Photography: Three Questions For a Photographer
By Daniel Sheehan (WedNet Specialist Blogger for Photography): A Beautiful Day Photography, http://www.abeautifuldayphotography.com
Gathering together some vital information beforehand is the most important thing to do before you consider hiring a wedding photographer. A major concern expressed by many of the brides I have been hearing from this past year is keeping within a strict budget. If you are a bride attempting to keep the photography budget down, you need gather some background facts on which to base your decision.
After studying wedding websites and magazines to get as much information as they can before approaching a photographer, many brides put together a long list of questions thought to be helpful. Most photographers will be able to answer all of them making it not so easy to pick the right one.
When you contact a wedding photographer the first thing to remember to do is to ask about their style of photography. “What is the style of your wedding photography?” Talk a little with them about the images they have made and are showing on their website before you get around to asking about the price. I really hate it when the first question I get from a prospective client is “How much do you charge?” It is upsetting to have my photographic vision and creativity treated as if it were a commodity like a gallon of milk. The last thing you should do is begin a conversation with a photographer by asking “How much?” You will make him more interested in making a deal with you if they think that you are familiar with their work and are really interested in it. If they are very good and their fee is high, when you ask them to negotiate their fee downwards because of the tight economy, they might be more flexible in coming down to meet your budget.
I do not want you to get the impression that every cheap photographer is bad. Just be aware that if you are a on a tight budget, as so many brides are this year, finding a really good wedding photographer who will give you what you want for less than $2,000, it is mandatory that you really do your homework beforehand, be prepared to compromise on any of the extras you might be thinking about, and have a great deal of luck.
Lets say you want to get at a minimum, a photographer who will give you at least six hours of coverage, a proof web gallery or proof magazine, web based slideshow and all of the images on a disc with a release of copyright so you can go and get your own prints made yourself at a cheap lab. This is will be a quest but doable if you keep a sharp eye out.
The second question to ask when you meet with a prospective photographer who is offering to work in that affordable price range is: “How long have you been shooting weddings?”. If they have a website or show you a portfolio consisting of at best average photos and claim to have shot more than 100 weddings over the past five years an alarm bell should be going off in you head.
The third question is: “Please can you show me a web gallery or proof book of all the photos from just one wedding?” If they refuse or are reluctant to produce one, then you have a good reason to move on to the next photographer on your list. Any photographer with that much experience should be confident enough to show you all of the photos from a recent wedding if you ask, not just a few select shots from a number of different weddings. See what they say when you ask to see a proof book or disc of a whole wedding. If they produce one for you and it is full of great images then you can get around to asking the budget sensitive question. “How much do you charge for your basic package?”
If they fit your budget then you have just found the right photographer. If they are much higher than your budget, then ask them if they would be willing to work with you to get the price down and tell them exactly how much you have budgeted for photography. Maybe by cutting back a little on the amount of time of coverage or just getting the photos on a disc instead of a whole bunch of prints or album, they would be willing to go ahead and work with you.
If the photos are not that great, just kind of average looking, you might still want to book with them. If they are young, they may just be starting out, are getting better with every wedding and are charging a budget price to get more experience. Maybe they are doing it part time or are still attending school and are learning photography. This is probably the best-case scenario for a budget photographer. Perhaps they have assisted someone a number of times and now feel confident to go out on their own. They just might be able to give you what you are looking for at a low price.
The ones to avoid in this price range are the photographers who will show you lots of albums and proof books and have been working professionally for quite a long time, and all of their work looks average to poor quality. They will surely produce the same quality of images for you if you hire them. And you will deserve what you get if you do hire someone just on price. There is an old quote by John Ruskin, a British art critic author, poet and artist that I am reminded of; “I have no quarrel with the man whose prices are lower, for he knows better than anyone else in the world what his product is worth.”