Should I base my choice of photographers on price alone? What other factors should I consider?
What style of photography do you employ?
What sort of equipment do you bring to a wedding?
How many images will you take?
How soon after my wedding will the images be ready?
How can I be sure that the photographer I have met is the one who’s going to show up at the wedding?
What’s your cancellation policy?
Do you furnish printed proofs?
When should we look for and book our photographer?
How can we best preserve our album?
Why can’t we just copy the proofs to save money?
We love to travel and are ready, willing and able to travel world wide for your event! We currently service the Greater Houston Metropolitan area. Any area outside of the Houston metro area will be based on an 80 mile radius from our home in Katy Texas which includes areas such as Bryan, College Station, Columbus, Galveston, Richmond and Rosenberg. For travel beyond 80 miles please inquire about our Destination Travel policies and costs.
Should I base my choice of photographers on price alone? What other factors should I consider?
Even though Caffrey’s Photography offers very competitive pricing, you should not base your decision solely on cost. The most important question is “Who can you trust to preserve the most important day of your life?” Cake will be eaten, flowers will wilt, and tuxes returned, but your photos should last a lifetime. It is important that you hire someone who understands this. One of the primary factors in choosing your photographer should be their personality. You are going to spend a number of hours with your photographer during your bridals, engagement photos, at your wedding and several times after your wedding. It is very important that you feel comfortable and enjoy the people that you choose to work with. I can promise that if you do not like your photographer you will not get the best photos of yourselves. Another factor to consider is your photographers style. There are alot of photographers that photograph weddings and we all have our own individual style. Some are very plain and old fashioned, some are trendy and artistic. You should look at wedding photos and decide what you like and then seek out photographers that produce photos in the style you prefer.
Photojournalism is a recent innovation that is a style that captures the event without being obtrusive. Unlike traditional posed photos the photojournalist takes pictures based on what is occurring at the event. Think of a photographer for a news paper. He is there to capture the action without any input given to the event. Traditional posed photography tends to be very hands on with most of the photos being orchestrated by the photographer.
What style of photography do you employ?
The simple answer is that we employ a mix of both traditional and photojournalistic styles. There are times when a photographer needs to be very hands on and in our opinion is essential to proper coverage of your wedding. An example of this is the posed formal photos taken at most weddings. Therefore, we feel it is essential to blend the two styles so that you receive flattering posed photos as well as a candid portrayal of your dream wedding. We truly feel this is the best option to capture your wedding day.
Absolutely! We made the decision to go 100% digital about 10 years ago and haven’t looked back. Currently we use professional grade Canon cameras and lenses and feel the quality of digital photography has caught up and surpassed, traditional analog film photography.
What sort of equipment do you bring to a wedding?
One of the things we take very seriously is having the proper equipment and backup gear in case of equipment failure. Becca and I photograph your wedding together and we have duplicate sets of professional grade Canon cameras and lenses. the following is a sample of some of the gear we bring.
Canon EOS 5D (2)
Canon EOS 30D (3)
Canon 70-200mm 2.8L Lens (2)
Canon 24-70mm 2.8L Lens (2)
Canon 17-55,mm 2.8 Lens
Canon 50mm 1.8 Lens
Canon 85mm 1.2L Lens
Canon 580 EXII Flash (3)
Canon 430 EXII Flash (2)
Sandisk Memory Cards, 110 gigs of memory.
Complete duplicate set of camera batteries for for each camera along with 96 professional grade rechargeable batteries to power flashes and provide backup batteries for the cameras.
How many images will you take?
The simple answer is a lot. Our goal is to take enough images to capture the story of your wedding and not a set number of photos. We do not charge by the image. We photograph everything you want, everything we should and everything we see. All images that meet our professional standards and criteria you will see when we upload them to your proofing gallery.
Bridals are formal photographs exclusive to the bride. Usually, these photos are all about the bride and her dress. Typically they are shot at an outdoor location, with the assistance of a close friend. It’s a special time for the bride. During the wedding day things get pretty hectic for the bride and usually there isnt time to do nice portraits of the bride in her dress. The bridal portrait time is the time a bride can be her most relaxed and most beautiful. These photos are usually displayed at the reception.
