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Night Fox Productions
Night Fox Productions is a located in Clearwater Florida but we service the Tampa Bay area, which includes Tampa, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Clearwater, Largo, and Surrounding cities. We feel that photographing a wedding is serious business, but also needs to be serious fun! Everyone has heard nightmare stories of the "Crazy Photographer" who turned the formal photos into an endurance contest, or never let the bride and groom have a free minute to enjoy their own reception. We have found that clients prefer spontaneous, authentic photos that reflect the emotion of the moment. Our job is not only to take great pictures of your wedding day, but to do so in a way that helps to maximize your enjoyment of your day. We work hard to make those necessary formal photos a FUN experience! We want to treat every couple as friends who have given us the honor of allowing us to record their wedding day for them. As our friend we will remind you to breathe, relax and (most of all) have fun!
We suggest that you visit our main site at www.nightfoxprodcutions.com with a web browser that supports Flash Player 8 or later.
In the mean time, here are some suggestion when looking for a photograph that we thought you should know about.
This may seem like a daunting task, but with the right question, you will be well informed on making a good choice on a photographer. So let us begin.
Question 1. What is your photographic style?
What is a photographic style any ways? Will there are different styles that have different looks to a photograph. The most common of responses that you will hear, is that they do traditional posed and photojournalistic. Yet they could say any of the following: Traditional, Photojournalistic, Posed, Candid, Artistic, and Documentary. For now we will be covering the two main styles, which are “Traditional Pose” and “Photojournalistic Pose.” Posed, or sometimes called Traditional Pose, usually involves poses, or what we like to call scripted shots, that are either traditional or photojournalistic in appearance. Think of it this way, imagine that you are on a movie or photo shoot and the director is telling you, “You’re a monkey.. your climbing a tree.. get the banana” or you may have seen the movie entitled “Zoolander” when the main character was told to perform a scripted pose. So taking that into consideration; “posed photojournalism” is similar to “Photojournalistic” but through acting. This form requires acting on your part and clear direction on the part of the photographer. So since we have touched it, “Photojournalistic” is where the photographer gets the photograph candidly, usually from a distance or by blending in. In other words, nothing is scripted or staged. Example of a “Photojournalistic Pose” would be a bride looking out a window before heading to the ceremony.
Question 2. Are you the actual day-of photographer?
You want to make sure that the person you’re talking to will be there. Some wedding photographers will sell you on them and send someone else to cover your wedding. If you recall, you want to get that “vibe” from that person. Do not be afraid to ask, “Can we meet with the actual photographer?” You might also want to find out if the photographer will be having any assistants there. There is nothing like having a photographer with an assistant that looks like they cannot keep their pants up at your wedding. Don’t laugh we have seen this before.
Question 3. Do you shoot in black and white?
Ok, what does this mean? Well this is a very important question to ask, especially since most photographers are going to the digital age. So you want to make sure that your photographer keeps the originals in color and then dose the black and white in post-production, especially if they are going for an “Artistic” photographic style. When shooting digital, you should NEVER do black and white in the camera. You lose valuable information that the computer can use to make many different black and white images from one color image. Black and white photography does not retain any color information, while color can easily go to different types of black and white photographs. These means that you want color negatives, in the regards to film, from your photographer, if possible. Of course, you should never pressure them to do something outside of their artistic comfort zone. This is to just let you know the flexibility you will have after you get your originals.
Question 4. What is your experience with wedding photography?
This is sometimes over looked, but it is one of importance. For this will tell you what your photographs are going to look like before the photographer even takes one picture. Most photographers have a portfolio that they can show you, but we suggest that you ask for the entire photographs of a single wedding, this way you can see what the photographer looks for when they take a picture. This way you can see the qualities of those shots before post-production. You might be surprise what computers can do with a photograph these days. Some follow up question you might consider to ask are: How many weddings have you done? How many years have you been a photographer? Have you shot at our location before? If so, what are the special photographic conditions of our location? This last question is something that we think it is very important. Have you done a wedding similar to our size? For some photographers may not be able to handle large groups.
Question 5. Will you have other weddings that weekend?
Are you saying that photographers will book more than one wedding on a weekend? Yes, many photographers are very busy people. Some even cover sporting events in the day and cover a wedding in the evening. But that is something that we never would recommend for any one. For this question will help you to understand how this may affect your wedding. For if you are at the tell end of a weekend, after they have done a Friday and Saturday wedding, can your photographer handle yours? Some photographers do not have the physical or emotional endurance to do that and the end results will be that you will receive poor quality photographs. Imagine that you had a long day at work and you come home to a mess up home or had some yard work to do, then someone asked you the next day to help them move out of their apartment, would you be able to do that?
Question 6. Can we get negatives or digital negatives?
