All five images were taken by David Vidgen a Birmingham Wedding and Family Photographer. These were taken to appear on numerous websites including stonejewellers.co.uk and packshotphotographer.co.uk.

Contributions made by David Vidgen regularly.

Wedding Photography comes in all styles and experience. It is very important when choosing a wedding photographer that you consider their style, cost, coverage, and make sure that you get to see an example of their album (including images). Due to digital it is very easy for novices to pilfer images from the net and then use them on their own websites. The quality of these will only be suitable for web / screen viewing, hence by asking to see an album, these require hi resolution files which the most likely way they were obtained is because they were personally taken.

It is particularly important for wedding photography because you only get one opportunity, so it is vital you source a photographer who is able to anticipate and capture images just at the right moment. Remember though, experience really counts for nothing. They could have been in business for 30 years, but that does not mean they take good pictures! If this were true, you could simply choose an ageing photographer. Of course this is complete nonsense and the best wedding photographers in the world are of all differing ages.

Start by viewing a wedding photographers website, ask for a meeting to view examples of their work, discuss prices, barter with them, even if they don’t move on price, get a few extra’s thrown in such as prints and canvases. The best photographers will of course have a network of suppliers behind them or even the ability to print on a large scale, so a few extra’s here and there don’t really cost them a great deal of money.

Many people obtain references, but in reality these are a waste of time. No photographer in their right mind would give you the name and address of a client who is going to say something negative about them. This is why it is very important to view their albums and discuss in detail your requirements – ask lots of questions. A good photographer will be able to answer them, a bad one will be vague and lack detail in their response. Some good questions to ask a wedding photographer are:

1) Do you visit the venue beforehand? Don’t be satisfied with just a ‘yes’ – find out when. It is important they visit the venue at a time of year similar to when your big day is taking place. This will give them a good idea of available light, the grounds etc. There is no point visiting the venue in the height of summer if your wedding is in the winter.

2) When viewing the albums see if they refer to those present by their names. Again, this kind of detail is likely to suggest they did in fact take the images.

3) What happens if it is raining or there is bright sunshine? Both cause slight problems for photographers. Hard rain will require contingency and an alternative location for photographs, otherwise you end up with streaks in your images. Bright sunshine causes harsh shadows, particulary in group shots. This will require soft fill in flash or the use of a reflector (held by an assistant).

4)How comfortable do you feel with the photographer? If they have their camera with you, why not ask if they will spend 15-30 minutes with you right now to take some intimate images. They should be able to turn these around in a couple of days for you to view. Don’t expect to see the back of the camera, in reality most images these days are touched up post production in photoshop.

The wedding photographer is going to be an intimate part of your day so it is vital you are comfortable with them and they make you feel relaxed rather than stressed.

We recommend David Vidgen, a Birmingham Wedding Photographer, but do check out his style – he is not for everyone, but if you particularly like black and white, he is excellent.

The new Altered Scapes calendar for 2009 is available while stocks last – on our birmingam wedding photographer camera blog . It has 13 images from the Altered Scapes series at A4 size and with a useful date page.
Contact me to order a copy. $25 each.