Thoughtful Advice from a Wedding Photographer

After photographing hundreds of weddings over 11 years as a wedding photographer, I've seen it all.  I was also a bride who invested a lot of time, energy, and money into planning my own wedding, so I remember what it felt like to be really nervous and wanting everything to turn out well.  Having great  information from experienced professionals makes it easier for couples to make informed decisions about their own wedding.  I pride myself on sharing objective, balanced and thoughtful advice- so my tips are designed to inform you of the many options available, so that you can make the best decisions based on who you are and what you value.  If you like my tips and would like me to write on additional subjects that aren't listed here, just leave me a comment with a question!



How to Take Amazing Photos of Your Engagement Ring:
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-take-amazing-engagement-or.html

Wedding Timeline Considerations To Help Your Day Go Smoothly:
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2008/06/wedding-timelines.html

The Secrets to Finding An Amazing Wedding Photographer
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-secrets-to-finding-amazing-wedding.html

Why I Don't Photography My Own Family's Weddings
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2014/04/why-i-dont-photograph-my-familys.html

Do You Need Two Wedding Photographers?
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2010/11/do-i-need-second-photographer.html

Caution: Drone Wedding Photos
https://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2015/07/caution-drone-wedding-photos.html




How to Create A Large Group Photo of All Guests At Wedding:
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-to-create-large-group-photo-of-all.html

Why Do Wedding Photos Take Longer Than Other Photos?
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-do-wedding-photos-take-so-long.html

Should You Get RAW Digital Negatives of Photos?
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2010/03/should-i-get-digital-negatives-from-my.html

Post-Production and Image Processing After The Wedding
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-is-post-production-why-would-i.html

Should You Make Your Own Wedding Album?
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2010/12/real-brides-advice-making-your-own.html




Wedding Album Design Samples
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2009/11/wedding-album-design-examples.html

Bridesmaid & Wedding Gown Recycling:
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2010/05/green-idea-bridesmaid-dress-recycling.html

Wedding Suit & Tux Recycling:
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2008/09/green-idea-suit-recycling.html

Ways to Recycle Your Wedding Flowers:
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2013/02/recycle-your-wedding-flowers-green-ideas.html

Some Humor to Beat Post-Wedding Depression:
http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-beat-post-wedding-depression.html

Discreet Photography for Private Events

In the last 3-4 years I've seen a steep increase in my everyday clients requesting additional privacy of their images for things like celebrations and family portraits.  Sometimes it's because of their political stature, occasionally for the sensitivity of celebrity guests, and most often with regular families just because they really prefer to protect their image from being shared in any way that isn't approved by them first.  I've encountered more speakeasy-style events with an intimate audience in which guests are asked to leave their phones and cameras at the door, as well as home events or private gatherings away from traditional public access to keep the atmosphere secluded.  Many people want to focus on having fun, but still want some great photos to remember the event by, so they hire a photographer who helps put their guests at ease and provides private access to images, but rarely do they consider all the ways in which we can protect their privacy.  Read on to learn about the many ways you can protect your image privacy online.

As much as I appear to share openly on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, I fully appreciate the differences between a very public life and the privacy desired in a personal life, especially when everything else about a person's life can be so public regarding their career.  People come to feel like they know me well over social media, but in reality, they're only getting the story that's curated for public consumption.  So, when clients ask to keep their images of family photos, weddings, or other personal celebrations private, I completely understand.

Hiring a professional photographer for an event can ensure greater image privacy and quality curation than working with an amateur who has no formal privacy agreement or business reputation to maintain.  Before you work with a professional, it's important to define what level of privacy is desired in advance.  If all expectations are clear and well-defined before any work begins, it will prevent any surprises or slip-ups later on.  Whether you're working with me, or another photographer, here's a check-list of questions regarding privacy protection that you might want to consider:

Online Proofing Gallery:

• Does the photographer offer a password-protected online gallery?
• Is the gallery publicly searchable?
• Does the gallery require email log-in so that invited visitors can be tracked?
• Can the proofing gallery be made available only to the client and to no one else?
• Is it possible to make select images private while still allowing guests to see most of them?
• Are images watermarked to provide an added layer of protection in case of a screen capture?
• How easy does the online gallery make it to share images on social media without registration or approval?
• Is there an option to proof in person instead of using an online gallery?

