Another Stunning Wedding

Here's a few pages of the album that went out to Elaine and Jason recently. The ceremony, wedding breakfast and evening party were held at the Ashbourne Hotel, North Killingholme.  An absolutely stunning venue for a wedding and wedding photos!

Congratulations, guys.  I hope you like your album...!

Weddings - A Guide for Guests

That might seem like a strange title for a post, but the guests at a wedding play a massive part in the day. No one guest can really make or break a wedding, but there are things you can do to help make the day run smoothly. Naturally my advice is mostly based around the photos, but anyone who has been to a wedding will know that the photos can take up the vast majority of the time between the ceremony and the food. This isn't an exhaustive list, but addresses some of the gripes I (and other photographers) have at weddings that could be greatly helped by reading this!

Pay Attention
I know you're not at a wedding to be photographed, but the bride and groom have probably written me a list with your name on it. Please listen to me while I'm trying to arrange the groups! No-one likes the group photos, but the bride and groom have asked for them so the quicker we can get through them the better!

Don't Wander Off
This is an extension of the above... It's difficult for a lone photographer to corral more than 100 guests into one place when I don't know anyone's name. It's even more difficult if Aunty Mabel has nipped to the loo or Uncle George has gone to the bar! I know you're bored watching me take my shots, but there's every chance you'll be asked to be in one!

Don't Be A Comedian
I keep saying it, but no-one likes the group photos so I will try and get through them as quickly as possible. If you're one of the people who we've had to spend 5 minutes trying to find, please please please just come over, get into position and smile. Don't make jokes about being late, don't do a deliberately slow silly walk and don't make yourself the centre of attention. Apart from it annoying me (not that I would ever show it!) it annoys the happy couple. Weddings are fun, but can be stressful for the bride and groom so the less fuss the better. Don't be remembered for the wrong reasons...

Don't Assume I'm Not Talking To You
With 100 people all in the same photo together, sometimes I'll need to ask someone to move. That might be you. If I look at you it probably is you. Please don't look over your shoulder or to either side. It'll get everything moving a lot quicker!

Don't Get In My Way
When I'm posing the couple or setting up a group shot, please at least let me finish what I'm doing before you wade in and take your own shots. I need everyone in the shot to be looking at me and smiling. If you're there with your camera the chances are at least one person will be looking at you or talking to you spoiling the shot. Which means I have to take it again which makes the whole process last a lot longer than it needs to...


Don't Hide
If you take one thing away from this post, make it this. Don't hide from me!!! A lot of people don't like having their photo taken. I get that. But the bride and groom have chosen me to photograph their wedding because I take a lot of photos of their guests. They have paid me a lot of money to do so. If you are constantly hiding from my lens it make that part of my job a lot more difficult. It makes no difference to me personally whether I snap you or not, but it does matter to your hosts! Think about them... I will get you eventually, so you can either just let me do it early doors or spend 4 hours looking over your shoulder!

And Finally... Smile!
You're at a wedding! It's a happy occasion! Tell your face... I'm going to get a shot of you anyway and it might make it to the album so you might as well make it a nice one!

Hopefully you'll take something from this and maybe you'll even apply some of it next time you're at a wedding. Either way, have a lovely day!

Another Fab Wedding!

Here's a few album pages from another beautiful wedding from earlier this year. A little reminder of how nice the British summer can be.

Congratulations to Claire and David!

A Fantastic Wedding!

It occurred to me that I've never put up any photos from a wedding. Every once in a while a wedding really sticks out in my mind as being really good. From the bride's preparations in the morning, the group shots, the weather to the speeches and all the bits in between everything goes smoothly and it's a really happy occasion.

I won't write much more as I think the photos speak for themselves. Congratulations to Sami and Martin!

Coping with Competition

Every industry has competition and every industry has its competitors. It seems (to me at least) that photographers have more competition than most! I've mentioned in a previous post that photography is an easy business to get started in and it seems that anyone with a posh camera can call themselves a photographer! The local newspaper keeps printing stories about new photography businesses in the area...

But just because someone is in the same industry it doesn't necessarily mean they're competition. Yes, we're all looking for people to sell photos to, but are we all looking for the same people? I don't think so.

Photography customers all have different criteria when choosing a photographer. Particularly regarding wedding photography. Some people are on a budget and will book the cheapest photographer they can find (not something I recommend!). Some people like the kudos of booking the area's most expensive photographer. Others will book the best photographer they can afford (a much more sensible approach...). No one photographer can appeal to all markets so we have to pick one to work in.

