely different.  Each location is different.  The ceremony location may have large windows, or no windows at all, high ceilings with lovely lights, or low ceilings with ceiling fans.  The wedding photographer may be able to use flash, but some places, especially Churches do not allow flash photography during the ceremony or any photography at all and the wedding photographer with experience can adjust to those conditions whereas someone who has never shot a wedding before may not be prepared.

When you meet with the wedding photographer, make sure you are able to view samples of their work from any wedding they have shot.  In fact, that should be one of the first questions that should be asked – how many weddings have you shot?  In this new digital age, many people are becoming “professional wedding photographers”, but you have to ask yourself, do you really want someone to get their feet wet at YOUR WEDDING??

There are several wedding photography “companies” that have started up recently, that claim to have the best photographers on staff.  Some of them even provide you with a list of those photographers who also have their own studios as well.  The down side is that if you book with one of these companies, the chances are slim to none that you get any one of the wedding photographers on the list they showed you.  the chances are greater that you would end up with someone with little or no experience in shooting weddings.  Even worse, you won’t find out who your photographer is until it too late to do anything about it!  I’ve spoken to some brides that didn’t know who their photographer would be until the day of the wedding!

You also want someone who understands that this is YOUR WEDDING DAY and not their creativity project.  the wedding photographers’ job is to make your memories and not theirs.  your wants and wishes should be the priority. 

Equipment

Wedding photography is far different from most other types of photography and the equipment that the professional wedding photographer carries is essential.  Brand name doesn’t matter (Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus, etc..), but make sure that the wedding photographer has the proper camera bodies and lenses to take care of you.  If they are shooting film (yes, some of us still shoot film), make sure they have enough to cover any issue that may arise.  If they are shooting digital, then they need extra data cards as well.  While not mandatory, it’s always good for the wedding photographer to have at least one “spare” camera as a backup in case something happens to the primary camera and most non professionals only carry one camera body and only one lens and if either breaks or fails to work, then you are left without wedding memories!

This, in a way, goes along with experience, but needs to be addressed separately as well.  As technology advances, the cost of equipment goes down so much so that almost anyone can afford the latest and greatest “digital toy”.  I shoot freelance sports for local local publications and while on the sidelines, I notice a lot of parents with equipment similar to mine and in some cases better!  Often, even with the better equipment, they do not know enough about to be able to adapt to the different lighting or environment issues that come up in weddings (dark churches, candlelit ceremonies, different types of light at the reception, etc.) and therefore can’t make the necessary adjustments on their camera to compensate for it.

Along with shooting digital, professional wedding photographers have the computer equipment, software, and knowledge necessary to produce a good final result, whether in print, album, or CD.  the latest 8-10 megapixel camera, the fastest computer, or the latest software program is no good unless the person knows how to use them properly.  Professional wedding photographers have experience framing, cropping, retouching, and enhancing your images to give you just the look and feel you want.

One thing to consider also when hiring friends or family to shoot your wedding:  they are your friends and family!  During the ceremony and especially during the reception, they could lose sight of the fact that they are “hired” and forget about taking pictures and start having fun.  A professional wedding photographer is there to serve and work for you.  You will only have one opportunity to make these memories and they are too important to trust to someone without experience.  There are wedding photographers in every price range and in every budget so please do not let cost be a factor in deciding whether or not you have someone there to make your memories all that they should be.  We photographers have a saying:

The food and cake will be consumed before the evening is out

The reception hall will be left behind at the end of the night

The flowers will all be dead by the end of the week

But the Photography lasts a lifetime.. plan for that part first.

and in your planning, plan on getting a professional!