Blogging:

• Is it important that a blog post or portfolio of images be made available to the client first before sharing in a public format? 
• If the photographer has permission to blog some of the images, which images are OK to blog, and which are not?  For example, a private event may approve public sharing of images related to the venue, catering, decor, and flowers, as long as no images of people or faces are to be made publicly available.  This solution helps the photographer and other vendors promote their creative work, while still protecting privacy for the client.
• If approval is given by the client to allow certain faces or moments to be shared publicly for the photographer's use and public portfolio, can any names be used with the images?  If so, first names only, last names only, or initials only?  (This is often taken into consideration most when a family has children that they are concerned about sharing publicly.)

Social Media:

• What sites are approved for sharing the images on, and what ones are not?  This comes into play because many social media sites and image banking/sharing sites retain permissions and controls over the images once they are uploaded to that site.
• Will images be watermarked when shared online to provide an extra layer of client and photographer protection if they go viral?  What kind of watermarking or other image protection is important and appropriate for the images that are made publicly available?
• If an image appears to be featured on an unapproved website or format, whose responsibility is it to pursue the removal and privacy infringement of that image placement?

Image Ownership:

• In the event of client or photographer death, who retains permission and control over the images and honoring the privacy agreement?
• Does the client have the ability to purchase full rights to the images, sacrificing all privacy protection and control that can be offered by the photographer?

Do you see any privacy considerations missing from this list?  Let me know by leaving a comment here so others can see what you feel is important to know as well.  If you'd like me to be your discreet photographer, please visit http://anneruthmann.com to get in touch.

Why I Don't Photograph My Family's Weddings

I have somewhere in the area of 30 cousins, many who have yet to get engaged or be married (if they choose to)- it seems like I, the professional photographer in the family, would be a natural fit to photograph their weddings, right?

It's easy to think that hiring a family member to photograph a wedding would be a natural fit and a smart choice, especially since you're doing family a favor by giving them business.  I would even say that this would be a smart choice if your family members are dress makers, florists, bakers, or maybe even ceremony musicians.  Those are all jobs that can easily be done before the wedding, or at the wedding in ways that don't necessarily detract from the family member doing their job well, while also enjoying the opportunity to see other family members during a special occasion.  Wedding photography, however, is quite different.


As a wedding photographer, I need to have a dedicated and objective eye on everything that's happening around me.  Moments are happening out of all corners of the room and I am there to capture them and preserve them for the couple and the families.  When I'm surrounded by family I know and people who haven't seen me in a while, they often want to catch up with me, which distracts me from the job at hand.  Naturally, I want to catch up with them too- but then I'm not paying attention to what's happening in front of me.  It's also really difficult to ignore someone who can call out your name from across the room to capture a photo of them, when really the most important thing happening is somewhere completely different in the room, but could easily be missed when being pulled in different directions by people who are comfortable making additional personal requests for themselves, because you're family and they just expect it.


When there's a family connection with the people at the wedding, there's a tendency to focus on and capture the people we are most familiar with, rather than remaining completely objective to both families and observing them all as unique and interesting in their relationships to each other as well as the couple.  I figured this out early on when I was just a guest at weddings and noticed that all of my images centered on one side of the family that I knew best as well as the friends I was most familiar with, almost excluding everyone from the other side of the family at the wedding.  It was much easier to be objective at friend's weddings than it was at family weddings.  Likewise, when couples have shared photos from friends & family that were taken at their weddings while I was the professional, I noticed the same tendency over and over, to only document the people that were most familiar to them.


