How to select the best phototgrapher?

[AbsyntheGreene]

I will be getting married in just over a year, and this site has made me very nervous about hiring the right wedding photographer. So I would like to ask the opinion of the site’s professionals: what are the most telling signs of a great/terrible wedding photographer? Which are the best questions to ask?

[cameraclicker]

Wedding photos are not important to all couples.  Some couples just want a basic record of the event, other couples will only accept the best, most artistic photos.  Some have a small budget and others can afford much more.  Price by itself is not a guarantee of getting a great set of photos, but it might be an indicator.  Once in a while you get a great photographer who for one of any number of reasons is not charging as much as he/she could, and then you get a real bargain.  Unfortunately, as this site shows, you have a greater chance of meeting a photographer charging very little, but still charging more than they are worth.

An educated consumer is a good photographer’s friend.  The educated consumer will understand at some level the difference between a good photo and a bad one, and will be able to look at the photographer’s past work to form an opinion.   If you have the budget, pick a photographer that has a portfolio of the sort of wedding pictures you hope to receive, then you just have to provide a wedding venue and guests similar to what you see in the photographer’s past photos and you have a good chance of getting similar photos of yourself.

Sometimes you will come across a photographer who typically shoots something other than weddings, if they normally shoot portraits or reportage of some sort, they can probably produce a good set of wedding photos, if their regular work is good.  The strongest example I can give, is that perhaps a year ago, Joe McNally shot his first wedding.  If you don’t know who he is, you can look him up.  He put an account of the shoot on his blog.

In summary, meet the photographer, see if you click.  Check their work, see if you like what you see, that will tell a lot.

[shhhitsasecret]

I agree with cameraclicker.  Look at their work. But also make sure you are meeting and seeing the work of the photographer you are going to have photographing your wedding. I have heard horror stories from a couple of people that said they saw a portfolio and met with someone and it wasn’t who showed up at their wedding. And to top it off, the pictures weren’t good.  That is usually from a company that has several photographers to choose from.

[stef]

Shop around, but do not sort your preferences by price. Sort your preferences by how well you like their work. It’s very difficult to get prices from some folks, so you can either take the chance they’ll be in budget or not.

 

Take the top 3 of whose work you like, and (assuming they’re primarily wedding shooters) ask to see a full book from each. Come up with a print list you want, and ask them each to price it and give you a quote.

[pantsdetail]

Agreed with cameraclicker. Just look at their stuff. It should be easy to see who’s good and who’s not. It’s pretty easy to spot out the faux.

[Author]

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