WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY FAQs
As a Toronto photographer, I am asked several questions all the time. Here they are the top FAQs.
Q: How Many Weddings do You Shoot Every Year?
I am a firm believer in quality so I limit the number of weddings to 25/year. We are booked very early especially for summer weddings and if you like our style, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Q: How Many Wedding Day and Engagement Photos Will we Receive?
While there is no formula and every wedding is different, you can expect about 50 photos per hour of coverage…in other words, you will receive about 1 photo per minute. Our packages list the number of images included. The final count depends on the package you selected, how fast paced your wedding is, how much driving around is involved from the church/temple to your banquet hall, etc.
Q: Do You Edit Our Wedding Photos?
Absolutely! Every single photo you receive is carefully processed. Editing is a very time intensive process and and a very important phase and it makes the difference between a good photo and a great photo. While again, there is no formula, it is not uncommon to spend 4-6 times the time it took to photograph your wedding editing the photos. That means a wedding day usually takes a whole week to process.
Q: When Will We Receive our Wedding Day or Engagement Session Photos?
In the winter, our turnaround time is anywhere around 1-2 months. During the summer when every single beautiful day is spent photographing, turnaround times are about 2-3 months from the wedding date.
Q: What Kind of Equipment do You Use?
All our cameras are Canon/Nikon or Sony and we only use professional grade equipment. Still, it is not the equipment that matters, but knowing how to use it. If I buy Leonardo’s paintbrush, I will not be able to paint like Leonardo. Constant practice and experience will raise one’s skill levels. Simply buying a new camera does not make one a photographer.
Q: Do We Need a Second Photographer?
While I photographed weddings both alone and using a second photographer I realized the results are better with two shooters. The advantages of using a second photographer are multiple. First, one photographer can only be in one spot at a time. Two photographers can cover two angles. When two photographers cover a wedding, one can take the safer shots and the second one take more risks and hits for the fences. While one photographer directs the bridal party, the second one takes candid photos and captures the moments between the photos. Two photographers set up their equipment faster - which is crucial during a wedding. Setting up the lighting is important to achieve a commercial look and two photographers are faster than one. Finally, the second shooter captures details of the day: candid moments and also detail shots such as: shoes, veil, wedding gown, garter, bouquet, boutonniere, tie, etc.
Q: We Want Gorgeous Wedding Photos! What is the Most Important Element?
TIME! I am very good at what I am doing and I need time to achieve that extraordinary look you want. It is not uncommon to spend 10 minutes on ONE SHOT!! Small incremental refinements are key. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little “extra”. If you don’t give me time, you will be stressed out (oh, we have only 30 minutes for photos) and you will look tense in your wedding photos. The time you invest will increase your chances to get amazing photos you and your grandchildren will love for many decades to come
Q: How Much Time Do We Need for Group Photos?
Please allocate 3 minutes for each group photo (for formal photos) and about 5-10 minutes per photo for the Vanity Fair type of photos.
Q: Will We Have a Consultation Before Our Wedding Day?
Absolutely! We want you to be familiar with our processes and the way we operate. In our experience, the more knowledgeable you are about wedding photography, the better the images we create. It is a team process, so we want you to be well prepared on your Big Day.
Q: How Long Will It Take Until We Receive Our Photos?
On average it takes about seven to ten weeks for us to deliver the wedding photographs.If you have to have your wedding images faster, we can explore outsourcing post processing to a reputable house and pass the cost to you.
Q: Do You Outsource Post Processing?
While many studios outsource this time consuming part of the process, we believe that our vision is completed in post production and keep it in house. However, as we mentioned above, if you need the images faster, outsourcing to a Canadian or US professional editing services company.
Do Your Packages Include Editing?
Yes, we are a full service wedding photography studio and we pride ourselves in delivering beautiful images to our couples. Every single wedding photo you will receive is carefully edited.
Q: Do Your Packages Include Digital Files?
