Selecting a Great Wedding Photographer
Before getting into the details of a photographer selection, let's have a clear understanding who he/she is, a great wedding photographer. Here is my defnition: A great wedding photographer dependably delivers an agreed-on amount of artisticallly and technically excellent work, without big interference with the festivities and in spite of any common contingencies.
Think of it as a chain that is only as strong as its weakest link. You can't say that equipment matters 33% and artistic skill 33% and reliability 33%, simply because if the camera fails and there's no backup, you'll have 0 - not 66%; same applies if the photographer can only produce artistically bland posed shots or fails to show up on time. Each of the factors matter 100% for achieving what you are after - which is a trasure chest of memories captured in a way that will allow you to vividly re-live that day every time you open it. The following sections will focus on the individual parts of this equation.
Equipment and Technical Skill
I am listing this section first because it can be described in concrete terms, helping in your initial selection. That said, it's not the camera or lens or flash that take great photos - it's the photographer. The photo equipment's job is not to ruin a perfect opportunity and to provide the photographer with broad, high quality options for his or her creative expression.
Question: What type of camera will you use to shoot my wedding?
Desired answer: A full-frame DSLR or a medium format digital back.
Why you care: The larger the sensor, the better the quality of the photos (sharpness, tonality, and so on), and the more the equipment costs.
Medium-format backs have the largest sensors but are rarely used at weddings as the cameras are very heavy and many do not offer autofocus. But the results, in the
right hands, can be gorgeous. A full-frame DSLR has a fairly large sensor same size as a frame of 35mm film - 24x36mm. This is the standard you should expect from
a high end or midrange wedding photographer. The next size down is the APS-C DSLR. The sensor is approximately half the area of the full-frame sensor. In good hands
it too can provide pretty good results, but other things being equal, the larger full-frame sensor is preferable. The next size down is the 4/3 (four-thirds) sensor.
It is frankly too small, and should be avoided.
Question: At what lens apertures do you shoot most wedding shots?
Desired answer: Mostly f/1.2 ... f/3.5
Why you care: Wide apertures cut down on background clutter, make flash shots look more natural, and make the main subject stand out / "pop" from the background.
This lends a 3-D feel to the photos and focuses the viewers' eyes on the main subject, that is you.
Look out: Some photographers would shoot at f/4 ... f/5.6 because it hides focusing errors and/or because it lets them use small, light, cheap zoom lenses.
Some will tell you that even pro lenses behave sharper if they are "stopped down" (i.e. a smaller than maximum aperture is dialed in). While that's technically
true and there's nothing wrong with stopping down just a little (i.e. using a f/1.4 lens at f/1.8 some of the time), the minor sharpness and contrast differences
matter less than the difference in photos' impact the large aperture brings.
Sometimes the photogs will claim they'll shoot at narrow apertures and then create the background blur artificially on a computer. This "happy hand s at home"
approach might be used to salvage an odd shot ruined by bad background, but beyond the first glance will usually reveal the resulting unnatural artifacts
(e.g. around hair and other fine detail that should stay sharp). It'll just look fake, because it is.
For your reference, here's a scale of widest apertures of lenses made to-date (starting with the widest). Note that the scale is non-linear. For instance, there's a huge difference in cost, weight (much of it is sheer glas weight) and results produced between f/1.4 and f/1.8 lenses. f/0.95 f/1.0 f/1.2 f/1.4 f/1.8 f/2.0 f/2.8 f/3.5 f/4.0 f/4.5 f/5.6 f/6.7 f/8
Question: Do you use a diffuser or a bouncer on your flash ? If so, how large is it ?
Desired answer: While bouncing a flash off the wall or ceiling will provide a broad, even illumination, it does not work well with very high cathedral ceilings or
where the ceiling is not a light neutral color. This is why it's great if the photographer has a diffuser or bouncer in his or her arsenal. Something 5" across or
bigger is nice. If they use multiple wireless flashes that's also very good.
Why you care: A large diffuser spreads flash power over a large surface area, resulting in a less harsh, more glamorous light. In the studio, photographers
even see fit to use diffusers or bouncers that measure feet across; obviously something attached to the handheld flash will measure in inches, but 5x6"
is better than 2x3". Using more than one flash can deliver a more sophisticated result, in skilled hands and with the right setup.
Question: Do you shoot raw or jpeg? Why? What software you use for RAW format import? What post-processing you do with the camera pictures?
Desired answer: You absolutely want them to shoot raw (i.e. camera-native, high dynamic range, sharper digital image format). And you want them to utilize
best practices to optimize sharpness and dynamic range, plus apply careful retouching to important shots where needed while mostly keeping the images natural.
