All About Wedding Album Providers

In this post, I would like to introduce and familiarize Brides and Couples with some of the best choices out there for Bespoke Wedding Albums.

While there are a few companies out there for the do-it-yourself crowd, they supply mostly paper print books that are thin, cheaply bound, and, compared to the higher end books, are rather underwhelming. A couple of companies also offer heavier, leather bound books, but the models they make available directly to Brides are generally outdated designs and colours.  To get the really beautiful Albums in the most up-to-date styles and colours, you need to go with a Bespoke Album.  These are only available through proven Professional Photographers, and are not sold directly to the public.

Here is an overview of some of the best:

1. Graphistudio, Italy

 Graphistudio is perhaps the most successful Professional Album provider in the world, and when you see their products, it's no secret why. They are the ultimate in Wedding Bling, with slick, polished and innovative design ideas that really put the flash into your Wedding Pictures.

Graphistudio Albums are the Ultimate in Wedding Bling.

 
2. Finao, USA

   Though not from California, Finao comes across with all the panache of the California surf culture.  Whimsical cover materials and unique formats set this respected Album Maker apart from the rest.  This is definitely the album for you if you have that sassy, "I do my own thing" kind of attitude!

3. BonMatch

    Hailing from Vancouver, BonMatch has carved a niche for itself with its urbane approach to design.  Hot colours and luxurious looks will fit right in with your top drawer style statement.

That's all for today.  As time permits, I will feature the albums of as many providers as I can.  I hope this helps in your search for the best.

Do It Yourself vs. Professional Album Design

Because getting married is not something most of us do everyday, or even every year or decade, it is the kind of major life event that deserves to be recorded and documented in a special way.  The Wedding Album has been the traditional document of the Marriage celebration for decades, but lately, it has undergone a dramatic transformation.  In the past, Wedding Albums were usually of the matted variety, with pages of creatively cut paper mattes overlaying the couple's favourite images from the Wedding Photographer. 

Digital Albums present a myriad of design possibilities.

The rise of digital technology has made possible a transformation of this relatively simple, traditional style, into a true work of design: The Digital Album.  Professional Wedding Photographers either employ the talents of Dedicated Album Designers, or they often have a background in the graphic arts themselves.  Whether they do the layouts themselves or choose an Album Designer, they are able to take the significant capabilities of programs like Photoshop, and use them to create a myriad of design possibilities that never existed before. 

Because the designs are created digitally, they can be easily and quickly proofed by the Newlyweds, and then edited to their specifications.  Numerous artistic techniques are used to create eyecatching montages, with elaborate and complex arrangements of images, elevating the Album Design process to a new level.

Talented Brides with a keen eye, or actual training in the design field may wish to attempt to design their own album, and of course, their creation will be accompanied by a deep sense of pride and personal satisfaction.  Be warned though; it may not sound like a lot to produce a book with 10 layouts, but once you get into it, you may discover it to be much more daunting a task than you expected.  Not surprisingly, many Brides who choose a files-only Photography Package, with the intention of creating a DIY Album end up years later with still no album, and their image disk in a drawer collecting dust.

If you do decide to go the DIY route, first you need to choose a graphics program, then you need to figure out the ins and outs of the design program you are using.  It goes without saying that the basic paint programs that come with Windows are not powerful enough to do a complex task like this.  Some DIY Album companies offer an online design tool that on the surface, seems simple enough.  However, paired with your computer, there may be discrepancies in the colour profiles that you might not be aware of, causing the finished product to look different than you expected.  Additionally, these programs often work quite slowly, since they are cloud-based, and it can be frustrating to deal with their limitations.  They lack a wide variety of Fonts, it may be a challenge to fit your images into their pre-designed templates, and they lack the "Bling Factor" that more complex design features can bring to your album layouts.  Once these limitations are discovered, many do-it-yourselfers will no doubt throw up their hands and end up creating a simple design with the basic black templates provided in the online program.  Even with this basic choice, it could take weeks to produce, and will probably save them a negligible amount of money.  At this point, you need to consider whether your time is worth more than the savings.

