There’s a lot to know about hiring a photographer for your wedding. I spent 20 years as a commercial photographer before becoming a wedding venue owner and running Chase Court. So here are some professionally informed questions (and answers!) to help you choose a great wedding photographer!
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Photo Credit: Bill Whaley Photography
Professional Experience
How many weddings have they photographed for hire, either on their own or working for another photographer?
How many years of experience do they have shooting weddings for hire on their own?
While practice makes permanent and not necessarily perfect, time spent doing the thing matters. Unless you’ve chosen to trade price for experience, you’re looking for someone who has spent several years photographing weddings, with a good number of those years spent running their own business.
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Photo Credit: Patrick Mcguire Photography
Technical Skill
What is their academic training in photography, if any?
This isn’t a disqualifier, but it’s an asset if they have gone to school for photography. There is also a lot of education available to photographers in the form of in-person workshops and seminars. Photographers who take advantage of those opportunities are the kind that you want to work with.
How diverse is their portfolio in terms of number and types of couples, shooting locations, outdoors and indoors?
Beyond the obvious of seeing more than one or two or three weddings, you want to see how well the photographer has captured couples with different skin tones and in different situations. How well they work with a variety of natural light conditions makes a big difference.
Have they photographed weddings indoors, under artificial light?
This is one point that really separates the amateurs from the professionals. Mastering indoor lighting is difficult and takes lots of practice. The goal is to make the subjects and the surroundings (read: “venue”) look natural, and not too bright or too dark.
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Photo Credit: Jennifer Smutek Photography
Does their portfolio show you the kinds of photographs that you want at your wedding?
Photographers have different styles, but don’t get too hung up on what they’re called. For example some couples say they want what people call “photojournalist” style, but when they find out what that actually looks like, it’s not at all what they want for their wedding.
Likewise, the words “formal” and “informal” are sometimes used to describe wedding photography. It’s easier to just be specific about what you want. Are lots of posed shots of specific family members a big thing, or are shots of people sitting at every table important, or could you not care less about that kind of thing? These are the kinds of things that you and your sweetheart need to discuss, and to see if the kind of work your prospective wedding photographer does matches your vision.
Finally, being clear about how much candid photography you want versus posed photography is an important point of discussion with you and the photographer.
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Photo Credit: Patrick Mcguire Photography
Professional Practices
Are they responsive to your inquiries and questions?
Great customer service starts with your “first contact” experience. If you inquired by e-mail, were they prompt in responding to your inquiry? If you spoke on the phone or in person, how did that conversation go?
Video and in-person conversations will give you the opportunity to explore building a working relationship, see how they respond to your questions, and see how they present themselves.
What do they typically wear when they photograph weddings?
How wedding professionals dress both for meeting with you and for working at your wedding is important. Photographers are best blending in rather than standing out. Most of the time you’re looking for neat and professional. Wedding professionals tend to favor black, which is always a good choice, along with sensible footwear.
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Photo Credit: Sarah Wockenfuss Photography
What are you buying?
What is the product that you will receive once everything is done?
This is important to be clear about up front. The number of images is not so important as how you will get them, and whether there are print products included as well.
Photographers base their fees on time and materials. Your contract with your photographer should clearly state how many hours they will spend shooting, where they will do that, and whether there are travel or other expenses to be accounted for separately.
Talk with your photographer early on to decide what end product you’d like to have, and if they are able to provide that for you. Digital or printed images, album(s) or not, are among the possibilities.
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Photo Credit: Erik Stocklin Photography
Do they have a second photographer available if you (or they) want one?
A second photographer can be a real asset, especially for capturing things, like the two of you getting ready, that are happening at the same time in different locations. It’s also useful for photographing your ceremony from different physical angles, especially if it’s difficult or impossible to get from one position to the other in a reasonable period of time.
Can their insurance agent provide you with a certificate of liability insurance?
Every wedding professional should have liability insurance. That’s the kind of insurance that protects you and your guests should someone be injured or if something is broken or damaged.
Consider the lack of liability insurance to be a deal killer. If they’re not serious about protecting you, your guests, and themselves, walk away.
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Photo Credit: J. Thomas Photography
Personality
Do they listen to your questions and respond appropriately?
The best wedding professionals listen to you, understand what you do and don’t want, and give you good, informed, professional guidance.
Are you comfortable with them as a person?
You’re going to spend a lot of time with this person, as will your guests. You want somebody with whom you’re comfortable. They should be able to make your family and other guests feel at ease, while still being able to quickly and efficiently direct them when photographing groups and individuals.
Is the person you’re speaking with a person that’s going to photograph your wedding?
Larger wedding photography businesses sometimes assign photographers to weddings whom you have not met. You have to decide whether you’re comfortable with that, or not.
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Photo Credit: Photography By Brea
Professional Equipment
Do they have equipment that allows them to shoot your ceremony from the guest position, versus having to be in front of the guest?
In photography speak, this calls for telephoto lenses. Good wedding photographers have equipment that, in most cases, allows them to shoot from or behind where the guests are seated, rather than blocking the guest view by being in front of them. Photographers who are new to the business often don’t have the expensive lenses that are required to do this well.
How many digital camera bodies do they carry with them?
This is about back-up equipment, as well as the ability to quickly move from one type of lens to another quickly, (say, for a wide shot of your ceremony, and then a close-up shot of you two) by having different lenses mounted on two or more cameras.
Film photography is a thing at the moment. Unless you’ve agreed with your photographer to photograph your entire wedding on film only, expect them to cover everything with their digital photography equipment, using their film cameras for supplemental images.
How much back-up equipment do they carry?
Back-up equipment in general is a thing. Equipment fails. Having back-ups in every category, from cameras to lenses to lighting, is essential.
All of the enthusiasm and listening and sartorial splendor they offer doesn’t mean a thing if they don’t have the technical skills and equipment to do the job.
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Photo Credit: Photography By Brea
What will all of this cost?
Photographers at the level where I believe good quality work begins start around $3,000. There lots of very good and sometimes excellent photographers in the $3,000 to $5,000 range. You can expect to find excellent photographers between $5,000 and $8,000 in Baltimore.
These fees usually just cover the photography itself for a full-day wedding (the definition of which varies from photographer to photographer). Most of the time that fee doesn’t include production of an albums or prints. The fee often does include an engagement photography session (highly recommended), which is a great time for you and your photographer to get to know each other.
Sometimes the fee includes one photographer and sometimes it includes two, the principal and a second photographer. Even though two photographers theoretically produce more images, overall quality and the quantity of images are not always related, so the fee is not necessarily linear relative to person-hours.
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Photo Credit: Sarah Wockenfuss Photography
Some last bits of advice.
If you’re noticing that the word “professional” has been coming up a lot, that’s on purpose. It takes a lot to be a professional wedding photographer. That someone loves photography and presents in a cheerful and enthusiast manner is only a small part of the package. There are skills and equipment required, that are usually only obtained through years of experience and practice.
How To Choose A Great Wedding Photographer in Baltimore, Maryland.
There are lots and lots of wedding photographers out there. Asking the kind of questions that you see here will help you find the one who will make outstanding photographs of your wedding!
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Chase Court owner David Egan has lived and breathed weddings for over 23 years! That means you get the knowledge, resources, and attention of a venue owner who has helped plan and execute over 900 weddings.
Thanks for reading How To Choose A Great Wedding Photographer in Baltimore, Maryland!
Questions? Give me a call at 410-727-1112. I love to talk weddings!
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