There are literally dozens of 'professional' photographers in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, but I really only count 5 or 6 of them as genuine competition. We're all full time and fully insured. We all put a lot of time and effort into marketing ourselves. We all offer good customer service and excellent attention to detail. And we all supply the best products from the best suppliers. We don't appeal the the 'cheap is best' market, but none of us is the most expensive in the area either.

But even that competition isn't really a problem. There are about 150,000 people living in and around Grimsby and Cleethorpes so there's plenty to go around! There are tons of weddings in North East Lincolnshire every single weekend, so again there's plenty to go around without us all stepping on each other's toes.

And don't forget, photography is very subjective. We all have our own particular and distinctive style which some people won't like. It took a while to get my head around it, but I genuinely don't mind any more if someone books a different photographer over me.

Having said that, I still like it when I win a customer ahead of my competition!

Photoshop - How Much is Too Much?

Photoshop (or any number of other editing packages) is an essential tool for all photographers. There are many film purists who believe it's cheating, but it's really just a different development process. In the olden days you had your film and paper and dunked it in a series of chemicals. It's a skilled process and takes time and practice to get it right. You could also add variation to the chemicals, time and light modifiers to give special effects.

Today, with digital, it's exactly the same. You just do it on a computer! But you can take it further than you could with film. Exposure and white balance adjustments are easy and done all the time to correct a poor original, or just to enhance an already good picture. There is an argument that says it makes photographers lazy. "It's OK. I'll fix it in Photoshop!"  Well, yes. But if you take a lot of photos that need fixing you quickly learn to spend 5 minutes getting it right in-camera to avoid hours of staring at a computer screen... And don't forget, every edit you do in Photoshop degrades the original slightly.

I use Photoshop (or more often Lightroom) on all of my pictures. I'll improve the crop and boost the contrast and colour vibrancy. Occasionally I may need to get rid of a bit of red eye or brighten up a flash photo indoors. For studio photos I'll generally add a bit of punch and remove the background or clean up a dirty floor. I can also remove spots if you want me to.

Which brings me to my point. How much is too much? There are some excellent examples here of celebrity photos that have had 'work' done. But where is the line? My personal view is that I will get rid of anything that isn't permanent or that the camera has exaggerated. By this I mean I will remove spots, bruises, rashes, cuts and scrapes. I'll also remove baby dribble where I can. I can clean up fluff from clothes and even swap faces from one picture to another so everyone is smiling at once. I'll also remove ugly fire exit signs from the background in wedding photos. And I can reduce wrinkles and lines that look worse under the studio light.

What I won't do is give you longer legs or bigger boobs. I won't take 2 stone off you either! There's plenty of discussion about the damaging effects of Photoshopped celebrities to young girls (and boys) which I won't go into. But to me the issue is more fundamental. A photo is a memory captured forever. If the photo doesn't reflect the way you actually looked at that time, it's not really a memory, it's a fantasy. There is a place for fantasy, but that's not really my business. My job is to make you look your best. But importantly you are still you!

What do You Look For?

This is really a plea for your comments. I'd be really interested to know your thoughts. What do you look for when choosing a photographer? Whether it's for family portraits or a wedding photographer what is the most important thing you consider when making your decision?

Is it simply the first one you find on Google? Is it the one with the fanciest looking website? Does a fancy website put you off if you think they'll be too expensive? Is it how easy it is to find the info you're looking for? Do you go mainly on price? Do you choose purely on the quality of the photos? Do you as for recommendations from friends? Would you prefer to go to a professional studio or have the photographer come to you? Is it down to the personality of the photographer? Or is it something else???

There's a lot of questions there, but which is most important to you? Please feel free to leave any comments below, get in touch on Facebook or just email me!

Thanks!

A Cautionary Tale...

I've had an interesting experience in the last couple of weeks. It leads to a couple of good pieces of advice as well...

Just before Christmas I was approached by someone who had recently got married and booked their photos with someone else. They were very unhappy with the photos they had received and wanted my opinion of them to help them with the arguments they were having. They gave me the edited photos, unedited originals and a selection of photos gathered from their guests. Their complaint was with the edited photos. Their opinion of them was that they were over exposed and made everyone's faces look very pale and 'dead' (their word...).  They were also unhappy with the photos the photographer had chosen to edit.

My personal opinion is actually that the photos are very good! They have been edited very well and are consistent throughout the collection. Poses and crops are creative and of a good standard. They have, however, been edited in a very specific style. Colour saturation is quite low and contrast is quite high. This gives very dark black tones and very bright light tones. It can give the impression of very bright faces and skin tones. This style is currently quite fashionable and modern, but is not to everyone’s personal taste.

