This intensive three day workshop on Indian wedding photography will be a good blend of lectures, discussions, and assignments in which participants will learn to tackle the challenges of being or becoming a wedding photographer in India, for all that it means. We will discuss ways to identify your niche in the market, pricing, contracts, business approach, as well as technical challenges of shooting at a wedding. We will talk about working alongside other photographers, how to handle harsh video lights, use of natural light vs flash and more. You will also be given tips on equipment and digital concerns in different situations. You will learn to conquer your digital workflow, post production, color correction, creating lightroom presets, finalizing your images and archiving.

Indian wedding photographer, wedding photographer in India, wedding photojournalist, destination wedding photographer, documentary style wedding photography available for wedding photography in Bangalore, Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur, Kerala, also available for destination wedding photography in Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius wedding photographer, Maldives wedding photographer, wedding photography in Sri Lanka

A wedding photographer is not a vendor

You can haggle, push and pull but the quality of the service or product that you purchase will not be affected by the negotiating process. The coconut water will taste the same. You can compare prices, make a bid, do what you want basically as long as the contract is signed properly you will get what you ordered. Not with a photographer. The quality of the work you get from a photographer changes based on how you work with him and this is the biggest difference between a vendor and a creative talent. If you treat a photographer like a vendor you are likely to get a mediocre result in return. On the other hand, if you treat a coconut vendor like an artist you’ll be wasting your time and money.

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Take for example the standard shots that almost every couple in India will have from their wedding. Those embarrassing posed pictures on the wedding night when the army of photographers stands over the couple’s head asking to smile. Watching these photographers at work can be funny, but surely not when it is your own wedding.

Taking time off from the family and planning a personal shoot can offer a new perspective on wedding photography in India. Capturing the real moments as they happen, the intimacy, the emotion and the moments that you want to remember.

The Engagement Shoot

One of the favourite services that I offer, something that can greatly enhance everyone’s overall wedding experience, is that of the engagement shoot. It is called ‘Engagement shoot’ as in the US it is usually planned for a date before the wedding itself. It gives the couple something fun to do while they wait for their wedding day to arrive, and allows them to get comfortable with the photographer and with being photographed. A personal shoot like this takes a few hours of concentrated time without the worry of attending a wedding and hence should really be planned for a different day from the wedding itself. It is a different reality when considering a destination wedding and it is sometimes very difficult, if not completely impossible to plan for a personal shoot to happen before the wedding.

Never the less, Finding a dramatic location in India, a simple location that will provide opportunities to get some incredible images, is never a big deal even in the smallest town. During a two day event there is usually enough time to go out and explore a bit. The shoot itslef is extremely fun and rewarding and you can be prepared to come away with images that will knock your socks off!

Here are a few images of Sameera and Pradeep as we captured after their wedding in a small town about an hour away from Visakapatnam.

Great images are one thing, but there is also a business sense behind it all. In 2007, the Indian wedding market was worth over 800 billion US$ and was growing by at least 25 percent per annum. The current global economic recession has not yet affected the wedding market.

What makes wedding photography in India different?

What makes wedding photography in India different than anywhere else in the world? To understand this, consider the US, where organizations, conventions and competitions for fine art wedding photography are already a routine. Top photography magazines grade their list of ten best wedding photographers every year. In India, that has not yet happened. In other words, although the Indian wedding industry is a fast growing business, the field of wedding photography in India is still less developed than in other parts of the world.

Two types of wedding couples

There are many different traditions of Indian weddings, but there are mainly two kinds of couples who get married in India: those who live in India and those who live abroad.

The first kind are most likely going to hire a local photographer. In many cases, it will be the same photographer who shot the weddings of the family for many years.

The second kind – those who come to India for a destination wedding or come home to India to get married – have greater expectation from their wedding photographer and are more open to new styles and trends. They sometimes go to their home town but often prefer an exotic location like a beach or an old fort palace. They are looking for a dream wedding.

Traditional or photojournalistic wedding photography?

If you are a bride planning a wedding in India and looking for a wedding photographer, you have most likely run into the photography studio “in business for more than a decade” – the traditional wedding photographers. They know how to please your parents. They will take pictures of all your guests. They will also pose and photograph you in the same way as you can see in most wedding albums.

