The Essential Questions to Ask a Wedding Photographer and Our Awnsers
This is in response to the Brides magazine article Essential Questions You Need to Ask Your Wedding Photographer This article came to our attention because it caused some controversy in the professional photography community. I will get to that later as that question has been removed. After reading the article we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and answer all the questions. Open communication is key to getting the most out of your wedding day and we always keep the channels open and have a can-do attitude which we believe is the most important single thing we can do on your wedding day. Lets dive right in with the 1st question you should ask your wedding photographer. Many other questions are answered on our Asheville wedding photography page.
1. What’s your shooting style?
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If you had asked me 5 years ago about my shooting style I would rambled on about all the different styles and their pros and cons. Every wedding is different and even within each wedding there are times when I will change my shooting style due to the mood or what is happening. Example if we are shooting traditional posed shots and I see an intimate moment happening off camera. I will certainly be capturing the intimate candid moment while also setting up posed formals. 90% of the time I will have two cameras attached to me and I am ready for anything.
The best way to judge my shooting style is just have a look at the weddings I have shot. Our recent Wedding photography We always try to focus on storytelling and capturing moments.
2. What technology will you use to shoot my wedding? What kind of equipment do you use? Do you shoot digitally or with film? Do you shoot in JPG or RAW? How do you handle shooting with low lighting?
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Lets answer these in order, we will be using full frame professional Canon bodies and L lens to shoot your wedding. L lens are the best Canon lens designed for professionals and full frame professional bodies are top of the line. All the pro level bodies and L lens are water sealed so we can shoot in the rain, snow, dust, creek, river, or mist of a nearby waterfall without worry. The professional bodies have dual memory card slot which is huge! Ever heard a story about a photographer losing all the photos due to a bad memory card? Every shot we take is copied to two separate memory cards virtually eliminating this possibility. We have never lost a single wedding photo or commercial photo. While we are on the subject of security we make 2 local backups on removable hard drives and 1 off site backup of all the photos. In the event that something happens to the photos at our house we have the offsite photos as insurance.
Digital vs. Film
Digital vs. Film for wedding photographers has been a long hard debate until around 2014 when digital finally caught up to film photography in terms of image quality. Film however is unique and has a look all its own. We use emulation to look like film for digital photos but it is not the same.
I started shooting film long ago and I still to this day love being in a dark room. If you would like a few rolls of film to be shot we can certainly make this happen. We shoot with a Canon EOS 3 and the L lens we mentioned above. We also shoot medium format film on a Hasselblad which produces amazing photos. However we shoot 99.9% digital
JPG or RAW?
If anyone says they only shoot JPG run away as fast as possible. We shoot raw and deliver jpgs.
Shooting in the Dark
Low light wedding photography. If someone says they are a natural light photographer that may mean they do not use their flash much less an off camera flash. We fully understand lighting and have a wide variety of choices from high powered studio strobe to small high tech canon speed lights. We use these in an artistic manner to achieve the best look possible. Want to know more? Give us a call
3. What’s your backup plan?
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As far as equipment is concerned we have at least two of everything we need. In many cases we have many more backups. For instance we have at least three backup full frame cameras, flashes, batteries, and portrait lens.
Most important the second the picture is taken we have two copies on two different memory cards. Once the wedding is done all files are backed up on and off site.
For just in case life happens. We have never missed or even been late to a wedding. They shut down the road going into Lake Lure due to a huge wildfire and we still made it on time with a police escort. The entire city of Lake Lure was evacuated but we were there ready to shoot!!
4. What are the copyright parameters?
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You can use the photos as you see fit. You can post them on social media, print them out, make a book, whatever you like.
Forge Mountain Photography does offer prints and albums but we in no way limit you if you want to print your own photos or make your own wedding album. We do recommend you use a professional printer if you are printing your own photos.
There will be no watermarks on any of the images. I have seen first hand how a great wedding photo gets destroyed with a watermark. Forge Mountain Photography never have and never will use a watermark.
5. Will you be editing our photos?
Brides.com
I cannot in good faith let anyone else do our photo editing. We do 100% of our photo editing, this takes some time but it ensures all the photos meet our standards. All of the photos on our site and all photos delivered are taken and edited by Will & Julie Thomas.
6. Will there be an archive of my images?
Brides.com
Yes. We recommend everyone use Google photos or Amazon photos to create their own permanent archive. Google offers free photo storage. In addition we provide our online gallery which you can access as needed.
We would love to discuss your special day and answer all your questions. Give us a call/text anytime!
Will – 828-243-2755
Julie – 828-243-9725
Email Us at [email protected]