Archive for the 'Full Articles' Category

WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get (or Getting What You Expect) – Some Thoughts On Selecting a Wedding Photographer.

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WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) is something we photographers talk about all the time when we’re printing our photographs.  We want our prints to precisely match what we see on our computer screens.  Obviously.  We want to get what we expect.  And with wedding photography, so do you.

So how does that work exactly, when you hire a photographer—or, now that I think about it, when you hire any vendor or artist?  Well … we do what we do: what you see is what you get.  So when you’re thinking about hiring someone, see enough of her work that you have a really good feel for what she does—a representative sample.  This could include images on a website or blog, some albums, and perhaps a client gallery or run of proofs.  By that point, you should feel like you “get” the scope and style of her work.  If you like what you see in that photographer’s portfolio, chances are that you’ll like what she can do for you.  But if you don’t, or if you yearn for something altogether different, no amount of direction, coaching, or unrealistic expectation is going to change how that photographer works or sees.  You aren’t going to get something different.

♥

Two stories to highlight this point:

Once I was at a meeting with a potential client.  She kept pulling photographs out of my portfolio, dropping them on the coffee table, and pounding her forefinger on the photos,¹ asking over and over again, “Can you do this? Can you take photos like this?”  I was boggled.  What a query!  I had, of course, taken all the photographs in question, and there were dozens of them.  She had a whole, ever-growing pile of photographs she wondered if I could take.  What she was really asking, of course, was whether I not I could take photos like that for her. But still.  It’s ridiculous.

In another meeting, a potential client asked me, no less than twice, if I could take photographs like the ones taken by another well-known local photography studio.  Um … why not just hire them? (I hope they did!  Otherwise, they were surely and sorely disappointed.)

Neither one of these potential clients understood the principle of WYSIWYG. And I’m sure it’ll be no surprise to know that neither one of them hired me.  Nor will it be much of a revelation to know that I’m relieved they didn’t.

♥

So … hire a photographer whose work makes your heart go pitter-pat.  Someone whose eye you trust.  And then let her do her thing.  (Why in the world would you want to interfere with what you trust is going to be marvelous?)

photo: Gia Canali

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¹ Yes, yes, she was smudging them to death.

Published on January 27, 2010 in Full Articles, Photography and Planning. 2 Comments

Decoding Wedding Photography Lingo, Part V: Post-Processing :: Editing, Retouching, and Color-Correction

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Nowadays, there’s so much being said about photography and digital photography and digital wedding photography, that it sometimes makes my head spin.  And I’m on the inside!  So I imagine it’s quite intimidating to feel like you have a handle on what you are actually getting when you invest in professional wedding photography.  The advent of digital photography has changed not only how we photograph weddings, but also how we talk about photographing weddings—and especially how we talk about “post-processing” them.  In the olden days, I’d photograph a wedding, then wait with breath held and fingers crossed for the film and proofs to come back, toss out the few proofs I didn’t really like, and give them to the client.  Now, it’s much, much more involved.  There’s a workflow.  And although I don’t want to get into the whole long-drawn-out process right now, I do want to highlight some of the lingo that goes along with it.

**Other photographers may use these same words differently, so if you’re unsure about what any one photographer means, just ask!!

I. Editing

Editing is probably the most-used and least-reliably-defined word to describe post-processing.  For one thing, “editing” can encompass the entire process of getting images ready for a client.  When photographers say they’re “editing” a wedding, they could mean that they’re cutting out all the crummy images, or they could mean that they are color-correcting individual images or they could mean they are retouching individual images.  Or they could mean some combination of all of the above.

Personally, I like to stick to using these words how we used them when we wrote essays in grade school.  Editing meant organizing the whole piece, keeping the good stuff and cutting what didn’t work.  (Retouching is more like revising, but we’ll get to that in a minute).   So when I say editing, I mean organizing the images into categories that make sense, keeping the good images, and ditching the ones that don’t work (like accidental shots or ones where your eyes are closed).

II. Retouching

Retouching is kind of like revising an image.  The photographer alters the image in the interest of improving it.  Usually, we think of cosmetic retouching, like removing blemishes or whitening teeth (no, I’m not kidding!), but clients sometimes request other sorts of retouching, like removing extraneous people or shadows … or “exit” signs from the background of photos.¹  We do not retouch images as a matter of course, only by client request.  We’re all for beauty, but we’re also all for reality, however “imperfect,” being the beautiful thing.

