What makes a photographer a professional?
Professional wedding photographers in North Texas are a dime a dozen. The DFW area has many wedding venues and even more photographers that promote themselves for weddings. Knowing whether someone is truly a professional will save you a headache that you don’t need on your wedding day.
Wedding Photography Details Matter.
A professional wedding photographer cares about and sees the details that others don’t. For example, in the above image, originally the text on the sign was backward thanks to the mirror. After editing we flipped the image to make sure the text would be legible creating a higher-quality mirror image. The details of the scene, the details of dirty glass, the details of small facial touch-ups. All of these details matter, and a professional photographer will not only make sure to notice them but also act quickly to address them.
Professionals Can Work With Varying Lighting Conditions.
Throughout a wedding, the lighting conditions change consistently. Whether it’s going from inside to outside to inside again, the drastic difference between the daytime sun and night-time, DJ lights or string lights, or more-a professional photographer knows how to work with the constant change in lighting conditions. Even as these changes happen, your photographer will be able to edit differently lit photos to still maintain a relatively similar style. At Patterson Creative we are natural light photographers. We love working with natural light. However, we aren’t afraid to make use of flash photography in subtle ways when needed.
Equipment Affects Quality and Reliability.
There is a big difference between high-quality equipment and budget or starter equipment. We’d love to not have to spend significant amounts of money on our cameras, lenses, flashes, storage, bags, editing computers, etc. However, in order to make sure that the moments that matter most are captured correctly, to make sure that photos don’t get corrupted or lost, to make sure photos have the highest quality look… having the right gear matters. As a professional, you’ll find that photographers with the highest quality also invest in their gear. They have cameras that can take photos in low-light environments, they have cameras that can record photos to multiple storage cards so that if one card went bad there is still a second card, and they have lenses that allow fast focus and quality looking blurred out backgrounds or foregrounds.
Professionals Typically Come at a Cost.
The cost of wedding photography can play a role in the level of professionalism that you’re working with. Costs vary widely across geographic and demographic locations, the needs of a couple for their specific weddings, and of course, the desirability of the photographers. A new photographer learning their skill usually comes with cheaper equipment, the potential for missing important moments, and a lack of ability to help pose or edit consistently. Someone with more experience that is still establishing themselves may be more middle of the road in cost, typically has some learning experience they make along the way, and is working towards better equipment and abilities. Professionals in the wedding photography world often cost the most but come with the notary of desirability, beautiful and consistent imagery, and gear that stands up to the reliability needs of a wedding. If you’re interested in finding out how much you’ll need to pay for wedding photography check out our blog post, “How much does wedding photography cost?”.
We take high-quality fine art style photos at Patterson Creative, giving you the look that’s desired throughout all-time. Your story matters, let’s tell it.
Interested in a wedding covered by Patterson Creative? Inquire with us today and let’s talk about your big day!