The show began with several complaints regarding cheap photographers who were charging as little as £350 for video or photography, and as a result the couples were left very unhappy and disappointed with the quality of service and the end products. Problems included, key moments missed, shots were out of focus, or missing heads, photographers turned up late, the coverage was quite small and only a fraction of the photographs were any good. As a professional wedding photographer I am always very saddened to hear horror stories regarding wedding photography.

A wedding planner, Sarah Haywood from Oxford (www.sarahhaywood.com) spoke to Jeremy and had some great points, so great that I felt the need to share them with you.

Sarah explains: “Poor wedding photography is one of the biggest let downs for couples after their wedding and there is a reason for that, they are not doing the research, there are 100’s of fantastic wedding photographers up and down this land, but this joker was charging £350”. She continues, “Good photographers cost money because they have got overheads, they have got costly equipment to maintain and post production takes time. If you can charge £350 then it’s just pocket money and you are not taking it seriously or you are rubbish!”.

“If somebody says to you I can photograph your wedding for a few hundred pounds and I can do you a video, regard this with great suspicion. One of the main problems with every area of wedding planning is that couples don’t do the research. It is all to easy for someone to buy a fancy camera, put up a simple website and set him or herself up as a professional wedding photographer, so it is your job to do your homework”.

“This is how you do it… if you are getting married and you are looking for a professional photographer go online, look and seek out photographers doing work that you like the look of. When you have done that you must arrange to meet them. When you meet them ask to see albums of complete weddings. You want to see the story of those weddings from start to finish, not albums of best shots as anyone can put those together. You want to see that the work of these people is consistently good and that’s why you hire a professional. Amateurs can do quite a good job but won’t be consistently good so it is up to you to do your homework.”

I was so impressed with Sarah’s comments I felt I should share them with you on my blog. I would like to echo her key points again.

When looking for a wedding photographer:

1)      Look on-line to find a photographer

2)      Make sure you like the style and look of their work

3)      Arrange to meet them in person

4)      Make sure they have albums of complete weddings

5)      Check that their work is consistently good

6)      Expect to pay a professional price

You only get one chance to take the perfect wedding photographs so make sure you book a professional!

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (April 2011) Professional Wedding Photographer for Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent

Aythorpe Roding is near Great Dunmow in the Essex countryside and is lovely setting for a wedding.

The area just outside the church isn’t very big but is very picturesque.

But around the back of the church I found a great backdrop for some romantic shots.

As travelled down the little path I found an open area which would be perfect for group shots and still have the church in the background.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (May 2010) Professional Wedding Photographer for Essex, Hertfordshire, and Kent

The hardback cover can now have a photo on it as well as the wedding details on the front.

The photos can now span the pages and lay flat when the book is opened.

This product will go on sale at the same price as the previous product giving my customers an amazing deal for 2010. Great idea for a parents book or special gift.

The books can be produced in 26 page, 34 page and 42 page options and can contain between 60-70, 70-90 and 90 – 120 photographs in the respective sizes.

An amazing product, bespokely designed and at great value too! For more information please visit the Wedding Photo Book page in my products section of the website.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (March 2010) Professional Wedding Photographer for Essex, Hertfordshire, and Kent

In the next shot I actually added the confetti to a shot without, this can help if churches or venues do not permit the use of confetti.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (March 2010) Professional Wedding Photographer for Essex, Hertfordshire, and Kent

I know this style wont be to everyones taste but it does show that I can offer more abstract styles when asked to do so. I will be posting some other after effects on my blog soon and have created a category called Digital Effects for this purpose.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (March 2010) Professional Wedding Photographer for Essex, Hertfordshire, and Kent

Any consumer can take a photograph on their compact camera, then take the file to a local photo outlet and obtain prints for a little as £0.30 for an 7×5 inch print (using Boots photo as an example) . Yes they will receive a print back, but is it a professional print and I mean that in the full sense of the word professional?

A professional photographer will have devoted years of time perfecting their skills in both composition and also in camera operation and techniques. They will also have invested a small fortune in the equipment they use (highend digital SLR’s with the highest quality optical lenses) to ensure the best quality when for capturing every image.

