What NOT to ask your wedding photographer
Will it be cheaper if I’ll edit the photos myself?
We saw in previous articles that editing is indeed a part of the price. However, professional photographers won’t deliver RAW or unedited files. The image we produce from composition to editing is our business card.
We work hard to have a coherent style, to create the best possible memories for our couples, and every part of the job is as important and necessary for us to keep developing our company, as much as it is important for our client to have great images of their special day.
Can we have a discount?
As we saw in another article, wedding photography is expensive for a couple of reasons. So asking for a discount may be perceive as a bit disrespectful and it will make a world of difference if you’ll frase your request differently.
For example, “this is our budget, do you think we can find a solution that will be satisfying for us both for this price?”.
Remember, however, that a photographer who’s price starts at 5000€/50 000,- NOK most likely won’t work for 1000€/10 000,- NOK.
Can you make me look “better”? I am not photogenic.
2 years of photography school and many weddings taught me that there is no such a thing as “none photogenic people” but only bad photographers.
You look great. And you do not need any kind of extreme retouching.
As photographers, our job is to make you look at your best without you putting any effort into this thought.
The only recommendation I can give any future brides and grooms is to just be happy and enjoy their day. When you are happy, you show it and the camera sees it.
Why won’t I get all the photos?
In a nutshell: because not all photos are good photos.
Shooting a wedding can result in several hundreds, some time even several thousands, images – not all of them will capture the best of everyone.
You choose a photographer because you liked their portfolio, their artistic view and you probably liked what you saw in weddings they photographed before. Trust your wedding photographer.
A big part of our job is to go through the great amount of snaps we took and choose the ones represent your wedding day the best. Quality over quantity.
Can we recreate these photos?
The answer here depends a bit on the photo you want to recreate and on how many photos you want to recreate.
I always ask my couples if they have any inspirational photos they like to better understand their expectations. However, each photographer is just as unique as each wedding is. You choose that particular photographer because you like their portfolio.
Of course, it is always possible to try and recreate a photo keeping in mind that it may look different from the expectation.
I personally prefer to focus my energy on capturing candid and spontaneous moments because those are the ones you’ll really enjoy looking back at.
Can I have the copyright to the photos?
You will have the right to reproduce, print and share the photos on social media but the copyright will be held by the photographer because they are the ones who created the images. However, holding the copyrights won’t give the photographer the right to use the photos in whatever way they like. Remember to discuss this and agree upon fair use with your photographer while making the contract.
Remember: there are no questions you should ever be afraid to ask but I hope this article gave you the answer to questions not all photographers like to asnwer.