III. Color-correcting

The great thing about digital photography is its flexibility and creative freedom.  I love it just as much as the next girl.  However, I do wish all the livelong day that I could have the creative control I get from my digital cameras with the picture perfect color I get straight-from-the-camera with film.  It’s just not possible, at least not yet.  I find images that come straight from a digital camera to be a bit dull.  They need a little color-correcting, a little pizazz, some finessing.  Some photographers really style their images a lot, others hardly at all, according to their own personal aesthetics.  There are no strict rules about color-correcting.  But images that are called color-corrected should look good and be print-ready.   We color-correct every image we show and give our clients.  As much as you want to look good, we want you to look good!

photos: Gia Canali

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¹ Better yet, don’t plan the events of your reception in front of an “exit” sign.  Toasts are usually the culprit and it’s so easy to avoid it’s almost laughable.  But lots and lots of folks have their toasts in front of an exit sign anyway.  It baffles me.

Published on January 14, 2010 in Full Articles and Photography. 0 Comments

Collaborating With Your Photographer, 108: What You’re Really Paying For (And Waiting For!) With Your Wedding Album Purchase

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{pictured: Leather Craftsmen Fine Art Book. click any image to enlarge}

Although I’m not surprised that folks balk at album prices—most people don’t know what goes into making them (!)—a wedding album is really essential, the finishing point of your investment in wedding photography.

I. The Labor

I like to think about the album making process as a labor of love.  It is certainly laborious—even a simple album can sometimes run upwards of thirty hours of labor.  Custom books can amount to much, much more work.  So what goes into making an album that can add up to so much time? Well, here goes:

  1. Design time.
    This is a big one.  Perhaps it’s the big one.  Album design is a back and forth process—and sometimes a long one—a collaboration between a photographer and her clients.  Often, there are meetings.  There is always time laying the album out.  An opportunity for client feedback.  Changes to the design. Another opportunity for client feed back and/or a final approval.  Design time is all about decisions: decisions about which album(s) to use, which images will and won’t be included, how to tell the story of the wedding day and best flatter the bride and groom; decisions about making the best overall presentation, including choosing cover treatments (leather vs suede vs book cloth), cover photos, deciding on stamping or imprinting …
  2. Editing images.
    Once the images are chosen, and the client has “signed off” on the album design, we begin preparing images to print.  Final color corrections need to be made.  We always take a good second look at images that will be included in a client’s album.  Retouching issues need to be addressed.  The images need to be sized and cropped (if the album’s matted) or inserted into an overall layout (if the album is flush-mounted).
  3. Ordering prints from the lab.
    This seems pretty self-explanatory, but this often takes an hour or two depending on the album type.
  4. Checking quality.
    When the prints come back from the lab, we check every single print to make sure it’s up to snuff.  If we don’t like a print, we have to send it back to the lab.
  5. Assembling the prints & order forms.
    Not my favorite part, for sure.  I check everything about a zillion times.  Prints have to be put in numerical and size order and sometimes hand-trimmed.  I always reference emails and notes to make sure I get everything filled in properly on the order form.
  6. Shipping or dropping the order off at the album bindery.
  7. Checking quality again.
  8. Shipping or dropping the album off to the client.  (Phew!)

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II. The Prints

A gorgeous album requires gorgeous and expertly-made photographic prints.

III. The Binding (Album Assembly)

This is actually part materials cost and part labor cost.   The album cover and its pages are certainly a substantial cost in and of themselves, but binding is all about the artisan who actually makes the book.  Handmade albums are more laborious and therefore more costly.

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So why is it worth it?

