A FAQ (also called an "Ef-A-Q) is not a blog.
The words mean "Frequently Asked Questions". When I first conceptualized this section I remembered back to how I felt when I went through this whole process. The wedding business was a bit of a mystery to me and there were few guide posts as to where or how to do things. My approach is bride and groom centric, answering queries I have been asked by couples over time. Please read through this FAQ before visiting me. It will also help empower you when you meet with other photographers and wedding suppliers.
At one stage I took it off my web
site, however due to popular requests it is now restored. If you would like to
request me to add anything to it, please let me know and I will see what I can
do.
Please note: Some of the below differs from what other photographers, or even
conventional wisdom, may tell you. That said, I have built my business by holding to uncompromisingly high
standards in quality and word of mouth referrals. My desire is to spare you the heart break of poor imagery.
You cannot repeat your wedding.
Your wedding is probably the most important event in your life. If you want to have it captured without heart ache hiring anyone other than an experienced wedding photographer is going to be a gamble.
I believe you have several options.
Option 1. Have a keen relative or hobbyist shoot it.
Option 2. Have a Bridal Studio shoot it.
Option 3. Have an EXPERIENCED professional wedding photographer shoot it.
Option 1: Enthusiasm is to be applauded however it rarely makes up for skill. A few good shots at a friends wedding while getting in the way of the hired professional does not a wedding photographer make. We give you back anywhere between 500-2500 images...ALL good, all taken under pressure of time, terrible lighting, jostling and/or drunk relatives and all with a smile. Grace under pressure because we have hundreds of weddings under our belts, we bring the right equipment, backups of gear etc. Let your uncle/cousin/friend sit back and enjoy the wedding. When I am a guest at a wedding I leave my camera at home. I am there to have fun!
Option 2: Bridal Studios tend to offer great deals for actual day coverage but look before you leap. Shooting portraits in a studio is very different from shooting an actual day wedding. A studio shoot is unrushed, has makeup and hair attendants nearby, lighting is set piece, and each shot can be repeated if the photographer is not happy with the image. An actual day is nothing like this. Another "gotcha" is that photography studio's have many amateur, wannabe weekend shooters on their payrolls. This may mean you may or may not have their regular photographers at your event. It is likely, unless you firmly stipulate it in the contract, that the work you are shown to make the sale was not shot by the photographer you will eventually have at your wedding. Buyer beware. In summary let me quote John Ruskin:
"It's unwise to pay too much. But it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better"
Option 3: Experienced wedding photographers tend to be more expensive than a bridal studio's but our reputation, and the knowledge the principle shooters will be present, grants you peace of mind that you are going to get great work back. Additional benefits are that you deal directly with the photographer, who should have a long track record of quality work.
A good wedding photographer is usually:
When looking for one, try and see a balanced portfolio. One of the reasons I show so many photos on this web site is to give you peace of mind that we provide a well rounded coverage. Portraits are only one part of the day. Ask to see full coverage. A few good portraits with heavy "photoshopping" does not an actual day wedding photographer make.
At this point I should mention the wannabe wedding photographers. They may work for a studio, or work independently, and have shot a number of weddings, but there are a few telltale signs to look for. Hopefully you see them in action before you ever get around to meeting them and booking them. It'll save you heartache.
As you prepare for your wedding day one of the big questions is how best to capture your wedding. Choosing your photographer can be difficult. Over the years many magazines answer this question, and it is always the same thing, so put aside your InStyle Weddings, Martha Stewart, Cleo, Cosmo, or whatever you have been reading and let me conglomerate everything right here for you to review.
Important factors.
Do you like the photographers style?
Deal directly with the photographer not a sales person.
Do you think you can have a good working relationship with the photographer?
Make sure the photographer whose work you like is going to be the one shooting for you.
Have a realistic budget. In Malaysia RM4000-RM6000 will get you a good photographer.
Do not be pressured to pay a deposit on your first meeting. Take time to talk the decision over with your fiancé. Unless you are trying to book the week before your wedding, a photographer or salesperson pushing you to decide immediately is a clear warning sign to get up and walk away. Their impatience and pushiness will NOT improve on the wedding day.
Look at a LOT of their work. Not just the samples of the best of the best or the hired model shots. A portrait or heavily photoshopped portfolio is no indicator of actual day quality. The reason I show so many actual day weddings in my gallery area is to show we have consistently HIGH quality throughout the entire wedding and from year to year. You will also note, that most have NO photoshopping. Whilst I own the program, I rarely open it.
Photography association membership and awards from these "clubs" are not an important factor. Most, if not all of the good wedding photographers do not belong to these groups as they do not need it to market themselves. I decided many years ago that these groups were counter productive to my philosophy on photography, and to the types of clients I wanted to attract.
I am asked this question a lot by budding shooters.
The camera brand does not matter. I shoot or have shot with most of the major brands.
The most important component in photography is the person holding the camera. Their knowledge of light, angles, lens and camera capabilities and limitations all play a part in making the photo. Think of the camera as a painters paint brush. In the hands of someone inexperienced it can capture the image, in the hands of a (dare I say) master it can convey emotion and feeling.
