Wedding photography & videography on a budget (part 1 of 2)

Once the band finishes their final set, and the caterer clears the dessert away, the photos and video will be all you that remain.  Years from now, you don’t want to regret that your simcha was only chronicled in out of focus snapshots and a shaky video with poor lighting.  I have edited a number of family tributes which include amateur video and stills.  Yes, I can fix the color balance to a great extent, but I can’t fix the poorly-framed subjects or the incessant shaky zooms, pans, and tilts that are hallmarks of amateur shooting.  Instead of paying a professional to do a half-baked job by fixing the images, you can  get better quality pictures and avoid losing those once-in-a-lifetime shots by hiring a professional in the first place.

While most photographers and videographers are in this business because of a true and deep passion, they are professionals – and they earn their fees with professional service. There is a perception that photographers, especially on the high end, are out to “milk” the   client.  While that may be true in isolated studios, the norm is that photographers and videographers work very, very hard at what they do.  First, there are the years of training and the many hours of on-going professional seminars and conferences to perfect their craft.  Second, the photographer and videographer may be spending 50 hours or more working a single event – shooting, editing photos and video, designing albums, acting as liaison with the album printer on top of spending hours with you to help you decide which pictures to choose.

That being said, there are ways for you to save money on photography and videography without compromising the quality of what is captured.  Discuss these options with the photographer and videographer you are considering for your wedding:

Number of crews
While ideally , you would want two photographers and two videographers to ensure that you don’t miss anything, it is not essential to have a double crew present for the whole wedding.    While a single photographer would not be able cover all the table pictures at a large wedding (of 300 or more people), it is possible to ask the studio for a limited time (one or two hours) of a second photographer who could help cover table and dancing shots.   Even at events where the dance floor is divided, a single photographer could also go back and forth between men and women, though you would lose on the added dimension of pictures shot from various angles. For video, you can add on an extra videographer for the chuppa only, so that you can have both close up and wide views of those special moments.  But for the rest of the wedding, one videographer should be able to cover.  Standing on a ladder near the mechitza [divider], the videographer can switch back and forth between the women and the men, so the dancing would be shot for both sides. 

Overtime
You have to be really clear with your studio from the start about how much time you are getting under the terms of your contract.  If a chuppa is called for 7:30, your photography crew will meet you at the hall somewhere around 4 p.m., (or earlier!) to take posed shots that you will cherish in your album.  That means that by 10 p.m., the crew may be ready to call it a night, unless of course, you agree to overtime.  The overtime can be costly, and many photographers assume you will want it.  Instead of carefully deciding ahead of time, the photographer will approach the host at 9:50 p.m., and ask (just when emotions are running high) if more coverage is desired.  That is not the time to make an important decision!

You should go over what coverage you want in advance.  You could, perhaps, begin with two crews of videographers and photographers  and just keep on  a skeleton crew for the end of the affair. Another idea would be to keep the videographer only for the extended time (end of dancing and sheva brachos).  That way, you will have a record of the voices If your videographer is shooting in HD, in a pinch, you will be able to lift individual stills from video to print in your album.

 continued in www.examiner.com/x-18522-NY-Jewish-Bridal-Examiner~y2009m8d2-Wedding-photography--videography-on-a-budget-part-2-of-2

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