Wedding clients...what do they want?

[barryburgard]

I have followed the threads on wedding photograph to some degree. How much have your wedding clients cared about the technical aspects of your work (the effects of white balance, DOF, composition, etc)? Of these I would guess, composition would be most important to them! Do the bride, groom, and family have an emotional attachment or feeling about the results of the photography that outweights an intellectual appraisal of the work? In other words, are phoptographers harder on the themselves and their work than the clients? I can only guess about the answers. Please let me know your thinking, feeling, and experience.

Thank you so much.

Barry

[Jesper]

DOF also has a role in composition - you can make subjects stand out by deliberately choosing a shallow DOF to blur the background. And if the dress of the bride looks yellow or purple instead of white, I think they're not going to like it. Sure, your clients won't tell you "Hey, the white balance is off", but they will notice the strange colours.

In my opinion there is no excuse to be sloppy with technique, even when your clients aren't knowledgeable about photography.

[cmM]

not a lot. But these are all aspects that make an image esthetically pleasing, whether the client knows or cares about it at all or not.

[PhotosGuy]

My opinion, no one cares about the groom (Who?) It's all about the bride & the MOB. Get that right & you're 90% home free! ;-)

[kawter2]

Look at portfolios of some "famous" wedding guys. Get a feel for what strikes you. http://www.yervant.com/ http://www.mikecolon.com look at some of the people featured here http://www.digitalweddingforum.com/Convention/semsked2.php and here http://www.rangefindermag.com/magazine/archives/Feb05/index.tml


IMO opinion, these "magazine" shots are essential for selling weddings and making people say WOW, but make sure you NAIL the standard posed shots first (i.e. bride and gramma Gean and grandpa Joe) if you miss the standards they will be more disapointed than if you miss a "money maker" shot

Just my $0.02

[chtgrubbs]

Wedding photography, like weddings in general, are sold as Hollywood fantasies. The bride to be sees the gorgeous photographs of the gorgeous brides in gorgeous gowns in gorgeous settings and they want you to be able to create that for them. I am willing to bet that alot of the shots you see in photographic mag article are shots created with models specifically for the photographers portfolio. On the other hand, in the real world, as Kawter points out, you really have to be sure you got the standard shots or you are dead meat.

[barryburgard]

Thanks for the posts. It gives me plenty think about (and see). Keep them coming please.

Barry

[Moments]

What do couples want? EVERYTHING!!! I get a mix of couples that say the want a photojournalistic photographer, and then they produce a list of family and friends to do formals with, in addition to the PJ shooting. They sometimes are not that picky on tech aspects as much as getting the shots they want. I believe that if you are not hard on your self as far as all aspects of your photography, you will not progress as a photographer. I always see something I could have done better, regardless of the clients reaction to the images. I also always say, "it's never about the 500 images you got, it's always about the one of aunt Josie that you did not get."

Last night I had a prewedding meeting and we started to go over the details. The bride stated she really wanted "spur of the moment images" and it was very important. Then she said "Oh and here is a list of families and groups we need also". It was a list that took up the whole page. "Oh and yes I love that window shot on your wall, I need that also, plus I really want a shot of me in a mirror like that". Ok I said, do you have any windows or doors like that (the shot she likes was shot in a french door) and what is the inside of the bedroom like? She said, "Oh I dont have any doors or windows like that in the house and the mirror in the bedroom is very old and does not look good at all, could you retouch it?" "I need table shots of the 17 tables and we really like your candids of people having a good time so do that also"

Clients alway know what they want, but have no idea of what they can get. When we meet with clients and show them our work to get them to book with us, we always show our best work. It is a combination of Artistic/technical skills, great locations and good looking subjects. The potential client places themselves in those images and expects the photographer to transform them into the samples they see.

We have to know how to diffuse a situation like the one I had last night, and place the client back into a state of reallity. I always tell clients and potential clients that "every wedding and couple is different, I can't create what is not there, nor can I create moods and emotions that are not there either. The work you see here in my studio shows what I'm capable of."

Clients want everything, and it is the photographers job to educate the client.

[remilus]

some pdf files, please?
email to me emiremus@yahoo.com
many thanks