Wedding Photography. 1

Congratulations on your engagement, and welcome to your second job for the next several months. And this is how you should look at it, since in most cases a lot of time and effort will go into the wedding of your dreams. This guide is meant to help you minimize the stress and research regarding one of the most important parts of the wedding, wedding photography.

Types of Wedding Photographers

Much like any profession, there are several flavors of wedding photographers. Every one is a right choice for someone, it really comes down to what you are looking for at the end of the day.

Student/Friend/Uncle Bob Wedding Photographer

This type of photographer is usually chosen by those with really small weddings, a very small budget or a personal choice that pictures are not important to them. Just keep in mind you do ‘get what you pay for’, and while a student or relative may turn out to be an incredible photographer, odds are this won’t happen. Weddings, although seeming chaotic, are usually very well organized and an experienced photographer will know where and when to be in the proper spot. In addition, such photographers are usually weak on posing for formals, if that is something you are looking for.

Photojournalistic Wedding Photographer

Photojournalistic wedding photographers have come into their own in the last few years as digital cameras have lowered the cost of taking opportune pictures to near zero. A photojournalistic wedding photographer is one who tries to capture the flavor of the day, without being directly in it. Most photojournalistic wedding photographers do not usually do a lot of formals, but just take a lot of pictures of the event as it unfolds. This is a good choice for those couples who may not like the lime-light, or don’t feel comfortable in front of the camera.

Artistic Wedding Photographer

An artistic wedding photographer is focused more on setting up scenes directly, than letting them unfold naturally. Often when you see pictures of couples under trees, or in romantic poses, this is the work of an artistic wedding photographer. This wedding photographer is for those couples who are comfortable in front of the camera and who want to spend a good part of their day taking pictures. Often a good part of the cocktail hour, and several other parts of the day will be spent taking pictures, since these types of poses do take up a lot of time to set up. It is also suggested you book a makeup artist to maximize the experience. Most big name photographers fall under this category.

Jack of All Trades Wedding Photographer

A jack-of-all-trades wedding photographer can be either a photojournalistic or artistic wedding photographer, but does not specialize in either. Often this is the best photographer to get if you want to take some pictures at the house and spend an hour before the cocktail hour taking pictures, but other than that don’t want to be bothered. I am personally in this category.

Finding a Wedding Photographer

Wedding photography is a very competitive field and the advertising money which goes into it is significant. Between online advertising, blogs, wedding sites and wedding shows, not to mention your best friend, you will be exposed to many different photographers with many different styles. Your first step should be education as to all the different aspects of wedding photography. Your next step is to narrow down the field based on style and price. Some resources which can help you with this are below:

www.westchester.com

www.westchester-weddings.com

Difference Between Packages and Services for Weddings

Much like there are many different types of photographers, there are many different packages and services you will have an option to choose from.

Old School

The old school packages, still the majority, offer a set amount of service for a set price, and an album of a certain size. Often these packages will include mini-albums for parents. In addition, these packages do not include the negatives, and re-prints are of a significant cost. Most studios who have been around for more than a few years offer these packages. When considering these packages, it is important to realize there is often a post-sell on the album, as the one offered may seem to have a lot of pictures, but when you realize how many you have to choose from, additional sides and spreads will be ordered. This is not to say this is right or wrong, but it is often what occurs.

One of the nicer aspects of old school photography is that often every picture in the album is enhanced in photo-shop with blemishes and airbrushing. Many special affects can be applies, and often are in these albums, leading to the creation of a work of art, rather than just a photo album.

New School

The advent of digital photography and the tools surrounding them offers new possibilities in deliverables. The most common is the ‘Shoot and Burn’, which is to say the photographer shoots the wedding and then burns the images to a DVD or CD. What happens in between is what’s important to you. Ideally, you want a photographer who culls the bad shots, and then white balances and exposure corrects the rest. Some don’t, and you end up with many repetitive and boring shots off color and poorly exposed.

Once you have the DVD, you can order to your heart’s content off of it assuming they are the full resolution images. One way to check this is to ask what the file size is. Anything over 1 megabyte will be fine for up to 11x14.

Some digital photographers also offer digital art options, which can turn your picture into at art piece, much like what old school photographers do with album pictures. Some studios offer to put pictures on trinkets such as cups and shirts, though this photographer does find that a bit on the tacky side.

Finally, one of the new products just now coming into its own are press printed books. These hard/soft covered books are digitally designed with the images directly printed on the pages. The pages are not matted like you would find in a traditional album, but are thin, much like you would find in a magazine.

Although the print quality does not rival real prints, this offers a very affordable choice to many, with prices averaging 1/3 the price of a regular album, and reprints of the entire album often being under $100 (perfect for mom and dad!)

These services are often open to the public, though not as many services may be offered as it would be to a professional photographer. Examples are www.mpix.com and www.sharedink.com.

Booking your Wedding

So you’ve decided on your photographer and you now want to book. Most photographers will ask for 1/3 non-refundable at the time of deposit. Others will ask for less (I ask for $100 deposit), some ask for more ½. I would suggest staying away from anyone asking ½ or more, as it puts you in an especially vulnerable position. Although the vast majority of photographers are on the up-and-up, there are scammers around, especially when you are dealing with such large amounts of money.

One thing you definitely want to receive is a contract. This is both to protect you, but also protects the photographer. You likely also want to make sure the photographer is a LLC or S-Corp, as most scammers will not take this step.

Another question you should ask is whose taking the pictures. If you see albums of a photographer in a large studio you really like, make sure you ask for that photographer and that fact is in your contract. Often large studios will showcase their best 2-3 shooters, but have a free-lance pool of a dozen photographers. This is not to say they are not good photographers, but it isn’t what you are buying.

For small studios or single shooters, often they are the only photographer but the question is worth asking anyway. You should also ask what experience their assistant has (if there is one) in shooting weddings, so if the photographers car breaks down or a bad thing happens, their assistant can fill in if needed.

Selecting the Ceremony Location for Great Pictures

You have a photographer, but the photographer can only work with what he’s given as far as location. Many times the location for the ceremony is non-negotiable. You’ll get married in your family’s church or temple, or at the reception venue. However, if you have a choice, this is what you want to look for:

Ample lighting. A no-brainer, but often forgotten. Although a church may seem to have light in it, cameras need a certain amount of light to work without a flash, which often is prohibited at most religious ceremonies. Also, even if flash is permitted, often a cavernous church or temple makes using it very difficult and leads to the cave effect of the foreground being bright and the background being dark. To account for this, pick a venue with large windows allowing a lot of natural light. The more light, the less flash, and better pictures.
A nice décor. Again, a simple statement but often ignored. Select a venue with light colored walls and ceilings if possible, and a background which isn’t overly busy. Ideally, it will have interesting features inside (large staircase, full windows, couches) which will allow for some pictures to be taken inside.
Clean background outside. Many times, churches and temples just do not have any location outside to shoot at which doesn’t have cars, wires, or signs outside. You want to pick a place with greenery or a clear background for some quick formals.

Selecting the Venue for Great Pictures

Unlike the venue for a religious ceremony, you do have a choice of your venue. Although many other factors do come into play when picking a reception all (location, quality, and of course cost) one of your primary drivers should be how the reception venue is configured for pictures. Some of the obvious things to look for are:

Formal/Artistic Pictures Locations: You don’t want to have to take your formal pictures in the parking lot. Make sure you have, either inside or outside, a place to take formal pictures which will allow room for your largest group AND your photographer. The more green, the better. The more unusual objects (statues, interesting trees, benches, a fountain) the better. However, don’t fall in love with a river site or a lake-side venue whose only attribute is the river or the lake. If it is a cloudy day, or a sunny day, the sky will end up being white and your pictures will end up being boring. Best to pick a pond.
Windows are great, except at sundown. Windows will lighten up the room allowing for more natural pictures to be taken, and are generally something you should look for. The exception to this rule is if you are having an evening wedding, you want to make sure the sun will not be entering the room at a low angle. Not only will this blind the guests looking out the window (if they don’t drop the blinds) but will fill the room with a yellow tinted light. It will also produce heavy shadows which aren’t generally preferred.
Indoor venues for formals/artistic shots: Needed for both variety and if you have a nighttime wedding, indoor locations such as staircases, pianos, couches and niches will allow the photographer a lot more creative freedom in creating your picture.
White ceilings and paint: The lighter the ceiling and walls, the more natural your pictures will be, as the flash on a camera picks up a lot of the natural color of the room when reflected. Green walls, green face. You ideally want the ceiling to be about 12-15 feet high, any higher it is hard to bounce flash, any lower, too much light is focused in one place.
Easy access: If everyone is young and fit, having a wedding in an old lodge is a wonderful thing but if Grandma is invited, how is she going to get there?

When to get Married for the Best Pictures

The best time to get married, in regards to lighting, is 1-2 hours before sunset (unless you have a full mass.) You want to leave enough time so that the ceremony and an hour of formals (don’t forget the time taken to disengage from your guests) ends about one half hour before sunset. You do not want to get married outside or take pictures outside between the hours of 10am to 3pm, as that is when the sun is the highest and the shadows the harshest. The exception to this is if you will have shade where you want to take the pictures where the background is dark. Taking pictures under a tree with a bright background will mean you’ll look like you were standing under a tree under a spot light, and is not advised.

Planning your Day

The day of, you are going to have a million and one things going on, so it is best to plan everything in advance. Regarding photography, this means confirming with the photographer the schedule a few days in advance and confirming your address with him if he is coming to the house. You should also identify someone who can help with the formals, as the photographer will not know who Uncle Jim is as opposed to Uncle Bob. If you have any important shots you want, this person is responsible for reminding the photographer, who you’ve hopefully also given your must-have sheet. Most photographers will get all the normal shots as a matter of course, so it is really only necessary to include shots with aunts/uncles/godparents/friends as these tend to be outside the normal flow of events.

Looking Your Best

I suggest that along with your hair being done, you also have make-up professionally applies. Guys, I’m even talking to you. Let someone who knows powder your bald spot so you don’t look like you are literally glowing from the wedding.

Pre-check Flight List

This is strictly concerning issues with the photographer. You should have all this laid out the night before:

Photographer’s number
An extra copy of directions (we occasionally forget them)
A cheat sheet of the schedule
Your list of needed pictures
Touch-up make up.

Ready at the House

The number one rule of being ready at the house is be ready at the house when the photographer comes. Otherwise, you may very well be paying for the photographer to sit on your couch! Now this doesn’t apply to everyone of course, the bride is usually the last one to be ready, but many times I’ve gotten to the house with nobody dressed or even nobody there and everyone still at the hair salon. It unfortunately means that when you are ready, the photographer has that much less time to take various pictures before the limo comes and whisks them away.

Set at the Ceremony

Ok, you’re just minutes from being man and wife. Nothing special here, just relax, it will be all right! The only photographic note is don’t rush down the aisle in anticipation and make sure there is decent separation between your brides maids. You want to leave about 30 seconds between each individual starting down the aisle. This will leave the photographer enough time to take some great pictures of each person. Bride, walk SLOWELY and remind your dad to smile. From this point on, it’s the officiates show, so we’ll defer to them.

Go at the Reception

Congratulations, you are now man and wife! Now enjoy your day, but first, some formal pictures at a park or the reception venue. Make sure you properly plan this out giving enough time between locations with moderate traffic congestion.

