Should you give your wedding photographer a shot list? Following advice you read online or in various magazines, you may develop a pretty detailed… and lengthy list. It might include things like:

• Putting on the garder
• Granma walking down the isle
• Dad removing my veil
• Exchange of rings
• The kiss
• …
• The first dance
• The dollar dance
• The toast
• Cutting the cake
• …and so on…

We all understand wanting to make sure no shot goes missing, but do you want or need to give your photographer a long list of must-have-shots? Or can you trust your wedding photographer to be experienced enough to take all the important shots at the important moments? Some questions to consider:

• Do you want your wedding photos to look like someone else’s wedding shot list, or do you want your photographer to capture and portray the unique and special elements of your wedding day?
• Do you want to constrain her with a checklist, or do you want your wedding photographer to be open and on the look out for special images, whether or not they are on a list?
• Do you want the stress of having to check every shot off a list, or do you want to have fun and let your photographer capture you and your guests enjoying yourselves?
• Do you want every shot to be arraged or pre-planned, or do you want spontaneous, genuine moments captured as they happen in front of an unhindered camera?

Take a look at the next few shots, and ask yourself whether they happened because they were on a list.

Here’s my recommendation: come up with a short list of photos that you are pretty sure are unusual enough, or special enough that they merit your photographer’s attention. Think, “this is unique to me and my family, and he’s probably never photographed something like it.” Go ahead and also specify the list of formal shots — if you and your photographer have agreed to get family group shots, etc. — that you absolutely need captured, and still keep that list short enough that you won’t spend the bulk of your wedding day posing with groups of people. Then relax, have fun, and let your wedding day and the photographs that come with it happen. You’ll enjoy your day and your photos a lot more.

What then is the best wedding shot list? The one that frees you, your guests and your wedding photographer to live in and capture each moment as it comes.

Eduardo Suastegui serves the Los Angeles, California area with wedding photography that seeks to capture the heart and spirit in each image to tell your story.

When looking for a wedding photographer, most people focus on Price. How much will that photographer cost me? While it’s very real to have to live within an overall wedding budget, I’d like to suggest there are 4 other Ps you need to consider first.

Before we dive into what the 4 Ps entail, it will help to visualize them as they impact price. Imagine these 4 Ps as the four sides of a square or rectangle, the area of which defines Price.

If you reduce one or more sides of the square, you also reduce the Price.

Whether you realize it or not, you’ll be trading off that four-sided set of Ps, and you will prioritize them in some way or another. Let’s have a closer look at each of them.

The first P is Personality. You will be working for many hours with your photographer. They will be directing your poses. They will be working with you on the run, often under a lot of stress and a time crunch. You want someone who’s not going to make the day any more stressful for you, and you want someone who will make you feel comfortable and at ease in front of the camera. Consider all those intimate moments your photographer will be sharing with you: who will you trust and allow him into those moments? As a wedding photographer serving the Los Angeles area, I also take time during my client meetings to make sure my personality and that of my clients are compatible. Yes, I also want to feel I can work smoothly with my clients, and I want to “get” them on a personal level because I think that directly reflects on the quality of images and moments we will capture together. You appreciate this. You may have worked with difficult personalities in your own job, and usually you just have to get along as best you can, but why would you want to add that stress to your wedding day?

The second is Professionalism. Along with feeling comfortable with your photographer on a personal level, you must also know they are going to act professionally toward you. How long will he take to reply to a phone call or an email? Are the wedding agreement and wedding packages descriptions written clearly and cleanly, so that you can understand how they apply to your wedding day? How clearly will she communicate with you, explaining how she works and how she approaches her photography, and how well will she coordinate the many details of your wedding day with you? Will she show up on time to your engagement session and your wedding, or will she make you and your wedding party wait? Will he know how to be flexible and adapt when your wedding day timeline shifts? Will he be reliable and on time for the products he delivers to you? You get this, too. You are professional in your own job, and you should expect the same of your wedding photographer.

