How To Choose a Wedding Photographer: Part 1

Unlike the work of your other wedding vendors (music, flower arrangements, cake), photographs aren’t things you can hear, smell, or taste.  This means careful research and selectiveness regarding professional skills, artistic style and personal demeanor are extra-important when choosing your photographer.

Before you begin researching photographers, you’ll need to first decide what type of photography style you prefer, as that will help determine which kind of photographer you’ll want shooting your wedding. All wedding photographers have their own distinct styles when it comes to how they shoot your wedding day. I like to call it story telling. Each photographer has a personal take on the best way to tell a story through photos. The way a photographer perceives storytelling is going to inform what they take photos of, how they take them, where they are when the important events happen, and everything else in between.  It is important to choose your wedding photography style before you choose your photographer. This will help to insure that your photos will reflect your style on your wedding day. How do you choose which style you like best?

In this post you will find the definition of  the 3 basics styles photographers have

TRADITIONAL/PORTRAITURE

A traditional photographer generally treats every image as a posed portrait, even shots you may think of as candid.(think: your parents’ wedding album) That doesn’t mean that the photographs will appear forced or posed, but that there will likely be few spontaneous “action shots” included in the mix.

CLASSICAL/ FINE ART

These photographers specialize in expertly composed, well-lit portraits. They try to keep an unobtrusive presence at the reception in order to set up perfect, classical images. You won’t find them mingling or telling the crowd to “look at the camera” to come up with magic moments.

PHOTOJOURNALISTIC / DOCUMENTARY

A wedding photographer who takes a photojournalist approach is one who considers it is the photographer’s job to record events, not stage them. This photographer will take the group shots you want but will also include candid and spontaneous images. There are few formal of guests smiling for the camera, but this photographer prefers capturing close-ups, spontaneous reactions to events, and sensitive impressions of a wedding led by events and the emotions surrounding them, not posed tableaus orchestrated by the photographer.

Now that you have a understanding of the different types of wedding photography styles what one best suites yours?

Was it traditional? How about  Photojournalistic ? Wonderful! I might just be your match! 🙂