7 Tips for Hiring a Good Wedding Photographer
With the rising income levels, weddings are no longer just an occasion calling for a huge celebration in a family. The stakes are high and the spending is huge. No matter how much you may shell out on a particular wedding outfit, the venue, décor or even the food; there is only one thing, which will preserve this moment for eternity-it is Photography.
While every one knows the role photography plays in sealing those priceless moments forever, yet not all with best intent end up having the best pictures.
So what are the hurdles people face in hiring a good photographer and more importantly, who in their eyes is a good photographer?
We are sure that most people begin their search journey for a good wedding photographer by visiting either photographers’ aggregators or most commonly googling for wedding photographers.
But a critical question to ask here is–who is a good photographer for you?
Are you looking for some one who has an eye for creativity and strikes a cord with you through his work and fits your budget or do you want some one who is an SEO expert or a brilliant marketer?
Just like a few years back, entrepreneurship had become a fad, so has wedding photography also become one these days.
These days you would come across so many people posing themselves as candid photographers; people who talk about leaving their plush corporate careers to pursue their passion for this art.
With the availability of free information online, many low cost photography courses and equipment on rent, there is no dearth of candid wedding photographers who have created enough industry clutter further adding to the woes of the soon to be couples and their families. Moreover, candid has perhaps become the most abused term in wedding photography. Every other new photographer portrays himself to be a candid photographer.
Many of these are part-time photographers who claim to have intense love for this field but are never confident enough to plunge full time into it to do complete justice to their love of life.
While, we are penning down our views through our own personal experience of being wedding photographers and a client, we welcome views of all kinds of readers on this open debate.
So, how do we as a client break free from this clutter and bring on board a good photographer?
Some key tips you should always keep in mind while finalising on your wedding photographer
- Don’t rely on just the top 10 searches on Google-Go up to the 4th-5th page to see works of many wedding photographers. The reason for this strictly flows from your intent at hiring a good artist who has an eye for this art and who fits your budget. A good marketer or a good SEO expert may not always make a good photographer for your wedding.
- If you really want to gauge the real talent of a wedding photographer, look at many pictures from a single wedding he/she has captured-This will enable you to understand the variety he/she can bring to your wedding table. He/She may or may not have shot your community specific wedding; but if he/she has successfully captured the myriad moods in one wedding also, he/she may be the person you should be targeting.
- Read testimonials of the photographer you intent to hire not just on his website but also on other social networking platforms or on Google-It will help you make a more prudent choice.
- Don’t get enamoured by perhaps one of the most abused terms in wedding photography-‘candid wedding photography’–See the work of the person and hire only that person who has an eye for detail and creativity and who is able to capture the essence of the moment. A good photographer is one who clicks good pictures; candid, traditional or posed are nothing but marketing jargons.
- Look for photographers who have shot weddings in set-ups similar to yours–For instance, if your wedding is a night one, check out the pictures the person in question has shot during nighttime. Like wise, if your wedding is taking place in a banquet hall, look for photographs, which have been shot in such venues. This help save you on disappointment on the final output.
- Don't go by what the photographer has posted on instagram or on aggregator websites as people post selected and best photos on these platforms and the work may not be a representative of the photographer's actual work profile. These days almost all the photographers mostly post couple shots and other posed shots on instagram. Your wedding pictures will not be just be these right?
- Beware of one thing–the number of instagram likes is not proportional to the caliber of the photographer–Many a times, these are bought likes or are contribution of a photographer’s’ own family and friends.