If you are planning your wedding and are yet to book your wedding photographer, then this is an article you are most definitely going to want to read.
As part of our Festival Brides Love series where we feature the awesome members of our wedding supplier directory, we asked the brilliant Liam Smith Photography to draw on his extensive experience of capturing weddings and offer our readers advice on how to choose their wedding photographer. I know from experience of planning my own wedding that the pressure you feel to find the right photographer is very real. I spent months procrastinating on who too choose – it is such an important decision and understandably, I wanted to make the right choice. In this article Liam offers such brilliant in depth guidance on what to look for and what to think about when researching your wedding photographer. From using the right key words on google to paying close attention to how a photographer’s images make you feel. It may sound like obvious stuff but when you delve into this article I guarantee you will read something that you haven’t thought of before.
So without further ado, allow me to hand you over to Liam Smith with his excellent guide on how to choose a wedding photographer.
How to choose a wedding photographer…
Top tips on how to choose your wedding photographer…
- Know your fine art from your reportage
- Look at lots of complete weddings on the blog, not just portfolios
- Meet in person and establish trust
- Make sure you like them!
- Understand what’s included in each package
It’s an age old question, how do you choose a wedding photographer?
What are the hallmarks of good photography? Who decides what is good photography? It’s entirely subjective, so who is the arbiter of good taste?
Ultimately, it’s you. You like what you like, and it’s important to acknowledge that. If the pictures resonate with you and make you feel something, then you’ve found the photographer for you.
Hopefully within this article I can help you on your journey and provide answers to key questions you’ve already thought of, and maybe some you haven’t.
What does good wedding photography look like to me?
I think one of the most important factors in wedding photography is that the clients recognise themselves in the images.
What do I mean by recognise?
I mean the photographs should capture who you are as individuals. They shouldn’t be carbon copies of pictures from another wedding. If your photographer asks you to run through a series of poses that they’ve used at every single wedding they have ever photographed, it shows nothing of who you are, it shows you doing a pose that someone told you to do.
Imagine if a photographer says ‘now touch foreheads’ and you think to yourself, ‘when in the history of our relationship have we ever touched foreheads?’ The final image depicts you doing a pose, not behaving how you would normally, there’s no celebration of your uniqueness.
It’s why it’s so important to meet with and like your photographer. You’ll be in a vulnerable state, potentially highly emotional, so much so that it may take you by surprise.
If that happens, you want to be in the company of someone you trust, someone who you can see is taking your picture, but you’re ok with it. It’s not a case of, ‘the photographer is taking our picture’, more ‘hey, it’s Liam, I know him, he’s a cool cat, so I can relax and be me’. If you can’t relax it will show in the pictures, you wont feel comfortable on the day and you won’t be happy with the results.
I’m Liam, a wedding photographer in London. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world documenting weddings. I’ve pretty much seen it all. Bouncy castles, men in thongs, 4am yoga…it’s been a wild ride. On my adventures I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks and hopefully this article can get you moving in the right direction and save you a few hours of googling by giving you a solid base of information to launch from.
What are the different photography styles available and what do they mean?
Understanding the different terminology used when describing wedding photography styles is integral to narrowing down your searches.
Know your fine art from your reportage
What are these words I keep reading like photo-journalistic or fine art?
What do these words really mean?
There are essentially two types of wedding photographs; posed and unposed.
This is reductive of me, but otherwise we’ll be here for days trying to define each style individually, and I’m all about simplicity.
Unposed can be referred to as candid, photo-journalistic, reportage or documentary. They share many similarities – capturing people unawares, naturally interacting, documenting real moments.
Posed images; fine art, lifestyle, fashion or traditional. These images are typically fashion and style focussed as well as being orchestrated by the photographer.
Can there be overlap between the styles?
Of course, but it’s common for photographers to heavily weight their work in one direction. Look at their portfolio, which way is it most heavily weighted? That’s what the photographer wants you to see.
Why is this important to know?
It’s easy for people within the wedding industry to forget that there is a world outside it. As the client, you are entering into this world with often little background knowledge. Knowing the terminology that is used within the industry is the key to unlocking what you really want.
Documentary/Photojournalism/Candid/Reportage…
Documentary wedding photography (sometimes called photojournalism) refers to capturing natural moments, no staging or posing.
As you can imagine from journalism part of the name, it stems from a desire to tell a story within one picture. The masters of the genre can capture multiple narratives happening all within one scene. The focus is on people, simply doing what they do.
