Shifting onto this next report in this series about wedding photography covering Exeter , Torbay and Plymouth. My first posts were all about why a wedding photographer might appear expensive in the beginning? My previous posts provide you with an insight into precisely what is involved. Hopefully you'll come to realise that when you see the photographer taking pictures at your wedding, there is a lot more behind the scenes work involving both preparation and post production work.

It's also important when selecting your photographer to take into consideration the equipment they use. Working with a professional photographer and parting with your hard earned cash means you've got a right to expect professional spec equipment.
Here are a couple pointers about what any self respecting photographer would use:-

1) Top quality pro spec DSLR's will often have a magnesium body and are high resolution. These days anything upwards of 10 Mega Pixels is fine. Canon and Nikon are two leading brands favoured by many, but other makes are just as capable. Your photographer should really be owning two camera bodies. This has two benefits, firstly it's a back up against one breaking down. Secondly, if different lenses are put on each body, it saves the photographer swapping lenses and potentially missing good shots?

2) Lenses are important. The calibre of the lens can not be over emphasised. Let me put it this way, if a photographer has a spare £1k to splash out on new equipment, he / she could well be far better off purchasing the very best lens they can afford instead of deciding on the newest DSLR body. Look for a wedding photographer who uses f2.8 lenses, known inside the trade as 'fast glass'. These lenses let in more light and for that reason work better in the more demanding situations.

3) Next on the list is most likely lighting equipment, this would include one or more dedicated flash gun, light modifiers and/or reflectors and of course a sturdy tripod.

It's obvious that having all the right equipment is only half the battle, you must have seen a good cross section of their work and liked their style. One of the benefits of our modern internet age is the opportunity to browse websites and preview the photographs in a gallery. Styles vary a great deal and there are lots of explanations in regards to what they entail. Normally a mix of styles is necessary to provide the best wedding day coverage. For example, your photographer could use a reportage style, but will still take traditional group shots as a family record of who was there on the day. I'll write in more detail about wedding photographer styles in a future post.

Thanks for reading my article. © 2011 White Petal

Wedding Photographer for Plymouth.
Hi, I am writing my second article meant to assist couples going through the process of selecting a wedding photographer. This issue was to discuss the costs involved in hiring a professional for your wedding photography needs.

In the previous post I touched upon why a wedding photographer appears on the face of it to be expensive. Charging upwards of £500 to £2,000 for a days work. Yet it's a mistake to consider it as a days work. For a wedding photography session to be successful, it will need planning ahead of day and time invested on post production afterwards.

If your wedding venue happens to be one I haven't visited or worked at before, then its highly desirable to invest enough time to check it out. By taking time to have a good look around I can begin to visualise and plan some of the photography I will use on the day. Such a visit would enable me to check the direction and quality of light, paying attention to the time that the wedding ceremony is planned for. The time factor being relevant to the position of the sun and the direction and quality of available light?

In the past, these planning trips have allowed me to formulate photographic opportunities in my mind so that on the wedding day, when things need to be kept moving along; I have been able to position the happy couple and set up the shot with the minimum amount of fuss!

The same also applies to the wedding reception venue; if I am unfamiliar with it I would want to visit the premises. This gives me the opportunity to check out the best opportunities for wedding photographs and group shots to be taken. Additionally, it is a time to meet with the staff and/or the owners. This is also a chance to built up a rapport and start a professional working relationship.

Having done the venue research, then there is the wedding day itself. The length of the wedding photographers working day will be influenced by a number of things, including things like the time of day the ceremony takes place and what your photography package includes?

So I'm not going to go over the wedding day itself here, it's safe to assume all of us have a rough notion of what is expected from a wedding photographer.

Lets pause here to reflect on what has taken place so far, the photographer has visited the wedding and reception venues beforehand to check things out. Then of course the actual wedding has taken place. So already we can see that there has been quite an investment in time and effort, possibly involving four separate journeys? This all has a direct impact on the price the photographer needs to charge.

