I want to discuss the pros and cons of using Craigslist for your engagement and wedding photography. Craigslist has become the go to site to find everything from free items to wedding photographers. This seems to have opened the flood gates for anyone with a Canon Rebel and a kit lens to advertise as photographers. Granted there are probably great photographers advertising on Craigslist, you really need to be careful. I for one have and still do advertise on Craigslist. It seems to help me fill my weekends with photography work when things are slow, so I make a few bucks and my clients get a bargain.
The problem is that there are lots of people out there that will shoot and burn your wedding and not care about the outcome of your images. By the time you realize your images are totally unusable, they are gone never to be found. I for one spent almost 2 months working on a co-workers Jpg's from here wedding. The color was off, the images had noise, some were dark, skin tones were wrong, and the list goes on and on. I was able to salvage the majority of her images, but it wasn't easy and they would never be able to be blown up or put in a photo book.
There are also some people that don't regard photography as something that requires specialized training or equipment and don't feel they should have to pay for it. It's not to say that they are cheap, they just don't realize the value of a good photography, good photography and the fact that a wedding day is a really special day with lots on important memories some of which they will never see until after they get their photos. They may also believe that the SLR camera they see in Walmart is more than capable or that the photographer that shows up with an SLR camera knows what he or she is doing.
Now to the important stuff! How do you know if the photographer your talking to actually knows what he or she is doing,
- Ask for a portfolio of work - Couture Bridal Photography has an extensive portfolio and we bring our GraphiStudio photo books to every consultation so you can see what our photographs look like in print.
- What kind of camera? Type of camera? lenses? Lighting? You want to ask your photographer these questions. Are the camera's crop sensor camera or full frame, Are your lenses capable of low light photography apertures of 4.0, 2.8 - 1.2, Is the lighting from a flash on the camera or off camera. Couture Bridal Photography uses full frame Canon cameras, and all our lenses are 4.0 or less, there is no on camera flash or lighting, the lighting is always off camera with an assistant lighting the subjects to add depth and proper lighting for every scene in any lighting conditions.
- Does the photographer shoot in Manual mode? This may sound silly but if you have the photographer meet you and bring his camera or you do an engagement session see how he shoots the photos and ask to see his screen. Couture Bridal Photography we all shoot manual for several reasons, mainly consistency from image to image, sharpness, and a deep understanding of light.
- How many weddings have they photographed? How long have they been involved in Photography? Couture Bridal Photography has photographed way of 50 weddings and I have lost count. I never did intern with a wedding photographer and struck out my own. I was able to do this because I had been involved with photography since the age of 16 and had attended and photographed weddings for family and friends for free. It also allowed me to create my own style of photography that didn't look like everyone else's.
- How good are they at posing? Many photographers that don't truly know what they are doing have no clue how to pose a couple, let alone when one of the clients are extremely tall, or short, or heavy. It's important to Couture Bridal Photography to make you look your best. We want to emphasize all your positive physical aspects and we want to diminish any negative whether its your weight, height or skin. Couture Bridal Photography believes everyone is absolutely beautiful, yet no one is perfect.
- Do they have a website? This is a sign of whether they are really making the attempt to be professional but not entirely critical. Couture Bridal Photography has an extensive website with client access of their images, sharing as well as for ordering prints.
- Do they design photo books? Im not talking about Shutterfly or other open to the public book making sites. Many high end quality photo book companies require high end work, Professional associations and a certain level of photography before they allow a photographer to design and sell their books. Couture Bridal Photography is a GraphiStudio Dealer and designer. GraphiStudio is known around the world as the finest albums hand made in Arba, Italy of the finest materials and leathers. GraphiStudio is extremely selective about the photographers they allow to design and sell their books.
In a nutshell be careful about finding photographers on Craigslist, although there are quality photographers on there. This isn't a total list of things to look for in a photographer, but it will lead you in the right direction. Also its worth the money to get priceless images and products from a reputable photographer.
Here is an example of some images I found on the internet and through Facebook of photographers that really should have not been taking engagement photos, let alone a wedding. The images are poorly lit, badly posed, grainy and noisy, over saturated or under saturated, blurry, have bad skin tones or improper color balance.
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www.CoutureBridalPhotography.com and www.Facebook.com/CoutureBridalPhotography
