Choosing a Great Wedding Photographer

Narrowing down the Choice to a Great Wedding Photographer

In the last couple of posts we looked at how to begin your search for a wedding photographer and how to budget for your wedding photography. In this post we will look at moving forward with your search and narrowing down the choices so that you can book the Wedding Photographer of your dreams.

So, you’ve begun the search, you have a rough budget and you’ve begun to collect a list of photographers you like. It can be as simple as just picking your favourite from the list but there’s definitely a few things that you should consider if you want to be confident that you have made the best possible choice when it comes to your wedding photography.

Firstly you should think about what style of wedding photography appeals to you. Bookmark some of your favourite wedding photography sites or browse some wedding photography blogs to get an idea of the style that appeals to you most. Do you like the natural photojournalistic style,  the more traditional posed images or a combination of the above. This combination seems to be the most popular style of wedding photographer at the moment as it gives couples the best of both worlds. Documentary wedding photography that tells the story of the day from bridal preparation shots all the way through to the end of the day as well as some posed photographs that will guarantee you some nice pictures to frame.

If you’re not a fan of old fashioned posed shots then getting a great photographer is even more critical. A great wedding photographer should be an expert in staging situations to make them look as un-posed as possible. This is far more difficult than getting a couple to just stand there and smile but the results can be amazing. Make sure that the photographers that you narrow down can capture the type of photographs that you’re after.

Secondly, you should make sure you’re looking at ‘real’ wedding photography images. It’s easy to get drawn in to website portfolio images of amazing looking brides on a photographers homepage that have been captured in a studio or as part of a photoshoot. Many wedding photographers will attend special courses or portfolio building sessions that allow them to photograph model brides with studio lighting to help strengthen their portfolio. Real weddings are completely different and you should make sure that the photographs you’re looking at were taken as part of a real wedding.

Lastly, you should go with what you like, not what you’re told. Although recommendations from friends are good, it doesn’t mean that the wedding photographer that they picked is right for you. Not all photographers have the same style so you should make sure that you get someone who photographs the style that you want and not try to get someone with  a different style to try and adapt to what you want.

Once you have spend some time narrowing down your choice you should leave yourself with between 2 and 4 photographers to make the final choice from and in the next post we’ll look at the factors to consider when making your final decision.

If you want to find out more about Nick Rose as an International wedding Photographer then visit the homepage at www.nickrosephotography.com to find out about Wedding Photography in London and around the world.