So, although the price of making a wedding album seems high, there is very little markup in the end.  Not only are the materials quite costly, but album-making is also quite labor-intensive—for both the artisans involved and for the photographer.  Ultimately,  your wedding album becomes the official record of your wedding day.  We work tirelessly to ensure that our clients get albums that will become heirlooms.  That’s the goal.  Frankly, your grandkids aren’t going to be interested in a digital photo file.  And neither are your grandparents for that matter.  The albums available to consumers don’t even compare to those available to professional photographers.  And getting expert professional help with the design, printing, and binding is invaluable.  Not to mention that not doing it yourself is pretty grand.  I own my negatives from my wedding (which was back in the all-film days).  I am not sure when I’ll get around to making an album for us … and I think it’s the labor time that’s my hangup (that and the five hundred or so dollars I’d need to spend on prints).

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Those of you who are working on albums might also want to check out these posts:

Collaborating With Your Photographer, 107: Choosing The Most Stellar Photographs For Your Wedding Album

Decoding Wedding Photography Lingo, IV: Wedding Albums

photos: Gia Canali

Published on December 14, 2009 in Full Articles, Photography and Planning. 0 Comments

Making A Proper Wedding Photography Inquiry

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I get dozens and dozens of inquiries for wedding photography at this time of year, nearly all of them by email; like most wedding photographers, I have an email query form on my website.  And although the form suggests the basic information I need to send couples correct pricing, folks still foil themselves (and me!) and I think giving a few notes toward good and sensible wedding photography inquiries will be helpful all around.  Couples want and deserve to get the right information up front.

I. The Essentials

Your Date

Finding out the photographer’s availability is the first step in any wedding photography inquiry.  Although much of the time we book six months to a year out, sometimes we’re still available for last-minute bookings just weeks before an event.

A side note: until a couple has booked their venue(s), their date is really still up in the air.   My advice is not to book any vendors until you’ve secured a venue and therefore, a date.  If your date switches, your photographer and other vendors may already be booked.

Your Venue(s). Be Specific.

Some people might interpret Catalina Island as a wedding location in “Los Angeles” or “Southern California.”  You don’t want to find out there are extra travel fees or mileage charges because you weren’t detailed enough when you inquired.

Your Email Address

Of course.

Your Phone Number & A Good Time to Call.

I can’t tell you how many people leave their phone number off the query form.  Not only is it sort of obnoxious (you ostensibly want me to photograph this intimate event in your life, but can’t be bothered to talk to me), it’s not sensible.  If the photographer’s email response ends up in your junk mail—which is likely since lots of spam filters pick up the word “photography”—you’ll never know they even wrote you back.  I know this happens because I sometimes get multiple inquiries from the same people who didn’t leave their phone number either time.  Or my emails to them will bounce back, but I’ll be helpless to make another contact.  We read phone number omissions as folks who are just fishing for our prices.

II. The Nearly Essentials

The Number of Guests You’re Planning For and Any Other Pertinent Details.

This actually isn’t a big deal for me most of the time.  A wedding with 400 guests isn’t that much different than a wedding with 150 guests.  For the most part.  But if you are planning a wedding on a Thursday morning with ten people, your photographer may have special small-wedding/elopement or off-peak packages available.

A Personal Note.

I’m pretty sure most photographers feel as I do on the following:  we don’t need to be flattered (although we don’t mind it either!), but we do want to know you are interested in our work specifically, not that you’re just looking to hire a—any—wedding photographer.  Writing a note that says “prices and packages please” sends a very different message than “I love your work and hope you can photograph my wedding.”

♥

All of the above items comprise a proper wedding photography inquiry.  As much as you might not want to hear it, all inquiries aren’t created equally.  We’re more serious about serious inquiries—or rather, ones that seem to take our work more seriously.  If you decide to call instead of email, good for you!  We love to have personal contact right from the get-go.  Just be prepared with same information.

For those of you who are at other points in the process of hiring a wedding photographer, you might want to read our general overview {here}.

photo: Gia Canali

Published on November 18, 2009 in Full Articles, Photography and Planning. 1 Comment

Collaborating With Your Photographer, 107: Choosing The Most Stellar Photographs For Your Wedding Album

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Choosing photographs for a finished wedding album is a big (permanent!) commitment.  It can be really daunting for some folks—and couples tend to get paralyzed more at this step in the wedding photography than at any other.   I know lots of couples are at some point in the album design process at this time of year.  Either they’re going over the final touches, are trying to amend a design proposal, or are desperately trying to narrow their favorites down to a manageable number of images.  Some are just starting to think about choosing an album, and might want to read {this} post about album lingo.  For those of you wading through piles of proofs and clicking your way through online galleries, there are—fortunately—a number of things you can do to make the process quite a bit more efficient.  Starting with good album image choices is essential.