Why you care: Even if you get jpegs in the end, you want them to shoot raw because this format captures more highlight and shadow detail ("dynamic range"), has a greater latitude for fine-tuning exposure
(overall brightness) and does not suffer from any compression artifacts like jpeg.
Look out: You want to watch the photographer's body language and tone here, because good digital photographers actually take pride in their "digital darkroom"
workflow and go to a great length to maximize quality of their work. They'll be happy you've asked about this and will go on and on. Some worse photographers will
shoot directly in jpeg (saving them a lot of time and memory cards at the cost of quality) and not bother processing any photos other than darkening something
they've clearly overexposed or lightening somethig they've underexposed.
Question: What ISO (sensitivity) do you use for outdoor shots? Indoor shots with flash? Indoor shots without flash? Why?
Desired answer: Outdoors, use camera-native ISO (typically 50...200). Indoors, 200...800 for most shots. A small number of low-key ambient shots can be shot with
higher ISO, but those should be the artistic exception not the norm.
Why you care: The lower this ISO number used, the better the quality (lower noise, better color tonality, sharper). While newer and higher end cameras cope with higher ISO better,
this benefit should go to capture shots that would otherwise be unattainable - as opposed to getting away with relaxed best practices.
Question: What resolution do you use?
Desired answer: Use camera-native resolution for all shots; their camera's resolution is in the range of 12...24 megapixels.
Why you care: Current pro digital cameras are 12...24 megapixels. Below 10 means their camera is old, from the era of growing pains of digital technoilogy.
Even consumer digicams are up to 14 megapixels now, and more does not always mean better on same-caliber cameras.
Look out: Some photographers may choose to shoot at lower than camera's designed full resolution, which makes the camera and computer work faster when
saving/processing the pix and saves them from buying more memory cards or more hard disk space. The consequence, of course, is you will get less quality than
you could have gotten.
Artistic Skill
Question: Can we see a couple of the finished albums from recent weddings?Desired answer: Absolutely!
Why you care: Any photographer can get lucky with a great shot once in a while, from which an impressive demo album or a web site can be compiled. What you are looking for is the ability to deliver a substantial body of consistently high quality work from a given recent wedding. This is why it is important to review the entire set of photographs from a couple of recent weddings or other events.
Organizational
Are we definitely getting you and not some other photographers from this outfit?I do not know many good wedding pros that are working in an office environment. Sometimes the larger firms will pull a bait and switch.
Are you a member of any professional associations?
Desired answer: Yes (specifics provided; capture them). Some organizations are based on merit; others, on just paying dues; and others are free. They all give you a measure of leverage if something goes wrong since
this is the community where the photographer would care about his/her image.
Will you bring backup equipment?
Of pro caliber equipment, portable strobes (flashes) are the most fragile. And of course they are expected to have multiple batteries and memory cards to cut reliance on power and computer.
A real pro will have a spare for virtually every piece he brings - i.e. no reliance on an individual camera body or lens.
What is your contingency plan should you wake up sick the morning of the wedding or your car breaks down, or otherwise not be able to make it?
Desired answer: Clearly, this is where a mere refund won't cut it. A responsible photographer is expected to have a support network on which he
/ she can count for emergency backup. Ideally, not all of them shoudl be working wedding pros, since they all tend to be busy on the same days (unless you get
married on a Monday :-)
What if the photos you take are lost due to equipment malfunction or accident or any other cause?
Desired answer: Again, this is where a promise of a refund won't cut it. A responsible photographer is expected to have invested in a
solid computer backup hardware / workflow / best practices, and be able to frankly and intelligently elaborate on the risks and what measures he / she has
in place to mitigate them.
Value
Can we get un-watermarked, full resolution digital images?Photographers are a conservativee bunch - many old-timers see album sales as their main product, and anything that threatens that is shunned. But the reality is that you want those pix for a facebook, for digital photo frames, and to put on a DVD to play on a TV as a slide show, etc. A reasonable photographer should be flexible and understanding - I am not saying they should give away their work for free. I am hwoever saying that the digital images should be a part of the agreed-on product package that you negotiate upfront. Some photographers will consider the digital files on an optical disk as just another product, and others will price it prohibitively as they fear you won't buy any albums. You can compromise and agree on low-res pix for facebook etc delivered right away, and delayed delivery of full res pix which do not threaten album sales since most occur shortly after the wedding.
What is the minimal number of quality images (well-exposed, in-focus, well-composed) that you expect to deliver?
Depending on the duration of the ceremony and the reception, there may be anywhere between 500 and 3000 images, but you should expect the photographer to be
confident to commit to deliver no less than a certain quantity of good shots.
What warranties do you provide? Do you have any warranty on photo albums?
Many wedding albums are very robustly made. They are also expensive, and you want reasonable protection in case the pages of the wedding album quickly begin
to delaminate or separate from the binding.