When I'm a hired as an outside professional, I have the most objective view of all the relationships and important people in the room, and can approach both sides of the family with the same level of attention and dedication.  I can take in the silly quirks of family members and document them instead of rolling my eyes and walking away because I've already seen them behave that way a million times before at other family events.  I can appreciate the over-attentive aunt instead of being frustrated by her desire to make everything perfect.  I can delight in a kid's antics instead of scolding or correcting him as a family member.  I can just observe, document, and be present, rather than judging or assuming things that I may or may not already know.  Point blank, I can provide the best service and coverage possible when I can remain objective and be held accountable to a professional standard.



If you know someone who is considering a family member to document their wedding, please share these insights with them.  I want them to have the best wedding photography experience possible, and avoid making any mistakes that they might regret in the future.  To all of my family members who I've had to say no to, please understand that I'm looking out for you, and that I may still bring my camera and shoot what I can with one lens and no flash so that I don't disrupt the professional images being captured, but that it's nearly impossible to be "on my game" when being distracted by our family members!

The Secrets to Finding An Amazing Wedding Photographer

There are SO MANY wedding photographers to choose from, aren't there?!  I would be so overwhelmed if I had to pick a wedding photographer now.  I thought it was overwhelming 10 years ago, but technology has made the market so much bigger with so many more inexperienced people just creating a website and giving it a try.  I know I can't possibly serve everyone as a wedding photographer, but I can at least share some insider secrets about the wedding photography industry that might help YOU find a really great and experienced photographer for your wedding.  Here's some insider knowledge on where the most amazing wedding photographers can be found, and how to find the ones who are near you...

Word of Mouth Referrals:

Talk to 5 recently married couples about their wedding photography experience and what they wish they did differently as well as who they'd recommend working with.  It's important to talk to married  couples, since an engaged couple who has selected their vendors hasn't really gone through the full experience and delivery process yet.  If someone is highly recommending a photographer you haven't seen anywhere else, it's probably because that photographer is awesome at what they do and they don't need to advertise.  Some of the best photographers simply cannot be found in traditional wedding websites and directories because they already have enough business from referrals that they don't need to put themselves out there in any other way. I know many amazing photographers who have really old websites and don't advertise anywhere because they spend all of their time serving clients rather than working on their online presence.  (I'm equally guilty of this!)  The best people to get word of mouth referrals from are other recently married couples, independent wedding planners, and venue coordinators at your favorite venues*.

*BEWARE of the Venue Vendor List:

Before blindly accepting a vendor list from a venue coordinator, ASK if the venue coordinator has actually worked with AND recommends the people on their vendor list, or if it's just a list that people pay to be on.  I've talked to many venue coordinators who say they'd never actually recommend the people on the list they hand out blindly to couples in their venue packets!!  It makes me cringe to think there are coordinators who are not providing quality referrals just because they're receiving a kick-back or commission to share names of people who want to work at their venue.  A great venue coordinator will be honest about this and give you some handwritten referrals that might not even be on their list.  Just know that paying to be on lists is a common practice in our industry and by taking the time to ask for a personal recommendation, you will get better results than assuming a list is handpicked to begin with.  If they can't give you any personal recommendations, than they may not have been working in the wedding industry for very long. Unfortunately, due to the stress and long hours of the event industry, there's often a high turnover in venue coordinators- so take note of their personal experience level as well.

Pre-Screened Professional Wedding Photography Organizations:

If you don't have enough personal referrals, this is often the second best place to find photographers who are highly qualified and produce amazing work as wedding photographers, but who aren't advertising or paying to show up on highly visible wedding websites.  Some of these professional photography websites can even help you find photographers in your local area to help narrow your search.  I've been on and off these sites depending on how much time I have to accept non-referral inquiries and how much I want my photography work to be seen.  When I'm really busy, I pull back from contest sites and professional organizations, but I love participating in them and getting accolades for my work when I have the time to invest in preparing for a contest.  There is a small caution in only using these sites: while someone may have amazing photography work and win awards from other photographers, you still need to check that couples have had great experiences working with them.  Some amazing artists aren't the best business people, so definitely go the extra mile to get references from previous clients if you decide to go with an award-winning photographer.  Here are my favorite places to find award-winning wedding photographers who are pre-screened for high-quality imagery before ever being accepted into the organizations:

• International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers - http://www.ispwp.com
• Wedding Photojournalist Association - http://www.wpja.com
• Artistic Guild of Wedding Photojournalists - http://www.agwpja.com

REAL weddings in LOCAL Magazines & Blogs:

Do yourself a favor and skip the national magazines and blogs.  It's frustrating to look at a big list of people who might not even be in your area, or who you'd have to pay extra travel expenses for.  Go straight to your local magazines and blogs, but skip their vendor directory where people pay to be featured (no matter how long they've been in business or if they're a good photographer), and head instead to the REAL weddings section for your local area.  Look at the names hidden in the crease of that magazine or under the headline of that article, look for the photographer credit on that blog post.  Once you're armed with some names of photographers who have been featured in magazines and blogs, check out their reviews on Wedding Wire, Yelp, or Pictage to see what other clients have said about working with them.  If they have no reviews, don't assume anything is wrong, just ask them to share references with you.  I've worked with hundreds of couples and only half of everyone I ask for a review actually ends up getting around to leaving one- but if people never ask for reviews at all, and their couples are perfectly happy, they may never get reviewed.

Hopefully these industry insider tips help you find the most amazing photographers who aren't paying to advertise in the directories, who aren't doing wedding shows, and who are otherwise very difficult to find online or in print.  This isn't to say that anyone who pays to be in a directory or does a wedding show isn't a great photographer, only that there are a lot of amazing artists who hide out from the public eye and take a little more sleuthing to find!  I wish you the best in your search for an amazing photographer, and if you found this post to be useful, please share it with other engaged couples who would appreciate getting the inside scoop as well. ;-)

How to Create a Large Group Photo of All Guests at Wedding

If I could only do one posed photo during a wedding, I'd want it to be a large group shot of all the guests.  After all, celebrating with the friends and family who love and support your marriage is the whole reason for having a wedding and not just running to city hall for a marriage license!  That being said, a large group shot of all the guests is often one of the most challenging images to create on the wedding day without turning it into a huge production- but after doing it for so many of my wedding couples, I can definitely say that there are several ways to make it easier and low-stress for everyone involved.

1. Decide on a Time & Location When Guests Are Already Gathered Together
Often, the most ideal time is immediately after the ceremony has ended, but before people have started to leave.  While I have done arrangements during the reception that involved everyone crowding on the dance floor, or going outside to get a shot from a balcony, by far the most convenient arrangement is getting people right after the ceremony.



2. Find a High Point To Shoot From, Tiered Steps, or a Natural Slope for Gathering Guests
The absolute easiest arrangement is shooting from a balcony at the back of a church or hotel ballroom and simply asking the guests to turn around and look up at the photographer.  The second easiest option is asking guests to file out onto the steps of a natural exit point from the ceremony.  The most chaotic, but possible in a pinch, is asking guests to move to a completely different location together where there's a natural slope in a hill, or where the photographer can get a higher vantage point with a ladder over flat ground.  The more traveling and set-up involved means additional time for chaos to ensue before the image can be created, and the more chaotic it gets, the harder it is to rein it back in.



3. Decide How It Will Be Lit
Lighting is often figured out after the location is selected because we have more viable lighting options than we do location options.  However, in the case of an outdoor image, you need to be aware of any surrounding trees that might create dappled light and whether the guests could be looking into the sun or if they'll be in full shade.  If the set-up is indoors, is there a ceiling that a flash can be bounced off of to help spread a small flash?  Is the room lighting sufficient, or can it be turned all the way up by a lighting tech person after the ceremony has finished to help with the group shot?  Will any additional lights need to be set up in advance to cover the crowd?  A professional photographer will know and understand how to light this group shot in advance.