*** Most Importantly***

1.  Don’t overthink things.

Your first instincts are probably right.  (We remind ourselves of this all the time when we’re editing).  The photographs you loved most the first time you saw your photos are a good place to start.

2. Choose the photographs you love most—rather than the ones you feel obligated to include.

Although it’s important to have an overall sense of narrative, when illustrating the story of your wedding day, don’t feel like you need to include every single event/moment/important person.

3.  If you can meet with your photographer and work on the design together, do it!

Not only is it much easier to share ideas and make decisions quickly, but your photographer will really understand the album you’ve chosen (how it works in terms of layout and design, cropping, and color-correction; which images might work better than others, and more).  Although you and your photographer may have slightly different opinions (two people always do!), having an expert opinion always helps!  You and your spouse should both be present for this meeting.

Bringing your proofs (if you got any) can also be really helpful.  I am super tactile myself, so I like sorting proofs into piles and spreading out favorites on a big table.  Lots of photographers do all their design on a computer and that can work great, too.

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Regarding What To Choose

Try to choose images that illustrate your entire day—beginning, middle, and end:

If you can, include you and your spouse getting ready, a few portraits of the two of you, photographs with your family and wedding party, the ceremony (don’t forget your processional and recessional), first dances, cake cutting, and the party.  We love to end our albums on a romantic nighttime portrait if we can, but each and every album is different.

Choose only the most essential group photographs:

Group photographs are mostly for family history purposes.  You don’t need all of them in the album.  One nice photograph of the whole family–perhaps on each side is all you really need.  When we have clients who are really trying to stick to a certain number of photographs because of budget or album restrictions, we suggest including either one photograph of the whole bridal party or a photograph of the bride and her attendants and a photograph of the groom and his.

Include your guests in the photos!

We like to be able to show who came out and celebrated you two tying the knot!  Years later, you’ll want to know who was there!  (And a whole book of just the bride and groom won’t do that!)  I can’t tell you how often people emphasize that they really want great photographs of their guests and then don’t include them in the album.

Most people prioritize including family over friends in their choices.  Whatever you choose should be strong photographically, though.

Include some of the details!

It’s important to remember how it felt to be at your wedding, not just what happened.  And how it looked is a big part of that.  Honestly, who hasn’t obsessed over at least a few details in the planning process?  You want evidence of all that hard work!

We like to include good overall images of the ceremony and reception decor (with or without people in them), floral arrangements and bouquets, the cake or desserts, etc.  Anything wonderful and inspiring that lends a sense of place or shows the uniqueness of your event.

Regarding cover photographs:

A lot of albums feature one (or more) special photographs on the cover.  Good cover photographs usually have very simple compositions and read well small.  Mood-setting images (details, flowers, etc.) and portraits usually work well.  A striking image you can think of right now without looking through all your proofs is probably fantastic.

Regarding retouching and image editing: Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace!

We all live in the age of digital imaging. So there’s no reason I can think of that we shouldn’t indulge our vanity just a teeny bit.  I, for one, had the worst acne outbreak in my whole life the week of my wedding and if I ever get around to making a wedding album, I will certainly be retouching a few zits out of the photos.  My point is that if you don’t like something like a zit or a bruise on your shin (apparently there are lots of tomboy brides!) or the way your dress lays across your back in a photo from the ceremony, or the fact that there’s a random person in the background of a photo, you should speak up!  Don’t assume your photographer will retouch it if you don’t say anything.  Don’t assume it is or isn’t an easy fix.  Do expect to pay for any revisions.  If you get a quote, at least you can make an educated decision about retouching.

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In The End

Wedding albums are custom made to order and are generally unalterable and non-returnable once they go to print.  You need to be thrilled with whatever is going to be in the album.  If something drives you nuts or disappoints you now, chances are that it will still have that effect years from now.  Trust me.  So I say again, speak now or forever hold your peace!

♥

Photographers and newlyweds who’ve been through the process: am I forgetting anything? I want to keep the dialogue on album-making open!