In contrast, a photojournalist wedding photographer captures the emotional and special moments of your wedding without being intrusive. The memories captured by a photojournalist wedding photographer are always unique and personal. Unfortunately, there are very few such photographers based in India.

JPG or RAW?

Nowadays, most professional Indian wedding photographers use the latest digital cameras. However, to cut costs, they generally shoot their images on the ’standard’ JPG setting (not even the ‘fine’ JPG setting). They argue that this is standard practice, and very few would notice any difference even in A3 sized prints. That is true, but only if their original exposure was perfect in 100% of the shots, something that even the best photographer in the world never achieves. Therefore, photographers seeking the highest quality in their shoots prefer the RAW format. It is more costly, but it provides far better control in the post-production phase. In other words, if your photographer uses RAW, you will pay more, but you will probably get more attractive photographs.

How much does it cost?

Photography prices in India range from Rs10,000-15,000 (US $200-300) for a few hours of shooting to Rs200,000-300,000 (US$4,000-6,000). At the end of the day, as the saying goes, ‘you get what you pay for.’

If you want to know more about wedding photography in India, feel free to write me.

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I really don’t have a problem with videographers as long as they are professional and respectful of what is going on that day, but sadly this is rare in Indian weddings. All too often I find that the client has hired a video crew with bright lights that make you think you are on the beach and wish you had a sun-tan lotion. These harsh contrast lights throw the camera’s light-meter completely off balance and many times simply ruin a great shot. Of course, there are high-end videographers that would do an amazing job, but I have met very few of those in Indian weddings so far.

Being a wedding photojournalist I need to work around the given situation and try to make the best out of it. Trying to position myself in such a way that will enable me to use this light in my advantage is NOT easy, as any photographer will tell you.

Tip for Photographers – How to work with wedding videographers hotlights?

If you are a wedding photographer you know exactly what I mean. It is a nightmare as these lights will turn on and off at unpredictable times and very often result in ruined or missed photo opportunities. Direct light is often too harsh for portraits and will almost never be our light of choice, but it is still possible to work with and around this light to get some good shots. Rule no. 1: Never have the videographer behind your back. always try to be shooting in an angle to the light so that you get a shadow and a depth in the picture. Even working with the light in your face and using a fill-in flash (or shooting silhouettes) will give good results. 2: Converting to B&W is a wonderful solution! these halogen lights are fantastic for getting that retro b&w 50′s movie look. if you keep this in mind you could come out with some incredible cinematography effects that would otherwise be almost impossible to get. B&W will also solve the color balance issue. Here are a few samples. Good luck.

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California based awesome dude, Jeff Newsom operates completely out of the box. Any box and I love it! He is a great photographer and is the ‘Voltron of Awesomeness’

Susan Stripling is a NYC based photographer that is doing a really great job. very different than Jeff, she is more romantic and traditional but she works wonderful with light and has very warm and appealing images.

Dominique Cabrelli is an experienced wedding photojournalist based in France who works beautifully in B&W as well as in color and can really capture those unique moments.

Glen Johnson is probably one of the most experienced destination photographers out there and has many good advice for couples, as well as photographers. He is simply a great source of information.

Seshu might not be as experienced as the other photographers on this list but is still worth following. Based in Connecticut and coming form a Desi family, he documents mainly Indian and multi-cultural weddings. check him out.

If you are a wedding photographer please feel free to comment and add your name and website to this list. Other comments are also welcome naturally

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We have already discussed the style of photography that different wedding photographers use, as well as the two basic business models; 1. pricing the service of photography or 2. pricing the service part low but charge a LOT on the prints afterwards. The business model that the photographer uses plays an important roll in determining the price of the final package.

More than likely, one of the first things you’ll be asking yourself in your search for a wedding photographer is “Why is wedding photography so expensive?” Simply put, it’s a matter of supply and demand, and the question you should really ask yourself is: “how much money are my wedding photographs actually worth to me?” Some may feel the photographs are not really that important to them, and will rely mainly on the videographer or their relatives point-and-shoot snapshots for their ‘capturing of the day.’ Others, with maybe a strong love of art and beauty, might consider the importance of their wedding images to be just just below tying the knot itself, and cannot say “I do” without the best photography money can buy.

How much should you spend?