4. Prepare Guests With An Announcement Before It Happens
While an announcement in your wedding program is a nice way to prepare guests for this super awesome group shot, it's best if the wedding officiant can make an announcement with basic instructions about what to do before the couple actually walks down the aisle at the end of the ceremony.



5. Get Important People In Front
The couple, the wedding party, and the immediate family should all be in the front row of the image so that they take center stage in the image and don't get lost in the large crowd of guests.  This is often facilitated by simply having the couple, wedding party, and family members exit at the end of the ceremony as they normally would, and then return to the room at the back or file at the front of the steps with room for people to fill in behind them.

6. Check for Hidden Faces
Some people assume that if they can see the photographer with one eye, the photographer can see their whole face.  That might work for peek-a-boo, but not for this group shot.  Short people hidden in back rows or behind taller people can either easily be asked to move to the outside edge of the very same row, or to the front with little hassle to the rest of the crowd.  If you have time and space to ask tall people to move to the back, that's another quick and effective way to sort the crowd since most of those people know who they are and have been moving to the back row since middle-school (I'm a back-row regular myself.)



7. Encourage Everyone to Move In Closer Together
Our natural tendency is to have some personal space around us, but that makes for very sloppy looking group photos, especially when it's such a large group of people.  I've found that by asking guests to give the couple a group hug by getting as close as possible to their neighbor, reminding them that everyone is friends and family here, they become a little more willing to relax their personal space barriers and guards against being shoulder to shoulder with other people.

8. Count Down but Shoot On Every Count
A count down (3...2...1...) is nice for people who are sensitive to light, people who have a tendency to blink a lot, or just for letting people know that you actually need them to pay attention.  However, one of my secret moves is that I actually start shooting on 2 and I keep shooting after the final count.  It's best to prepare guests in advance by telling them that you're going to take multiple attempts at the group so that they don't start to disperse after just one count down.  Two or three count downs are generally all that's needed if multiple images are snapped during each count down.  Another body language clue to keep in mind and help the crowd understand that you're not done yet is keeping the camera up to your face rather than bringing it down to preview the shot.



9. Remember that Perfection is Impossible
There is nothing perfect about humanity, and when you put a large group of humans together, you're going to get a lot of imperfection.  You may take over 20 images of that large group and every single one will have something wrong with it regarding a person who isn't looking at the camera, someone important who blinked, or that awkward moment when someone opened their mouth to say something to the person next to them.  While there is PhotoShop when absolutely necessary, only so much swapping of heads, mouths, and eyes can be reasonably expected before you end up with a group of people who look like science experiments.  It's better to simply allow for a certain amount of imperfection and reality, rather than expecting something that isn't humanly possible.

Quick Summary of Tips:

Organizing:

- Decide how many rows of people you’ll have

- Decide how many people that places in each row (estimate 2ft for each person)

- Decide how you’ll be elevated or they’ll be stacked or standing/kneeling/sitting to see all faces

- Decide what kind of pose is most appropriate based on the use of the photo (for example, don’t have professionals in dresses sitting on the ground, but families in casual or sport clothing may be OK)

- Decide who needs to appear in the front row or most visible row for priority reasons

- Decide how you’ll get tall people to the back and short people to the front

- Make sure the group won’t be looking into the sun, or you’ll get squinty eyes

- Some people may have transition lenses that look like sunglasses, talk about this with the client in advance and find out how they feel about not people looking like they’re wearing sunglasses

- Confirm the details of the group shot with any coordinators or organizers for the day so they can help

- Speak loudly and remind everyone to look at you

Technical:

- Make sure your aperture is at least F/8 and focused in the second row of people

- Make sure your shutter is at least 1/80th or faster of a second to avoid blur from movement

- 24mm Lens should be enough lens width if you have enough room, if you were in a small room or space you’d go wider, if you were shooting from a field into grandstands, you'd go tighter

- Take a ridiculous number of frames

- Count down between shots but keep shooting in between counts

Did you appreciate these tips?  Do you have any other questions?  Let me know by leaving a comment!