You always want to get these, for this will let you make copies for later uses. You want to be sure to have this in writing as to when you will receive them. We also recommend that you ask for a release form from the photographer, unless it is in the contract, stating that you can make copies of the negatives, for later uses. If they are using digital format, ask if they are full resolution files. Yet remember that these files are very large. Average files size of digital camera will be anywhere around 12 Megabits to 25 Megabits in RAW format. Most computers cannot read RAW format, but no worries, CANON™ has provided a location that you can download the codec; a codec is a way a computer can read a type of media file. After you have downloaded the codec you can view RAW images on a Windows XP service pack 2 or Vista 32bit base computer. If you do request the full resolution files, do not be surprise if they charge for that. For on a normal CD-R it can only hold about 32 photographs per CD or on a stander DVD-R they can only hold about 160 Photographs per DVD in this format.
Question 7. What kind of equipment do you use?
This question will give you an ideal of the photographer understanding of his or her equipment. It will also tell you if there may by unseen issues. For example, if there will be tripods and/or wires, can people trip over these things as they are walking around them. Remember, the Bride and Bride’s maids are in heels and dresses; it might look funny on “American’s Most Funniest Videos™” but does not make for a happy moment.
Question 8. What do you do in case of emergencies?
Now we are not talking about a fire in this case. If there was a fire, I will be running out with my equipment as I am taking photographs of the event. We are talking about if the photographer becomes ill and cannot make it. Does the photographer have backup plan? Such as if their main equipment that they will be using breaks. Most important, do they backup their photographs, if they are using digital camera.
Question 9. Can I see all the photographs from an entire wedding that you have done?
I think we did cover this one before. But, we cannot stress the importance in this. For this will show you the consistency of the photographer in one day, as opposed to them showing you the few “keepers” from each wedding. Just think of it this way, when you went out with your future husband or wife on the first day, did you dress like you just woke up from your bed and had on the same clothing that you wore from the day prior or did you try to make a good impression. Photographers are the same way, they want to be sure they show you their best work at all times. But we feel it is also important to see some of the ones that they do not want to show. It is always good to see the good with the bad and know what type of person you are planning to get.
Question 10. How much is overtime?
Many photographers will give you a contract and say they will cover the event. In reality they mean when they see the cake cutting or when their three hours are up, they are gone. You want to be sure that you have everything that you want covered is covered. For there is no way of going back to that special day, in other words this is your one and only chance that you will get. So make sure you ask up front what they will cover and if they can stay longer then what was contracted for. This way there is no mistake. For example, something may come up that you did not expect, like a long lost family member came by and gave you something of great value and they are not there to capture your reaction or that memory. This is why it is best to find out before hand so that everything that could happen is captured
Question 10. How are you dress?
This may seem like a dumb question to ask, but we have seen photographers that show up in a gray t-shirts and black lace tank-tops and these were not guys. Just think of having a person like Austin Powers come in and start taking your photograph. Dose Bozo the Clown sound good to you? Maybe they are a person that likes to wear baggie pants and have gold hanging down their neck with a cap to the right as they are taking your photograph on your wedding day. You want to be sure that they will be presentable to you, your friends and family and not distract from the event in any way.
Questions to ask yourself
Now you are not left out on these questions. There are some things you should consider after you have talked with the photographer and seen the photographs.
Question 1. Do you like the photographs you saw?
The best measure of taste is whether you like the images or not. As far as technical aspects to watch for, we recommend the following:
Are the photographs that you seen “Blown out?”
This means that you cannot see any detail on white objects, like the Bride’s wedding dress, or especially in the faces.
Are the photographs “underexposed?”
This means that they are too dark because of low light.
Are the photographs framed poorly?
This is subject to taste, since an oddly framed photograph can be a style of itself
Do the people in the photographs look natural?
This means it is either a candid shot or the photographer is good at making people feel comfortable in front of the camera.
Is the lighting harsh and unflattering on the people?
For example, do you see any annoying shadows on the wall behind the subjects or if the photograph was shot in sunlight, do the people have too much contrast?
Question 2. Do you understand the contract?
Do not be afraid to take it home and have an experienced person look over it. The contract is ultimately what matters if you go to court, not the spoken words at the meeting. The meetings are more like an interview for you to get to know the photographer and the photographer to get to know you. They also help clarify any question that both parties may have.
Question 3. Can you be with this person ALL DAY?
Now we come to the last question in this entire article. Ultimately it is the most important of all. For having a photographer that you do not get along with will drive you insane. Remember they are the vendor you will be surrounded by the most, so make sure that they will add to your day instead of taking away from it.
So we hope that these questions and suggestions will help you in your search of a photographer. We do hope that we will be the ones that you will call, to cover your event. But if not, we rather make sure that you find a photographer that will meet all your expectations on that special day.
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