Published on November 14, 2009 in Full Articles and Photography. 3 Comments

Collaborating With Your Photographer, 106: Getting Great Group Photos (Without Losing Your Mind!)

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Nobody wants to spend their entire wedding day, standing around, lining up for photos.  This is why group photos, generally, have a bad rap.  But they are an important part of family history, and of your history.  And done right, they will take up little of your lovely wedding day.  There are two parts to non-insanity-inducing group photos—planning them properly with your photographer, and helping your photographer execute them properly.

♥ Planning Ahead ♥

I. Make a List. Be Reasonable.

Stick to essential group combinations!

Include everybody’s names so the photographer’s assistant (rather than you!) can call people into each shot.  Your photographer probably has a starter list.  Mine is very simple: bride + groom with immediate family, parents, and grandparents on each side.  Siblings, if applicable.  Extended family, if desired and feasible.

*Keep in mind that, for the most part, nobody really cares who else is in the photo besides you and your beloved.  So zillions of permutations of each group really aren’t necessary.

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Why the Big Fat Group Photos Take Longer:

Brides and grooms (or their parents!) sometimes suggest gigantic group photographs thinking they won’t take any longer than photographs of three or four people.  The truth is that while the actual shooting of those group photographs doesn’t take any more time, the wrangling of big groups of people takes much, much longer.  Even once we’ve rounded up all the right people (and found whichever straying uncle or brother is at the bar or in the bathroom), we need to arrange them, making sure we can see each person’s face.  It just takes longer. Much longer.

Why You Should Notify Your Photographer of Any Sensitive Family Situations (deaths, divorces, etc.):

We want to address your friends and family properly during the photographs.  And we want to arrange them properly.  At one of the first weddings I ever photographed, I was trying to arrange a photograph with the parents of the groom next to each other and they wouldn’t move in to the photograph.  When I made a little joking comment, I was told that they were divorced.  And it became very apparent to me at that point that the divorce was unfriendly.  I was mortified.  And I’m sure they were, too.  Luckily, it’s easy to avoid that sort of awkwardness with some very simple communication ahead of time.

As of Your Wedding Day, You and Your Spouse Are Each Other’s Family.

It borders on absurd to make this point but I’m doing so because I often get requests for photos without one of the spouses—bride with bride’s immediate family (without groom).  And vice versa. Nobody orders that photo.  Nobody wants it afterwards.  And were someone in your family to order the photo and hang it on the mantel, sans the spouse, wouldn’t you feel weird about it?

Bride + mom or bride + dad or groom + either one of his parents are totally fine.  It’s just the groups that are awfully strange.

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Don’t Forget Your Siblings!

My favorite photograph at my twin sister, Meghan’s wedding, aside from the one where she’s flipping me/the camera off, is the one of her and her husband and Matt (then my boyfriend) and me.  It’s the first photograph of the four of us.  Matt and I are looking a little rough (I was wearing pants(!), which I never wear to weddings anymore, and I had altitude sickness).  But we are happy and we are together.  Which is kind of the whole point, as I see it.

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II.  If You Want Something Funky or Fun, You’ll Need More Time.

Most brides and grooms want to speed through the group photographs—line-em-up-and-move-em-out style.  Others want something more stylized—the bridal party in an unusual location, the family organized on multiple levels, some seated some standing, near a unique couch, for instance.  These photographs can be so visually interesting, but they do take longer to set up (which is a deterrent for many folks).  If you’re hoping for something other than the lineup, so to speak, tell your photographer, so both of you can plan for it.

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III. Make Call Times.  Lie if Necessary.

I can’t believe I almost forgot this all-important tip!  You don’t need people waiting longer than necessary, but you do want them to be there when you need them for photographs.  You can almost always get away with separate call times for the bridal party and the family.  If your family and friends tend to be late, buffer the call time.  If they miss it, you may not get a chance for photographs with them later on.

♥ On Your Wedding Day ♥

IV. Let Your Photographer Choose a Spot With Open Shade.  Period.

This is really a non-negotiable for me.  Maybe you will luck out and it’ll be overcast or (better yet) foggy.  But if not, no view or nifty background is ever worth a bad exposure.  Technically speaking—and, friends, your grandmothers will agree—the priority is to see everybody’s faces and especially their eyes.  A big, bright sunny spot will give everybody what we photographers call raccoon eyes.  Dappled shade is just as bad.  And most views won’t even show anyway, unless it’s the same amount and kind of light on the faces of the people and on the background.