The third is Proficiency, by which I mean the skill and know-how required to make, take and process your photos. Although many people don’t think so, wedding photography is one of the toughest types of photography anyone can take on. Why? Because it’s many types of photography, all wrapped up into one on-the-run, no-second-chances, gone-before-you-know-it day. A wedding photographer has to be good with natural light, and know when to enhance the light. He has to be a portrait photographer, a product photographer (for details), a landscape photographer (for those cool outdoor shots), an architecture photographer (for the interiors of beautiful churches and venues), a photojournalist for capturing all those story-telling moments… and I’m sure I’m forgetting something. A wedding photographer has to bring all those skills, and he has no time to think or ponder how best to pull off the shot.

Fourth, related to Professionalism and Proficiency is Product, which covers deliverables such as photo discs, prints, and albums your wedding photographer produces. What products you want out of your wedding photography is up to you, but you should definitely choose a photographer who can deliver these products. If you just want a disc, few should have a problem with this. However, make sure the style and processing of photos your photographer has produced in the past line up with what you expect from him or her. When it comes to printed products, I always recommend to my clients that they get at least one large print they can display at their home. You can print these yourself from the disc, but your photographer should be working with professional labs that can guarantee consistency and quality of product that exceed what you can get from local outfits like Costco and Walmart. Your choice, but I recommend you use your photographer’s expertise and connections in this area to get you the quality results you deserve.

In short, wedding photography is a tough assignment. Make sure you give it to someone who can perform throughout your wedding day, and in the days that precede and follow your wedding day, with an engaging personality, professionalism, and proficiency, while turning out the quality product you want. Put all that together, and now you’re ready to adequately determine how much value you assign to such a wedding photographer’s vision and work, so that you can discuss that other P, Price.

Since I may a little biased and self-interested, instead of telling you what a wedding photographer is worth to you, I’ll leave you with a couple of questions to consider as you determine your photographer’s compensation. Of all the things you are paying for on your wedding day, which will be with you past the first month after the wedding day? How much are those other things costing you compared to your wedding photography, which you and your family will treasure the rest of your life?

What is the most common piece of advice given to an aspiring wedding photographer? Second-shoot with an experienced photographer. Does it work? Before we get into that, let’s touch on why this piece of advice makes a lot sense.

• Wedding photography involves not only photographic ability, but skill over a range of business and wedding day challenges. Learning the flow of the wedding day, for instance, while not having the pressure of delivering the primary set of photos helps.
• Hands-on experience while observing an experienced photographer can go a long way in furthering your skill set. In a healthy primary-second relationship, the primary may even take steps to advise and mentor his second. That’s really helpful, though it doesn’t always happen.
• The second photographer can focus on building his portfolio and skills while not having to worry about the business end: no contract to sign with the client; no negotiations over price to conduct; no thorny email interactions when the client wants to adjust some contract detail; no albums to design, proof with the client and deliver; no ruffled feathers to smooth when the client expresses displeasure with photos, etc.
• Second-shooting also helps the second photographer to network with other photographers, and as her career moves along, she will have a list of potential business partners to whom she can refer work, who may refer work to her, or who can team up with her down the line.
• Finally, second-shooting enables the second photographer to build his portfolio. Yes, he’ll have to turn his images over to the primary, but in most cases he’ll be able to retain some rights so that he can feature photos he took on his website and hopefully attract clients.

These are all very good things, and in between the lines, you might also sense that for someone just getting started with wedding photography, it is easier to second-shoot for a while than to get business and provide quality product to your clients as an inexperienced primary. Is this true? As it turns out, not really, and there are other problems with the second-shooter route.

First, getting a job as a second-shooter isn’t easy. Not at all. For a variety of reasons, many primary photographers will not be very keen on hiring you as their second.

• It turns out primary shooters want experienced second-shooters. In many cases, they want photographers with primary photographer experience. Why? It’s their reputation on the line. Why would they want to risk their reputation and brand by taking a chance on you? If you’re just getting started, you’re out.
• Somewhat related to the desire for experienced second-shooters, primary shooters are more likely to already have a list of second-shooters they know and use on a regular or as-needed basis. If you’re not already on that list, you’re out again.
• Other primary shooters prefer to shoot solo. They pretty much view a second-shooter as a detriment rather than a help. Unless you’re really good, they’re not looking forward to having to process another 1,000-2,000 photos. Even if you’re good, your style (more on this below) may not match theirs, so they may find they can’t really use many of your photos; if they did, they’d be delivering a disjointed product. As they say, three strikes and you are…

Add all that up, and if you’re cold-calling or emailing photographers in your area trying to find second-shooting opportunities, you’re likely to find more brick walls than open doors.

Are there more gotchas with second-shooting? Unfortunately, yes.

• Personal relationships between the wedding photographer and his/her clients are crucial during a wedding day. While the primary has met with the client(s), gotten to know them, learned about their expectations, and probably even shot an engagement session with them, as a second-shooter, you’re walking in cold. If you’re just hanging in the corners and shooting candids, that may work out okay. But if you have to interact with the client(s) to execute formal shots, walking in cold may leave you out in the cold.
• As a second shooter, you will likely have limited access to the bride during the wedding day, primarily during the pre-wedding prep hours. The primary will be shooting all those getting ready shots brides love to see in portfolios, and you’ll probably be somewhere else, maybe shooting the groom prep – important stuff, but not the main act in many cases.
• Then there’s the style, “who am I shooting for” question. As a second shooter, your goal should be first and foremost to support your primary photographer, to make him succeed by supplying photos he can use and sell to his client(s). That means in some cases you may be altering or bypassing your own personal style (e.g., natural light vs. strobist shooting, informal candid vs. formal posed portraits, etc.) to make sure your shots fit within the primary’s requirements for final delivery. This creates a tension between what you want out of the shoot, namely, to build your portfolio, and doing what’s best for the primary. If your styles and approach match, that’s great. If you differ a little, or if your experience prevents you from doing everything the way she would want it accomplished, you will struggle.
• When it comes to getting paid, the second-shooter shouldn’t expect much of an income. In many cases, you’ll be lucky to make enough to cover your gasoline. That’s okay for a season if you’re getting valuable experience and a portfolio out of it, but in general, not a sustainable business model.

Reading all that, should you be a second-shooter, or not? Every situation is different, and you may find some of the roadblocks I list above don’t apply to you. If so, great! Others may find that a combination of second-shooting and primary shooting of low budget weddings may help you pay your dues as you build your business. And others still may choose to just go for primary jobs and forget the second-shooting thing.

Whatever route you opt to take, just know the second-shooting advice you often read comes with a host of often unstated caveats. There are pluses and minuses, and you’ll have to weigh them for yourself.

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Previously we reviewed things a wedding photographer will consider to successfully capture your wedding day. Today we want to discuss the importance of personal connection between you and your wedding photographer. While the rates your wedding photographer charges, the type of approach or style he implement, the techniques he uses to handle challenging lighting, or even the equipment he brings are important, his ability to connect with you and your big day on a personal level will prove as indispensable.

Does your wedding photographer get you – who you are, what’s important to you, how you feel about your wedding day? Will he be personable, responsive and in general easy to work with before, during and after your wedding day? Do you trust him or her to deliver on his promises? Does his vision for photography match up with how you want your wedding day recorded?

These and other related questions, all boiling down to how you and your wedding photographer connect on a personal, emotional and even spiritual level are things you want to explore when you meet with your wedding photographer. Allow enough time for this. There will be plenty of logistical details to discuss: the timeline for the day, what is or isn’t included in the wedding package, what are the “must-have” shots the photographer must capture, and so on. But make sure you allow enough of the conversation to focus on you as a person: your interests, your likes and dislikes, how you have envisioned your wedding day, what special family dynamics you want the photographer to keep in mind, etc. Make sure that you also have a less than superficial conversation about the photographer’s philosophy as it applies to wedding photography. Review his images, yes. Even let him show you what an awesome, avant-garde photographer he is. But not without gaining an understanding of who he is as an artist, how his passion for photography maps into how he will approach your (not just any other) weeding, how his artistic vision will match up with how you have envisioned your wedding day.

This may or may not be an easy conversation to have, but one well worth the effort. In a way, talking about the technical details is fairly straightforward once you have a few facts in hand. Yet, if you really think about what’s going on during a wedding day at its core, all the basic things happening at the surface – the exchange of vows and rings, the big kiss, the family portraits, the cutting of the cake, the big dancing – are all representations of a deeper core of love, convictions and personal interactions. Will your wedding photographer capture what’s happening at the surface, or will his photographs portray the true meaning of the day? If the latter is important to you, place a premium on discovering how your wedding photographer will be able to extract that meaning and transfer it onto a photograph.

Eduardo Suastegui is a wedding photographer serving the Downey, Whittier, Los Angeles, California area.

After reviewing the many considerations a successful wedding photographer must address, you may rightfully ask how much value to ascribe to her work. As much as we may hate the sometimes uncomfortable topic, after we review a wedding photographer’s portfolio and decide her approach to your big day is a good match, we will have to address finances.

Some wedding photographers would suggest that you think about how much you pay wedding photography services as an investment. They want to get across the concept that since your wedding photos will last well beyond the wedding day, long after the flowers have withered, the dinners have been consumed and the cake enjoyed, you should consider what you pay for your wedding photos as an investment. This idea may connect with you… or not. Perhaps you think of photos as things you are buying, and you want to get the best deal you want.

Even if you think of photo discs and wedding albums as mere products, in light of what we’ve discussed in previous installments of this series, namely, how many cameras a photographer must carry, the quality and capability of those cameras, the choice of high quality lenses he will likely make, the skilled way he will handle lighting, the special style he will apply to your photos, and the post-processing that will complete his artistic vision, you should expect to assign high value to that product.

Wedding photography, I would argue, however, is more than a product. If you connect with a truly talented wedding photographer, you will enjoy a relationship with her, and she will seek to serve your needs with the best skill and diligence she can apply to your wedding day. Here the emphasis should be on service more than commodity. Your relationship with your wedding photographer coupled with her passion to capture you as you are and your wedding day as it unfolds will in many cases yield a unique and irreplaceable family heirloom. Do you want to think of this outcome as just a product or commodity?

“But I have a limited budget,” you say. That’s a very real constraint for many. Often this constraint is accentuated when all other wedding expenses are allocated and committed before hiring a wedding photographer, leading to fewer and limited choices when it comes to the quality of service and photographs a wedding photographer will be able to deliver. You may luck out and find a very talented, just getting started wedding photographer and artist who shows up with just one camera and one lens and somehow manages to do a fantastic job… or more than likely, not.

Perhaps a better approach to a limited budget is to prioritize the things that are most important to you, and if in your case, special, high quality wedding photography is important to you, then reserve a larger portion of your budget toward achieving that outcome.

The next installment in this series is now available here.

Eduardo Suastegui is a wedding photographer and fine art photographer serving the Downey, Los Angeles, California area.

While these days printed media is in steep decline, for wedding photography, prints and wedding album portray your special day as it deserves. Though many may prefer the ease of distribution and relative low cost of digital photo files, I recommend you don’t make a final – and in some cases irreversible – decision to have your photos developed as large prints and or processed for inclusion in a wedding album.

As we suggested in our previous installment, a wedding photographer will choose the type of post-processing he will use to best suit the output medium. If the wedding photographer is only delivering a disc of images, he will not know whether in the future you will want a print, either black and white or color (and if so what color treatment), or whether you will want your photos sized specifically for an album, and at what aspect ratio. For this reason, his disc will likely include a straight-forward processing that should display well on a computer screen, but may not be optimum for other display media. If you are planning to make your own prints and/or albums at a later date, you may not achieve the best results.

For this reason you should ideally work with your wedding photographer to obtain the products you want, including albums and prints, as part of your wedding package and/or a la carte options. Before you decide whether you want prints and/or wedding album(s), ask your wedding photographer to show you samples of such products he has produced in the past. You may well be pleasantly surprised by the impact and superior look a printed photograph or an album offers over comparable display of your wedding photos on, say, a laptop or tablet screen. You will also gain appreciation for how the wedding photographer integrates his post-processing approach with choices in album design.

Consider also whether you want to entrust the archival of your wedding photos to an electronic device that may become non-functional or obsolete in the not too distant future. Ask yourself whether an album or an electronic device will provide the best and most appealing family heirloom, shared with one generation and the next. While you may still request delivery of a disc containing your photos, I invite you to assess whether you want to avail yourself of the full range of quality your wedding photographer should be able to provide through printed photos.

Bottom line: ask your wedding photographer to show you photos and albums he has produced in the past. Check out the quality of his/her work then decide whether you desire these deliverables included in your overall wedding package.

The next installment in this series is now available here.

Eduardo Suastegui is a wedding photographer serving the Downey, Los Angeles, California area.