a hard decision for me...

Tia · Mar 18, 2007

sorry this isnt completely related but surely someone can see where I'm coming from...

I'm a new-to-the-scene photographer.... getting married in September....

How the hell do I choose a photographer for my wedding!!???

I'm finding it impossible for me to be happy with the photographer/y at the price that I can afford (unfortunately, not much

) without being overly picky. I'm not a wedding photographer myself, so I dont know the rules of thumb or whatever but what is it that I should really be looking out for, the real important stuff that people might oversee, regardless of price??

Also, some do film and others do digital. What's really best? (editing or no editing, I dont really care, its the quality I'm after.)

Peanuts · Mar 18, 2007

I would recommend checking out www.wpja.org. Their price range may extend beyond what you can afford, but it might give you some ideas of what you are looking for.

A great way to get a quality photographer for less is to check out your local art college or photography institute. Their will be students who are in the process of being trained and are needing experience. It is unlikely you will have results identical to that of the quality on WPJA, but it will in all likelihood beat having Uncle Joe with his brand new camera shooting off a few

Regarding film or digital - I wouldn't be too concerned about that. Choose the photographer by the quality of their portfolio, they will likely be most comfortable with the medium they are using.

Hopefully that helps some

Hopefully a wedding photographer will pop on with some better advice

Tia · Mar 18, 2007

thanks for your help, much appreciated. Unfortunately that site wasnt very helpful. It only had one photographer in my area and they were out of our budget.

if I sent a link to a place that we were interested in working with, could you offer some opinions? Its from a team of photographers, so each one is different. They select the right photographer for you that suits your personal style and we havent met them yet.

I want to know what to look out for. Whats good, whats bad, unreasonable, a rip off etc. Also, anything extra I should enquire about?

THORHAMMER · Mar 18, 2007

when you say you are a new to the area photographer, do you mean professionally?

Tia · Mar 18, 2007

ive been doing photography at a studio, being trained and putting together a portfolio doing glamour and model portfolios for the past 6 months. done previous training back in school. yeah, i guess professionally, but not doing weddings. Still got a long way before I consider it

THORHAMMER · Mar 19, 2007

Peanuts idea of checking out the portfolio is the best idea.

You understand first hand how much training and effort goes into making the magic happen, you either pay for it, or cut corners....

Id say you could probably negotiate with a nice but skilled photog to consider
the idea to shoot for the day and just pull out the best 200 shots total to

process... should save you hundreds or maybye more off your bill..

Besides that, I'd have to say pay what its worth youll have the pictures forever... the bill can be paid off within a few months

Big Mike · Mar 19, 2007

Welcome to the forum.

What I did, when I got married...was to hire a photographer who just took the shots and handed over the film. This left me with the rest of the process, getting it developed and digitally editing the shots. This was a lot cheaper than hiring someone to do the whole package.

Tia · Mar 19, 2007

thanks mike

pleasure to be here

how do you do that without looking like a bit of a cheapskate? (not implying you are of course

) I've seen instances where photographers will try and charge you an arm and a leg for the negatives because you own copyright. I want to make my own album and everything then I could edit the pics myself.

Ive been quoted AU$770 for a 3 hr session and about 6x4 150 prints and I get to keep the negatives. I like the photography a lot but I feel 3 hours isnt very long. Would it be reasonable to exchange the prints for an extra hour of photography and I do the rest myself?

Everything with 'wedding' printed on the same page seems to go up in price so quickly (understandably, screw up and you're stuffed). If only you could shoot your own wedding eh? lol

Flash Harry · Mar 19, 2007

As a wedding tog myself questions like this are baffling, at the end of the day, car hire = 2-400 quid, reception = thousands, band/disco = 100's and the only thing you get to keep for more than a couple of hours are the photographs, its amazing how many people want this service on the cheap. If your confident of your pp skills have your guests do the job and sort them out yourself, I have little sympathy as to the outcome

Big Mike · Mar 19, 2007

how do you do that without looking like a bit of a cheapskate?

That was common practice for the photographer I used. Same guy shot my sister-in-law's wedding. I'm not sure I would hire someone to just hand over the film, unless I was somewhat confident of their work.

If only you could shoot your own wedding eh?

I actually did a fair bit of shooting with my camera at my wedding. Some of the shots were indoors and he had set up some lights, he let me plug my camera into the lights and get shots of my wife etc. However, my wife said it would be a really short marriage if I had the camera around my neck all day :lol:

AprilRamone · Mar 19, 2007

Flash Harry said:
As a wedding tog myself questions like this are baffling, at the end of the day, car hire = 2-400 quid, reception = thousands, band/disco = 100's and the only thing you get to keep for more than a couple of hours are the photographs, its amazing how many people want this service on the cheap. If your confident of your pp skills have your guests do the job and sort them out yourself, I have little sympathy as to the outcome

I have to agree with Harry here. I'm always suprised by how much people will spend on the flowers and the band etc...but don't want to pay for good photography. Someone else here suggested that you may want to go for a student photographer to get a more creative eye with cheaper rates. It's not a bad suggestion, especially if you can get them to just hand over the files and you'll print and do your own processing. But, there is a reason why they are still a student or just getting started. And, the pictures will reflect this to an extent. Even if they do have a good eye.

It's probably just because I am a photographer myself, but I know that if I do ever get married, a BIG portion of the budget will be for the photographer. I'd much rather scrimp and try to get a cheaper deal on the other things in the wedding that just don't matter as much to me.

Good luck with your search!