But here lies the difficulty. She is a professional, but was also a friend of a friend. As such no Ts & Cs were agreed to and no booking form was signed. That means it was never recorded what was actually agreed. So it boils down to the photographer's word against the couple's. That's piece of advice number 1. Always make sure the paperwork is in place. That goes for the photographer as well as the client. As a photographer I have no comeback at all if the case goes to court and my professional indemnity insurance may be invalidated. As a customer you also really have little comeback. It just becomes a war of words...

The couple were also unhappy with the photos that were chosen to be edited.  Around 1000 photos were taken and around 200 edited. This is actually quite normal. I operate in a similar way. I'll probably select the best 300 though, but that's just me. The couple were surprised with this though as, again, it hadn't been discussed in advance that this would happen! So piece of advice number 2 - keep talking! Again, that goes for both parties. I'll spend as much time as necessary on email, by phone or in person to find out exactly what my couples want and explain to them why it's not possible if it's not. I manage their expectations about how many photos they'll see, how they'll be edited, my involvement and in-your-face-ness on the day, and the timings. Everyone knows what's going to happen so there are no nasty surprises.

The real complaint (and to me the real issue here) is that the photographer is refusing to fix it. In her opinion the photos are good and she doesn't need to do anything. The couple got what they paid for. Without paperwork this is hard to prove, but even with paperwork it shows terrible customer service! Apparently the photographer was almost hostile when the bride complained and made her feel like it was her fault she didn't like the photos! She may well have delivered exactly what was agreed but there is a reputation at stake here. I realise there are limits and there will always be difficult customers, but if it had been me, I would have bent over backwards to give them what they wanted. I would have re-edited the photos having discussed it and done it quickly! There's probably around 10-15 hours work involved in that, but in the end I have another happy customer. And a happy customer is one that will recommend me to their friends.

I know from the couple that this photographer has lost at least 1 wedding because of this and will not be recommended by them in future. I also know that one of their friends is coming to talk to me about their wedding because of the customer service I've given to someone who isn't even a customer! So piece of advice number 3 - make sure your customer service is up to scratch. People are actually more likely to recommend someone who has successfully fixed a problem than someone who has just done a good job in the first place! Reputation counts for a lot.

I hope you've learned something from this. I've banged on for a while so I'll stop now!

What's in a Wedding? - Part 2

Part 2 of the whole wedding process. I've already covered up to the end of the ceremony. Here's the rest.


After the Ceremony
I'll be around to capture all those special moments that happen afterwards.  The little moments between the bride and groom, friends meeting for the first time in ages, everyone congratulating the happy couple. I'll also get the essential confetti shot. After you've gone back to the reception venue (if it's different) I'll let your guests get a drink and some canapes and then get cracking with the group photos. This can be quite a quick job or a bit of a long process depending on how many pictures you want. I'll then take the bride and groom away by themselves to get a few romantic portraits and a staged cutting of the cake photo just to make sure.  When I'm not otherwise occupied, I'll get even more photos of your guests enjoying themselves and a natural and relaxed way.


The Speeches
Speeches are usually after the meal, so I'll hang around while you eat and come back in time for the groom's bit moment. I'll all the speeches and will do my absolute best to get all the memorable moments as well as the guests' reactions. If you'd like me to I can also stay to photograph the first dance!


The Following Week
While you're away on your honeymoon I then have the job of editing all the photos. I usually take around 800 pictures and they need sorting down to about 300 or so. They then all get cropped, edited and generally enhanced. I'll pick out a few of them to give special effects to such as black and white, sepia and other processes Photoshop is capable of! That can all take up to 15 hours to complete! I'll then put your proofs onto a CD (and my website) and send them to you.


Building the Album
Once you've chosen your favourite 100 or so pictures I then have to design the album.  It's all done by hand using specialist software to make sure each album I produce is absolutely unique to you.  That can be another 4 - 6 hours' work! Once you've approved the design I can order (and pay for) the album.


Still Not Done...
I also have your thank-you cards to design and order (and pay for...) and your album to hand deliver (or post if you're too far away).


Once you've got your album it all starts again...


I hope that rather long post gives you an idea of just how much effort, time and cost goes into producing your wedding album. I love it though and take a lot of pleasure in giving a couple something very special to help them remember their big day for years to come.

What's in a Wedding?

I wrote a post a while ago (here) about why photographers charge so much for weddings. It was a bit general and a bit whiney so I thought I'd take you through the whole process.  So... what's involed?

