Wobbles over my photographer

Hi.

After looking at his website and he costs I think he is good... For the price he charges. There are nothing wrong with his photos.

But if you want better quality you will have to pay more money.?

Yes I agree with TinaBeana. Ok, they're not terribly inventive but he seems to capture the important bits and as already mentioned, with photographers you get what you pay for.

I think it's how you got on with the photographer when you met them.

I chose to meet two, one talked about how good he was and how wonderful people thought his photos were etc etc. The other asked about what we would like and what we had planned for the day so far. Before we met her she had asked where our venue was and she researched it as she hasn't been there before. We went with the photographer that we felt relaxed with and showed an interest in 'our' day not the one who spent the whole meeting telling us how good they are and seemed to have forgotten that it is 'our' day.

We can spend so much money on a photographer and spend most of the day with them so make sure that you feel comfortable with 'them' and they should then be able to capture good memories for you to treasure and look at long after the day is over.

I've had a look and the work is OK. To be fair, you really need to judge the photographer according to what they charge as expectations are different in different price ranges.

I haven't been able to see his prices so I can't really advise you. I don't know what your budget is either! If your budget is £1500 you can do better. If your budget is £800 then he's OK. If your budget is £400 then he's great!

I think he's absolutley fine ☺ A great price too!

His work is good. I notice his style is a mixture of posed and reportage, and he's stronger in the former than the latter - but that could be his editing skills. They're not bad editing skills either.

If you're having concerns, perhaps go through the photos you like of his with him so he gets more of those type of photos, and also have a list of photos you must have.

It all depends on what YOU want really as wedding photography is all different

the photographer you posted isnt my taste but I really dislike posed group shot etc... but then we're not having a photographer so its not a priority to us, instead im spending what most would on a photographer on a videographer because to me I can have my picture professionally taken anyday but how often do you get to be proffesionally filmed ?

if you want the formal shots with family, bridesmaid and such then he seems perfectly acceptable

I've set up a meeting with him to look at his work in person. I've set up a meeting with someone else for the day after too. I'll be able to compare his work to someone else's so hopefully it'll put my mind at ease. We'll see. The other problem is I'm paying £850 for him to stay for 9 hours and he'll supply 200 photos. But the meeting will help me decide. Thanks everyone

For the price he's charging (I'm going by his website saying from £750 for full day coverage) then yeah, this level of quality is about expected. It's not blow-your-mind stunning and like someone else said, the poses are pretty standard, but for the money I'd guess you're paying, he looks fine!

It's a tough one to call, but I agree with Paula when it comes to budget vs work.

I would say you also need to pay attention to your gut feeling too. I had a bride contact me and ask me what I thought of the work of the photographer she had booked. I declined to comment on the work, but instead asked her what she thought - at which she said 'There's no love'. I told her she'd answered her own question! She went on to booking someone she felt was right for her and was please she did.

For me, your photography is incredibly important to get right. Those 'moments' don't last forever and I think you'd kick yourself if you didn't listen to those doubts/concerns.

That's such a good point Laura. I can't shake the feeling and I think I'll always have the doubts now they've started. If I ignored the doubts and then wasn't happy with the photos I'd kick myself forever.

The other point to consider is that you need to guard against "jumping out of the frying pan into the fire."
Someone has said above the chap is £750 which was in line with my guess. In that £700-£800 price range you don't get a huge choice of quality photographers. If that is your budget then my advice is not to switch because you could end up with someone who has a more carefully "stage managed" portfolio but is actually worse overall.

For example, I saw some great work on Facebook today from a lady photographer... but I recognised the model in the photos and that the "wedding photos" the particular photographer was showing were from a training day using someone elses equipment!

Your photographers portfolio is honest and there's enough work to assess his ability. It's only worth switching if you are going to increase your budget.

Good professional value Bill.

My only comment is that this tog is like many others who do not think about how men stand in group shots. Far too many of the gents are standing in the "fig leaf" pose with the arms draping down together at the point of their nether region. Totally natural, although it looks like they are holding their private parts...... This is something I always avoid in any group shots I do...

Peter

Hello, I got married in Dec. I started having wobbles re our photographer with about 6 months to go. Some of this was due to following them on Facebook and obviously seeing every wedding with all shapes / people and just thinking they looked a bit average, and also as I just didn't click with them.

They were £1200 with no album / rights to pics till you purchased an album. Album is £800 so £2k all in which isn't cheap I don't think? The original photographer we wanted was booked, and in fairness, I saw an album from these guys at our venue that was amazing. They were also highly recommended in the area.

Anyway, long story short. As we would have lost most of money by cancelling we kept them. And I regret it. One of them was in a mood on the day, lots of really odd no make up getting ready shots, and all our formal ones I have a bit of hair that's gone crazy-why wouldn't you stop and fix?! We have enough good / ok ones for album, but I REALLY wish I'd changed! If you can afford to write it off and find someone else then I would. These pics are what you'll look at for the rest of your life!

Hi Becky,

I haven't looked at the other photographer's work, but one thing you could do is reduce the hours you would like covered. This way you could book someone whose work you absolutely love and stay within your budget.

All the best,

Minna x

What is it your having wobbles over? Do you want some more fun and crazy images or do you want natural or posed or a mixture? Our photographer likes to be a bit quirky so we did have a play with smoke grenades at our UK party but he also obliged us in posed photos for the family and took lots of lovely natural ones. His Facebook photos will no doubt be low resolution as they take so long to upload! My photographer suggested I look at Pinterest for ideas to show him what sort of photos I want maybe you could do that and show him. I doubt he will go quirky unless you ask for it if it isnt his usual style

I think he looks like a nice photographer. My understanding is that that price is about right for your area. I have a friend who is a Wedding Photographer based in Barnsley who doesn't charge much more.

If you're still undecided after meeting your two, I'd be more than happy to pass on her details to you.

Good luck - photography was what has caused us the most stress after invitations!