Design Professionals, by contrast, are able to produce a beautiful book in just one day, because they work with Photoshop everyday, and most of them have done so for years, and are able to understand the more esoteric functions of the program that a layman would have no idea even existed.  They are able to harness this knowledge to make very nuanced edits that can have a profound effect on the final image.  The downside is the additional cost associated with Professional Album Design, but today there are payment options that can help alleviate and spread that cost out over time, or even amongst several payers, making it less painful, or even painless to the newlyweds.  One such innovation is the ability to choose an album and include it on your Gift Registry.  This allows you to provide the option to your guests to, as their wedding gift to you, contribute to the cost of your Wedding Album, thereby easing the cost burden on you.

While the DIY route is worth considering, if you have the time and inclination to face the learning curve, many newlywed couples would be better served to leave the Album to the person who can do it best; the Photographer.  The design will be more sophisticated, unique to you, and it will take a fraction of the time ... more to the point, your album will be done while that beautiful day you put so much effort into creating is still fresh in your guests' minds!

Finding the Perfect Wedding Photographer (Part 2)

In yesterday's post, I talked about how to recognize good composition in the wedding pictures that are displayed on various wedding photography sites.  I talked about the need for good composition, and gave a pointer or two about what to look for to identify a photographer with talent.  Today, I'd like to talk about the importance of lighting.

Consumers with no background in photography can be forgiven for not knowing that properly lighting a photograph involves a lot more than just popping a flash on top of a camera and pointing it at the subject.  Light needs to be directed, usually away from the subjects, in order to produce a smooth appearance on the subjects' faces, while preserving definition, shape, and depth, or 3 dimensionality.

What does this mean?  And does it really matter?  Well, consider the difference between traditional 2-dimensional (cell) animation, and the newer 3-dimensional animation.  I don't mean the kind of 3-D where you wear the funny glasses.  I mean the kind of animation that was used in the first Toy Story movie.  Consider how much more realistically rendered the newer animation is.  The difference is that the newer technique creates the illusion of depth in a way that traditional cell animation cannot, and the result is, it looks more natural and realistic.  In your wedding pictures, this depth is not an illusion.  It's really there, but the photographer needs the skill to capture it. This is not to say that you'll look like a 2-D cartoon if you're lit from head-on, but you could certainly look flat. 

Creating images that bring out all three dimensions in a way that is flattering to the subjects takes skill and know-how, and a lot of intution.  It is definitely more involved than just pointing a camera at someone.

In addition to preserving the sense of dimensionality, directional lighting also helps to avoid red-eye, blow out (portions of the image with no detail at all because the intense light from the flash "blew it out", leaving nothing but a white spot), harsh shadows behind the subjects, and poorly lit backgrounds. 

As an example of what I am talking about, look at the picture above.  This image was taken with the flash pointed directly at the subject, which is what you see most guests with fancy cameras and pocket cameras alike doing at weddings.  You can see how flat my wife's appearance is.  If you look closely, you can even see the flash has created a specular highlight at the tip of her nose.  After a long day in the same clothes, your guests may be a little sweaty, and the moisture on their skin will translate into alot of unflattering shininess.  Behind my wife, you can see the harsh shadow, and that the background is underexposed (dark).  These are the results of poor technique, and of relying on the camera to make decisions for you. 

Just a sidenote here... in reference to my previous post about composition, you can also see a host of errors in this image. Note that I framed my wife with her head in the middle of the picture.  This is a common mistake made by photographers with no artistic training.  You can also see that I paid no attention to background and the role it plays in creating a beautiful image.  I didn't bother to straighten the camera, only the tips of the roses are showing, there is a doornob glaring in the background, and I didn't position my wife in a way that makes her surroundings look beautiful.