Advertising
I have to let you know I'm there! There's lots of ways to do it. I have a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter feed. All of which take time to update. I also have hundreds of leaflets and flyers in shops and hotels spread around the area. I've talked about it before but I do a lot of networking. That can be quite expensive, both in terms of time and money. And then of course there's the wedding fairs. They can cost up to £120 for a stand and always happen on Sundays!

Consultation
Once you've found me you'll naturally want to meet me, have a chat and see some sample albums. I'll come to your house or you can come to my studio and we'll sit for about an hour and go through any questions you might have. You can look at 3 or 4 sample albums, thank you cards and other photos in my portfolio. We'll go through exactly what you want from me and if you like what you see you'll book me and pay a deposit.

Before the Wedding
A week or so before the wedding I'll get back in touch with you again to finalise the details. What are the timings? What group photos do you want? Is there anyone special I absolutely must get a shot of? Again, I can come to you or you can pop into my studio for a coffee.

On the Morning
I'll be at the bride's house or hotel in time to photograph the girls getting ready. Hair, make-up, getting into the dress, all the important behind-the-scenes stuff! I normally get there about 3 hours before the ceremony itself to make sure I don't miss anything.



The Boys
About 45 minutes before the ceremony I arrive with the boys. I'll get a few shots of them all together, the groom on his own and with the best man. I'll also get shots of the venue itself and the guests arriving.




The Ceremony
If the vicar/registrar allows it I'll be there, out of the way, to capture all the important moments throughout the ceremony itself - the bride's arrival, the exchanging of vows, readings, exchanging the rings, the first kiss and the new Mr and Mrs walking out together.







That's probably enough for now.  Keep an eye out for Part 2 next week!

10 Tips for Choosing Your Wedding Photographer

We've all heard the horror stories about dodgy wedding photographers.  He turned up late, he didn't turn up at all, the pictures were out of focus, it was all feet, people's heads were chopped off.  I could continue...  So here's my own guide to choosing a photographer for the biggest day of you life!

1. Do you like your photographer?
It's important to get on.  You are likely to spend a lot of time together beforehand and on the day itself.  You might see more of the photographer than some of the guests!  During the group shots the photographer will be directing all the guests into position so they need to like him/her as well.  So you need to feel comfortable with them.


2. How long have they been photographing weddings?
Experience counts.  Anyone can turn up to a wedding and take photos, but it takes practice and experience to get the truly memorable shots you'll want to look at again and again.  There is an element of luck involved - right place, right time.  But the more experience your photographer has the more often they're in that right place at just the right time!

3. Are they full time or part time?
A full time photographer does this for a living.  They've done it lots of times before.  They also have a good amount of time to dedicate to editing your photos.  A part time photographer is likely to have a full time job and is taking photos in their spare time.  There are obviously some excellent part timers out there but a pro will be able to dedicate the time to your pictures that they deserve.

4. What comes in the package?
Don't get stung by extras.  Make sure their prices are completely transparent and you know exactly what you'll be getting before you book.  Is the album included?  How much are extra copies?  How much are individual prints and canvasses?  Is postage extra?

5. Ask to see samples.
ALWAYS!!!!  I can't stress that enough!  And insist on seeing a full wedding.  A sample portfolio is likely to include the best 4 or 5 photos from several weddings.  Your album will have dozens of photos all from YOUR wedding.  Insist on seeing a couple of entire albums from previous weddings.

6. Ask for recommendation.
Ask your friends.  Ask your family.  Ask your photographer if it's OK to speak to a previous client!  People won't always want to be approached but ask anyway.  If he doesn't want to at least try, ask yourself why...

7. What insurance do they have?
As a (legal) minimum your photographer should have Public Liability insurance.  A pro will also have Professional Indemnity insurance.  This will cover them in the unlikely event that something terrible happens to your photos before you get them.

8. Check the Ts and Cs
OK.  It's a bit boring but make sure there's nothing in there you don't like.  If there is, say so.

9. Do a bit of Googling
Look them up online.  Have a look at their website.  Check them out on Facebook or Twitter.  Do you like what you see?  Does it look professional?

10. What's the contingency plan?
Accidents happen.  Your photographer might get hit by a bus or abducted by aliens.  OK, it's unlikely, but what's the plan if they do.  Make sure there is a plan to find a replacement photographer so you don't miss out.

Hope that's helped!

Unusual Wedding Gift???

Just looking for a bit of feedback really.  Please do feel free to comment below or get in touch with me directly.

I've just launched a new idea for my wedding clients.  Many couples already live together before they get married so the wedding list is a bit of a struggle to fill.  I know we had a job choosing things we actually wanted rather than stuff just to fill the list.  There's only so many toasters you can use!

