We completely understand that choosing your wedding photographer is a huge decision. You need to have a good connection with your photographer and have confidence in them that they will perform the best work possible. However, aside from the level of comfort you have with a photographer as a person, there are a lot of aspects to a photographer as a professional that many couples would not know to consider unless they’re familiar with the photography industry. Here are a few questions to ask potential wedding photographers that we wish more clients would ask us, as well as some ideal answers. Want to know exactly how we address these questions? We are happy to provide all of OUR answers and solutions to these questions at your consultation with us!
Why did you become a wedding photographer?
>Weddings are a lot of work- as a photographer, a wedding day involves sometimes 10 straight hours on our feet, and about 40-50 hours of processing after the wedding. A candidate who gives you an answer having to do with the flexible hours or the good pay should be avoided. You want a photographer on your wedding day that takes pleasure in shooting weddings specifically, someone who became a wedding photographer because they truly desire to provide clients with beautiful exquisite images and memories from their wedding day.
How do you back up your image files?
>A wise photographer backs up their image files in every way possible to ensure that, after ANY scenario, the images from your wedding will not be lost. What you need to hear from a photographer is that they will back up your wedding day images on some sort of back-up hard-drive AND that they’ll have your files stored somewhere off-site. A back-up hard-drive is necessary to ensure that the files will be safe if harm were to come to the photographer’s main hard-drive. However, if the photographer’s house were to burn down, the files would need to be stored somewhere off-site to ensure their safety.
Do you shoot in RAW or JPEG?
>RAW and JPEG are two of the main types of files that professional cameras can be set to store images. If your prospective photographer answers that they shoot only in JPEG, you will likely get images that have very inconsistent and inaccurate color. Only RAW files can allow lighting, color and white-balance corrections.
Do you offer professionally made wedding albums?
>This is a surprisingly important question because most album companies only work directly with professional photographers. If a beautiful hard-page wedding album is something you think you might want (even long in the future) make sure that your photographer offers them.
Do you have an emergency-plan or back-up plan in case something happens to you that would/could prevent you from shooting my wedding?
>We actually know of a photographer who died in an accident with several weddings booked over the several months that followed his death. Thankfully this photographer had previously arranged with a colleague that, if something were to happen to him, his colleague would then fulfill his pre-arranged wedding photography agreements. We’ve also heard several horror-stories of things like this happening to photographers who did not have a back-up plan and no one showed up to shoot their clients’ wedding. Also ask your prospective photographer if they have an emergency-plan in case something happens to them on their way to the wedding, like a car accident or car trouble.
How many photographers will physically be present at my wedding?
>It is highly recommended that at least two photographers are present to shoot your wedding. A good wedding photographer should offer an option for one or more assistant(s) and will most likely offer different numbers of photographers with different packages. Across the board, the higher the number of assistants your photographer provides, the more desirable the outcome will be. Things like the kiss at the ceremony, the bouquet-toss etc…, moments that happen quickly and just can’t be staged or done-over will have a better chance of being captured. You will also end up with images taken from multiple angles with more assistant photographers; this means more coverage and ultimately more images of your wedding day. If a photographer has no assistant, this is less desirable. A ceremony alone can require a photographer to literally be in 2 places at once. For instance, who’s going to capture the grooms face as he sees his bride for the first time while the photographer is getting pictures of the bride coming down the aisle? Your photographer must provide an option for at least 1 assistant to be present at your event.
Are you a part-time or full-time photographer?
>We’ve come across many part-time photographers who are extremely talented. And we’ve seen some full-time photographers who produce some pretty mediocre work. What’s really important is that their style is consistent AND good. If they demonstrate only one of those things or the other, RUN! Generally, photographers only like to display their best photos; poor photographers may only get 1 or 2 good shots out of a whole wedding. Ask your prospective photographer if you can view all of the images from one or more of their most recent weddings. That way you’ll be able to see whether they consistently document an entire wedding day well. This will also reveal whether or not they display a consistent editing/processing style that is timeless, a style you are still going to love in 20, 30, 80 years.
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