So what happens next….., Ok well the wedding photographs are still on the camera's memory card and now need to be transferred onto the computer for editing. Once downloaded, a good professional photographer would immediately make a back up copy. Now the hard work begins, the photos taken must be checked through, almost like a quality control check. At this stage some will undoubtedly be deleted. Those that remain will then be sifted and the editing process begins.

On average a wedding photographer will most likely take between 250 - 500 photographs. All of these need some enhancing or editing and whilst good initial camera work can reduce the amount of post production work, many images will still need tweaking to achieve the desired impact.

Additionally, a few will need careful editing. For example, I have used Photoshop to take out things like double yellow lines from a road or an illuminated exit sign on a wall; these things have a tendency to be distracting to the eye and can spoil a photograph. This post production phase might take two or three days to complete before the photos are burnt to disc.

So you're able to see that the whole process may easily involve four days work. Three of those days could involve travelling and we all know that £70 doesn't go very far when you have to fill up the tank!

So hopefully for all these reasons, it's simple to see why professional wedding photographers charge the prices they do. In addition there are other professional costs, for instance purchasing equipment, insuring the equipment, depreciation costs and membership of professional photography organisations.

White Petal Wedding Photography has built it's business reputation by providing a first class professional service coupled with good value for money. However there are definite upward pressures on prices and these may have to be reflected when the 2012/13 prices are set.

I think one of my first articles should address the difficult subject of just how much is a wedding photographer worth?

I am a wedding photographer in Devon within Torbay and whilst areas like Exeter are seen as having a thriving economy along with areas, like East Devon which are seen as comparatively well-heeled; these kinds of general assumptions shouldn't be put on to all of the local population and certainly not for the younger couple seeking to get married. That's the reason, it is important for a lot of wedding photographers to keep their feet firmly on the ground, as they say!

Yes I'd like to earning £1k+ from each wedding, nevertheless for many couples, that sort of expenditure is simply not in reach of their budget?

These are also now difficult times, a time of austerity and cut-backs, with a lot of partners facing hardship and difficult decisions. There are also some pundits stating the number of weddings is falling as couples can’t justify the high costs associated with having a wedding.

Naturally other basic factors affect the prices you charge, to put it simply - supply and demand. If I reached a stage where my diary was very full and there were still lots of enquiries coming in, well in that case you could possibly justify increasing you fees modestly?

That is why I opted for a transparent pricing strategy, based upon three packages allowing anyone trying to find a wedding photographer to find the one that suited them best. The feedback I have from clients tells me this is certainly met with approval, many mention searching websites of other photographers that are full of lots of useless information and yet they find it difficult to find any pricing information. Many photographers opt to invite couples to ring and discuss their requirements. You ought to ask yourself why is that? Why isn't there a straightforward clear price structure. I'm not sure of the answer but am guessing that the photographer can vary his/her prices dependant upon factors such as the time of the year, whether it is a Bank Holiday weekend maybe? Maybe it'll be based upon the season and you will get charged more in the summertime than if it were early spring or late autumn? Or possibly it simply depends upon him getting a feel for how much he thinks he/she can charge by making a few quick assessments according to your wedding plans? As I said before, I don't know the answers, I can only say that I think pricing should be clear without any hidden catches.

I have opted for a business-like Gold, Silver and Bronze package with fixed prices. This seems to get the thumbs up from clients because I have about an 80% conversion rate of enquiries into bookings. I suppose the problem will be that I am being forced to consider putting prices up. In my next article, let me look at a few of the financial pressures that are bound to push prices up.

My wedding photography in Devon is located near Torbay, with the greater part of my work being in Torquay, Exeter and Plymouth. Come back soon and I will add part 2.

Hello, Thanks for visiting my new Wedding Photography blog site. In the weeks and months ahead, I hope to chronicle my work here in Devon as a professioanl Wedding Photographer.

I intend to post up some articles which will hopefully be useful when you come to plan your wedding, particularly the matter of choosing your photographer.

I shall give you an insight into what the job entails and along the way, give you some pointers about what to look for in terms of styles and equipment.

Please pop back soon and check for new content. Thanks.