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V. Be Sure You’re Looking On Camera During Formal Group Photos.

There’s a lot going on. I know.  And I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s worth reiterating.  Look on camera during the formal group photos. (You don’t have to look on camera during informal group photos, though).

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I Heart Chaotic Group Photos. Don’t We All?

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I think … I’ve said this before, too.  I’m sure it’s a throwback to the 8000 times my mom and grandmother had my siblings and cousins and me pose for them, on the brink of chaos (picture Meg and me posing primly, with our younger brother and sister in our laps, both crying their little heads off).  In fact, now that I think of it, my love of the chaotic group photo probably goes back as far as my Aunt Paula and Uncle Tom’s wedding.  Meghan and I were four, and we were the flower girls, and God bless the poor photographer.  Meghan kept running straight at him every time he tried taking a photo of the wedding party.  In the official photo, it looks just how I remember it: like she’s bull-running him!

I think we all expect those nice give-to-grandma group photos, but hope for something a little more spontaneous, humorous, and vibrant for ourselves.  So set yourself up for the right conditions: only the closest friends and family, beautiful light, and enough time.  Glasses of champagne, all around, don’t hurt either.

♥

photographs: Gia Canali

Published on October 17, 2009 in Full Articles, Photography and Planning. 2 Comments

Collaborating With Your Photographer, 105: Stretching Your Photography Budget As Far As It Will {Possibly} Go

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{me, with one of my cameras, though obviously not at a wedding}

There’s (apparently!) a recession on and although I do think things are getting better in the world, we’ve been getting lots of questions behind the scenes from folks who are trying to figure out how to afford wedding photography.  So I thought it might be a good time for us to offer some hazardously honest suggestions to all our blog readers.  Firstly, I’m interpreting “stretching your photography budget as far as it can possibly go” to mean that you want the most bang for your buck, as they say—the most extraordinary photographs you can have (and lots of them) for the money you can spend.  To that end, I am also going to assume that you plan to book your top-choice photographer, someone whose eye you really trust, whose images make your heart go pitter-pat.  (That’s bang for your buck!)

I. Optimize Your Location and Itinerary.

The easiest way to get more photography for your money is to do some simple planning of your wedding day early on, perhaps even before you book a photographer.  Plan your day cleverly.  I’d rather see couples book the photographer of their dreams, and then purposely design a wedding day that can be well-covered with fewer hours of photography if necessary, than to book a photographer they don’t love for ten hours.

If at all possible, plan to have your whole wedding day (getting ready, ceremony, and reception) happen at one location you adore.  Not only will the photographs be in your preferred setting (which equals big photographic impact—more on location planning soon!), but you also won’t be wasting valuable shooting time with transportation time.  If driving is a must, try to minimize it.

I have seen strategically-planned normal-sized wedding days (at one location) that were well-covered in seven hours.  It can be done.  Your photographer may have some good ideas of how to do this.  And your caterer or coordinator may have more.  When my husband and I were married, our caterer suggested heavily weighting the “events” of the reception to the beginning of the evening.  Couples who do this could potentially shave quite a bit off the time they need to book a photographer for, and/or fit more of the reception’s must-have events into the time that they can afford to book.  (For my part, I just really enjoyed being free to enjoy the party.)

II. Optimize Your Wedding Date, if you can.

Another budget-stretching option is to consider having your wedding at an off-time—like maybe on an off-day.  Here in California that means on a Monday through Thursday, and mostly lots of lovely Thursdays.  Weekday events tend to be much smaller, since they are attended only by those who love you enough to take the day off from work (and who you love enough that you don’t mind asking them to take time off work!).  Most destination weddings require guests to take a few days off from work anyway, so why not wed on a Wednesday?!

I’m not sure if there really is an off-season here in California (maybe that’s a myth?), but keep in mind that holiday dates like Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day weekends, as well as all the fall and winter holidays, or funky dates like 08.08.08, are likely to be less-negotiable than your average sunny summer weekend date.  All your vendors (and not just your photographer) will likely have lots of leads on those dates.

