Often times we get advice from friends and relatives, as well as online forums and chat groups, surrounding the topic of how to choose your
Wedding Photographer. Certainly your search would be easier of you knew what one important question brides ask Wedding Photographers to know if they are worth considering for your event. There will be an awful lot of enticing visual examples of a photographer’s work, and to someone who did not attend that actual event, you will enjoy looking at these images without knowing if they really represent what that event looked like first hand. Was the bridesmaids dresses really that shade of blue? Was the Groom really that tan? Almost orangish in appearance? Why is the white wedding dress looking yellow? All of these things are much less obvious to anyone other than those who were actually at that wedding, especially the Bride and Groom, who ostensibly paid for these images to be captured at their biggest day.
One important question brides ask Wedding Photographers
We always say to brides that we resisted even doing weddings for two full years because we knew that there are no do-overs, retakes, or restarts for your event – once the groom heads down the aisle with his mom, its game on for the photographers, with no way to stop the clock or call a time out if something goes sideways. Lighting, framing the shot, angles, perspective, and depth of field are all integral parts of getting the shot. We do not get a second chance to shoot your wedding, and we feel that pressure every day of our lives leading up to your event. Trust me when I tell you – REAL wedding photographers feel personally responsible for their work, and you will feel that passion ( or lack thereof ) when they talk about previous events.
Once all the images that can be captured are brought home – the next step in delivering those precious moments to you is for the Photographer to download and review those images, and (hopefully, for your sake, because you paid them to be a professional) color correcting and balancing the images for the changes in lighting conditions and such. If a photographer makes no mention of this process, and does not appear to be including this process in what you are paying them to do, then in my opinion you should not to consider that photographer to be in possession of the bare minimum skills and equipment to be putting themselves out there to shoot weddings for money. Having said that, some photographers will simply farm out their editing to a 3rd party, and assert that all images are color corrected and white balanced. Certainly these services do exist, but if you think about it for a second – this 3rd party, who was never at the actual event to see it first hand, is going to correct the images to match an event the have never been to?
We choose not to do that with Sophia’s Art, and cast no negative light on anyone who subs out their editing, other than to say that the BEST person to insure that the images are accurate is the original photographer. Having said that, we come to the subject of this video, which is to arm you with another important question brides ask Wedding Photographers:
“How often do you calibrate your monitors and may I see your calibration process?”
Just as you would tour a Doctor’s Office, or Auto Repair Facility, or Child Care Location before committing to trusting the most trusted people and possessions in your life, knowing that your photographer does their work on properly maintained equipment gives you the piece of mind you seek when you hire a professional Photographer. You’ve been planning this day for quite some time – you have earned the right to expect certain things, don’t you think?
Now – what if you have already hired a photographer? A color calibration unit similar to the one you see in the video costs $99. Ask your photographer to obtain one if they don’t own one. It sounds silly to have to ask them to commit to what should be a fundamental part of their process, but you will be glad that you possess the knowledge to insure that your images, once captured, are going to actually look like what you remember from that day. Thank you for reading, and remember that there are no second chances to get it right on your biggest day!
Nicholas