You’ve seen dozen of those “50 things to ask your photographer” articles. Which is awesome! If you’re looking for another one to read, check the one I made. Although there are some really amazing articles, I disagree with some of them. They tell a lot of brides to ask for things or expect things that are really not in their best interest. So, straight from a photographer, here are a few things I advise brides and grooms NOT to ask. Or, at least, know exactly what you’re asking for.
1. DON’T ASK FOR RAWS
This is the big one. You don’t know how many photographers feel dread when they’re asked about raws. A lot of sites tell you to ask your photographer for raw images. They tell you that these are just unedited images the photographer is keeping away from you. This isn’t correct and there are multiple reasons why photographers don’t give out raw images. First, they’re huge files. They are going to take up all of your storage. If that’s not bad enough, most programs won’t even open raw files so you won’t even be able to look at your photos.
The next main reason photographers don’t typically give out raw files are because they look gross. Raw isn’t like jpeg. Jpeg are like the photos you take on your phone. Those colors are pretty close to life. Not raw. Raw is typically very gray and bland and the colors are not even close to life. Not only that, these are unedited. Which, if they’re anything like mine, the photos will be very dark. You might not even see the subject in the photos. If your photographer sent you these, you’d probably be very disappointed. They don’t represent the photographer’s work or their art. Most of the magic happens in editing!
If you’re just wanting more images, discuss with your photographer how many photos you’re hoping for. Most photographers will be happy to give more edited photos, either for free or for an additional charge. But please, for your best interest, don’t ask for raws!
2. WHY DON’T I GET ALL OF THE PHOTOS?
Most of the photos you don’t receive are ones where you’re blinking, making a silly face, duplicates of the same image, or they’re blurry. So don’t worry! You’re not missing out on anything.
But before we go to the next topic, I do need to mention one thing. Some photographers give you a certain amount of photos. Let’s say the photographer allows you to keep 30 images. Typically, they let you pick and choose your favorite images to keep. If there are any more photos you’d like, they often allow you to purchase them for an additional price. Photographers typically do this so they don’t waste any time editing photos you don’t want. This way they can focus on giving their all editing the photos you really want. This helps give you a higher overall quality in images, instead of just a bunch of “meh” photos.
Like always, quantity is not quality.
If you’re dead-set on getting all of the images that turned out, talk to your photographer. Just remember it may cost extra and may take longer to edit.
3. CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR STYLE FOR OUR PHOTOS?
To be honest, this one kind of breaks my heart. I always hope that people hire me because they like my style, and who I am as an artist. Let me put it this way. Would you hire Leonardo da Vinci to paint a Picasso? Of course not. You would just hire Picasso. This is the same thing with photographers. Photographers are artists. If you want someone with a certain style, just hire that person.
It takes years to develop style. So if you ask a photographer to mimic another person’s style, it won’t look right. It will most likely just look like a knockoff.
Now I understand if you have a budget and can’t afford your dream photographer. I get it! But there’s a reason why they’re expensive. It’s because they’re amazing at what they do. Photographer that shoot for less, reflect their skills. I say this with love, but don’t expect phenomenal luxury photos from someone off of Craigslist doing it for free. You can’t simply choose a cheap photographer and hope their photos look like a professional’s.
Annnnd that’s it! If you’re looking for more questions to avoid, I recommend reading Jaimie Mackey’s article. I hope this helps you find the right photographer. And if that right photographer is me, well, my contact form is down below.