We asked our guests to contribute to our honeymoon, which was great for us, but some of them still wanted to give us a "thing" to open.  Even if it was a voucher for somewhere.  Which got me thinking.  How about getting your guests to pay for your wedding photography?!

So my idea is this: once you've paid me your deposit, you then get a reference number unique to you.  You pass this to your guests (in the invitation) who go onto my website.  They enter the number and the amount they want to spend and I send them a voucher to that value for them to hand over to the happy couple on their wedding day.  In the background I'm tracking all the contributions and amend the final invoice accordingly.

I would have loved a service like that when I got married!  What do you think???

Good Relationships

We all know the value of good relationships in our personal lives, but it's just as important in business to get on with people.

There's an old saying that people buy from people.  That's something I firmly believe.  Have you ever bought something that cost a bit more because you didn't like the person selling the cheaper one?  I have.  It's probably cost me a fortune over the years.  OK so I wouldn't spend an extra £100 on a fridge because I didn't like the Saturday boy in Dixons.  But I definitely would pay extra to have a photographer I liked.

I work hard to build and maintain good relationships with all of my customers, suppliers and colleagues.  It's absolutely essential to pay suppliers on time (obviously) but getting on with them goes along way as well.  You never know what you might be offered just by being nice.  'Oh go on then.  As it's you.'

I also have good relationships with my customers.  If I see them around town I always have a couple of minutes for a chat.  And every one of my customers is treated as my most important.  Whether a portrait sitting or a wedding you will always get a truly personal service.  And it's the little extras that make all the difference.  For instance (and don't tell anyone...) all of my wedding couples get 12 home made cup cakes with their wedding album, iced to match the colour scheme of the wedding!  That always seems to go down well...

Even those who aren't customers or suppliers get a good amount of my time.  It's important not to dismiss people as 'not interested' and move on.  You never know what they'll need in the future or who they know.  People are much more likely to recommend you to their friends if they like you as a person.  Even if they've never used you themselves.

In summary, in the words of Bill and Ted - Be excellent to each other!

Competition

I've been to another Wedding Fair today.  This one was at Oasis health club.  It's not the first I've done and certainly won't be the last.  They are really the best way for a wedding photographer to get his/her name out there and get noticed by the right people (i.e. brides and grooms to be).

One thing you notice though is that there are a lot of wedding photographers in Grimsby and Cleethorpes!  I did a fair in September and there were 10 of us!  It seems like a lot at first glance.  And second glance.  And third...  There is a lot of competition.

So it's important to stand out.  Yes you have to have good pictures (although not all do - just my opinion!), but you also need something else.  I like to give a really personal service to all of my clients.  I have the packages like most others, but I also offer a completely tailored service so you can have exactly what you want!

I also offer a few little extras that no-one else does.  For example, every package comes, at no extra charge, with 50 personalised thank-you cards featuring the photo of your choice.  I will soon be adding a framed "guest book" picture as part of the Gold package as well.  Something a bit special...

I don't know if it's enough, but people seem to like me and book me to be their official photographer for their big day!  There's always room for more bookings though...

The Terror of Weddings

Weddings are a bit special.  It's a massive privilege to be asked to photograph the couple's big day as their one lasting record, but it's more than that.  It's a book of memories and will be shown to everyone (whether they want to see it or not!) so it has to be stunning.  Which really ramps up the pressure!

I always get a bit nervous before a wedding.  It's a massive responsibility.  I have a pre-flight check as rigorous as a trans Atlantic passenger plane to avoid anything nasty happening.  If it all goes wrong at a portrait shoot it can be re-done.  OK, people might not be happy, but all's good in the end.  It's a bit harder to re-do a wedding...  You get one go at it so it has to be good!  I have loads of low capacity memory cards rather than one big one just in case.  A problem with a 1GB card might cost me 100 pictures.  A problem with an 8GB could cost me the whole day!  A spare camera is a must as well, which is next on my (ever growing) shopping list.  Other useful bits and pieces are a white brolly (this is England after all...) and some white clothes pegs to stop a veil blowing around in the wind!  And a tripod of course.

Weddings are good fun though.  I like to think I get on with people ad that's essential at a wedding which is all about getting the best out of people.  Directing a big crowd is fun although can be a bit like herding cats.  Get a good rapport going though and people usually do what you want!

I like taking a good mix of classic portrait style shots along with the more relaxed reportage style photos.  Much more relaxed and natural that way!  I take some fun shots as well.  You know the type... Reservoir Dogs style boys walking, peeping round a tree, jumping off a hill, that type of stuff.

All in all a wedding is a pretty scary day for a photographer but well worth it!