"I'm Having A Friend Shoot My Wedding"

I know that many potential clients are now reading my blog. So, this post is for them...

I was just reading a thread on one of the on-line wedding forums I frequent about the fact that many brides will try to save some money by having a "friend" shoot their weddings. This is a growing trend today because so many people are buying digital cameras and thinking they can offer professional services to their friends.

Here are my thoughts on this: Intentions might be good, but execution might be lacking.

Having a new camera doesn't automatically make a person a good photographer. Anyone can go out and buy a camera but that doesn't mean they know how to take a good photo. Even with automatic functions to help in exposure, creative vision is not automatic. Take a look at some images that really grab your attention. There's a difference between a snapshot and a professional shot. Most people can recognize that when they see it. Unfortunately, most people don't know how to shoot that themselves.

Shooting a wedding is much different than shooting a nice vacation photo. Here are some things to consider:

1. Does your friend know how to pose people?
2. Does your friend have the ability to take command of situations when needed?
3. Does your friend know what to expect during the ceremony and know how to position himself to get the best shots?
4. Can your friend work quickly and accurately under pressure?
5. How many weddings has your friend photographed?
6. How many weddings has your friend even attended?
7. Does your friend know how to create artistic-looking shots?
8. Does your friend have backup equipment in case something fails during the day?
9. Does your friend have top quality equipment or just consumer grade equipment?
10. What type of lenses will your friend use for shooting weddings? Can it handle low light situations? Will his camera handle low light situations? Does HE know how to compensate for low light situations?
11. Will the digital images taken be fully Photoshop corrected afterwards or just printed "as is?"
12. Does your friend carry a lot of memory cards so he can shoot at the largest resolution and size and still shoot a lot of photos before running out of memory? How many images will he take?
13. Is your friend insured to cover liability and errors and omissions? In other words, can he pay for the entire wedding to be recreated in case his images are lost or don't turn out?
14. Is your friend familiar with the traditions and regulations of the Church or Synagogue?
15. Are professional Wedding Albums available through your friend? You can't find these in stores.
16. Is your friend familar with how to put together a professional wedding album?
17. Does your friend know what shots to take at a wedding?
18. Does your friend know how to create a natural look when using a flash? Or will his photos have that harsh "flash" look with all the shadows behind the subject?
19. Does your friend know how to work with multiple light sources?
20. How many actual photographs has your friend taken over his lifetime? How many are shots of weddings?
21. Will your friend know how to work with the other vendors you hire for your wedding?
22. Do you want to risk your wedding to your friend's ability or inability to do a proper job?

Here's a final analogy to consider: If you had to have surgery done, would you let an intern do it to save 75% or would you rather have a professional surgeon do it? Same thing with weddings...