|
|
| *SoulEyes Photography>>>Wedding Photographer |
Tips to not be scammed by photographers on wedding day? |
I have heard a few nightmare stories of people being ripped off with their wedding photos & have seen some myself that are way to dodgy for the price paid. Any ideas on questions to ask the potential photographer to get the best possible results? Any tips on how to get them to lower costs? Thanks :) Ok, as a model who has run into several "photographers" who really should be honest and call themselves "picture takers"... My personal advice (learned from mistakes, mostly): 1) Ask to see a set of pictures, unedited, from someone else's event. The photographer should be able to show you a contact sheet of how the images turned out before editing which will give you a GOOD idea of the consistency of their photographic quality. To me, this is very important. If I'm going to pay someone "good money" for images, I am going to make SURE that they don't have just the 10 best images from the past 10 YEARS on their portfolio (or that they aren't using someone elses images- which also happens)!! The black tux and white of a wedding gown are difficult for exposure, so take that into account when looking at "raw" images. If it is a new photographer who doesn't necessarily have wedding references, try looking them up on onemodelplace.com or modelmayhem and see if you can find them (many do TFP with models to get images in their portfolio- and then you can contact the models on their OMP page). Remember that references are often faked. They could have shot a wedding for their sister :-) Prints are often overpriced. Look up basic wholesale costs on backprint.com or online (even walmart.com) and come with those numbers when you meet. For a wedding, I would go with a photographer who shoots film, even if he also shoots digital or will shoot digital for your wedding. The reason for this is that photographers who learned on film ("old school") often have usually mastered the basics MUCH better than those who began with digital. Film is harder to fake and someone who learned by spending hundreds of dollars on bad negatives... well, I think it would make for a shorter learning curve and a higher percentage of good images! Student photographers who have gotten a BA degree in photography have film courses as requirements, so if you can't find an "old school" photog... consider someone with the investment and knowledge of a degree behind them (from an accredited university- not some questionable online course). Also, equippment. They should atleast have the professional lighting!! It's cheap to rent, and if someone can't invest in atleast a rental for good portable lighting... or if they don't know how to USE lighting (light meter, etc)... then I would run :) I know, this sounds tough on photographers... but there are way too many people out there calling themselves photographers and it is SO hard to tell with digital media and editing. As far as the pricing, come armed with a budget. Give them your "lowball" budget first and negotiate up from there. Don't sign anything until you've talked to a few other photographers. Ask photographers you meet with about eachother (it's worth a try, though I don't know how chatty they would be knowing you're planning a wedding- as a glamour model, photogs are usually protective enough to warn me away from scammers). Also, ask them about other photographers.... if a student is unobtrusive and doesn't get in the way or use flashes, can they also photograph the event? If so, finding a student to do your wedding for their portfolio and the experience would be a great way to get extra images for cheap/free :-) That's all I can think of at the moment. Hope this helps! Make sure you get first hand accounts from previous clients. See the results. Do you have friends who are happy with the photographer they used for their wedding? If so, look into that photographer. As far as price...always negotiate. |
Photography Categories--Copyright/IP Policy--Contact Webmaster |