As like other wedding work, photographs are not the thing that you can smell, or taste or hear, you really will not realize what you are getting until after the fact. You must carefully research and select the photographer who has the professional skills, personal demeanor and artistic style. These are the three important things that you should analyze while choosing the wedding photographer for your wedding.
Step 1: settle on the style
Before you start hunting for the photographer, first you need to decide which style of photography you prefer, this decision will help you to determine which kind of photographer you’ll need to shoot your wedding. You can select any following appeal,
wedding photography
wedding photography
Documentary: series of posed photos! Don’t you think this is the old and boring type of style? Documentary photography is the candid or spontaneous pictures of the people action and décor. These typical shots might include the lavish raw bar before the guest starts digging into it. It is the most beautiful moment to see you motley crew of cousins dancing on the wedding floor or you and your soul mate laughing with champagne in the hands, these are most beautiful and rare moments of wedding. With the pure photojournalistic photographer you will see people staring at the camera, these types of photos will capture the moments exactly as they happened and will tell the entire story of your wedding.
Beautiful Bridal Lehengas
Beautiful Bridal Lehengas
Portraiture: if you are thinking about the classic portraits for example like your parents wedding album you can choose the traditional photographer who are specialized in portraiture. These types of photos are the posed shots of the braid and groom with their family and friends in front of the various backdrops. Am not telling you that here in this category you will not find a room for creativity. The photographers will pose the subjects in most traditional spots and in formal poses like standing with the group together. While the other photographer will take the portraiture further into creative realm with dramatic composition like sitting on the lounge chair at their hotel reception or couple holding hands and walking on the middle of the roads with mountains as backdrop of standing near the water fountain etc.
beautiful wedding photography
bride by Ian Taylor
Fine art: this is very similar to the documentary photography but this style gives great artistic license to the photographer to combine their point of view and style in your photographs. This shot reflects the photographer’s reality. These types of photographs are very dramatic and look gorgeous but they look as though they were shot on the film with the grainier, more muted appearance and dreamier. In these types of photographs the couple is in the focus and the background will appear blurring. Motion in this photograph also looks very natural.
Edgy-bold: this photography style is an offshoot of the fine art and it is marked by creativity, tilted angles also called as “Dutch angles” and unconventional framing. Instead of the straight on shot of couple exchanging the vows at alter this photo look tilted with the subject like an altar arrangement or a candle at the foreground. Many of the wedding photographers can do the blend of portraiture and the documentary styles shots and also do the mix of black and white and the color images. Apart from everything if you have any special style of photography make sure to focus on the photographer who are specialized in that particular style.
Step 2: Do homework
You start your search by reading the reviews from the recent brides and by browsing the hundreds of the local websites. You must carefully review the websites of the potential photographers and also check the blogs to see the photos of the other weddings shot by the photographer, this will give you idea about the styles adopted by the photographer. The design of the website will give you the idea about the photographer’s personality and the sensibility.
Underwater Wedding Photographs
romantic Underwater Wedding Photographs
Step 3: set up interviews
You cannot make decision just by seeing the looks alone you must meet the photographer in personal, see their sites and enquire about the fees and all the details you need and check whether they are in your ballpark range. If the photographer is already booked for the wedding date see whether they have associates or can recommend other photographer for you to take the similar style as you wish.
40 Beautiful Brides Photographs
Step4: see few old projects of the photographer
Do not make decision only based on the gallery highlights of the photographer, the photographers show the prospective clients portfolio of their best pictures from different weddings, so you will have chance to see best out of best from the photographer. Ask him three or four full galleries from the real wedding projects completed by him and see the standard of his work.
Contemporary Photography by Dmitry Podgorny
Step5: review albums with critical eye
While you start reviewing the photographers album look for the important moments that you want to capture for your wedding. See whether they capture the photos of the couple when they look into their each eye for the first time. Look at the crispness and thoughtful at the images and also about the good lighting.
Additional tips
- It is important to make sure that your personality meshes up with the photographer
- Compare the packages offered by different photographers and select one
- Conform the photographer
- Ask the photographer about your rights
- Finally finish with post production details.