Now look at this next image:

By simply reorienting myself to where she was standing (incidentally, just a foot or two away from the spot of the first picture), I was able to recompose the picture with more attractive elements in the background, improving the composition 100%.  I could have done still more to improve the shot, but I was in a hurry, and this picture still serves the subject well.

Note the difference in lighting.  By using the proper combination of aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed, I was able to bring out detail in the background (proper technique raises the light level in the background).  By directing my flash correctly, I was able to bring a sense of depth and 3-dimensionality to her face, creating a much more natural look.

Have you ever noticed these issues in photography?  It wouldn't be surprising if you haven't, but you would probably be disappointed in your wedding pictures if they had these issues, and you might not even be sure why.

Hopefully, I have been able with these examples to convince you to consider a bit more deeply who you get to do your wedding photography, and to see the difference between good photography and photography that's just ok.

In my next post, we will explore the importance of posing when doing your formal portraits.

Finding the Perfect Wedding Photographer

As I promised in my last post, I am dedicating this post to helping couples find the perfect wedding photographer.  Although I am a photographer myself, as a married man, I have also found myself on the other end of the proverbial stick, (or camera, as it were), so I feel I do have some legitimate and useful advice to offer.

Any couple in the Lower Mainland who has spent a week or two looking at Wedding Photography websites, will have already noticed that Vancouver has one of the highest concentrations of wedding photographers in the world.  This is probably due somewhat to the city's attractiveness to the artistic set. That, together with the city's non-traditional proclivities (fewer couples marry), means that there's a huge supply of talent vying for a limited demand.  It creates a near perfect storm for those on the market for a photographer, as fierce competition can't help but drive prices downward. 

All the more reason to go the professional route when deciding who to put in charge of documenting your nuptuals on digital film.  But just because you can get bargain basement prices, does it mean you should?  Consider the fact that a fairly high percentage of those offering photographic services in Vancouver are new to the field.  After having offered their services free of charge to a few friends, they have now arrived at a place where they feel ready to do it for pay.

Many of these startups undoubtedly offer tremendous quality for the price, but the proof is in the pudding, and figuring out what exactly is in the pudding can be tricky.  Therefore, my first piece of advice is: when shopping for your photographer, you should be spending more time looking at their images than at their price page. 

As you browse the images on the various sites, ask yourself, "How are the images composed?"  When you look at them, do you feel drawn in?  A well composed image should have this effect.  To help you understand this, compare any snapshot taken with a point and shoot camera or smartphone, with the images on the site you are browsing.
How do the images compare?  If you see a lot of similarity to the way elements are distributed in the frame, consider it a red flag.  One fairly simple example would be the placement of people in the picture.  Typically, an untrained person will place heads about halfway between the top and bottom of the frame.  If it is a full body shot, they may cut off the feet as well. Without going too much into the why, I will simply point out that this manner of framing the subjects may leave you wondering who the subject acutally is, or confused about what exactly was going on.

A good photographer sees the world differently from others. There is much about this that I could explain at length, but this blog is not for teaching the fine art of photography.  Suffice to say, that a good photograph should leave you with a sense of the story behind it.  You should sense instantly what you are supposed to be looking at.  The image should communicate what the people in the picture were feeling at the moment it was taken.  A good photograph wears its heart on its sleeve.

As it turns out, there's much more to say about this than I have time for at the moment, so I'll have to break this into parts.  In my next post, I will cover the aspect of lighting, and how to tell if a photographer knows how to use it.  See you all in a few days.

We're Engaged! Now What?

Happy late Valentine's Day everyone! No doubt many of you celebrated the annual day of romance by deciding to get hitched. I would like to congratulate you, and to wish you the best as you prepare for your big day.