Formal Pictures

Formal pictures can be horrifying or fun, depending on the couple and photographer. The most important thing is to have fun with this, let your personality come through and don’t hold back. Unless you are someone who always stands around not smiling, of course. I suggest the following tips for preparing and going through formal pictures

Practice smiling both individually and together in the mirror. Corney, I know, but it will relax you and give you confidence you will take great pictures.
If you have to pee, make sure you pee before the formals.
If water is not provided, bring your own. A tux and a gown are hot, and you don’t want to become dehydrated. I would suggest putting some bottled water in the limo.
Don’t overdo the tan. I know it’s tempting, but it’s a bad tan you’ll have for the rest of your life.
Bring your make-up kit and a small towel. Hey, we all sweat, we just don’t want pictures of it.
Don’t let a stubborn relative rain on the parade. If someone is being difficult, ignore them, they are just in a few of your pictures.
Make sure nobody wanders. This is one of the biggest problems in that someone goes wandering away and everyone has to wait 10 minutes to find them. Make sure everyone stays around whose in the formals so you all can finish as soon as possible. Again, MAKE SURE EVERYONE STAYS AROUND. Put someone in charge of this and give them a whiffle ball bat to help herd offenders or this rule.
Relax and have fun. The most important thing is to enjoy yourself, this is your wedding day.

Candids

Not much to say here. By there very nature, they just happen. Only thing is, when dancing or cutting the cake, make sure you look together at the photographer.

Uncle Bobs

Somewhat of an inside joke between photographers, Uncle Bobs are those guests who have SLR cameras and want to, for themselves or for you, get involved in the action. Although we all appreciate their enthusiasm, or empathize with trying to build a portfolio, there is a time and a place. During the reception and the walk down the aisle, that’s the time and the place. During the formals and the house (where applicable), that is not. Most photographers will in fact have clauses in their contract preventing anyone else taking professionally quality pictures during the event. I personally don’t, but I do try to prevent people from taking any pictures during the formals. It’s not because I want to be the exclusive provider and make money on the re-prints (I provide all images on DVD), but it’s because the more cameras there are, the more places there are to look at. And when that happens, you end up with pictures with eyes going to different locations, which is something we all don’t want.

In my case, if there is a lot of time, I will take my picture, and then allow others to take theirs for group shots, but I do ask that the couple pictures are taken by myself, without anyone else even around. This makes for a more relaxed atmosphere, and better pictures.

Saying Goodbye

All good things must come to an end, and at some point it will be time for your photographer to leave. Often, this is after the cake cutting. Make sure once this happens you remember to ask the photographer for any final pictures which came to mind so you get them. After that, enjoy your honeymoon.

The Post Game

Once back from your honeymoon, if taken, you and your photographer will talk to each other again. At this point, if you simply are getting images on DVD, that will be provided and you’ll be able to enjoy your pictures. For old school photographers, now you start talking about the album.

Wedding Album Types

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Putting together the Album, it’s a Team Effort!

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Online Album Providers

There are quite a few companies now which allow you to design and create your albums online. www.mpix.com and www.sharedink.com are but two of many. I suggest you just google ‘Online Wedding Albums’ to get started. You may not have the flexibility of design you would have with a studio, but you can get albums at 30% to 50% of the cost.

Printing your Own Pictures

Be it pictures your photographer gave you, or your guests, you will have the option to print your pictures. There are thousands of places to do this, from www.walmart.com to www.cvs.com and www.cosco.com, to photolabs such as www.mpix.com, www.ofoto.com and www.snapfish.com. I suggest picking about 10 pictures from various stages of your wedding and sending them in to several places, and seeing what type you end up liking the most.

For 5x7’s and 8x10s, you’ll also have to keep in mind cropping. A 35mm image, which in most cases what you’ll be receiving is in a 2:3 ratio. Other sizes are different, which means you’ll have to crop off some of the image to get it to fit, or add a border to fit the whole image.

Special Notes for Wedding Photography in Fairfield County

None

Special Notes for Wedding Photography in Putnam County

None

Special Notes for Wedding Photography in Rockland County

None

Special Notes for Wedding Photography in Westchester County

Bronx River Parkway is closed Sunday Mornings April to June and September to November for Bike Riders.