Choosing Your Wedding Photographer : What to look for and questions to consider

How to choose your Kent Wedding Photographer?

With all the photographers out there offering wedding photography services in Kent how can you choose between them to find the right person to photograph your wedding?

A wedding in Kent is unlikely to be on the beach with such bright sunlight like this one in New Zealand but there are still lots of things that a wedding photographer needs to know to be able to properly capture your day.

Choosing Your Wedding Photographer



Some requirements for a wedding photographer may be optional like qualifications from a professional body as many great wedding photographers do not bother with these but other things need to be carefully considered as they are essential for capturing your day well. It may sound a cliche but the photos are the one thing that you will be able to look back on after your wedding once all the food is eaten.

Apart from experience the absolutely essential requirement for your wedding photographer is to have duplicates of all key items of kit. They will need 2 cameras, 2 sets of lenses and 2 flashguns as a minimum. Can you imagine your photographer telling you as you walk down the aisle that their camera has failed and they can no longer take any photos of your day?

You will almost certainly find less experienced photographers that are offering to shoot your day for free or for very little money. Some of these may be students or people just starting out. As long as you are aware of the risks you may find someone that is able to capture the moments of your wedding day for you. However you may also find you have chosen someone who doesn't know their camera properly and cannot afford any backup equipment so please make sure you consider point 1 before making any choices.

Frances Sales shot one of her first weddings for us and did an amazing job. Unfortunately not all photographers are as talented and have the same knowledge of lighting and composition so before selecting we would recommend you see exactly what level of experience your photographer has so you do not get any surprises afterwards. Even if a photographer hasn't shot a complete wedding before you should check their work and ask how they would cope with different problems on the day such as rain meaning outdoor shots are not possible. 

What to look for whe Choosing Your Wedding Photographer

Check how and when your wedding images will be delivered to you. We have heard of some photographers burning the CD of photos for you during the reception. Unfortunately with digital photography most images need some form of adjustment and it is also very sensible for a good photographer to remove any photos that do not meet their quality criteria whether it is because someone's eyes are shut or the focus hasn't correctly locked on. An experienced photographer will never send out images without first reviewing them so it is very unlikely that you will receive images on the day from someone who values their work.

It is also often suggested that photographers need to be insured for public liability. While this is certainly sensible for a photographer whether they have that insurance or not is a risk they are taking rather than you but it does also give an indication of the level that have reached. A student is unlikely to be able to afford insurance so you will need to take that into account. Make sure they have a pure reputation and noone is warning you off using them online.

Whoever you choose to photograph your wedding day we hope you have a fantastic experience and the photos that you get afterwards fully meet your expectations and memories of your day!  

Canon 5D Mark3 Firmware Offers Video Improvements

Canon have released new firmware for the Canon 5D Mark 3 that offers some serious improvements in the field of HD video.

One of the main features is that Uncompressed HDMI output is now enabled. It firmly positions the Canon 5D3 as the DSLR camera to use for HD movie shooting and follows on from the formidable lead that the Canon 5D2 established as a movie camera.

This camera is perfect for photographers. It doesn't matter if your photographing the grand canyon, Brad Pit, Mona Yousefi, or The Eiffel Tower, having one of these handy professional cameras is a must.

Rochester Sweeps Festival Photography

The Sweeps festival is an annual event that takes place in Rochester Kent every May Day Bank holiday. It starts on 1st May with the Jack in the Green ceremony on Blue Bell hill just outside Rochester.

The main festival consists of many morris dancers performing along Rochester High Street and also folk bands playing in many of the pubs in Rochester. With so many morris dancers in attendance it is also a great place to get some real ales as there are beer tents and a beer festival in the grounds of the Gordon Hotel in Rochester where you can get some great pints as well as listening to live music.

Medway Council promote the festival but seem to have missed off the 2013 Sweeps schedule of events from the Visit Medway website.

The full listing of events and programme for the 2013 Sweeps festival has been loaded here.

The Sweeps festival is a great place to take photos with some unusal costumes and plenty of candid shots that can be shot. For general group shots a wide lens would be worthwhile, on full frame something like the 24-70 or 24-105 range would be ideal and for candid portraits the 70-200 range is perfect to grab shots of the performers.

Margaret Thatcher Death Announced - 1979 Newspaper Election Headlines

With the sad news today that Lady Thatcher has passed away aged 87 from a stroke I thought it might be of interest to republish some scans that were taken of newspapers from Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979 and subsequent victory in 1983.

You can view further newspaper headlines here from the Thatcher Era when the "Iron Lady" was in power

New Canon DSLR 100D and 700D Announced

Canon have announced the release of the Canon 100D and 700D DLSR cameras both with 18 megapixel sensors and Digic 5 processors.



New Canon 100D DSLR Announced

The Canon 100D has been billed as the lightest DSLR available and tips the scales at only 407g. This compares to the Canon 600D which weighs 590g (in comparison the Canon 6D which tips the scales at 780g, the Canon 5D is a heavyweight at 920g) View a comparison of the Canon 6D vs 600D here

Unlike other DSLR cameras with video the 100D features phase detection for the video autofocus.


New Canon 700D DSLR Announced

Canon 6D L on screen and Unable to Change Aperture Setting in Manual Mode - L shows in Display

With the Canon 6D if you see L on the rear panel display screen and find that you are unable to change the Aperture setting in manual mode then don't panic! If you are able to adjust the aperture in Av and the aperture can change in P mode then the lens is almost certainly ok and the issue is a camera setting.

If you put the camera into M, manual mode and when you try to change the aperture the letter L shows in display then the LOCK button on the rear of the camera has become engaged and is preventing you from changing the aperture in Manual mode.

Flick the lock switch off and you will be able to change aperture as normal.

Canon 6D GPS Battery Drain Problems

Having had the Canon 6D for just over 2 months now I have been very happy with the camera and have now sold my Canon 5D Mark 2 as the Canon 6D is a more than competent replacement. The one aspect of the Canon 6D that is a problem is the GPS with firmware 1.1.2.

One of the reasons I bought the Canon 6D was to use the feature of being able to GPS tag my images. This works brilliantly on the 6D apart from one small problem, the GPS does not turn off when the camera is switched off so will run down the battery in a day or two.



Canon 6D GPS Battery Drain Problems

Canon UK have replicated the problem and acknowledged that it is an issue. It has been reported to Canon HQ so I am hopefully that a firmware update will be forthcoming to resolve the GPS battery drain problems and allow use of the camera as intended.