I will touch briefly on this as there are many good articles regarding this subject on the web. I believe strongly that every actual day wedding professional should shoot in RAW format with NO exceptions.
REPEAT: Make sure you establish your
photographer will shoot RAW before you book them.
RAW captures an ENORMOUS amount of data and enables the photographer
to DEVELOP the photos properly after the shoot. Note I said DEVELOP.
When a photographer captures an image, there MUST BE A REASON to take the image. There is usually (at least in my own brain) an image we want to show. Those of us who have shot film professionally love the ability to control the whole process. We developed our own negatives and printed our own images. Shooting RAW gives the photographer the equivalent of a digital negative. It gives the headroom to make the adjustments negatives gave us.
Shooting jpeg gives complete control of the development of that image, one of the most important aspects of the photographic process, to a processing algorithm made up by a nameless Japanese engineer who in all probability isn't a professional photographer. Amateurs usually shoot in jpg, surrendering to their equipment for the judgment call on image colour, exposure and quality. I have yet to find a camera that does this well. The advantage of shooting in jpg is that the photographer saves themselves time BUT at the cost of quality to you. Typically these people use the machine gun method as there are going to be a lot of duds. Gives me the shivers to think about it. Not really the type of person I would want shooting my wedding!
Once completed editing the RAW images your
photographer WILL RENDER the images from RAW into a usable format such as jpg,
however this is very different from shooting in that lossy format in the first place.
Back to Top
ALL of them, other than blinks, duplicates, or those rejected for aesthetic reasons...meaning I don't like them! It is very difficult to put a number on this as every wedding is different. Some dinners can be covered in 400 or so images. Others go on for days and can have as many as 3000 images.
Bottom line: We take as many images as are needed. This is usually in the 1200-1800 region. You get them all back. No 300, 500,600, 800 packages. Why live with limits? I don't want to impose any on you :-)
We regularly put up images from weddings we shoot on this site. You will find them by clicking the "Recent Wedding Images" link on the sidebar. While I have not personally counted them, each of the links on that page have 100-150 images, so there are THOUSANDS of images for you to go through.
I understand that this is different from many other photographers who want to show you only their best images, and if that works for them all power to them. However, I approach weddings from the perspective that were I hiring a photographer, I would want to see an EXTENSIVE number of good photos rather than a handful of shots designed to "sell me" their services. We offer a team who CONSISTENTLY DELIVER an EXTENSIVE number of QUALITY photos that you, your parents, and in the future, your own children will remember your special day by.
I aim to give you PEACE of MIND, and, if you remember that my partners are as experienced and as committed as I am, you will realise we offer really good value for money on that count.
I regularly have fans asking when I will be updating my web site with new images so I am motivated to I do it as often as my busy schedule allows as it reflects our philosophy which is:
"You are only as good as your last shoot"
I am not content to let our reputation rest on our past imagery.
The WORLD is our studio.
Every where and anywhere. Our studio is portable as our clients are typically mobile and prefer their portraiture on location, ON their wedding day. This enables us to give very different portraits than those offered as engagement shoots by Bridal Studios, capturing your joy as experienced on your wedding day.
Note the studio flash in the left shot. Location: Renaissance, KL
Don't laugh. This actually happens.
It is one of the easiest ways YOU can RUIN your wedding photography coverage along with any ambiance you have attempted to create. The other team transforms the shoot into a paparazzi trash wedding. I have photos I could post on how this looks but as I have no desire to embarrass anyone I will refrain.
If you have a big wedding tell me. I will hand pick a team of experienced photographers who will give you superb, unobtrusive coverage. Just what you want.
Last thing: If you are going to book me, READ my contract. It deals with this very clearly.
Many of my clientele are from overseas and we shoot worldwide. If you are located "outstation" or overseas, I am able to travel to cover it. Our fees, airfares and accommodation charges make us competitive to similarly skilled professionals in your area.
Most Bridal magazines recommend
about 10% of your total wedding budget.
The legal rights to the photos belong to Grant Corban Photography Sdn. Bhd. These rights include usage of the photos for self promotion, editorial work, publication and public display on the Internet or any other media as the occasion arises. Don't let this scare you. It is totally NOT in my interest to present you in a bad light.
You have the rights to use the images for any non-commercial purposes, including web page display, printing and/or burning extra CDs for your friends and family. However use in any commercial publication or for the purpose of advertising requires my express WRITTEN permission.
Reason: There have been occurrences of our work being published by Malaysian magazines whereby the magazine has omitted giving credit and in doing so inferred they own the rights to the photo. Tut tut!
A deposit and signed contract is required to confirm your booking date. Calling me on the phone and telling me to hold the date open for you is not considered booking me. I am one person, and can not cover more than one event in a day. Therefore book EARLY! Popular dates may be booked up to 18 months in advance. That said, if there are two people vying for the same date I will need to choose one of them and not the other. This is an unbiased business decision.
A good article which on this can be found
here: Why-do-wedding-photos-take-so-long
The usual timeline taken for editing is 14 days. Occasionally public holidays, overseas shoots
etc may extend this by a few extra days.
This may well develop into a section by itself but for now I will keep it brief. Remember the goal of the day is to have fun! You are the king and queen of your day so you should be relaxed and enjoy it. These tips are in no particular order.