So, your engaged! What now? There are very few experiences in your life that will require the range of skills and talents you are about to pull out of yourself, as you face the logistical mountain of a task that is planning a wedding. You may surprise yourself as you force yourself to do things that you never knew you had in you. If you're lucky, you've experienced it before as a Groomsman or Bridesmaid, and you're not totally at a loss as to what to do. But if you don't have that experience to fall back on, you've got your work cut out for you. Let's see if I can help...

First of all, you'll need to sort out exactly what it is that you expect from your Wedding Day. Is it going to focus on form or function? A lot of couples are going the function route these days, and it makes some sense, with the economy as unsure as it is. Whatever you decide, you've still got to come up with a structural plan for the day. What do you want to include in it? Will it be just the basics, or will you go for an all out extravaganza with all the accoutrements? You'll need to work out a timeline, taking into consideration travel time in between venues, photography session, receiving line to thank your guests for coming. Then you'll need to work out separate timelines for your ceremony and reception. This will require a lot of decisions about which elements to include, and whether to set a traditional, modern or creative tone to the proceedings.

Once you've set up your structure, you'll need to work out the look of your day. There's the macro:(colour, style sensibility), and the micro (dresses, suits, flowers, cake, decorations, invitations).

Now consider, with all the work you're about to put into this, do you want to create a permanent record of this momentous occasion, or will you consign it to memory? If you decide to go with a permanent record, you need to decide what form that record will take, and how it will be compiled.

On the next entry, I will discuss what to look for in a wedding photographer. Back in a few days!

Rethinking the Affordable Wedding Album

Welcome to the world of wedding photography, post crash.  It looks a lot different than the past.  Before 2008, easy access to cheap credit made it possible for everyone to splash out loads of cash on every aspect of their wedding day.  Not anymore.  Today, couples are looking to economize, and who can blame them?  The sad reality is, the days of the $4000 plus wedding photo package are in the past.  Maybe not for everyone, maybe not forever, but definitely for most of us, for now. 

The new reality has put wedding photographers in the position of having to rethink the form that portrait packages had taken on in the years before the crash.  Pricey extras like albums and digital slideshows have all but gone the way of the dinosaur, as more and more couples are going for stripped-down, bare-bones iterations; time and files.  Just the pictures, ma'am, just the pictures.  In this austere environment, just how are photographers supposed to give couples the maximum presentation impact that their pictures deserve?

It's also a sad state of affairs for those brides who years before they got a rock on their hand, were dreaming of their special day, and all the beautiful accoutrements that used to go along with it.  Many are going without albums and other frills altogether, but there is a contingent of diehard brides who are going the Do It Yourself route.  That's fine if you have the time, but even then, it's risky, especially if you have no background in graphic design.  A poorly conceived album with lacklustre layouts and inauspicious image selections can leave friends yawning as you proudly walk them through your DIY album.  Remember Aunt Martha forcing the family to sit through hours of boring vacation slides?  Echoes of that.

Even without the help of a professional photographer, it's not exactly free.  Album companies are now offering direct to consumer services, but they can charge premiums to non-industry clients because they generally order only one album, whereas industry clients (photographers) can order dozens or hundreds of albums over the years, earning a preferred pricing status.

Additionally, the best quality album products with the flashiest options are still mostly reserved for professional photographers, since there is impetus for album companies to keep them faithful until the market recovers.

There's no doubt that the DIY route is rife with pitfalls that may leave couples wishing they'd had a few extra denari to pay someone to do it right.

In my own situation as a wedding photographer looking to bring couples back together with beautifully executed albums, in an affordable way, I was finding myself stumped, and more than a little frustrated.  Then one day, a thought occurred to me... what if it were possible for couples to include albums and other photography products on their bridal gift registry?

I was already offering couples a product I call Wedding Sites, a custom website that serves the multi-purpose magic of helping couples to promote their wedding to guests electronically, giving them an elegantly simple and efficient RSVP tool, and a hassle free way to display and distribute their favorite images from their (included) engagement portrait session, and later, from their wedding session as well.

