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1. Do you have a backup Full Frame Camera, and a Flash? You may not understand this question, however, it is one I am ashamed to say I did not do for my first 3 weddings. (Keep in mind I charged $500s and full frames start around 3k before lenses, so you will get what you pay for and can not expect to have a cheap photographer own all the best equipment.) A full-frame camera is a professional camera, it captures higher resolution photos and has more flexibility to work in harsh and low light situations. They are incredible, however, I have had one of mine quite mid-wedding on me before. Luckily we own 4 full-frame cameras and it took me less than 30 seconds to switch to a new one and continue shooting. You don’t want your wedding photos to end because a freak accident that is no fault of the photographers causes the only camera they own to stop working.
2. Does your camera have dual card slots for double the backups? This is another must! SD cards are small powerful little cards, however, they are very easily broken, and damaged. If your photographer is shooting with only one card if that card corrupts you have the chance of losing all the images. There is recovery software I have used before that works, however, having the camera read to two cards allows for double the backups right from the start.
3. How do you back up my photos? Eg. Do you have them on an external hard drive and online or two hard drives etc. Your photo’s safety doesn’t stop when you upload the images. Sometimes external or internal hard drives can break. I have personally had 2 hard drives corrupt and have lost old work. However, any projects I currently am working on go on two external hard drives, and one SD card is stored. Once I upload the full gallery online I wait one month, once my clients are happy with their images I delete the gallery of one hard drive and the SD cards.
4. What happens if you get ill or injured right before the wedding? This is a terrifying thought that every photographer dreads. There are a few options here. The most popular being the photographer hiring a new photographer for your day that they trust and have worked with before. We have hired an associate shooter who is trained to shoot just like us and use the same equipment. She would take over (and is taking over during my short Maternity Leave) and then I still edit all the wedding photos after.
5. What is your turnaround time for your work? Will I expect to see photos before the full Gallery is done? Each photographer will be different for this, and each timeline is acceptable as long as it is discussed ahead of time. I have my timeline for 6-8 weeks. This allows some wiggle room if anything goes wrong with the editing software and I need to re-edit images, or it’s the busy season. However, within two weeks my wedding couples receive a small gallery of some of my favourite moments of the day.
6. Do you do additional edits in photoshop? The majority of photographers will not photoshop your image, but colour correct, adjust, straighten out, and skin retouch only. Photoshopping people in our out, opening eyes, etc is often understandably an additional fee per image. I personally charge an additional fee for photoshopping images, however, if it is something like someone’s eyes are closed in the family photos and there is no photo with everyone looking, I will face swap and make sure each person is looking. I’ve also learned to remove some unwanted people or objects from images if I have the time during the turnaround time allotted.
7. How long will you be there on the wedding day? What happens if things run late? We hired our wedding photographer for 8 hours and so they missed the whole dance and some of the speeches. We knew that ahead of time but it helped us create our wedding packages. All our times are around 12 hrs and full coverage so we do not miss any important moments of the day. A lot of photographers will charge an additional fee if they stay late. This is totally reasonable, however, being aware of that ahead of time can save any confusion.
8. Can I see a full gallery to get an idea of how many images I will receive and what the editing style throughout all conditions of the day will look like? This is a huge part of booking a photographer!! You see the photos they love on their social media, however, maybe you are upset with their editing of indoor or harsh light. Another thing to look at is the number of images. Some photographers deliver a few of the best, some deliver all of them including unedited. Find what is best for you. We often deliver around 800-1000 edited images, choosing the best photos from the day and removing duplicates and blinking images.
9. How do you pose? Can I book an engagement photo session to know what to expect on the wedding day? Each photographer works differently and you might love or hate how that is. Make sure you feel comfortable and flattering in front of the camera. Do you feel like you receive a lot of different poses and angles or are you missing stuff? Communicate this with the photographer to find out if they will be a good match on the wedding day.
10. Will we click? Take them for coffee or a phone call. This is the person who will spend the absolute most time with you on your wedding day. More than your bride/ groom will see you! You want to make sure you feel comfortable with them, that they are professional or personal. Be open about what you need from them on the wedding day, eg. be pushy with family so you can get tons of photos, or be super relaxed and fly on the wall taking mainly candid photos, or a mix etc.