Your wedding day is probably the biggest day you will ever have and you want to make sure you can trust YOUR photographer to come up with the goods on the day as there are no re-runs!, there's one chance and thats it!.
So.....what should you be asking a photographer?
Below are a few questions I feel you should ask as standard
1. Are you insured, do you have public liability insurance and professional indemnity to cover all outcomes, also, ask for proof. I always carry a copy of my insurance documents.
2. What happens if you are ill on the day. Most photographers are a sturdy bunch and would have to be at death's door before they don't turn up for a wedding, however, find out if he/she has any back up plans just in case. I have colleagues that would stand in for me if available, as we would do likewise for them.
3. Make sure there are no hidden costs. There's nothing worse than budgeting for a photographer and finding out you have to pay extra for what you though was already included in the price. I am always up front about my charges and we will always quote the full price at the start so we all know where we stand.
4. Make sure a photographer has a contract in place, read the contract carefully and query anything you don't understand. A contract is there so the client and the photographer know exactly what is expected of each other. We have a seperate contract for each package and is clearly written so everyone can understand it and not be bamboozled by legal jargon.
5. ALWAYS ask if the photographer has back up equipment. Digital technology is getting better all the time and the likelihood of a malfunction is slim, but every wedding photographer should have a back up body and array of lenses just in case. You don't want the photographer to get a point-and-shoot out of his pockect half way through the ceremony. We have high quality Canon back up equipment so you can be rest assured if any technical malfunctions occur we can carry on with our back equipment with perfect results.
6. Throw a technical question in....see how they respond. Ask, the church is going to be quite dark how will you deal with this lighting issue and what settings on your camera will you think of using.
As we all know flash photography is not generally allowed during the ceremony so the photographer should be using manual mode, high-ish ISO around 1600 with the aperture wide open, say F2.8 with a shutter speed of approximately 1/60th of a second. This can be handheld but any slower than that say 1/40 of a second they should use a tripod. we always proceed with test shots before the bride arrives to make sure with the correct settings which allow for perfect exposure. We also use manual mode most of the time as the meter systems in the camera can get fooled by its surroundings. No camers's are perfect, its up to us to decide what we want the camera to expose correctly.