It was a no-brainer to add extra value to all that by simply throwing in a gift registry page with dual functions: a department store registry link or two, and a page showcasing an album or other products selected by the happy couple.  Guests can contribute to the purchase of the album by selecting an amount and paying with their credit card via the secure paypal site.  I complete the circle by sending the guest a personalized gift certificate (with or without amount disclosed) to insert into their wedding card, and Voila! Wedding Albums are suddenly affordable again!  What could be easier?

If you are interested, you can see a wedding site for yourself at http://weddingsite.iconicphotography.ca .  Currently, there is only one style on display, but the possibilities are endless, with the obvious bonus of it being really easy to foreshadow the colours and decor of the wedding, without ruining the surprise of all that on the wedding day.  The url of the wedding site is also personalized with the name of the happy couple. 

Iconic Photography is offering the Wedding Site and Gift Registry along with the Engagement Portraits for free for couples who book before the end of April, 2012.  Visit us now to book a free consultation. 

http://www.iconicphotography.ca

Wedding Photography... is it worth the bother?

It's the biggest day of your life (so far) and it's packed with a thousand tiny details... the things that you would rather not do yourself, but who else is going to pay the level of attention that these things require, if they're going to be done the way you've always dreamed?  Like they say, if you want something done right... 

The anxiety meter is already hitting the red as it is, and you don't a spare inch of patience left to take over yet another task.  Into this fray you march, and the temptation is to jettison anything that isn't absolutely required.  With all the pressure to create a wedding extravaganza that beats the other fifteen everyone will be attending this summer, it's not surprising that a lot of couples are throwing up their hands and taking the axe to much of the pomp and cirucumstance of the traditional Wedding Day.  And one of the details that seems to be getting the axe more and more is the photography.  If not the axe, it's at least getting severely pared down.

But despite the supposed sensibility of tossing your wedding portraits to the wind and depending on your brain on those days in the distant future when you decide to take a trip down memory lane, this is the one aspect of your nuptual celebration that you might want to think twice about before giving it the proverbial deep six.

Consider this:  You will probably spend somewhere between three and five thousand dollars on your wedding, and that's if you decide to go cheap.  And I mean, really cheap.  The dress alone will set you back upwards of a thousand, unless you score a hot deal, and don't forget about tuxes, or at least a suit for the groom. Flowers... hundreds, if you stick to just the bridal party.  Dinner, if you invite 40 guests for a modest buffet will ring in at no less than a thousand, but more like two. 

Of course, you don't want to cut down to much less than these things or it won't seem much like a wedding.  At this point, you're probably wondering how it could make any sense at all to throw in photography on top of all this. 

Think of it this way... of all the things you are spending money on, what will remain after the day is over?  The food?  The tuxes?  The flowers?  Nix.  Only the dress, and that's only if you decide to keep it, and not trash it.

Now imagine all the work you've put into making that day so beautiful... the elegance of the flowers, you in your dress with your hair and makeup like you've never done them before... now imagine documenting all of that with nothing more than a bunch of disposable cameras.  400 grain film blotching up your face; poorly lit, red eyed guests with shiny faces, no visible backgrounds. And what color were those flowers and bridesmaids dresses supposed to be?  Five years down the road when your memory starts to fade, you're going to want to remember, or maybe show your children what that day was like.  And you're going to be scratching your head and wondering what you were thinking.

It may be a fashion statement now to dispense with all the over-the-top commercialization of the wedding industry.  After all, we do it for Christmas!  But this isn't Christmas.  Christmas comes every year, and most of us don't go minimalist on even that more than once or twice a decade.  This is your wedding, and if you're not Jennifer Lopez, it will probably only happen this extravagantly once in your life.

You owe it to yourself to pay someone to do it right.  You don't want to spend all of that hard earned cash and have nothing to show for it years down the road.  It's the one service you really shouldn't toss to the wind.

See the services Iconic Photography provides.
http://www.iconicphotography.ca