Image quality: Are the exposures the right color & density (Too light or too dark). Are they sharp when enlarged. Do the pictures look natural, not overly posed or staged. Do they communicate feeling through expression.
A High Package Price is not a guarantee that you will get quality Photographs. I assume that my customers have perfect knowledge, & is why I have done some of the smartest visual people in Washington's weddings. Advertising Art Directors, PR people, & Marketing Director's hire photographers all the time, & they know how much to pay for the photographs they buy. I have been blessed from their helpful advice & personal insights. One told me "I really should raise my prices." I love what I do, it's like an emotional joggers high while taking pictures.
A Low Package Price: Photography is not a generic product. Comparing print prices for example; presupposes that you have similar products to compare. "Where in the emotional content, & weight of the medium, true value can only be judged in a very selective way after the photographs are seen & viewed for their content." So "Price Shoppers", be notified, that in the pure Aesthetic sense, the cheaper product you purchase may have a true value of "0", & in effect be less value, than a likeable product fairly priced. The last class I took at the U. of W. was "The Philosophy of Art."
Shortly after I decided to become the Artist; & after 25 years it is given, that I made the right decision!
I just completed a 30 page Renaissance Wedding album from my Sapphire Package 5. ( 5 hours of wedding day coverage) At the recommendation of my friendly accountant, I kept track of all my time involved in the Wedding, & was very surprised when I found out that it all added up to 30 hours of my time!
Wow! Even I didn't realize how much time I was spending per Wedding! The more services you are provided, the more time it takes your photographer. So it is also likely that if you Price shop you will not only get less quality, but also much less service & help from your photographer.
Portrait Studios: If you are considering hiring a studio that has more than just one photographer. Make sure you preview his work! It is a common practice to show their best photographer's work & then send some else. Insist that you meet with him or her, before you book the day. Chemistry between you & your photographer is a least as important as skill; trust your intuition & feelings about their level of sincerity. Real love & joy, is what great wedding photography is all about.
Black & white: does the photographer care enough to do his own b/w prints. It is almost impossible to get good b/w prints, unless the photographer does them himself. You can tell how good a photographer is, by spending time looking at a photographers b/w prints. Composition becomes more important in b/w. Look for a rich tonal range, with detail in the high light areas, & Pure Black in the shadows. I have seen some very pricey wedding photographers, that had no idea how to properly print black & white, within the zone system developed by Minor White & Ansel Adams. Don't be fooled by so called special effects. Large grain size & too much soft focus is rarely considered pleasing. Infra -red makes good scenic, but rarely good portraits.
Hand colored & fiber based prints have become popular again. I also make selenium toned prints from a process developed my Ansel Adams, for some of my clients. They are so beautiful & the only Black & White print most museums will accept, because of their archival permanence. It is a two day process, a real labor of love! In three hundred years, those prints will still look beautiful, & I hope your great grand children can say, "Joe Meadows hand signed it", with the delight & glee of some one that just found a Lewis Comfort Tiffany tulip glass today.
Medium format cameras are a must for formal portraits. They allow much greater freedom for enlargement & cropping. Hasselblad, Maymia, Bronica are the main camera brands. Fast shutter speeds are necessary to balance natural light & flash, so the faster sync speeds available from medium format cameras are a necessity for an outside summer wedding.
Small format cameras are easier to operate when doing candids. That's why the great photojournalists use them. Ask if the photographer uses both camera sizes at a wedding, I do.
Lighting: Studio strobes with soft boxes & umbrellas make much softer lighting. Look for detail on a pure white wedding dress. Do the faces show 3 dimensional shape, or are they flat, & one dimensional. An indication that he uses straight flash instead of a softbox.
Wedding Negatives
Be wary of photographers that offer to give you their negatives as a bonus. Telling you how much money you will save on enlargements. Quality enlargements from medium format negatives almost always have to be printed at a professional lab. It can be time consuming to do a wedding print order, & those labs won't spend the hours it take to do a typical wedding print order, waiting on you at their front counter, so you will wind up masking each negative by hand yourself. I care about my wedding clients & give them finished enlargements from a professional lab. They cost me lot more money, but it is not worth the hassle to have to redo them many times, just to save a few dollars per print.
A professional photographer makes the money to keep his equipment in good working order through selling photographs. Not by giving away his negatives, & his best work. So be very wary of this lure!
Awards & Credentials: Most photography organizations will allow any one to join, as long as you pay their dues & fees. Awards can be used as an excuse to charge you more money. Many wedding photographers win one or two, sooner or later.
"Greatness comes through humility". I shared a Studio with Jerry Gay, a 1975 Pulitzer Prize winning photographer. "He never brought it up." But there were many times I looked over his shoulder in the darkroom, I was humbled by his passion for life, & inspired by the feelings in his photographs!
So Beware of "The Award Winning Wedding Photographer" ads. Great photo's were great photo's before the award. Look for magazine quality photography that is expressive & has feeling. Published work lends credibility. Ask to see other photographs, landscapes, commercial, journalistic assignments. A photographer's eye, (style) is sometimes easier to see in other examples of his work. The fuzzy portrait school is a whole different style than the photo- journalistic school. Look for a reoccurring style or theme.
The Contract: "A verbal contract is not worth the paper it is printed on!"
Sign a contract & make sure to read it completely. Ask the photographer to clarify any questionable parts. Make sure it spells out, hours of coverage, photo's included in your package, refunds for non-performance or errors, the date & time you are to start taking pictures & reprint prices. Be wary of "Prices subject to change with out notice." If his print prices are on a separate sheet have him, sign & date, what time frame those print prices are good for! A good studio survives on quality enlargements from happy customers. I do raise my prices from time to time, but always honor the price at the time they sign my contract. Even years down the road!
Shooting List: I use a photo selection list. It lets your photographer know what pictures you want & is in effect, what your are getting for your money. Include any special shots you would like to have taken. Grandma & Uncle Jim with the bride & groom. Try to limit the formal coverage & don't go overboard, as the real memories come from the candid shots. I like to have 2 hours at least, for formals before the ceremony. Also don't allow guests to take pictures during the formal shooting. This can be very distracting & even ruin some of the professionals pictures! Multiple flashes can over expose even a professional photographers film. It also robs them from sales, tell your guests to wait until the professional is done to take pictures.
Ask if the photographer is a full time professional. People do what they do best! Not just on the weekends. Generally, a photographer that spends his whole life making pictures, brings much more experience to the table than a weekend warrior.
Does he have a full time assistant, & how many years have they worked together. The pace of a wedding is breathtaking but fun! I use a Hasselblad Camera & Studio Strobe to shoot the in door formals. It takes us two fully loaded trips, just to carry the in equipment! I feel very Lucky. Jim has helped me with weddings for 10 years. He taught Photography at the Art Institute, & is without question, the very best assistant in Washington. In fact, is a much better photographer that 99% of the wedding photographers in Washington State. The stress level for an assistant is different. I think he just likes to see me work! Any way it is a real pleasure to have his kind of back up help. The Ultimate Pro!
Enthusiasm: Caring about people is a determining factor about how well the whole process will turn out. Referrals from family & friends, caterers & other professional wedding vendors are the best source, not fancy ad campaigns & an impressive booth at a bridal show. Look closely at his other wedding photo's. By looking at the expressions on faces, you can tell how well the bride, guests, & the photographer were getting along during the wedding!
A great photographer lives by his reputation & happy customers were my only advertising for 20 years. Look at the photos, not just the brochure. Great photos Speak out & they will touch you, & if you find the right photographer, you will remember them, & your day for the rest of your lifetime!
-- Joe
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