This is the blog that I’ve been waiting to write for some time now because of my passion for what I do. When I meet someone and they ask what I do for a crust. I reply wedding photographer and the conversation that follows always is an interesting one to say the least. I’ve heard things such as “why do wedding photographers charge so much? It’s easy, turn up and take a few pictures for a couple of hours and you’re done, charge a few grand easy money”. This blog discusses the steps involved in interacting with your wedding photographer, what to expect and how this will benefit you on this once in a lifetime event.
What wedding guests see on the wedding day and what goes on behind the scenes to get to that point are often worlds apart. There are numerous elements that go into running a successful wedding photography business which sometimes get overlooked. Elements such as marketing, pre and post wedding consultations, the countless hours editing and designing albums. Then finally organising the production of prints and albums which can be extremely time consuming. Here’s the process from start to finish that you will take with your wedding photographer.
The first meeting
After the initial phone call or email a meeting is organised with the bride and groom so you can sit down to discuss your wedding. This is a really great way to see if you’re a match personality wise. The more you interact and meet with your photographer before the day the better the connection, which really shows in the pictures. This appointment can last up to an hour.
The final pre wedding interview
Fast forward to a few weeks before the wedding and you have your final pre wedding consultation. Here you will discuss timing and logistics of the wedding day to minimise travel time and to make sure that you get the photos you want. This will allow you to spend the night with your nearest and dearest rather than spend the day stressing about when and where everything is going to happen. This appointment can also take up to an hour as there’s quite a bit of detail to go through.
The wedding day
The wedding day arrives and the day starts around midday or 1pm at the groom’s house and usually finishes at about 11pm if you have booked your photographer for the full day. At every wedding your photographer should use two Canon camera’s with flashes, spare cards and batteries. It not only acts as a backup should one camera fail but also allows them to use two different lens creating different effects. I could think of nothing worse than having a body die during a wedding. It’s a simple safety precaution for clients so there’s piece of mind and they know that they will receive their beautiful wedding pictures. Most professional camera equipment easily adds up to between 10 to 20 thousand dollars worth of gear.
After the wedding
After the wedding day the real work begins backing up, editing, culling and sorting through thousands of images. This in itself can take anywhere from 6 to 10 hours depending on the wedding and just how well your photographers workflow is. However spending the time defiantly can change a great wedding photo into an amazing piece of wall art and who doesn’t want one of their own wedding pictures on the wall as a timeless piece of art!
Here’s an example of an image straight out of camera, the RAW file unedited and the finished product and I hope your agree that the difference is amazing.
This is the raw unedited image straight out of camera
This is the final processed image. Here I corrected exposure, colour balance and smoothed grain. I then removed the cctv camera and light reflection as it was distracting my eye away from the bride. I then added a blur filter to make the bride pop.
The wedding album
Receiving your images after the wedding can take between 2-3 weeks to finalise. The hard part then comes for you choosing the images for your wedding album. It may sound easy but culling down from 500-800 images to 80 images can be somewhat challenging.
Once you return your selected images to your photographer for your wedding album the album design can begin. This process again can take anywhere from 3 to 12 hours depending on design elements and the amount of sides in the album. Once the design has been finalised it’s off to the printers and this can vary depending on the album supplier anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks on average to receive a finished album.
I hope this helps you understand what really happens during the process of working with your wedding photographer in the preparation of your wedding.
Are you paying too much for your wedding photography? | Southern Highlands wedding photographer