Is Digital Really Archival?

As I've been sorting, organizing, and packing everything for this move, it's really struck me how the simplicity of paper and the printed image has actually survived and preserved information far better than the hard drives, DVDs, CDs, and other digital media that I've had. I found paper copies of my resume from 1997, 2001, & 2004 but I can't even tell you what version of Word those would have been printed from, what computer I would have saved them on, or if they ever made it to another form of "archival" digital media... and that was only 9 years ago! I have printed photos of myself as a child from over 30 years ago, but as I pulled out digital media from just 5 years ago, some CDs have been scratched or cracked to the point they can't be read, and that drive from just 2 years ago just doesn't seem to be starting up AT ALL and I have no idea if it's recoverable. 



Now I'm slightly terrified I've lost precious family memories because I never printed them and took them off that seemingly "safe" digital storage medium. It's really making me rethink what it means to archive and preserve information, and it's really given me an appreciation for the accessibility and archive that Pictage has of my professional work. Hard drives have failed, clients have had DVDs and Albums destroyed in flood or fire, negatives have been lost in moves, and yet Pictage has kept my professional images safe and sound through all of my moves and transitions so that my clients can always get a physical archive of their wedding and family memories, even 8 years later, after their CDs have become too scratched and computers have crashed.


I really wish I had printed my family and personal images over the last few years instead of letting them just live on digital media.  I had a bunch of personal images stored with Apple's former online cloud system DotMac which initially was moved to MobileMe, but when Apple sent me a notice that they were closing down these services and I should archive my media, I was too busy to make anything happen and now I've lost everything that was stored in their online server system and not printed or backed up in another accessible form.  Why they couldn't have just transitioned it to their new iCloud system is beyond me, but alas, it is what it is... a learning lesson that even things which you pay for one day may become unavailable the next.  At least I still have all the personal photos I stored on Flickr since 2005, but who knows how long that will last?



This move has made me keenly aware that perhaps it's finally time to print some of the family and personal images I DO still have access to so that I might actually have them even if some apocalyptic solar flare knocks out half the world's servers and electronics. I'm not being fatalistic... just realistic... nothing will last forever, but there are definitely ways we can make things last longer. I've been a huge advocate for digital media, especially for the seemingly eco-friendly reasons, but as I move a big bin of hard drives into storage next to the big bin of printed photos... I can't help but feel that the printed photos are the ones that are actually going to survive and still be accessible 10 years from now.  The longer I've waited to create a printed archive, the more I've lost.  Something to think about and consider for the years to come.

Recycle Your Wedding Flowers - Green Ideas

A couple years ago I met a local florist, Belle Feuille Floral Design, who recycles the big beautiful floral arrangements left over from events like weddings, funerals, and church services, turning them into floral gifts for hospice, hospital, and cancer patients.  What a beautiful way to spread the love and make an investment in gorgeous flowers go even further!  A quick search on the web reveals that she's not the only florist who utilizes a team of volunteers to help spread the love- so as you're meeting with florists for your wedding day- ask if they will recycle the flowers or if they know of a local program that will pick up your flowers after the event for donation.  If your florist doesn't offer a program like this, ask your family members if they know of a retirement home or hospital that accepts floral donations, and if members of your family would be willing to help deliver the flowers after the wedding.

Wedding Wednesday: Why Marriage is Good for You

There's a saying you might hear once or twice while wedding planning that goes something like:

While planning for your wedding, don't forget to plan for your marriage.

I can honestly say that Alex and I fought more during our engagement than we ever have since being married.  Living together presented a whole new set of things to deal with like changes in sharing personal space and adjusting lifestyles to be compatible for living with another person during morning and evening routines and adjusting bad habits.  Luckily, when you love someone a whole lot, those adjustments and compromises that create conflict are just small bumps in a very long road of learning to communicate better and understand one another.

