[zebe912]

I was wondering if your photo team could list maybe their top 10 questions to ask photographers when you are interviewing them. I am just starting to look for a photographer and don't want to just base my selection on their photo examples. I know digital versus film is a good place to start, but what else? I want to make sure I cover all of my bases, don't get swindled, and get great pictures.

[Wedding Queen and MOG]

Try this:

Selecting Your Wedding Photographer

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[The Video Pros]

Keep in mind that many photographers now do not just "shoot" photos. If they are shooting with a digital camera, they often take the pictures on location, then clean them up back at their studio.

Cleaning them up means 1) adjusting the light and contrast 2) removing unwanted things from the picture 3) enhancing the pictures with softer light or special effects 4) cropping the pictures to focus on the primary subject rather than the background images and 5) removing or smoothing facial blemishes.

The file size images that you want to have printed will probably be very large 3 megs and higher. You don't have to submit your images online. If you have the disk with quality images you can go to any film development center and let them know what size prints you want. Unless you have a fast internet connection, it's not a good idea to try and upload large image files to an on-line source.

To ensure your photos are the best they can be and if you haven't already booked your photographer, please consider the following tips to ensure your memories will be captured as they should:


1) Negotiate with local photographer so that you will "own" the images when all is said and done. This allows, in the future, for you to take either the negatives or the digital images and purchase your prints directly. If you do not obtain a signed release or show proof of ownership, many photo labs will not print the images as a professional photographer's images are copyrighted.

2) If the photographer is shooting with a digital camera, be sure that the images are supplied to you in the highest resolution format possible, preferably uncompressed TIF files. Do not allow them to provide low resolution small file size images. Because, when you go to have your portraits made, you may be limited to only 5x7 portraits, rather than a larger format that you may want.

3) If you do not plan on having a photographer, but a family member will be taking the photos please keep the following in mind:

If you're concerned about taking your only good camera while traveling, consider renting a high resolution digital camera for a very reasonable amount and use that during your vacation. There are several outfits on the net that provide this service, plus provide the photo prints at a great price.

If you are using a digital camera and want high quality prints made from the images, the pictures need to be taken at the highest resolution and pixel size. Many people shoot digital photography at 72 dpi to save space on their memory stick and save it as a compressed jpg, but when it comes time to have the photos printed the image looks terrible or below quality.

When you look at a newspaper color photo, notice how the dots of color have space between them? The higher the dpi (dots per inch) the better the picture printed. So, when the digital photos are taken, please keep this in mind. People often don't realize this because 72 dpi looks great on the computer screen and TV, but definitely does not translate well to the printed paper.

When jpgs are compressed image quality is lost. To prevent this from happening invest in several large file size memory sticks to hold your images. Some people travel with their laptop computers so they can access the internet from their hotels. If so, you can download your images to your laptop to ensure you have plenty of memory stick space.