Professional Wedding Photographer Or Ask A Friend?

So he's popped the question, and you said yes. Sooner or later you will start to think about your wedding photos, and whether to hire a professional photographer or ask cousin Harry with the fancy camera to do it. Here I will try to give you a checklist of things to consider.

Whether you are paying for a professional or asking a friend to do it for free. Remember, whoever it is, he or she will only get one chance to get it right.

1. Ask to see a portfolio, even if it's an amateur photographer friend. You don't want to let someone loose on your wedding until you've seen examples of previous weddings they have shot as the main photographer.
   
   
2. Are they 100% confident in their work to give you want you want? Which of course depends on your expectations. So you need to decide what you want before hand.
   
   
3. Talk to them about what they will do on the day. This is particularly important if it is an amateur shooting your wedding, as it kick start their thinking process, making them start planning the day. If it is a professional, find out if his style of working is what you want.
   
   
4. Sign an agreement to say who gets what. Do you get an album, prints, what size digital files if any? Do they get paid, how much, do they want to use those images of your wedding?
   
   
5. Ask what happens if the photographer cannot turn up on the day, eg due to illness?
   
   
6. Do they have backup equipment. Cameras can fail, even a friend doing your photographs should at least borrow a spare camera. Insist they also have spare flashguns, batteries, memory cards.

Nowadays, it is quite hard to take a really poor photo, even a small compact camera on auto will product a half decent well focused image in most situations. But as the bride and groom, do you just want ok photos or do you think your big day deserves the very best photos? Of course, the answer is a personal one, people put difference emphasis on the photographs.

Having said it's hard to take a really poor photo, it does still happen. The pressure to perform in a fast moving wedding, equipments breaking down, guests misbehaving, dark venues, alcohol influence, unfamilar equipment can all lead to results that are worse than you would normally expect in an everyday situation. But of course, a wedding is not an everyday situation for most people. So be sure you choose someone who knows what they're doing.

Picture styles. A buzzword many photographers often uses is reportage. This to me is the same as documentary, which in their essence aims to capture the story of the day, from the bride and groom getting ready to the ceremony through to the first dance. When done properly can be a wonderful record of the day, but whilst it may sound just a matter of standing to one side and snap away, when done without proper planning the photos will just be a series of snapshots with no real artistic merit. A decent photographer will be able to envisage what will happen next, to find the perfect backdrop, to see a photo opportunity where most people can't, and to make the photos look better than reality.

With reportage or documentary styles, it is important for most people to still incoporate some group photos in the set, these can be formal with everyone carefully posed, or a more relaxed approach.

If you bear the above in mind when deciding on a photographer and go through the checks whether you're paying for a pro or asking a friend for free, then you are more likely to be happy with the results.

Written by Ray Ho, Greater Manchester wedding photographer