III. It’s Okay to Respectfully Negotiate.

Even if your photographer’s prices are firm, their package inclusions may be flexible.  Or they may offer a la carte pricing or have other ways of helping their clients afford the photography they want them to have.  Particularly if the photographer has a good feeling that the client really “gets” their work and would be good to work with.  (What I’m really saying here, and I mean to say it as nicely as possible, is that it’s really, truly, and totally essential to be perfectly lovely—and not insulting, presumptuous, obnoxious, or otherwise patronizing or mean).  Just remember: people help people they like.¹

IV.  If Possible, Worry About The Wedding Album and Other Big Ticket Tangible Items Later.

If you are right on the bubble of being able to afford your favorite photographer and haven’t yet booked, you may want to see if it’s possible to purchase your album and other big ticket tangible items later.  We consider the wedding album the culmination of our clients’ investment (you definitely want one!) and accordingly we don’t ever let our clients walk away empty-handed.  And of course, photographers all run their studios very differently, but some kind of negotiation may be possible.  There may be a trade-off, such as not getting your negatives until after your album is complete, but it might be totally worth it just to get the images.  I always tell people that once they have the images, they can worry about what to do with them later.²  Conversely, if someone else is paying and/or if the client can afford an album from the get-go, it is almost always worth budgeting for it from the beginning.

V. See If Your Wedding Photographer Can Set Up A Gift Registry For You.

The advent of online proofing and ordering seems to have made photography gift registry possibilities much more accessible for couples and guests alike.  We made a gift registry for some clients this summer and their guests gifted them over $1600, which they used toward vintage processes and album add-ons.  I was wowed!

♥

In the end, do what you need to do.  You have to anyway.  Ask for help if you need it.  Ask for reality checks from your friends, family, planner, and photographer if you need it.  I think photography is one of those things that you won’t ever regret investing in.  The photographs become memento, become official record, and ultimately become family heirloom.  I know I’m a photographer saying that!  But I think most of us wedding photographers have a really good idea of the wedding photography we want to give our clients.³  And we are perfectly happy to help people figure out how to get the most, best photography they can get.  That’s our job!

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¹ Yep, I know: folks reading advice rarely need it themselves.

² As long as it’s not, as it is in my case, six years later, with no intention of working on the images any time soon!

³ Sigh.  In a perfect world, you’d all have buckets of money for wedding photography, no figuring required …

Published on August 11, 2009 in Full Articles, Photography, Real Weddings and Trends. 0 Comments

We Heart Nighttime Portraits

I love nighttime portraits.  Love them.  I love the carefree spirit nighttime portraits inspire, particularly on these long summer nights.  Also, the images are usually sensual, moody, and show the teeniest bit of motion—three things I like in photographs taken at anytime.  I decided to assemble some of my many favorites, a few of which are already on our main {website} and elsewhere on the blog, in the hopes that they’ll encourage you and your beloved to sneak away from your own reception—if only for a moment—in the hopes of something electric.  What better way to end your wedding album?!

{click any image to enlarge}

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More blue hour, than golden hour …

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Sepia-tone or color work equally well.

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Kiss, kiss, kiss …

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The weather was actually freezing cold at this wedding, day and night.  We did almost all the daytime formal portraits and their nighttime portraits under the ambient warmth of this twinkle-lit tree.  Though the setting was the same, the images vary considerably because of the light.

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It was as hard for Julia and Bob to want to leave the dance floor, as it was for anyone else, but I’m so happy they made time to.  In fact, that’s always how I feel: that nighttime portraits might seem like kind of a hassle, but they are always incredibly worth it.  There’s a certain release once you’ve come to the end of the scheduled events.  You’re married.  You’ve cut cake. You’ve danced your first dance.  You’ve danced maybe twenty dances.  And for the first time, it’s just you and your love.  This happy realization reads quite well on camera.  So be spontaneous!  Be adventurous!  And leave yourself open to the idea of a tiny escape.

photos: Gia Canali

Published on July 28, 2009 in Full Articles, Inspiration, Photography, Planning and Real Weddings. 3 Comments