Westminster Wedding

After a wet week it was good to have a sunny day on Saturday for the wedding. The ceremony was held in at the Westminster Registry office, famous as the location for the marriages of two of the Beatles. The building itself is great to work with having grand steps outside for the group shots and stone pillars that make lovely backdrops for individual portraits and couple shots.

Why use a professional wedding photographer?

Some couples find themselves having to make a decision between using a professional wedding photographer and a friend of the family. This may be due to a tight budget and is understandable, however this might not be such a good idea. Here I provide a list of reasons why you should really use a professional if at all possible.

1. Experience
Professional wedding photographers will often cover up to 40 weddings a year. This gives them a lot of experience with different locations, lighting situations, types of wedding and so on. The family friend may be quite good at taking pictures but can they cope in a wide range of situations when under pressure? They might take good pictures on holiday but how does that relate to a wedding?

2. Skills
There is so much more to wedding photography than having a decent camera. A professional will usually have a greater knowledge of the camera's abilities and of photographic techniques. Not to mention their ability to work with people and to provide additional services such as album design, web display and so on.

3. Backup Equipment
Good professional photographers will always have backup equipment with them in case of breakdowns or accidents. The friend of the family may have one good camera but what if that fails?

4. Equipment Quality
Professionals will have invested a significant amount of money in their equipment. Not just the cameras but also the flash, batteries, tripods etc. Their aim is to get excellent quality results with reliable equipment.

5. Insurance
Professionals need to be insured for their photography business. Most will carry public liability and professional indemnity. This means that in the event of an accident or a failure to provide an adequate service you have some comeback. If a friend of the family caused a problem would you even be willing to take action against them and if so could they afford it?

6. Reputation
A professional photographer's reputation is at risk every time they cover a wedding. They have a strong incentive to do a good job, especially in the age of the internet where clients can quickly write bad reviews if they didn't get a good service. The photographer's reputation and therefore his/her livelihood is at stake. An amateur usually has their day job to fall back on.

7. Independence
With a photographer that is not related to you there is a more professional relationship. The photographer should be friendly and helpful but not too familiar. I have heard of photographers drinking and socializing with guests at a wedding but they should be there to do a job and be focused on that. If the photographer is a guest will they stay sober and be able to provide decent pictures later in the day?

8. Post Processing
A professional is likely to have more experience and skill with the post processing of the images as well as with taking them. This includes retouching skills as well as album design and print presentation.

9. Service
As the photographer is relying on your business for their living it is in their interest to provide good service before, during and after the wedding. This includes providing you with things like prints, CD's and albums in a reasonable period of time and helping you with decisions such as the type of album to get.

10. Album Design
One of the most important aspects of wedding photography today is the album design. This is a skill in its own right. Even if your family friend can take good pictures can they put them together into a creative and stylish album design? Will they be prepared to spend the time doing this work for you?

Thank you for taking a look at this list. I hope it has helped you decide whether to use a professional or not.

How to Avoid Booking a Bad Wedding Photographer

Here are some recommendations to help you avoid booking a bad wedding photographer for your big day.

1. Portfolio v Reality
Make sure you look at complete wedding galleries and album designs, not just their portfolio. These can give a misleading view of the overall standard and style of their work.

2. Quality
Check the quality of their work and their products. Look for bad exposure, excess blur, bad cropping, low image quality and a lack of attention to detail.

3. Style
Choose a photographer that shoots weddings in the style that you like, whether it's informal, traditional, contemporary, fashion or a combination. Don't expect a reportage photographer to shoot your wedding in a traditional way.

4. Professionalism
Are they experienced, qualified, insured and professional?

5. Social Skills
Do they come across well and would you be happy to deal with them on your wedding day. It's important to see whether you can get on with them and whether they are likely to upset your guests.

6. References
Check what their existing clients have to say about them. Ask for testimonials or to be put in touch directly.

7. Flexibility
Make sure they are willing to be flexible, listening to what you want from the photography and that they can put together a package for the items that you actually want.

8. Backup
Make sure they bring backup equipment in case of a failure. Also check what would happen if they are ill or injured on the day, is there a chance they can arrange emergency cover or not?

9. Interest
Avoid photographers that aren't really interested in you or your wedding day. A good photographer will want to know about your plans for the day and try to create a rapport with you.

10. Research
Don't take things at face value, do some research on the photographer and see if things check out.

I hope this list is useful and helps you to avoid getting a bad photographer for your wedding day.

Top 10 Mistakes made by Wedding Photographers

Here are my suggestions for the top 10 mistakes made by wedding photographers. I'm guilty of some of these myself from time to time. This isn't about basic photography errors, maybe I'll do another blog entry for some of those.

1. Being Rude.
It's amazing how often I hear from couples that have been to a wedding where the photographer was rude to guests or even the couple themselves. How do these people get bookings in a competitive market?

2. Not Listening.
In my view the customer is king, if they don't want to do a particular shot then that's fine with me. The client should get what they want, not what the photographer wants. Ideally the photographer should get to know his clients and help them to get the most out of the photography. Also, take an interest in the wedding itself and make notes of interesting things that are said or that happen.

3. Chimping and Showing.
Some digital photographers get so excited and absorbed by the photography that they keep looking at the camera or showing people the shots. Try to keep this under control, by all means show someone if they ask to look but avoid looking at the display other than a quick check on the histogram now and then.

4. "Straight-Jacket" Packages.
There are some advantages to a fixed package but try not to tie clients up in knots and make it difficult for them to purchase additional items or buy less if their budget is tight. A lot of photographers have essentially fixed the client's expectations, for example in terms of the album size, way before the wedding. What if you do a brilliant job and the couple want a much bigger album, if the package said a 30 page album is all they can have what happens then?

5. Forgetting the Business.
Don't forget that as a professional photographer you need to be aware of the business side of things and not just the photography. Avoid focusing too much on the photography and gear, the business aspects such as marketing, customer relations, cash flow etc. all need to be managed. A great wedding photographer is unlikely to be successful unless they can build a sound business too. If you're not good at marketing or managing, look to get other people in to do this for you.

6. Stagnating
Styles, equipment, customer requirements and techniques all change over time. It's important to keep learning and to keep up with trends. A great way to do this is by meeting with other photographers and learning from them.

7. Relying on Photoshop
Although Photoshop is a great tool and can rescue some bad images, it's clearly better to get shots right in the camera. The quality will be better and it will save time too.

8. Becoming Isolated
As a sole-trader many photographers can find themselves isolated. Try to connect with local businesses and other photographers to exchange leads, discuss problems and help each other.

9. Gear Obsessed
Don't get obsessed by the gear, yes good cameras and equipment are important but they are secondary to your skill and experience. It's certainly possible to take amazing wedding pictures with basic equipment. New equipment is nice to have especially for the gadget freaks amongst us, but remember they need to pay for themselves and make a difference to the end product to be worthwhile.

10. Clones
I believe the best approach is to find your own style and not to try to be a clone of someone else. Doing what comes naturally to you will be better in the long run. By all means allow yourself to be influenced, but by a variety of other photographers and their work. Combine your ideas with theirs and develop a style of your own over a period of time.

I would love to hear your views and if you have any suggestions for worse mistakes then feel free to let me know.

Castell Coch Wedding

Whilst on a weekend away in Wales we were visiting Castell Coch and came across a wedding photo shoot inside the castle.



I couldn't help but take a few pictures of the wedding and was happy when the photographer gave me a nice shot by lying on the ground to get a low angle shot of the couple.