In the video below, Jenna McCarthy (not to be confused with Jenny McCarthy), shares research findings on what makes couples break apart, stay together, and some statistics behind people who really stick to their eternal vows of commitment.  When Alex shared this Tedx video with me- I found myself nodding all the way through in agreement with how true it really is.  So if you're planning a wedding, don't forget to plan for your marriage.  Click play to watch the video:

An Open Letter to Wedding Bloggers

Lately, something very disturbing has been happening in the blogging world.

Dear Blogger,
I love you. You've dedicated your time to becoming the most awesome curators of this crazy world we call the internet. You've defined and refined your own personal vision by selecting the best images to covey your carefully crafted boards of inspiration alongside your witty words of wisdom. Seriously, I dig what you've got going on and I think what you're doing is fabulous. Period.

I would love to continue supporting you by giving you awesome content for "free."

All of that beautiful work my clients invest into their weddings, or that I personally invest into a special creative shoot just for the benefit of you and your readers, all of that has value which you get to benefit from in ad dollars and clicks and hits to your blog. Hopefully, I get to benefit by getting at least one more awesome client out of it.

You see, in order to continue providing that beautiful content and in order to keep getting clients who are awesome enough to design those super creative real weddings, I really need my name to be ON my work. As awesome as it is to have a link to my site under an image I provide you, it's equally NOT awesome when someone takes that inspiring image of my couple from your blog and then uploads it to another website, inspiration board, or commercial site where it provides zero credit to the creator, zero credit to the couple, and doesn't give you any credit for featuring it.

It's totally not your fault... or is it?

There's a good reason why I watermark images on MY own blog and on my facebook page- it's because I KNOW people will take those images and put them elsewhere online, but that watermark helps me track where that image goes.  That's what makes blogs so awesome! I'm totally willing to put my work out there for free because I know that if someone ends up finding my image in some random place online and loves it, they'll still know how to find the creator because my name is ON the image. That someone could be a cool client who hires me to create more beautiful images, or maybe a magazine editor that wants to feature one of my couple's weddings.

That watermark also provides my clients with an extra layer of security, so that with image matching search software, we can track usage of their image as it travels the internet to make sure it isn't being used for unapproved sites like pharmaceutical ads or commercial companies whose web designer is inexperienced or uneducated enough to think that all images Google can find are model-released or royalty free.  These things generally happen to images that don't have a watermark to begin with, or in cases where clients have uploaded images to Facebook or other social media sites, but cropped out the watermark from visibility.

How will they ever find the content creator once the image leaves your blog if a name isn't on the image itself?

How are you protecting and supporting the work of photographers who are providing you with the yummy FREE content you need to keep your readers coming back for more which ultimately keeps your bank account full of ad revenue? Seems like the least you could do is provide a link AND let us put branding or some kind of watermark on the content we're giving you for FREE.  I've shared three different styles of watermarking on this blog- create a style that works for your blog content and style and provide the info in your blog submission details so photographers can do the work in advance for you!  We're happy to do the work when it helps protect our work and our clients.

I know it won't prevent people from cropping out the logo or watermark if they really want to- but at least you've done your part. At least YOU have been the responsible one who is committed to keeping your favorite photographers connected to their own work. Even if you created a small border around the image that blends into the background of your blog with a simple website or copyright text in the border with matching font from your blog, you'd be able to provide creator credit ON the image without disrupting the overall flow or look of your carefully designed blog or inspiration board.



To the wedding bloggers who HAVE incorporated these practices all along,

I thank you for being smart, savvy, and for doing your part to help support your content creators.

I'm encouraging photographers and wedding vendors to invest their advertising budget with you because you really do care about the success of your content providers and advertisers. I'm encouraging brides to visit YOUR blog because I know that they will be able "borrow" the images from your blog guilt-free for their inspiration boards because you've already let the creator provide creator credit on the images at their own discretion.

