Guest Posts
Jun 15th, 2008 by admin
I ncluded below are posts from other photographers who's comments I agree with 100%. I think they offer worthwhile and valuable information for those who are in the process of looking at photographers for a wedding or portraits.
From The Becker
"Digital Negatives"
The Becker Himself
Brides love me for this, but a lot of photographers don't. Of course, since I am primarily a wedding photographer, I am all about pleasing the brides. But I am also a "known figure" in the wedding photography community, so I want to make sure to explain my reasoning and perhaps try to justify why I do this.,
Back in the olden days (like in the 1990's), most traditional photographers would charge a relatively small fee to photograph a wedding. They would do their best to shoot great photos that people would in turn want to purchase. After the wedding was over, they switched hats and became a salesman (or woman). Their livelihood was dependent on how many 8x10's and 5x7's they sold. They would sell frames at a huge markups and employ high pressure tactics to upsell the wedding albums. They needed you to pay for the physical prints, frames or albums in order to make a living. The wouldn't even consider giving the negatives away since the negatives were the means to reproduction. Most never let you keep the proofs and they would stamp the word "PROOF" really big right on the front of the print so if you did try to illegally copy it, every one would know.
I do things a bit differently. I charge a higher fee upfront for my time and talent and make my living by taking wonderful photographs in a relaxed, comfortable fashion. I also pride myself on providing excellent customer service while delivering our amazing albums. Now I don't want to sound like I am bragging, but that is simply our goal that we strive for with each and every client. I am only a salesman once, during the initial meeting, and I don't rely on selling reprints online, or selling anything at all after the act to make a living. I am certainly not saying that we don't sell anything after the wedding, we just don't worry about having to make a sale. A lot of our clients are thrilled with the work we do, telling me "Becker, there are too many good pictures" and they choose to upgrade their albums, but we don't pressure them at all.
Most of our clients can see and appreciate the job we do in Photoshop , and are willing to pay a premium for the quality that we deliver. The online proofing also serves as a way to friends and family members to order images without hassling the newlyweds to do so. Some of our clients or their relatives do not want to pay the premium and that's one of the reasons we include the "dvd o' files" once the album is done. I don't want to nickel and dime my clients over the little things like 4x6's and 5x7's. I rather a client pay me a fair wage for my art, my passion and my heart while taking the images, and be a cool guy by delivering the files as a part of our service, in effort to get tons of referrals from each couple because they liked me and I was fair. I am at least giving every couple the option.
The reason a lot of photographers don't like this, is because they feel if they are they type to never release or perhaps even sell the files, it makes them look bad and less attractive to brides. News flash... it does! The world is changing because of digital. In the past, if a photographer gave up the negatives, the photographer had no means to reproduce the images anymore. Now with digital, even when I give a DVD of images to a client, I still have a copy for myself. Brides know this. They aren't stupid. Most of my clients still order tons of images from our online shopping cart because they want top quality, they upgrade their albums and they still want a copy of the files if nothing else... just to have them.
Note to Photographers: I don't want to tell you how to run your business, but I do want to remind you that the world is changing and you need to learn to adapt your business and give the brides what they want if you plan on making it. Always think win-win. Your clients win because they get what they want (the files) and you win because you have happy clients referring you to their friends (and if you do things right, you'll still get plenty of reprint orders because brides don't have time to make reprints for their friends and families just to save a few bucks).
And one more point for the brides to understand. Not all photographers keep control over the files because of the money issue. They aren't withholding the files from you because they want to make a fortune selling reprints. A good number of them don't want to give away the files because they are afraid that if you just take the images to Costco or Sam's Club, and they don't do a good job printing the files, it makes them look bad. I completely get this. I can't tell you how many times I've showed up at a wedding, and they bride's dad took a screen capture of one of my photos, enlarged it to a 5x7 on his computer, and printed it out on an inkjet printer so it looks all pixelated and crappy. It makes me so mad! Not because I am out the $25 bucks, but because all the guest that see the photo think I am a schmuck and don't know what I am doing. When we finally deliver the dvd of images (straight out of the camera, un-retouched, full resolution files) after the couple's album is complete, we warn them about going to a cheap labs and explain that the photos will most likely never look as good as if we put our TLC into the shot and have it printed at our professional lab. The bottom line is I like being fair and flexible and I like giving my clients the option, and I think that makes my services very attractive because they have a lot of value.
That's just my 50 cent!
From Grant Perry of grantdeb wedding photography
Grant Perry in person....almost
With the advent of digital photography and digital cameras, it seems everybody is now the "premier" wedding photographer in your area.
But how do you really know the photographer sitting across the table from you didn't just buy a Canon Rebel and a new camera bag and you are his very first real wedding?
Five absolutes when choosing your wedding photographer
by: Grant Perry - www.GrantDeb.com
So you're meeting your prospective wedding photographer for the first time. You found them on a Google search, and their site seems nice enough. But how do you really know they are the best for you?
The easiest answer is also the most ridiculous; in 30 initial minutes you can't. BUT ... there are a few things you can look for to become more comfortable with your decision.
