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1. General – What You Need to Know
Wedding Photography is one of the most important vendors you will hire for your wedding. Looking over potential wedding photographers can be a daunting task. Regardless of if you are hiring the BW Photography Studio Wedding Photography Team or another studio, we have created a list of 15 questions to help you find the perfect photographer for your wedding day.
As our Top Tip, Please reference this article on basic soft skills a wedding photographer needs here first if you haven’t already. “How Do I Choose a Wedding Photographer”
2. What is your primary style?
The first and foremost question is the style of photography that interests you. BW Photography Studio Wedding Photography is primarily photojournalists with hints of fashion and fine-art influenced wedding photography techniques. To find out more about our wedding photography style, check out our About Us page.
3. How many weddings have you shot, and have you shot ones similar to mine?
Basically this gets down to the experience your wedding photographer has in general. Years are not a good gauge of experience since some wedding photographers may work part time, and only shoot five weddings a year on weekends. Thus, maybe they have five years of experience, but they have only shot 5 weddings. Try and find a photographer that has shot at least 40 weddings.
4. How many times have you worked specifically as a wedding photographer?
Some photographers specialize in wedding photography and some are “one-stop-shop-photographers.” You would be better off looking for a photographer that specializes, not only in wedding photography but the style of wedding photography that you love the most.
5. How many other events will you photograph that weekend?
Larger studios with multiple master photographers (such as BW Photography Studio Wedding Photography) will often double and even triple book dates since we have the resources. However, smaller studios may plan multiple weddings on a weekend without having the resources. Imagine a studio with a single wedding photographer shooting 2-3 weddings on a weekend, the attention to the detail, and to the client, the service could suffer in these circumstances.
6. Will a contract of the services be provided? If so, can I get a copy?
Many wedding photography studios don’t create contracts for their wedding photography clients. You need to REQUIRE a contract from your photographer that details what services they will be providing, pricing, termination resolution terms, etc. Think of your contract as protecting you as well as the photographer. It is best to hire a photographer that will build a contract with you, and be wary of photographers that “don’t typically create contracts for clients.”
7. What happens if the photographer is ill?
Even though it is unlikely that the photographer gets ill on your wedding day, there is still a chance. It is crucial that the photography studio does something to take care of the situation in case of illness. BW Photography Studio Wedding Photography has Three equally skilled master photographers (Brad, Ashley, and William) that can take over in case someone is sick.
8. Do you have insurance?
Professional wedding photographers should have the proper insurance for their business. Insurance protects the photographer against equipment theft, but more importantly, it provides liability protection. If a wedding photographer does not have insurance, chances are they are new to the industry or are not taking their business seriously.
BW Photography Studio carries general business, equipment and liability insurance.
9. Does the package I am interested in include an assistant?
If your wedding has 50 or more guests, you should make sure you step up to a package that has an assistant photographer. There are many moments in which one single photographer cannot cover a wedding completely alone. For example: there is no way to capture your first kiss, and at the same time, turn around and get the tear in mother’s eye.
10. Can I choose a certain styles of post-production?
Post-production that the studio employs can change the overall look of your wedding photos. That’s assuming they actually post-produce your images. Be extremely careful, as many studios DON’T post-produce your images, rather they give them to you unfinished and straight from the camera. In this situation, you are not receiving a finished and professional product.
Unique to BW Photography Studio Wedding Photography is a Post Production Catalog. While we specialize in timeless post-production techniques, we allow each and every client to select which styles of post-production they like which we use to then post-produce their images.
11. Will you color correct my images?
Color correction should be part of the basic post-production, and it should be used on every single image. Many wedding photographers will NOT color correct any, or will only color correct “SELECT” images from your wedding. This means that you may have a lot of pictures where your skin tones are orange, yellow, red or even blue.
BW Photography Studio Wedding Photography color corrects every single image from your wedding to make sure each and every image is a professional quality product.
12. What kind of equipment do you use? Do you have backups?
BW Photography Studio uses top quality camera bodies (5D Mark IV) along with the finest quality lenses from Canon and Tamron. While wedding photographers don’t necessarily need the best of the best, it is important to have a good set of equipment. A good wedding photographer should always have a backup camera and lens, just in case.
13. Should my event last longer than scheduled, will you stay? Is there an extra charge?
A wedding photographer’s policy on overages is critical for you to know. Imagine the surprise when your wedding photographer asks for an additional $1,000 before they release your pictures to you. Even worse, you don’t want your wedding photographer to just pack up and leave when their time is up.
14. What attire will the photographer and their assistants wear?
A wedding photographer should not be a distraction. It’s important for the photographer to blend in as much as possible. Furthermore, for religious or cultural ceremonies, there may be certain colors that are considered taboo. Make sure your photographers will be dressed appropriately for the occasion. Typical BW Photography Studio wedding photography attire is black suit pants with a black polo or dress shirt. Some of our photographers may wear a White Button up with Tie and vest. We dress in black because we want to go unnoticed by the clients and guests so that we can capture the event as photojournalists.
15. How long after the event will the proofs, album, etc be ready?
Every wedding photography studio varies in the time it takes to produce and deliver your pictures. For the Studios that do not do any post production or color correction, they may try to entice you by saying your photos will be ready within the week, or even the next day. However, most studios that develop and produce their images will take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months.
BW Photography Studio Wedding Photography has developed a consistent production schedule in order to deliver an amazing product in an exceptionally quick manner. This schedule can be seen below:
3-4 Weeks for Engagement, Family, Newborn, Anniversary Photography Sessions.
7-8 Weeks for Weddings and Receptions.