Choosing the Perfect Wedding Photographer for Your Big Day

Congratulations on your recent engagement! Before you're able to fully process the beautiful ring on your finger, everyone is going to be asking, "So when's the big day?" Once you choose a date and location, the next big thing to tackle is finding the perfect wedding photographer to capture your big day.

When it comes down to it, remember that wedding photographers come in all shapes and sizes. No two are the same. Your best friend may have had a "veteran" who just have to get that perfect pose for every picture. That doesn't mean you have to have the same! You're going to get a lot of opinions and unsolicited suggestions from family and friends, but first and foremost you need to remember that this is your big day. No one else's.

If you're a younger bride, you may find yourself frustrated that your mom has a strong preference for traditional photographers, rather than the hip, unconventional and modern trends that seem to be prevalent right now. Now, there's nothing wrong at all with a traditional approach, but thanks to this new age of digital photography, and resources like Pinterest, your options really are limitless. Let your mother know that just because you may have modern, or "unconventional" tastes, doesn't mean you're going to skip out on the traditional family shots and whatnot. Every good photographer is going to make sure you get these.

Choosing Your Photographer

So then, how do you go about finding the right photographer for your special day? What questions do you ask? Again, breathe and remember that this is your day, and your photographer is honored to play such an important role in it. Your photographer is there to cater to your needs. Consider the following four questions to help you figure out who will ultimately be capturing the magic of the day.

1. What's Your Style?

Traditionally, formal photographs were the go-to style. Nowadays, there is a strong preference for photojournalistic (or candid) photography. Do you lean more towards the romantic, posed shots popular on Pinterest? Or do you prefer something more candid, like your dad holding back his tears, your mom laughing with the wedding party, or the guests cutting a rug on the dancefloor? Once you determine the style of photography you want, you'll find that you can narrow your choices in photographers down significantly. You'll also find that many photographers are able and willing to tweak their style based on what you want.

What Is A Photo Composite?

What is a photo composite? The dictionary definition of a composite is

"com•pos•ite
[kuhm-poz-it] Show IPA adjective, noun, verb, com•pos•it•ed, com•pos•it•ing.
adjective

1.
made up of disparate or separate parts or elements; compound: a composite drawing; a composite philosophy."

In plain terms a photo composite is an image made up of more than one photo, the idea however is to make it look like it is one single photo and not a collection of images put together.

So why not just take a single photo then?

The reason for photographers creating photo composites is because it gives them such a broader range to work with. For instance a photographer could take a photograph of a model in a studio and then put her/him in any location in the world. Something which may not be possible if the photographer didn't have the budget to fly a whole creative team to another country. Another benefit of photographing a model separately to a location is, when photographing out on location it's impossible to get a broad range of tonality from detail in shadows and detail in highlights without taking multiple exposures. If you just took a single shot then something would have to be sacrificed, either your highlights would get blown out (no detail, just pure white), your shadows would be too dark almost black or you would have some details in both the shadow and highlights but it would look pretty flat overall.

So as I just mentioned you would have to take multiple exposures, now if you try to take a photograph 3 or more times with a model standing there, I guarantee that your model would have moved in each shot even if it's just millimeters. Therefore if you take your location shots first and then take photographs of your model you can composite them together later on during editing and have an image with an amazing range of tonality throughout. Just look at images by photographers such as Erik Almas, Joel Grimes or David Hill, all great photographers who create incredible photo composites. You may have seen their work before and just not realized their images were made up of composites. Creating photo composites can allow photographers to achieve results in their final image that may not otherwise be possible from just a single photo.

How To Improve The Quality Of Your Digital Photos

Camera Equipment can be pricey, especially if you are starting off in the photography business and trying to seriously get on your feet as a career. It's important to make sure you buy the right equipment. Be careful though, you can end up spending too much money on equipment that is no good for you and waste hundreds or thousands of dollars for no big difference in quality.

There is such a thing as being between good and bad. The important thing to remember is that blaming the equipment for bad photography can sometimes hold you back from advancing for a long time. There could be a countless amount of reasons why a shot turned out bad. It could be lighting, positioning of the camera or a setting on the equipment was off. A number of reasons why it could go wrong. It could be the equipment and if so hold off on buying new equipment until you figure out the reason why your camera is wrong for you. You must learn the difference between bad equipment and a bad photograph.

The best thing to do starting off in the industry is to make the best of what you have. Having a bad camera and learning to adapt to it and become the best you can be with it will really push your advancements in the future when you finally upgrade to new hardware. Be the best you can be.

Here are some tips on how to make the best quality photo with a good or bad camera.