Amateur photography vs. Professional photography

So you have a very special event or wedding coming up and you need a professional photographer, but you have a friend who has some expensive camera gear who is a very keen and offered to do it for free….sounds tempting doesn’t it?

You’ve seen their ‘portfolio’ and it looks pretty good. Who wouldn’t want a freebie? But at what cost to your memories? How can you take a risk on something as important as your wedding photos?

It takes years of training and hands-on experience to be a good wedding photographer. We have to consider light source and problematic lighting such as back lighting and harsh sun. We have to deal with little dark churches offering no light and with flash photography being invasive during a church ceremony, what do you do?

As professional photographers we carry thousands of dollars of gear. A range of lenses from low aperatures and wide and zoom ranges. We shoot in specific professional formats not in jpeg and use all sorts of bits of gear to ensure our work is perfect such as polarizing lens filters and flash diffusers.

Amateur photographers will take 2,000 to 5,000 photos at a wedding hoping they will be able to give the client the few good shots they need. But it’s ‘hope’ and hope is dangerous.

When you consider the time and money you put into your wedding day, how can you grab a freebie on the most important photos for your family for your life? These photos will be looked at for generations to come from your grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Imagine if you didn’t capture the kiss shot at the church, or the bouquet toss, or garter throw – all because your amateur photographer doesn’t have the ability to change settings in a heart beat and deal with bad situations.

Then there’s the family politics and the rules of the church, the flow of the day, the places to do the shoot… how does an amatuer know all of this? Answer is they don’t, and my professional opinion is that you must have rocks in your head to ever allow an amateur this responsibility. But don’t take my word for it, do some googling and read the horror stories about friends shooting friends’ weddings for free or dirt cheap, chances are you’ll lose that friend.

Here’s just one story I got offline out of hundreds:

“I took the pictures at the wedding this past Wednesday with the new Rebel XT. The came ok for a first time user. However, when I took them home and resized them and cropped them, then took them to have them printed (at Walgreens), they were badly pixelated. I was in tears. I was the only one who was documenting this first time wedding for my friend and I had ruined their pics.
I went home and pulled the memory card and took it to Walgreens and did very little enhancement via their (very slow) computer. I had the pics printed again, and they were “ok” enough for 4 x 6 prints but that’s it.
I checked the camera and thought it was on it’s on the highest resolution setting in terms of megapixels, but I realised later it wasn’t.”

So, the poor bride and groom had their wedding photos ruined, their special day of happiness reduced to “pixelated 4 x 6 photos”- all for the love of saving money!

Sad story but I’m sure it’s not the first, and I’m definitely sure it’s not the last!

List your professional wedding photography job.

About Author Sue Taylor

Sue Taylor is Photographer/Editor/Artistic Director and Managing Director of Global Sanctuary. She loves taking images of people and finding the perfect style, light and composition for everyone. Sue has been fortunate enough to work across Europe in 2008 shooting images for the internationally released book Classical Destinations Series II and the companion DVD through SONY/BMG.

When it comes to weddings Sue believes the reason Global Sanctuary’s wedding images are so magnificent and unique is because they are not ‘traditional’ wedding photographers. They shoot each and every wedding with its own unique style and individuality for each couple. It’s all about superb images and great friendly service.