True documentary images have no interference from the photographer. I read an advice article from a well known bridal magazine which stated ‘why not go for a walk with you and your bridesmaids at sunset to get some great candid pictures…’ this isn’t what documentary is about, thats just posing whilst walking.
No doubt you can get great photographs from working like this, but if you don’t want any staging at all, make sure you ask the photographers on your short list how they captured certain images in their portfolios.
Grandma falls over; click. Grooms scrunched up crying face; click. This is the real documentary. Pure emotions. No pretending, just patiently waiting to create artwork out of serendipitous moments. Timing is everything working in this manner. You have to be in the mix, switched on and up close and personal with people.
Documentary photographers will also take couple portraits and group pictures though, so don’t worry. For a deep dive into this, I’ve written in more detail about documentary wedding photography here
Fine Art/Lifestyle/Fashion…
Fine art wedding photography focuses on recording your day in the most beautiful and elegant way possible.
Think pastel colours, clean whites, couple portraits and details. Stunning pictures that would look amazing on the mantelpiece or printed on textured paper in an album.
Fine art wedding photographers are masters of light and styling. Being able to find soft, even light is a must and a keen eye to arrange details to capture that editorial feel is a sure sign of a good fine art photographer.
The main man of the fine art world, the OG, inventor of the genre is Jose Villa, his work is exceptional…
“For me, it is all about making something beautiful, even if I have to insert myself into the situation. Ultimately, my goal is to craft vibrant, energetic, fine art images that are as unique as the people in the photographs.”
Jose Villa
Fine art wedding photography is typically orchestrated, so make sure you allow the photographer plenty of time on the day to work their magic. Couple photographs can take an hour or maybe more, make sure you have a conversation before the take to allow adequate time.
N.B Fine art wedding photographers often take photographs using old school film (Jose Villa does for example) – expect their fees to be considerably higher if they do.
Before you hit Google, the lovely Laura has already curated a list of vendors she knows and trusts, so why not head over to the directory to see if your perfect match is only a click away.
Expanding the search, what should I Google?
It is entirely reductive to boil down wedding photography styles to only these two, I admit that, but you have to start somewhere. You may find yourself two hours deep into googling and looking for ‘alternative wedding photographers’ or ‘quirky wedding photographers’. Who knows. At least with this as a starting point, you’ll hone in on your perfect match that little bit faster.
Documentary/Photojournalism/Candid wedding photography – Story telling, documenting not posing, people focused.
Fine art/Lifestyle wedding photography – Beautiful images, posing where necessary, lots of details.
You’ve got a rough idea of the style you like, what next?
Look at photographers blog posts – not their portfolios. The Blog is your friend. Blog posts show you what the final product will look like.
A portfolio is going to highlight the very best of the photographers work and show you what they really want to capture. That’s great for getting a snapshot, but if you’re considering booking them, you need to know what you’re getting as a final product.
Maybe they can take a stunning portrait, and the details look magazine ready, but what about the ceremony or the getting ready when the light isn’t ideal? The blog will show you what you’re really investing in, seeing coverage from start to finish is a must.
Should I meet my wedding photographer before booking?
In short. Yes.
For me, this is the second most important factor after the images themselves when deciding on who should photograph your wedding.
Why?
As Maya Angelou put it…
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
If your photographer makes you feel uncomfortable in front of the camera or is just generally difficult to deal with, you will never, ever forget how they made you feel. When you look at the images in future, it won’t matter how good the picture is, you won’t be able to separate the image from how you felt at the time.
I always say at client meetings that they have to like me. Liking someone after knowing them for only an hour may sound silly, but your gut instinct is rarely wrong. If the vibe isn’t right, go with someone else.
In order for you to relax, you need to like the person who will be spending the day with you. Of course they’re there to work and won’t be partying and socialising the whole time, but if you don’t feel like you can trust them or be vulnerable in their presence, then ultimately you won’t relax, they won’t get the pictures you want, and everybody loses.
Knowing when it’s not a right fit is an integral part of the process. A wedding is a collaboration, you have to be able to work together. Even if you choose a documentary wedding photographer who won’t be posing you, you still need to trust them. There may be a moment happening right in front of you and the photographer is nowhere to be seen. If you can’t trust that they are off somewhere else capturing an equally important picture, then you won’t relax and you won’t enjoy your day to it’s fullest.
Meet them (or at least Skype). It’s one of the best investments you’ll make in your wedding.
What else do you need to know?
