Lukas VanDyke Fine Art Photography

A little while ago I wrote part one of an article on how to choose a wedding photographer. (Click here for part One)

Part 2 involves some practical questions you might want to ask before you make your final decision:

• Why did you become a wedding photographer? I think most people become photographers because they love the art, love the people, or love something about it. Any answer related to that is a good one. But if the answer is related to some nonsense about the great hours, or the money or anything like that I would take it as a warning sign. You want someone who is passionate about what they do. Someone who has a drive to create the best images possible for the sake of creating images.

• How long have you been in the business? I’ve known some people shooting for less than 6 months who do incredible work, and others who have been doing it for 10 years and their stuff is still pretty mediocre. It’s important to look for someone who has had enough experience that you can see consistency in their images. But once there is a consistency, the number of years they have been shooting won’t be a huge factor. Although I do feel like my work has improved in leaps and bounds since when I started 7 years ago.

• Do you do photography full time or part time? I’ve seen some really great images from part timers as well as full timers. I wouldn’t rule one or the other out. You might get a better deal from a part timer, but on the flip side the full timer will often have better access to quality printing, album resources, and often higher end equipment.

• How soon will I see the photos? I don’t think this should be a huge deciding point. As long as you get them at some point and they are great images, there are more important things that could make or break the deal. I personally usually have the photos all done and shipped off to the client in under a week, with three weeks being on the extreme long end. However a lot of photographers take 6 months to a year to get the photos, and in some cases up to 2 years. If you want to use them to decorate your house before your first child comes you might want to find someone who gets them done on the shorter end.

• Will the photographer you spoke with actually be there? If you’re meeting with an independent photographer that won’t be a problem. However, if you’re meeting with someone who works with a studio or company it could be an issue. Make sure you know.

• How long will the photographer be at the wedding. Currently I only do weddings where I can book the whole day. I like to have time do do everything, catch everything, and be able to tell the whole story. I tell people it’s from a getting ready to getaway deal. But many photographers will only come for 6 hours, or 8 hours and extra time is extra money. You might not want the story of your whole day. But make sure you know what you’re getting into before you get charged for extra hours.

• How would you do the schedule for my wedding? In my initial consultation I always take 20 min and talk through a rough draft of how I would structure the day to make sure to get all the photos my clients want. That offers them a great starting point as they plan. More cases than not they never modify the initial schedule we talk over. Timing is crucial on a wedding day. Make sure your photographer can handle the fast pace, make a schedule, stick to it, and still get great images.

• Do you include the rights to your photos? All my packages include a rights released DVD of all the proofs from the wedding. I feel like I should get paid for what I am good at, creating images. In all reality if it doesn’t cost me $18 to print a 4×6, why should I get paid that much for one? However, a lot of photographers will offer a very low up front price, but they don’t release the rights. If you plan on ordering every print through them at their posted prices that might work for you. But make sure to consider what that will cost in the end. Often it will be more expensive than a higher end up front price.

These are a few questions which I also think are important to ask. But for one reason or another out of the 120 some weddings I have shot I only think I’ve been asked these questions 5 or 6 times.

• What’s your back-up solution? I have heard dozens of stories from people who lost all of their wedding photos because of a poor backup solution on the photographers part. All of my cameras shoot dual cards. Which means every photo I take is written to two separate memory cards at the same time. So by the time the wedding is over I already have two copies of the photos in two different locations (in my camera plus the second card which I put in my pocket). From there I always have 3 different copies of the photos at two different locations. My hope is I will never lose a wedding photo.

• What kind of cameras do you use? I find it odd no-one ever asks me this. But I have seen photographers use some pretty cheap cameras. I like to use Canon’s high end 1D series of cameras. The bodies cost around $4500 each. I know of a few lower priced cameras where the photo quality is just as good, but those cameras just aren’t as durable. I guess a good rule of thumb is you probably won’t get camera that takes quality professional looking photos for less than $2500 retail. So you can always just ask what the camera body cost. I also like to use the faster more durable professional series lenses. But in this case I feel you can get some great photos with cheaper lenses, just not as great.