Yes, all our packages include digital files delivered on a cloud drive. However, I suggest an extra precautionary step for the safety of your wedding photos. If you own a gmail account please upload them onto your own google drive or use an alternate cloud solution. The safety of your wedding photos is very important. In a few years if you loose your computer, something happens to your hard drive, you will have your wedding shots on the cloud.
Q: Are Our Wedding Photos High Resolution?
Yes, we deliver all images in high resolution and you can print them if you wish. They are full JPEGs in a format required by most printers.
Q: Tell Us About Your Second Photographer
The second photographer is an experienced shooter with several years of wedding photography under his belt. Sometimes they even work as lead photographers. Experienced photographers always come at a cost. Many competitors hire inexperienced photographers or newcomers to the industry. On a regular basis we receive emails from photographers who want to shoot with us for free or who are even willing to pay us so that they can build a portfolio quickly. If the wedding package is too cheap to be true, you might want to be very careful! Buyers beware!
Q: Do You Have Backup Equipment?
Backup is always important to us because your wedding photos are at stake. Each photographer uses two cameras and we have additional lenses, flashes, charged batteries ready to replace any failed piece of equipment. When we arrive home we make two backups on separate hard drives so that if one fails the other two are safe. One can never be too careful with wedding photographs.
Q: How Do You Backup Photos?
Immediately after we return from your wedding, we copy all cards onto our main server and make two additional copies. In effect your wedding images are stored on three separate hard disks.
Q: Tell Us About the Albums
In the past I offered 12"x12" wedding albums which are a massive 12"x"24" when opened. My albums include 20 pages or 10 album spreads. I use interchangeably the term spreads to describe two pages of the album. Please refer to the pricing list if you want to add spreads to the album.
The album spreads are lay flat format and are printed on high quality photographic paper. The cover can be matte, faux leather or real leather at extra cost.
In the age of social media and cell phone photography, printed wedding albums are the only ones that survive a hard drive crash or when a company decides to discontinue a service.
More recently, we decided to provide our couples the names of our reputable labs so that the bride and groom can print their own albums. That way the couples can save a few hundreds or thousand dollars.
Q: How do You Create the Albums?
Once the editing process is completed, you will receive the images and send me a list with all your favourite photos that you want included in the wedding album. I can also do this for you if you wish. Using the selection as a starting point, I will design your unique album. Once the album design is finished, we go over it and make the changes if there are any. When you give me the approval, I will order the album from the suppliers with whom I work. I use only professional photographic laboratories whose quality I know and trust.
Q: What are the Parents Albums
Often couples order additional copies of the wedding albums for their parents using the same design. Sometimes the format is slightly smaller 10"x10" and are exactly the same quality of the newlyweds album.
Q: What are the Pre or Post Wedding Photo Shoots
If couples believe their wedding day includes so many events that having a photo shoot is impractical, we schedule a separate photo shoot on another day. Sometimes if the weather does not collaborate on your wedding day, you might want to book a separate photo shoot. Another reason to have such wedding photography session is to travel to a location you absolutely adore, where you can not go on your wedding day. Also, if your wedding is in the summer but you want to have wedding images with the foliage in the fall, we will book a session. Finally, to avoid the stress on the wedding day some couples choose to have the wedding shoot on a separate day. As we are busy on the weekends, we are more than happy to accommodate any requests and the shoots will be scheduled Monday to Thursday.
Q: Have you Photographed at this Particular Location
Often couples are concerned if the photographer has not photographed any weddings at that particular location or the ceremony at a specific church or temple. While being familiar with the place helps, it sometimes stifles creativity and the photographer reverts to the same old poses and shots that worked well in the past. In effect, your wedding will look exactly like the other brides whose wedding was held at the same establishment. What is even more important for the quality of wedding photographs is a good understanding of lighting, composition and other photography principles and a desire of the photographer to excel. For example, all my wedding photos that received awards over the years were taken at locations where I had never photographed before. If knowing the wedding venue is important to you, I will visit it one month prior to the wedding.