Thread: Professional photographers or family? Who's better when it comes to photography?

Even though professional photographers take high quality pictures and maintain their quality standards, i think a close family member will know of each and every situation upto the wedding very well and take pictures on every event. What do you people think?

Both depending on budget. When I got married the only photographers we could find wanted the price of a small foreign sports car to shoot the ceremony. It was cheaper to buy a couple of digital cameras for my new brothers-in-law which they used to do photos and got to keep as wedding favors. But a talented or at least trained photographer will be sure to get a series of "memorable" if somewhat traditional photos that will grace your wedding album for years to come.

I really wanted my brother in law to take our pictures. But he is in the wedding so I had to find someone to do it for me. I did find someone to take them for about $800 which I think is very reasonable. He does a great job and will give me a copy of the pictures on a cd.

Most guests bring a camera anyway and you could always ask them to share their best photos with you after the event. Another idea is to place disposable cameras on the tables at the reception and ask guests to snap pictures during it, then hand them in at the end to a designated person who will arrange to get them all developed. This lets you buy a smaller professional photography package for the wedding ceremony itself.

As wedding phoyographer, I always meet the couple at least 3 times before the wedding, one of those times is to shoot a free portrait session, this gives us all time to gell and for them to feel comfortable and for me to get to know them better.

A professional tog would always try hard to bring out people's personalities in their work. If they can't do this, get someone else.

Plus, family members are there to enjoy the day, not worry about making sure they get the pics you want.

You will only have a few reminders of the day, photographs are one of those, dont underestimate the importance of a pro tog. What seems expensive, is usually just enough to make a living. I spend a good 2 or 3 days post processing 1000 or more images plus all the prep work, plus the time on the day's... So on an hourly rate, we're worth it :-)

Onguard -

No doubt that there are a lot of factors to consider regarding who will photograph a wedding - Pro or Family/Friend. Ctb touched on a few of them. This entire topic has so much to consider and I've heard so much talk on the subject, I wrote about it on my blog. So as not to have the post drag on and on, I posted it in 5 parts. You can read Part-1 it at:
http://blog.athomasimage.com/?p=292

To highlight a few considerations:
Time is money. The more photographer time you consume, the more it will cost you. Do you work for FREE - No. Why would you expect a photographer to work for free? We like to pay our mortgage and buy food just like you.

Who ever photographs your wedding, have a written list of understood tasks. Make sure you list everything you expect your friend or family member to photograph. Just the construction of the list will convince you how big the job is. A professional wedding photographer will provide you with a contract outlining what service they will perform, what they will deliver to you, how much it will cost and what your payment schedule will be. There's a bunch more in the contract, I've just hit the main headings.

If you do expect that friend with the big "camera and lens" to photograph your wedding make sure you arrange for two photographers to be there. Ask them to work from the same list. That way if or when a camera breaks down, battery goes dead, or one doesn't plan show, you've got a back up planned and you'll get something delivered.

Should something go wrong and you don't wind up with what you expected, remember it's no ones fault but yours! You are experiencing the results of YOUR decision and your management of the resource.

This one is the biggest misunderstood issue - "ownership of images". According to federal copyright laws, the maker of any creative work owns the rights to the work. Plain and simple. If you want the rights to images or to make copies, you must negotiate those rights. That means you and the maker must agree to - who has the right to do what and what do those rights cost you. Bottom line, get it in writing. I'll tell you right now, a professional photographer will not give those rights away. I don't - no one owns my images but me. However all my clients are given "usage rights". The depth of those rights vary with what they pay me for their rights.

You'll notice we haven't even talked about image quality as yet. I've seen many so called photographers work praised. When in fact they've created junk! There's an old saying - beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! Most people today don't recognize well done artistic photography. Hell, people today think a photographer uses a cell phone! It takes a good eye, understanding light and color, knowledge of control exposure (not just where the "P" setting is on a camera) and composition knowledge. That's what you pay for! If you get that for free, just what have you purchased?

Be a good consumer. Get the value of your investment - whatever amount that may be? Give me your thoughts or comments.

Tom S., Photographer
Photography, Aerial, Commercial, Portrait, Underwater, Wedding, Tom Szabo

Originally Posted by Ctb

As wedding phoyographer, I always meet the couple at least 3 times before the wedding, one of those times is to shoot a free portrait session, this gives us all time to gell and for them to feel comfortable and for me to get to know them better.

A professional tog would always try hard to bring out people's personalities in their work. If they can't do this, get someone else.

Plus, family members are there to enjoy the day, not worry about making sure they get the pics you want.

You will only have a few reminders of the day, photographs are one of those, dont underestimate the importance of a pro tog. What seems expensive, is usually just enough to make a living. I spend a good 2 or 3 days post processing 1000 or more images plus all the prep work, plus the time on the day's... So on an hourly rate, we're worth it :-)

I like that you take a lot of time to get to know them beforehand, Ctb. I've seen wedding photos that look very stilted where their personalities definitely aren't reflected in them. I guess that would be why!

Absolutely hire a professional. Your guests should be there to enjoy the wedding day, not act as your photographer. A good pro will provide a beautifully illustrated story of your wedding day, and get the photographs that no amateur could ever hope to capture.
Also, consider that a pro photographer can help keep your wedding day moving smoothly, make sure your formal photographs get done quickly, and provide advice during the wedding day.
Now, all that being said, if you don't have the budget for a good photographer, you may be better off having your friends and family take photos. There are certainly some so called 'pros' out there which would be worse than having a family member do your photographs, since you would be paying them and getting photographs that are worse than what you would get from a family member.

I agree with David that it would be smart that you can hire a professional photographers as much as possible so that the family and guests can enjoy the wedding ceremonial instead of getting their-selves busy capturing every moment on the event.