It doesn’t stop there: After the photograph has been taken, the photographer will spend a great deal of time colour grading and digitally enhancing each photograph, using professional software (I like to use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, which are dedicated for professional photographers). The photographer may upload the photographs to a gallery/shop website where the customer, their friends and family can see the photographs on a password protected site and have the option to buy prints directly (I use a service called Phototrade).

If a customer does order a print then it will be retouched and re-checked for colour, contrast and exposure and will be adjusted to the optimum settings for a professional lab to then print. Using a professional lab is more expensive than using a consumer outlet because the machine calibration, paper and printing standards are that much higher.

The prints will be dispatched via a professional courier ensuring they are delivered back to the photographer in perfect condition and on time. The prints are checked again, before being mounted into strut mounts and safely packed into non-bendable packaging ready for sending to the customers. So to recap:

• Professionally composed photographs
• Professionally captured images on highend cameras
• Professionally colour graded and digitally enhanced photographs
• Professionally displayed on a on-line gallery
• Professionally retouched images
• Professionally printed by a photographic lab
• Professionally delivered by courier
• Professionally displayed in a mount and despatched to the customer

As well as the above, it is likely that the photographer will have incurred a cost getting to the shoot or even encountered some costs during the shoot, especially if it is a wedding or an evening event, so some of these costs will also be hidden into the print prices. Not forgetting public liability insurance and business insurance for the equipment, and an even greater margin is the advertising and marketing costs, these costs all have to be recovered from all aspects of the business.

I have looked at my competitors professional print prices, tryed to be as competitive as possible and am able to offer my prints at these very reasonable prices:

• 6×4 inch print in a mount – £6.95
• 7×5 inch print in a mount – £7.95
• 8×6 inch print in a mount – £9.95
• 10×8 inch print in a mount – £12.95

Professional photographs are like that of “Art or Crafts”, you are paying for the “artistic nature” of a photograph “not the paper” it is printed on. In that sense photographers could charge any value that they feel customers will happily pay, so it is not unknown for photographers to charge in excess of £100 for a single print. The rights of the photograph usually remain with the photographer unless released under licence, and are also subject to copyright laws.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (November 2009) Professional Wedding Photographer for Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent

Creeksea Place is a wedding photographers dream venue! There is an amazing mansion house which provides the ideal backdrop for some stylish looking wedding photographs.

From the moment you arrive up the gravel drive way after a journey into the middle of nowhere it seems, you find this amazing gem of a venue.

I was extremely proud to be told that Creeksea Place would like to recommend me after they saw the work I produced back in August on Nicole and Tim’s wedding.

There are parts of the grounds used on the wedding day, the front garden of the house for the ceremony, and the back garden area for the wedding drinks, group shots and marquee for the wedding breakfast.

The house looks great from pretty much every angle, plus the use of the lake and old bridge are an added bonus.

I am really looking forward to photographing more weddings at Creeksea Place and working alongside the great team at the venue.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (October 2009) Professional Wedding Photographer for Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent

I try to meet up with all my couples around 6-8 weeks before their wedding day to check over the timings and take a look around the venue with them. I am really looking forward to photographing their wedding. To see a previous wedding photographed at Crondon Park click here.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (September 2009) Wedding Photographer for Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent

It was quite a challenge to photograph the wedding without capturing the film crew in the shots, but if you take a look at the previous blog article about this wedding you can see we did pull it off.

The three other brides arrived in blind folds as it had been a secret about the wedding taking place at London Zoo.

They were guests at the wedding and as part of the show had to rate the wedding on various criteria.

Well I can officially say wedding photography “As Seen On TV” now. Our couple came 2nd in the competition, but definitely had the wedding of their dreams. I personally enjoyed photographing their day and was intrigued by all the television crew activity going on around me. Although there was a film crew of about 10 people not everyone noticed the cameras were on them.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (August 2009) Wedding Photographer for Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent

As it was a nice morning I took a few shots as a small engagement shoot aswell as some of the venue.

Quendon Hall has some wonderful grounds and is a great setting for a wedding.

I am really looking forward to photographing their wedding and hope for nice weather on the day too.

By Dean Robson – RT Weddings (July 2009) Wedding Photographer for Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent