Wedding photography is a subject that calls many to get started and that is the livelihood of numerous photography professionals. Today I have an article that seems very, very important to me. These are the mistakes that as a wedding photographer you should avoid at all costs. Whether you're a hired wedding photographer or the best friend they've fished to shoot the report. Whether or not you are a professional, you must behave as such and not fall into actions such as those that I am going to detail. Maybe when you read the article and the errors mentioned seem to you as an amateur , or even a joke, but no, even if you find it hard to believe (it still costs me), each and every one of them was made by a professional photographer (and expensive , above) at the wedding of a relative very close to me. Yes, also all at the same wedding. I tell you first hand, even at the risk of knowing that it will cost you to believe them, but I assure you that it is true. And I will tell you so that you do not commit any of them at your next weddings.
1. SEND A NON-EXPERT PHOTOGRAPHER TO THE GROOM'S HOUSE
If you include an economic extra in the rate so that a professional photographer goes to the groom's house and you specify in the contract that it is "of the photographer's confidence and style" , you cannot send your partner, no matter how charming she is as a person, but with a quality as a photographer clearly questionable when viewing her photos.2. DO NOT DELIVER PHOTOS OF THE GROOM WITH HIS FAMILY
In my opinion this error derives from the first, but if you send a photographer to the groom's house to take photos with the family, you have to send them to him. Unless they are so bad you don't even dare. You cannot send 10 photos of the groom alone, most of which are out of focus, moved, or in front of a wall showing the plugs and spikes of the pictures you have removed ( "to have a smooth background" ).3. NOT KNOWING WHERE THE CHURCH IS
As a photographer of the event, you have to make sure you know where the church is, the party and all the places you have to go to. You can not miss and you are accidentally found by a relative of the wedding who has just seen you at the groom's house (same expert photographer of error 1) and whoever saves your skin so as not to be late. Well, these errors may seem to you to be one because they come from the first, not to send to an expert photographer, but taking into account that the following are from the professional photographer, since they must also be mentioned, just in case you fall for them.4. BEING LATE AT THE BRIDE'S HOUSE
Or to arrive at your time but since she has not come from the hairdresser (something usual) go to lunch and have the phone thrown down when the bride comes home and not pick it up. And arrive an hour later. So you are not going to start well, I assure you. Because you already take the photos in a hurry, you do not remove the fans in the background, or other elements that make the photos ugly, you do not take some photos of the bride with the nightgown she wants, etc., in addition to putting her in a bad mood.5. DO NOT TAKE PHOTOS OF THE BRIDE AND GROOM WITH THE FAMILY
If you have it in the contract, you cannot tell the bride and groom that you are not going to take photos with the family in the church because you are going to take them in the hotel and then not take them. It is not the bride and groom who have to go behind you to take photos with family groups, the bride and groom are attending to the guests, enjoying their day. If you have agreed in advance, it is your responsibility to worry about taking those photos.6. DO NOT TAKE PHOTOS IN THE PLACE AGREED WITH THE BRIDE AND GROOM BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE TREAT
If you include in the contract that "a report will be made at the specific location, always depending on the weather conditions, availability of time of completion and proximity of the location of the banquet venue" , if it is sunny and the venue is 1km away (Exactly) by car from the church, you cannot tell them that there is no time and while the bride and groom go to the hotel disappointed you go around the middle of the city looking for tobacco (I know this because they coincidentally asked the groom's sister where they could buy it, and that they didn't care if it was far, but it had to be a tobacconist). Are you having trouble believing it? I suppose. Reality always beats fiction, right? As the closing of this point remains, the bride and groom had to go around the block where the hotel was in the horse carriage until the photographer and videographer arrived to record them when they entered. As a photographer of the event you have to be exclusively for them.7. NOT SELECTING THE PHOTOS WELL
It is good that you send many photos to the couple so they can choose the ones they want you to put in the album. What is not very correct is that you send photos that are shaky, unfocused or very burned when there is no artistic intention or justification because it detracts from the rest of the work.8. FAILURE TO DELIVER THE MATERIAL ON TIME
A period of 60 to 180 days is more than enough for you to deliver the edited photos and the album to your clients. If you put that term in the contract, it can not be more than fifteen months and that the couple still do not have the album or the video. That is not professional and you are not fulfilling the contract.9. DO NOT ANSWER THE EMAILS OF THE COUPLE
You are a professional wedding photographer and they are your clients, you cannot lose the communication when you have a pending work to deliver, of which two thirds have paid you.10. TAKE SELFIES WITH GUESTS
Perhaps I am too serious about this, or perhaps if I had done their job well this would have seemed even a nice gesture, however, it does not seem appropriate to send the couple in the selection a photo of you posing with two guests.11. CHANGE THE MEMORY CARD AT THE WRONG TIME
You can not miss one of the most emotional moments changing a memory card. And even less, if you know in detail all the surprises that are going to happen at the treat. When you have few photos left, with foresight, change the card and work at all times with ease.AND TO FINISH…
You may be wondering how they chose that photographer, which is normal. This leads me to an error that I had not thought about before, but that also seems important to me to mention. If on your website you expose a type of photographs with a certain aesthetic and technical quality, that is the type of photographs that you have to deliver. The rest is misleading advertising. Advertise the work that you are capable of doing, it is normal that you want to present your best work, but advertise what you are capable of repeating, or at least of similar quality. On the other hand, if you are very good and you create a good clientele that he recommends, but you get tired of being a wedding photographer and have your mind on other projects, focus on them and leave the weddings for those who do them with great care and they leave the bride and groom happy. It's okay to earn your bread, but you have to be honest with yourself and with others. I have written this article with the sole purpose that you do not comment on any of these errors, for your good as a professional so as not to throw dirt on you, and for the good hope of the couple who hire you. Now I know you will not commit them and tonight I will sleep more peacefully. And if you share this article, I will thank you infinitely, maybe it will reach some photographer who has gotten confused and a touch of attention may be good for the sake of the guild . Thank you and see you soon.