A lot of brides have questions that they want a professional photographers to answer before they hire them but how many have questions that should be asked of anyone doing their photography. I am not critical of brides who ask friends or relatives to shoot their wedding to save money. I understand how expensive the wedding is and times can be financially hard. You should not have massive debt from a wedding, that is the job of colleges. But if having pictures from your wedding that meet your lowest standards (being able to recognize which of 2 people is your mom or dad, then here are some questions that even friends and tech savy relatives need to answer to prevent losing friends, relatives, and your wedding memories.
1. If your camera stops working, what happens next.
2. Camera battery or flash battery runs out, see above.
3. How can we make your job easier? (Most amateurs don’t do moving people well, can we stop at the 2nd pew and have you take stills of all the people going down the aisle) I have more ideas, email me for suggestions,
4. Can you get me the files on a cd or dvd and can you fix the colors or take out blemishes?
5. Can you shoot the rehearsal for practice?
6. Sign a non aggression treaty that says even if you screw up, I still appreciate the effort but I will be disappointed.
7. 2 friends will give you twice the chances that 1 does and will increase the chances of you getting usable pictures. It also lowers the preasure on the starting photographer and lets them enjoy the wedding too (important if they are friends or relatives)
8. Give them a shoot list but you will have to remember it too because amateurs tend to either forget shots or spend all the wedding crossing off shots from a list, …. so keep the list as simple as possible.
9. You may want to have the files worked on by someone other than the photographer. It will split the work and many people are better on design than shooting or visa versa.
10. Lastly, even a cheap pro should be more reliable than an amateur. The definition of a pro is that regardless of the conditions, he will get the image.
What if your friend is also a photography major with alot of talent and a strong work ethic? I really do believe he will get the image no matter what. Also, I was a graphic design major and have edited countless pictures in photoshop so I can (and actually enjoy) doing my own editing.
A pleasure to come to your site. Thnks very much!