When you look through Wedding Photography websites checking out prices, sometimes it can seem like photographers have it easy. They earn a thousand or more for a single day of work! Of course, this is far from the case. In reality a photographer will spend many hours working before, during and after the big day itself.
Before any shooting begins, your wedding photographer will sit down with you at a consultation and have a long discussion about what you want from your wedding pictures. He will discuss the overall feel with you, venue ideas and issues, and those special shots he absolutely MUST get on the day. Once these things have been decided, a good wedding photographer will visit the venue in advance whenever possible, to look at all the options for locations, lighting, and whether there is somewhere to shoot in case of rain. This visit will help him decide which equipment to bring and to make a plan for your wedding day.
On the wedding day itself, most likely your wedding photographer will be with you every step of the way - from the bride getting ready, rushing to the venue to take some shots of the groom and his best man waiting, then heading to get a few photos of the bride arriving. He will be focussed on you for the entire service, and then for the intensive photo shoot after the ceremony. He will likely carry on into the night, photographing those important memories that happen during the reception. Like your first dance, the wedding speeches, the cake, as well as you and your guests in candid moments. And he will do all of this while carrying 3 or 4 kilos in camera, lenses and equipment. Your photographer will be as exhausted at the end of your wedding day as you will be!
Of course, the next day is when the bulk of the work truly begins. Your wedding photographer will have in the area of 1000-2000 files to sort through, grade, and edit. This post-production process can take a week or more of long days and many hours of intensive labour. Just going through all those photos alone, to decide which shots are the very best and worthy of being processed into your treasured wedding memories, can take three or four hours, during which about 30% of the photos that are not technically perfect are weeded out. Those left are rated for quality and pleasing subject matter, and the files are further reduced until 200-300 photos of the best quality are left.
At this stage, a photographer's "other" great talent comes into play. Because it is not enough to have an artisitic eye and be able to take a great shot, though that certainly is part of it. A talented wedding photographer will be able to edit your photos to perfection, creating the perfect mood for your special photos. Images are cropped, altered to remove distractions, colours are tweaked for best effect, as well as many other small details. This precision work, spread over 300 photos, means many hours of hard work for your wedding photographer, who is always conscious that you want to see your wedding pictures as soon as possible.
Suddenly that thousand or more your wedding photographer is earning is spread over two weeks of hard work. There is no putting a price tag on true talent, and finding a wedding photographer that you trust to capture your most special day, but it does help to know where the money is going and that your wedding photographer is talented, well-trained, and above all, an artist.
Before any shooting begins, your wedding photographer will sit down with you at a consultation and have a long discussion about what you want from your wedding pictures. He will discuss the overall feel with you, venue ideas and issues, and those special shots he absolutely MUST get on the day. Once these things have been decided, a good wedding photographer will visit the venue in advance whenever possible, to look at all the options for locations, lighting, and whether there is somewhere to shoot in case of rain. This visit will help him decide which equipment to bring and to make a plan for your wedding day.
On the wedding day itself, most likely your wedding photographer will be with you every step of the way - from the bride getting ready, rushing to the venue to take some shots of the groom and his best man waiting, then heading to get a few photos of the bride arriving. He will be focussed on you for the entire service, and then for the intensive photo shoot after the ceremony. He will likely carry on into the night, photographing those important memories that happen during the reception. Like your first dance, the wedding speeches, the cake, as well as you and your guests in candid moments. And he will do all of this while carrying 3 or 4 kilos in camera, lenses and equipment. Your photographer will be as exhausted at the end of your wedding day as you will be!
Of course, the next day is when the bulk of the work truly begins. Your wedding photographer will have in the area of 1000-2000 files to sort through, grade, and edit. This post-production process can take a week or more of long days and many hours of intensive labour. Just going through all those photos alone, to decide which shots are the very best and worthy of being processed into your treasured wedding memories, can take three or four hours, during which about 30% of the photos that are not technically perfect are weeded out. Those left are rated for quality and pleasing subject matter, and the files are further reduced until 200-300 photos of the best quality are left.
At this stage, a photographer's "other" great talent comes into play. Because it is not enough to have an artisitic eye and be able to take a great shot, though that certainly is part of it. A talented wedding photographer will be able to edit your photos to perfection, creating the perfect mood for your special photos. Images are cropped, altered to remove distractions, colours are tweaked for best effect, as well as many other small details. This precision work, spread over 300 photos, means many hours of hard work for your wedding photographer, who is always conscious that you want to see your wedding pictures as soon as possible.
Suddenly that thousand or more your wedding photographer is earning is spread over two weeks of hard work. There is no putting a price tag on true talent, and finding a wedding photographer that you trust to capture your most special day, but it does help to know where the money is going and that your wedding photographer is talented, well-trained, and above all, an artist.
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