It’s understandable that in this economy most everyone has to watch their budget, however, I am of the opinion that a wedding is truly the most treasured and exceptional of days. It is a time when you really want the BEST — not the cheapest. Most people would not dream of buying a brass wedding ring with a simulated diamond, and this thinking should be true for your wedding photographs as well. This is the irreplaceable record of one of, if not ‘the’ most important of all the days of your life. (Sure, births are important, too, but babies tend not to look as elegant and splendid as a bride and groom and their generations of well-dressed relatives on such a happy occasion. Whatever your budget, finding a photographer that offers a unique perspective and a high level of skill and professionalism should be what you are searching for.

Photography prices in India range from Rs 10 – 15,000 (US $300) for a few hours of shooting by a traditional ‘old school’ Indian wedding photographer, and up to several thousand dollars for an experienced international photographer. So, what to do? Well, a general rule of thumb should be that the photography should be roughly 10-15% of your total wedding cost, and depending on the importance that you place on the wedding pictures, this budget can then be adjusted.
If you are thinking that getting a great bargain price will make you happy, remember that although this might be so in the beginning, this happiness will be short lived as you will have to live with the results long after the wedding is over. At the end of the day, as the saying goes, ‘you get what you pay for.’

more to come . .

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Wedding Photographer Basics – Choosing A professional Wedding Photographer

So how do you choose a professional wedding photographer ? There are many criteria that can easily be overlooked by wedding couples at the planning stage when choosing and booking a wedding photographer. not like choosing a wedding gown or a location for your event where you have the luxury of knowing, at least in theory, exactly what you will receive, it is not so with a wedding photographer as you will only know if you made the right decision once you see the pictures after the wedding.

What would you want to buy? VS What would you want to see!

Human nature makes us fall for a low price and with the competition these days, anything you can do to lower your price can get you more business. Many wedding photographers charge a low price up front but keep all ownership and copyright on the images. After the wedding, you may be shocked to find out how much it costs to get the prints that you want, and it is not unusual for clients to spend more on reprints than what they originally spent on the entire photography fee. In the beginning you might feel great because of the low price but could potentially be feeling resentful in the end because of the high price you were charged for reprints and because there was little or no discussion about the reprint costs when you were originally booking the wedding.

Another business model for photographer is to charge the full amount of the sale up front. The client pays for the photographer’s style, experience and expertise and the photographer delivers the images on a DVD, which the client can use to make unlimited prints for personal use. The photographer gets paid for his talent, overhead and business expenses and his desired profit up front, and the client has no surprises and no hidden costs in the package. the other advantages to this business model is that you do not have to worry about the photographer loosing your images, or moving out of town, and you have the ability to use your images for email, computer slideshows, albums, and you can even do your own image manipulation if you wish.

The most important thing you need to know about these two very different business models is that each of them creates a completely different motivation for the photographer, and that motivation influences the kind of pictures that they take; The first is motivated by print sales while the second is motivated by the need to tell the story and create a beautiful record of the day. This photographer is your own personal photographer for the day. He will be thinking, “What will the bride and groom want to see?” instead of thinking, “what would the bride and groom want to buy.”

more to come . .

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What is wedding photojournalism and what makes it special?

The first thing you should decide while considering a photographer for your wedding should be his/her style of photography. Basically a choice between two very different styles. Are you looking for a traditional approach with mostly posed images? Or do you prefer the documentary approach with lots of candid shots in which the subject may not even know he or she is being photographed?

Wedding Photojournalism is basically documenting the wedding as it really was. The photographer will not deliberately create, or ‘manufacture’ images, but rather let the pictures happen naturally and spontaneously and the subjects are not given any direction on what to do. The approach is the same as for a photojournalist’s assignment and the idea is to tell the story with images.
In any case, a photojournalistic style is when the photographer does not interact with the subject in any way. He/she tries to capture images in such a way as to tell the viewer what was really going on without the need for any words to explain the situation. So for example, instead of positioning you and your guests for a shot and saying “look over here and smile!” the photographer would be trying to watch your interaction with your guests while positioning himself at a good angle so that he could catch you in the act of actually smiling and laughing with your friends. The difference between the two styles is dramatic. Working in a photojournalistic style is MUCH more difficult for the photographer but the reward is that your pictures are REAL!

to be continued . .

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Nitya and Sharath newly wed on their way to their honeymoon in an open roof vintage car on the Delhi-Jaipur highway.

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