Why Hire a Pro When Someone You Know is “Good With a Camera”? or Top 10 Reasons NOT to DIY- Utah Wedding Photographer

This amazing article in Seattle Bride sums this up perfectly with a face off between an experienced amateur and professional shooting side by side at a wedding.  The proof is in the pictures.

Here’s my two cents on the issue.

Look.  Let’s face it.  Weddings are expensive.  It seems everyone we talk to is having a friend or relative shoot their wedding.  It’s hard to describe the difference between getting your picture taken and having portraits Created.   Here are my top ten reasons to hire a pro.

1. Guest or Photographer? A relative will be a guest 1st, a photographer 2nd.  S/he will be getting a glass of wine or chatting up your auntie instead of actively seeking out special moments and details to capture.
2. Talent. Would you consider hiring an untalented seamstress to make your dress?  Imagine the poor fit, shoddy workmanship.  You’re commissioning an artist to paint the first pages of your family legacy.  It’s a big deal!  Details, creative perspective, lighting, composition, design, posing.    Great pictures are something you feel, not just see.  An artist will do this. An amateur, will not.
3. Post Processing and Printing. Costco or Walmart will automatically adjust the settings on your photos.  This can cause all your pics to come back with the faces overexposed and the details blown out.  Fine for the family vacation but not for a life transition ritual as important as your wedding.
4. The Gear. Professional grade matters when quality counts.  The start-up lens kit that comes with most entry level dSLR make the camera on par with a much less expensive point and shoot.  To really get the most out of the camera, you need higher quality lenses which most people don’t have and don’t know how to use.
5. Experience Matters. Backup equipment is important because there are no do-overs.  If Uncle John’s camera goes caput is his back up his iPhone?!  A second camera is an absolute must, preferably with a different lens because the photographer can’t be everywhere at once, but a great lens can!
6. The Wedding Album. This one gets me in the gut because my wedding pictures are in a box somewhere down in the basement with a few snapshots put together in a tiny, plastic sleeve album from Target.  It’s pretty lame.  Pros have access to the best.  Use this service!  They utilize design, archival materials and inks, personalization like embossing or imprinting, options like the latest trendy magazine style or traditional custom cut mats, gorgeous covers ranging from classic black leather to Japanese silk bound by hand with Swiss ribbon, or even metal, wooden, image wrapped or purple snakeskin. The options are endless.  Above all, they will create an heirloom quality album, on time, delivered in hand that fits a myriad of budgets.  It sure beats a shoebox full of 4×6 prints and a DVD that you never had the time to print.
7. Knowledge is King. If words like aperture, ISO, depth of field, time priority, and back fill lighting leave your would-be-photographer looking a little blank, I’d be nervous about having an SD card full of blurry images come back to me.
8. Professionalism. Knowing how to be unobtrusive but still getting the shots is not to be underestimated.  No one wants to feel like there’s a camera in their face all night but if you have a low quality, short lens, they’ll have to be to get anything other than you and the groom, somewhere over there in the crowd.  Having someone standing in everyone’s way during the vows would be distracting to say the least, but you don’t want all of your pictures from the ceremony to be timid and from somewhere off yonder.  A pro knows how to get those shots without being a distraction.  And did I mention they remember to turn the sound off on their camera so you don’t hear the buzz and click of a digital camera while your fiancee is reciting his vows to you?
9. Lighting. A pro has the skill and experience to adapt to countless lighting challenges and location changes that are the hallmark of weddings.  Dimly lit chapels and reception halls, to full sun garden portraits is the norm.  Photographs are nothing without great light.  Don’t underestimate this one.
10. Refuse the Recession. The “R” word is lurking in every corner.  Don’t let it permanently color the memories of your wedding.  When you look back at these images with your daughter 20 years from now don’t let this cloud of economic uncertainty be something you remember.  If your album is less than breathtaking you’ll remember the budget crunching, not the celebration.  Have no regrets.  Invest in the images that will match and preserve the emotion of the day.

There we have it.  Remember, you get to keep 3 things from your wedding, 1) Each other, 2) Your rings, 3) and your pictures.  In the words of my favorite punk rockers, “Quality, Not Quantity!” Fit it in your budget, choose someone you trust and whose work inspires you.  They won’t let you down.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 1:16 pm and is filed under The Latest and tagged with Tips, utah wedding photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.