Wedding Photography Suggestions
1. Start planning your wedding at least one year in advance. Many of the good vendors and venues are booking weddings up to one year in advance. If you wait until six months before your wedding you may not have much of a choice left. At Don Aittama Photography, we are now booking weddings as much as one year in advance.2. While interviewing potential photographers, look at their photo examples and note whether the backgounds in pictures taken inside appear dark and underexposed or whether they appear well lit. If they are dark and underexposed, the photographer may be using flash equipment that is out of date or is using flash equipment that is not designed to be used in a large room.3. Find out from the photographer how much back-up equipment he/she uses. A good professional photographer will have at least one complete set of backup equipment - cameras, lenses and flash and will carry enough batteries and film/digital flash cards to do more than the number of expected pictures for the wedding. At Don Aittama Photography, we carry 3 cameras, 8 lenses, 4 flashes and enough batteries and flash cards to take twice the expected number of pictures at the wedding.4. If shooting digital, find out what the photographer does to back up the digital images. At Don Aittama Photography, we carry a portable battery operated hard drive with us at the wedding and back up each set of pictures as the cards are removed from the camera. By the time we leave the wedding, all pictures are backed up. The hard drive also serves as a viewer and allows limited viewing of some of the pictures. Additional backup copies of the digital files are created when we get back to our office/motel so that within 2-3 hours after leaving the wedding we will have at least 3-4 copies of the pictures on various media including the battery operated hard drive, computer hard drive, flash cards and DVD's.5. Many photography arrangements are made over the internet with no face - to - face contact between the bride, her familiy and the photographer. If this happens, take the time early on the morning of the wedding to meet with the photographer and get to know them. They are there to help make your special day a success and provide the pictures that will help you relive your special experience in the upcoming months with your freinds and family.6. Discuss with the photographer what types of lighting he/she will use and when/where it will be used. There is a wide variety of lighting available. The options available to the photographer range from no flash to on camera flash to remote flash systems. Some of the flash systems can be very bright. Being aware of the type of lighting used and where it will come from will help prevent you from being surprised at a key moment.7. Make sure someone at your wedding is assigned the responsibility of having a small sewing kit available at all times. Nothing is more disheartening than to discover that something important has pulled apart and there is no thread, scissors and needles to repair it. This is a good responsibility to give to one of your bridesmaids.8. Brides - please have one of your bridesmaids designated to straighten out your train every time you move, from the time you leave the dressing room until you button it up for the reception. This will help ensure that you will look your best in every picture that is taken of you and your train. Being a bridesmaid is not just an honor. It includes the responsibility of making sure that you look your absolute best in all of your pictures. The same thing applies if you have a large veil. This will also help speed up all of the formal pictures as the photographer can focus on getting his/her equipment ready while your bridesmaids are getting you ready for your pictures.
9. If you are going to have your wedding ceremony inside where there is a large bright light or window in the background, please let the photographer know in advance. This creates a difficult lighting situation where the only way to get good pictures is to use fill flash. Coordination with both the photograher and wedding officiant will be very important, especially if the wedding officiant does not want flash being used.
10. Find out from your videographer if they plan to use a flood light during the wedding ceremony. The flood light will create some unpleasant looking shadows on your face if the photographer is not using flash.
11. When you are lighting the unity candle - please stand a couple feet apart from each other. I know at that time you are both feeling alot of emotion and want to be close together. But - the photographer will not be able to get a good shot of the candle being lit and your guests will not be able to see it as well. Stand apart from each other and you will get a great shot of the two of you lighting the candle.
12. During the ring ceremony, try to avoid covering up the rings. If your photographer is carrying a strong telephoto lens, he/she will be able to get a nice close-up of the rings as they are being slid on your fingers. At Don Aittama Photography, we carry strong telephoto lenses that will enable us to get a nice picture of the rings provided that we can get a good angle at them and they are not covered up.
13. Have a freind or family member designated to round up all of the family and friends that you want in your group pictures. The photographer is generally not going to be familiar with your wedding guests and will not want to be bothered with finding the people that you want in your pictures. His/her time is better spent focusing on getting great pictures for you.14. Find out if the photograher includes a CD/DVD in your package price or if he/she will sell you one. A full resolution CD is like getting the negatives to the pictures - you can use them to print whatever pictures you want and in whatever size you want at any photo development lab of your choice. One word of caution - most photograhers tag the files with their copyright information which may restrict how you can use the files. Most photo development labs that see this copyright information will refuse to print pictures from the CD unless you have a written release from the photographer to print pictures from it. If the photographer provides a CD or DVD, find out if there is any restriction on how you can use the files. If you purchase a CD/DVD from Don Aittama Photography, you will be given completely unrestricted access to print up to 8x10 sized pictures or use the files for your personal use.15. Find out from your photographer what type of equipment he/she will use to photograph the wedding ceremony if it is indoors and flash is not allowed. Ask to see samples of pictures they have taken under low light so you can see the quality for yourself. At Don Aittama Photography, we carry two complete sets of lenses for low light shooting. The first set is a set of fast zoom lenses that works well in most church lighting situations. In case there is an extremely low light ceremony, we also carry a second set of prime lenses which can take pictures under light as low as candle light.
1960 Floyd Circle
McGaheysville, VA 22840
(540) 289-9407
(540) 421-5101 (Cell)
email: aittamava@aol.com
Member, Professional Photographers of America
