How Important Are Your Wedding Photographs?

Currently we are living in an unprecedented time in wedding photography, and there are some really great things about this new era of wedding photography, but there are also some really big concerns to consider when hiring a wedding photographer. 

Wedding photography prices are all over the place now more than ever, some photographers charge a few hundred dollars to photograph a wedding, then there are some who charge several thousand and include a beautiful album, and then there are those who charge a small fortune just to show up and photograph the wedding. So, how is one to choose a photographer to photograph your wedding day? How much should you really invest in your photography? 

Some couples may say hey with the camera technology that is available today, anyone can take great photographs right? Absolutely False! Photography is an art form, so most couples would would end up with poorly lit, poorly composed snapshots.

How important are your wedding photographs to you? Wedding photography is an art form, and purchasing a digital camera doesn’t make one a photographer, any more than purchasing paint and a paint brush makes one a great painter like a Rembrandt or a Picasso. Even the greatest camera is only as good at creating great images as skill of the photographer. Understanding composition, proper lighting, color harmony, the best angles, posing if needed, etc... are all skills that are important to creating beautiful images.

My advice for hiring a wedding photographer would be to hire someone who is able to capture images in the artistic style you like best, and not because of what they charge or even how famous they are. Many couples make the mistake of hiring based solely on what they perceive is a better value, and really regret not hiring the photographer who would have provided them with the artistic style that they really wanted. Then there are those who hire a photographer, because they believe that photographer is better solely due to how many times they have been published in magazines, again this is a mistake because just because someone has been published more, doesn't make them the best photographer for you. It really comes down to hiring based on the artistic style that you love.

So, what should you pay for your wedding photographs? This would depend upon how important your wedding photographs are to you. I can't tell you how much to pay for your wedding photographs, but I can say to be very careful about hiring a photographer who doesn't charge enough, because there probably is a reason for not charging a fair price for wedding photography. We invest nearly 40 hours of work just on post production of our weddings, so that the images are spectacular. Good photography and good enhancement is not GOOD ENOUGH for us, we want to go beyond the expectations of our clients, we want to provide spectacular quality images. Another factor that is often not considered is ability of the  photographer to tell the story of the wedding day through beautiful images, do the images capture the emotions, the relationships, the love, the excitement, but most importantly are they captured in a way that as a whole they tell the story of the wedding. This is a biggy in my opinion, and is often not even considered when hiring a photographer. I am totally hands off when it comes to the real moments during the wedding day, I want my couples to remember those moments, and not me interfering with those moments to quote "capture the perfect photograph", truth is there is no such thing as a perfect photograph, but there are perfect moments, and those are what I strive to capture. 

Just my two cents!