You’ve met the person, you like them, you trust them, the packages are within budget…what’s left?
How many hours is enough?
This depends entirely upon what you would like. As a rule of thumb though, ten hours should be on your radar as an average. This will allow for coverage of some morning prep through to the evening festivities.
Do you need a wedding album?
My advice is that you can always purchase a book from your photographer at a later date, always prioritise getting the pictures in the bag, you can always save up for a book at a later date and put it together for your first anniversary for example. I think it’s a better investment to opt for a second photographer first so you’ve got more pictures to work with.
Do you need an engagement shoot?
I think the question should be asking yourself is ‘why do you want an engagement shoot?’
If the answer is ‘to get used to the camera’, then it may be worth considering the reality of that for a moment. If you prefer documentary style images, there’s no need to pose, so no need to get used to the camera. Saying that, as above, I am a proponent of meeting your photographer first, so why not go for a drink instead of a shoot.
Documentary photographers are skilled at being unobtrusive and capturing people off guard. Practising poses will not put you or the photographer at ease as you’re both engaged in an activity that neither of you want.
IF however, you love fine art style images, then engagement shoots are perfect. It gives you a chance to understand your best body position for posed photographs and gives you an idea of likely how long your posed pictures will take on the day. These images can then also be used for save the dates, invitations or as part of a guest book.
Do you need two photographers?
My rule of thumb for this is based upon the number of guests. If you’re having over a hundred guests, then you should consider it more seriously. I say this because there is no guarantee of getting a photograph of every single guest even at the best of times (some people hide, seriously, I’ve seen it). The more guests you have, the more it makes sense to have two photographers to capture all that’s going on.
The big wins with two photographers occur during morning prep – we can cover both the bride and groom, the ceremony – it’s often impractical to move, and the speeches – often very emotional, you don’t want distractions of people moving in front of you.
How many pictures do we get?
Most photographers will give you an idea of the minimum you should expect, but each person runs their businesses differently so there’s no stock answer. Top tip, if you are quoted 500, is that 500 unique images or 250 in colour and the same 250 in black and white? Numbers aren’t hugely important, quality should be the focus, so head to the blog to see what a full days coverage looks like.
Can we print the photographs?
Again, varies hugely. If printing rights aren’t included in your package, expect to be paying around £10 for a 10×8, professional lab prints are expensive.
How long after the wedding will the pictures be ready?
I’ve seen it vary from two weeks to six months, best ask.
A few other FAQ’s…
Does the photographer need to see the venue before the day?
Again, a case by case scenario. For destination weddings for example, it’s impractical, so you’d intend to arrive at least one day before the wedding to meet up and walk around the location. In the event of a wedding closer to home, it’s not essential as a skilled photographer can work anywhere. If you’re hiring a fine art style photographer, a venue reccy will be higher on the list of priorities, if you’re going to pose the pictures, why not know the locations beforehand so there’s no guessing on the day? That being said, light is always changing and a skilled practitioner knows what they’re looking for. If you’ve hired a documentary style photographer, it’s less of a priority as they will be working with how things look ‘as is’ anyway, so no need to worry. Either way if you’re going to meet in person anyway to get to know them better, why not arrange it at the venue?
What storage medium are the pictures provided on?
This is an interesting one and worth having a think about. I was inspired to write this point when i read an out of date post on another site talking about CD’s…
Storage mediums go out of date. I’ve recently moved my delivery of all the images to online only as the final gallery can be absolutely massive. Each photograph is approximately 30mb, and I often deliver about 800 of them, so that’s approx 23GB.
It’s worth asking how long they are stored online for. I think this also makes the case for getting an album printed. Even if you make one yourself, at least you’ve got a hard copy.
Think about the future too. When you print a photograph for someone and give it to them, they cherish it. It has it’s own unique spot in the living room or in an album (you know the old style flippy one your parents have). Imagine fast forwarding ten years and I’ve moved to Costa Rica to grow Coffee and have done away with modern technology, and you’ve lost your login details. Back them up and print some!
Deposit amount?
Assume it will be between a third and a half of the stated package to be on the safe side.
Phew! Hopefully this has answered some questions and helped narrow down the search criteria. As always, if you need help, just ask! And if you’ve made it this far, go and have a cup of tea, you’ve earned it.
Liam’s Gallery…
For more information on the brilliant Liam Smith, please visit his listing in our Festival Wedding Directory: Liam Smith Photography | Documentary Wedding Photography
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