Yes, I have a backup system that is an exact duplicate of my primary system so that there is not a difference in their operation. This allows me to focus on you and your event instead of having to worry about a different camera and its settings. We take every precaution to ensure our equipment is in top working order. Should something fail technically, we are normally carrying the back up with us and within seconds will be shooting away. Most of the time you will not realize there was an issue.
Our terms are fairly standard to the industry. We require a $1000 dollar retainer to hold your date. This is applied to your total cost with the balance due 30 days prior to your event.
How soon after my wedding will the images be ready?
Usually, your proofs will be online in 2 – 4 weeks but varies due to our workload. If we see that we will be taking longer than normal to get your proofs ready to view we will make sure keep you informed on the status of your photos. We will give you the web address prior to your wedding so that you can print it on your wedding program to share your photos with your attendees.
Sure, just let us do our job first, and then they can shoot. We only ask that when our cameras are up and taking pictures that all eyes are on us. Please inform your guests that you have paid a professional and to please allow us to do our job. During formal photos for example, time is usually of the essence. We have many people to photograph. Please ask your guests to not hold us up. They may take a photograph right after I have taken mine so we can move on to the next group.
Becca and I both photograph your wedding so there should always be 2 photographers there. Generally we will try to have a second or even a third photographer at all of our events along with an assistant at times. We feel this is the best method to capture the full story of your wedding. We will be opaque as reasonably possible while still doing our work. Having more than one photographer is another way of insuring your perfect wedding memories.
How can I be sure that the photographer I have met is the one who’s going to show up at the wedding?
Be very careful about this. There are wedding photography operations with several photographers on staff. Unless the contract includes the name of the photographer you interviewed, they could send anyone. You’re safer dealing with an individual photographer who works alone (with an assistant, of course). When you book with Caffrey’s Photography you can be assured that Becca and I will be your photographer.
What’s your cancellation policy?
Please try to remember, if we have held your date, then that date is gone for us. Often we will have numerous requests for the exact same date. If that date is booked with you, then we have to pass on the others. If you cancel, your retainer will be held as we have lost income AND the date. We have a detailed cancellation policy in our contract and will be happy to review it with you.
Yes! we retouch all photos that are chosen to be printed and included in your album. Generally, we provide basic color corrections and minimal retouching for your proofs. Should you require extensive retouching on a photo we will review it with you and provide you a quote to complete the work.
Do you furnish printed proofs?
We do not furnish printed proofs but do offer a proof book that is included in all of our packages. We do provide a password protected site for online proofs for all of our packages so that you can share your photos with friends and family worldwide. Online proofing allows us to keep our packages at a more reasonable cost. We can give you the web address for your proofs in advance if you would like to print this on your wedding program.
This is VERY important! We do not print our own photos. Even though we use a completely digital process to capture and prepare your photos, the prints are still developed in a professional photo lab using chemical processing on professional grade photo papers using equipment that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. This truly gives us the best of both worlds and gives you photos to last a lifetime.
Yes, all of your proofs are viewable online by anyone, anywhere in the world through your password protected site we provide. This site allows your friends and family to order any of the photos online.
When should we look for and book our photographer?
You should select your photographer as soon as your wedding date has been selected and your ceremony and reception site are contracted, or at least 6-12 months in advance. Your chances of retaining the photographer of your choice is substantially reduced the closer you wait to your event.
How can we best preserve our album?
Keep the album closed and flat; do not store it vertically. Keep it in a cool dry place. Don’t expose the pictures to excessive UV from sunlight or fluorescent lights. Avoid abrasion. When kids arrive, store the album till they are old enough to respect it.
Why can’t we just copy the proofs to save money?
Here are several reasons;
1. It is illegal unless you have been given written permission to do so.
2. Quality can be very poor when not using the high resolution files to print from.
3. Longevity of your images may be severely reduced.
Of course, some photographers do not claim copyright and even release the negatives. The right of a photographer to copyright the photographs has a firm basis in law. A number of copyright infringers have learned the hard way that illegally copying a photographer’s work is a big no-no and cost them alot of money in damages, fines and legal fees! So unless you have written permission, don’t try it – and don’t ask anyone to do it for you.
Caffrey’s Photography, A Houston Wedding Photographer
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