Bellevue Studio-    113 E. Main St.     Bellevue, Oh 44811   419-483-5428   fax 419-483-3473

Sandusky Studio-  209 W. Water St.  Sandusky, OH 44811 419-621-5428                             

What if a friend or relative wants to shoot my wedding?

This is a true story. We've heard it from other photographers many times and have experienced it personally several times. 

We photographed her senior portraits.  She promised we would photograph her wedding.  She even came in and planned out her wedding with us. Then something changed.  

The groom had a relative that shot weddings on the side. He cut them a special deal.  That's fine, we said, just make sure of what you're getting.

Two weeks after the wedding, the bride was in our lobby in tears.  She said "Just look at these pictures!" We looked. She cried and expressed her disappointment.  "I planned for this wedding for a year and now the pictures are terrible!"

Basically, there were snapshots.  Everything was taken with a small, consumer camera. Obviously the flash was mounted right on the camera and no tripod was used.  The pictures were very contrasty, suggesting that amateur automatic settings were used. Exposures seemed to be all over the place and the grocery store one hour lab didn't seem to be able to compensate for the use of auto-exposure.  Most pictures were in focus, thanks to auto-focus, but some were irretrievably lost due to softness.  

The biggest problem was that there were lots of snapshots of all sorts of people, but nothing in the way of romantic, interpretive portraiture.  The photographer had documented some of the event but left out the soul.

After the bride settled down, we made plans.  The bride rented another tux for her groom, bought another bouquet, and had her gown cleaned.

We met at the studio for formal portraiture and then went to the church to re-enact as much as we could.  With the cooperation of the church, we were able to create some beautiful portraiture which the bride and groom were in love with.

The groom said (and I'm not kidding!) "I don't care what it takes, just help her to stop crying about this!" 

If you are considering having a non-professional photograph your wedding, please consider these issues.

1. Will they show up? Several times each year, we've been called by a frantic bride when her photographer lets her know that he can't make it after all.  Of course, this would usually happen at the last minute when no one is available.  Consider the person and the dedication to creating beautiful portraits.  

2. What equipment will they use? If snapshots are what you want, 35mm and consumer grade digital cameras are fine.  Flashes used on the camera will work OK for this type of photography.  You will get lots of red-eye but you may be able to  take that out with retouching later.  All of the rooms will be dark.  Make sure they bring plenty of batteries.  You'll be spending a lot on processing to get a few pictures you like.

3. Ceremony pictures: Most churches won't allow flash photography during the ceremony.  Most require the photographer to be in the back of the church or in the balcony.  Your photographer better have some long and fast (read expensive) lenses and a very good tripod if you are to get any ceremony pictures.  Use of high speed film or a high end digital camera with higher speed ratings are necessary here.  

4. Formal Portraits-  At most weddings, we can complete formal altar return photographs in about 20-25 minutes.  This requires the cooperation of the wedding party of course!  Will your photographer be able to control and pose all the combinations you want while changing film or trying to figure out why his new camera dosn't work like it was advertised?  We've all heard horror stories of professional photographers taking 2 hours for the altar returns. Imagine what problems you can have when you're not experienced in wedding photography!

5. If they are using a film camera, please make sure they use professional film.  There is a reason for this.  Amateur film is usually contrasty and difficult to expose perfectly with on-camera-flash. One of the advantages of professional film is that it has a lower contrast which gives the smooth flesh tones you see in our samples.  Also, the colors are much more accurate and the film is kept chilled until it is used giving the ultimate in exposure control.  

6. Don't use digital cameras! Unless you're using one of the latest professional, digital cameras, we don't suggest digital for weddings.  We are using the latest technology in professional digital cameras.  Its expensive but the results are worth it.  Our storage media costs more than most amateur cameras do.  You must photograph at the highest resolution. We carry 3 times the storage media normally used for a wedding.  Digital photography requires extremely accurate exposures.  Amateur digital cameras normally don't focus quickly and take a lot of time to fire.  We've all seen the amateur trying to take a picture and it seems to take forever to turn it on, remove the lens cap, zoom, compose the picture, turn on the flash, and then finally push the button only to cut off everyone's head!  Most amateur cameras are unable to perform up to the standards a wedding requires.  See Digital.

7. Education: If you can, send your photographer to several wedding seminars to learn correct posing and lighting techniques.  The reason most brides choose professional photographers is that they can create the look that brides like each and every time.  Of course, by the time you do this, you could have hired a professional and had money left over!

There are many other reasons to hire a professional.  These are just a few concerns related when brides tell us what went wrong with their wedding.

Copyright © 2007 Firelands Photography  Thank you to all of our customers who allow us to publish their images.  If you do not want your image to appear, please e-mail us immediately.  Thanks!