1 Relationship - Relationship - Relationship The absolute most important aspect to you reaping the results you desire from your final wedding photography is that you fall in LOVE with your wedding photographer(s). And by LOVE I don't mean you'd ebay your rings, cancel your date and marry them - but I do mean you feel so comfortable that you'd be able to brag about them to your closest friends or have them over for dinner at your house.
A wedding photographer worth hiring doesn't take pictures, and that sounds totally weird, I know. A great wedding photographer isn't really a photographer at all but an artist who uses a camera and lens to paint and CAPTURE MOMENTS in digital files filled with emotion and passion. Their images - each and every one - CAPTURE a narrative or story that with one glance creates an emotion from the viewer; namely you. ANYBODY can take a picture, especially with the advances in today's geeky low-priced digital cameras. But only true wedding photography ARTISTS can capture your story with passion and emotion.
Someone who is bestowed such a precious and significant task as being your ONLY wedding photographer must be someone you absolutely love and admire. In fact, a true wedding photography artist will almost always be easy to be comfortable with because they themselves are depending on building a strong relationship with you so they may better understand what is important to your final outcome.
2 Passion Ask your prospective wedding photographer if they take their cameras with them to family birthday parties or if they shoot pictures of their niece's soccer games. Only someone passionate about their craft integrates that passion into their lives - and a great wedding photography artist always integrates their passion into their lives.
When you're sitting across the table from them, how do they make you feel? Are you getting excited about your day as they talk about their involvement? When they talk about their product, do they exhibit a kind of giddiness or are they just selling? What adjective comes to your mind to describe them if you were asked 5 minutes after you've left the appointment?
Passion HAS to at least be a likely adjective you could choose. If not? Run - do not walk - to the next photographer.
You see - any great wedding photography artist is in the "game" for more than just the coin. They are always - and I mean always - looking to become your wedding photographer because they are passionate about painting your special story with the lenses of their camera that tell the story through fine art photography. In fact, a passionate wedding photography artist will always be a remarkable artist.
3 No new stress - please! The wedding photographer sitting across the table from you has no idea what your plans are for your upcoming fairy-tale day. In fact, just because they've taken pictures for hundreds of brides before you, there are no other weddings even close in style or substance as yours, period.
If your prospective wedding photographer isn't asking the right questions of you, questions pertaining to your day, how YOU plan it to unfold, how many bridesmaids, groomsmen, the venue, is there going to be dancing, will your dad walk you down the aisle, who your maid-of-honor is and who she is to you ...
If they are insisting on showing you their previous work, and how awesome they are, and who they've photographed before ever asking about how YOU envision your day? RUN - do not walk - to the next prospective photographer.
The most counter-productive and stressful situation is to have your wedding photographer not clearly understand your time line. And the best scenario in this situation is to have a needy, whiney, and question ridden person running around taking pictures creating more stress. The worst scenario? They don't ask and subsequently don't GET the pictures you envisioned. In either scenario? Stress and disaster.
Actually, the absolute BEST scenario is a wedding photographer who sits across the table and interviews YOU. That's right, you've invited them to the table to choose them - but what you really want is someone who wants to work with you because you both click. Someone who asks you a bunch of questions, and diligently writes down YOUR answers about YOUR day as they interview YOU. Why? Because when they truly understand YOUR day, and how it will unfold, you have found someone who doesn't need to create stress on your day (or before), you've found someone capable of discovering and understanding what you want prior to your day. Someone who can click with you (and hopefully - FOR you - wink).
4. Show me your stuff More than likely, you've seen a lot of your prospective wedding photographer's work (and probably their best work) from their web site. And having a look at an album or prints or canvas or ... is a good thing too. But understand this, nothing they show you across the table is going to be what you get - ever. You are seeing a compilation of work from perhaps their best work, which is understandable. But even on a perfect day, no two weddings are the same, nor are any two wedding albums, or prints, or ... the same.
Obviously your wedding photographer needs to be able to nail their focus, and exposures, and all of those technical photography details in order to even be considered. But, going back to the number one "must" - other bride's relationships with your photographer have got to be great.
Ask your potential wedding photographer to give you a couple of brides you can contact. And when they provide those names, call those brides and ask one question; "What do you remember most about Photographer xx?" That's it! You'll get the whole story from that one question. And the best part? You'll also get your answer overall from that question.
5 It's gotta be fun Ask the wedding photographer this question; "So what do you do for fun?" Not that you need to care WHAT they do for fun - but you do care if they do anything that IS FUN.
Just because your wedding photographer will be working as a "vendor" on your awesome day does NOT mean they have to portray it as work. They have to have fun at it - and you've got to have fun at it - and that does NOT mean it's up to you to make it fun. THEY have to make it fun - the whole day. It may be 98 degrees in the shade or 2 below zero - but THEY have to be able to roll with the punches or change direction at any given time and still make it fun and stress-free for your entire party.
And there is really no way to know if that person you just met is that person other than to know they know how to have fun on their own, hence "So what do you do for fun?"
Fun = happy. Stress = ugly. Which do you choose?