• Do you use multiple cameras/ lenses? I shoot with two cameras during all the key points (e.g. things that can’t be repeated like the ceremony or first dance). That way if a camera malfunctions I can switch to the other and no one will ever be the wiser. I also have a 3rd camera on site. A camera could malfunction at any point, and anyone shooting with less than two quality cameras is someone you should avoid. I also have enough overlapping lenses that if I lost any lenses it wouldn’t really affect the photos.

Hopefully this is helpful for someone out there. Part 3 will conclude with some thoughts on the contract, and some practical insights to the world of weddings from the photographer’s perspective.

When I first started shooting weddings the thought never crossed my mind to take a photo of the rings. Occasionally some people asked for a ring shot, and they always seemed to want to do that cheesy pose where they both hold their hands together over the bouquet of flowers. I don’t blame them, it’s probably the only thing they had seen before. Besides I am the one getting paid to be creative and should be the one thinking of awesome shots. At one point I was browsing some wedding blogs and saw some really cool shots of rings.  I decide it was worth a try, and something I should incorporate into weddings as often as possible. The problem was I didn’t really have the desire to buy a macro lens and add it to my case as yet one more thing to carry around. The simple solution for me was Canon’s 500D macro filter.  It’s small, it’s light, and it always stays in my shoot bag.

I don’t always get a chance to do my little 15 min session with the rings. But more often then not I plan ahead and ask the bride it’s possible for her to hold on to all the rings the morning of the wedding while she is getting ready. Then when things are slow I have a chance to duck out for 15 min and get some really great images. Those rings are expensive, and a lot of love and care went into picking them out and purchasing them. It’s worth a little time to get some great shots, and I’m glad the thought finally struck me!

I feel a little bad about posting all personal blogs the last few days, and I feel like I should put something interesting our useful up here for those of you who read regularly. But we’ve been on the road and I haven’t had the chance to put together all the subject matter for a few posts I am working on. So I have a few helpful photo/wedding tips I will put at the end.

However, first I wanted to comment quickly on this morning. After the wedding on Saturday Suzy and I drove to Hickman to visit my brother Sam and his wife Nicki. We spent the night at their house and then went to morning service at Hickman Community Church where Nicki’s dad is the pastor. I’ve gone to a very large church most of my life and think some people can think of ministry in numbers only. They think ministry needs to be a big event with a lot of people to have influence. But in reality a lot of ministry comes from one on one interaction in smaller settings. It’s Christians living out their salvation by caring for other Christians hurts, helping younger believers interpret scripture, encouraging one another in sanctification, being a friend to the friendless, and a myriad of other small things which can only be carried out on a one on one level. It was a cool reminder to me that often those little personal relationships at a smaller church out in the country have far more impact then someone who plans dozens of large events, but never takes the trouble to meet one person and love on them. It also reminded me that the personal relationships are often the best place to do real ministry in a large church. It’s so cool how the Lord works through people and in people one at a time.

For Brides to be: Some of my favorite detail shots at weddings are always the ones I get to do of the rings. There are so many ways you can make them look super cool. The problem is it usually takes about 15 minutes to do the photos. On a busy wedding day sometimes you have that time and sometimes you don’t. So now when we are putting together the wedding schedule I will ask the couples if it will work for them to have all three rings either with the bride or with the groom while they are getting ready. Then I plan to arrive for the getting ready photos about 15 min early so I am always guaranteed some good shots. Just a tip for your photographer as you go over your wedding schedule.

For the Photographer: Ring shots are fun, and there are all kinds of ways you can do them. But the key is to have some kind of macro lens. You can achieve that by carrying around an actual marco lens, or by using an adapter on either the front or back end of your current lens. For me the easiest is to just carry a 500D macro adapter in my camera bag with me during the early part of the wedding. Light can get pretty trick with the reflection on the rings. But I will usually find a window and put the rings jut outside of the direct light. For me that will often give me the best results!