To the following wedding blogs, thank you for continuing to be awesome:
WeddingBee
Offbeat Bride
So You're Engayged
Wholly Matrimony

Since writing this blog post, these bloggers have either declared that they allow watermarking or have committed to allowing watermarks starting now:
Rock n Roll Bride
Polka Dot Bride
Brides Up North

If you know of any other blogs who support their content creators by providing credit ON the images themselves - please let me know so that I can thank them with a link in this post! To the bloggers who insist on NOT allowing any creator credit ON images, perhaps you could at the very least disable right-clicking and dragging images off the blog, or put all of your images in a flash gallery to help protect your content creator's rights and usage of their work. We work hard to create that content you're earning money from and our clients who paid us to create it have a stake in where it ends up online- it's the least you could do.

Hugs & hot cocoa with marshmallows,
Anne Ruthmann

Making Your Own Wedding Album - Advice from a Bride

This is a guest post from Annabel, whose wedding I photographed in 2008.
(*My comments are in parentheses.) ;-)

A few weeks ago, Anne asked me if any of the pictures from my 2008 wedding ever ended up in an album. Oh boy, did they. What they ended up in is a hardbound 11 x 13 wedding album nay, volume, with a glossy dust jacket and hundreds of wedding photos spread out over 126 glorious, premium-papered pages. And the only thing more crazy than having such a hefty, museum-quality wedding album, is the fact that I did it all myself.
(*Anne: From my perspective, the paper & print quality is decent for what is available to the general public. However, as a professional I have access to much more archival quality album options, but better quality does come at premium.)

Now I know that making your own wedding album might not sound all that crazy to the average Jill, but if you’ve ever done a project like this, you might recognize that this is a task meant for only the truly ambitious (read: mentally ill) brides and/or grooms among us. Remember your high school yearbook? It was, what? 60 pages? There were probably fifteen kids on the staff killing themselves to put it out at the end of the year. And they didn’t even have jobs! So before you embark on a project like making your own album, you must ask yourself, are you feeling equal to fifteen over-achieving teenagers?

Me? I have no regrets. My wedding album is an heirloom I treasure and it’s beautiful. I’m not the only one who thinks so, either. We bought copies for all of our parents- and my mother, no kidding, makes people wash their hands before they touch it. Her friends may roll their eyes but they’re lucky she hasn’t put it in a glass case, turning only one page a day, like those illuminated manuscripts in museums. I can’t blame her- while I’ve yet to frame a single wedding picture, my giantess of an album sits propped up on a bookshelf in my living room just waiting for the day when I can afford museum lighting.
(*Anne: Storing albums with this many pages upright might cause the binding to become loose, unless it's propped on a book stand that allows the book to lean back, stay closed, or lay open with the binding sinking into the spine instead of the pages pulling on the binding. Storing flat is the best way to preserve the binding.)

Recognizing that what the mentally ill really need is a forum on which to communicate their crazy notions, Anne has asked me to share my experiences making my own album with her blog readers. So here we go!
(*Anne: Annabel is completely sane, and extremely creative. ;-)

Lets start with the cons:

• It takes a lot of time - I made my album when I had what some people might call “free time” but also goes by the name “life-crippling underemployment.” I don’t know that I would have had the time to devote to making as nice an album if that hadn’t been the case. Altogether, I bet I spent forty hours or more on it during this time. Even if you’re only doing a simple and short album with no fancy layouts, I promise you, this is going to take at least a day or two of your life. Narrowing down your photos alone will take several hours. Uploading high-res photos, laying them out, dealing with the inevitable technical glitches, and proofing your album will take up what will start to seem like an infinitely expanding amount of time. If this sounds awful to you, pay someone else to deal with those frustrations for you. If this sounds like fun to you- welcome to my club! Drinks are in the kitchen and you can hang your straight jacket on the hat rack.
(*Anne: even when I do the initial design for couples, it can take weeks or even months for them to look at the album design enough times to decide what changes they want to make!)

• It’s not necessarily cheaper – Although I knew Anne would make a great album, I wanted to do my own. I designed my album on blurb.com, which is a fantastic site where you can lay out and print your own high quality hardcover books. You have to download their layout software program onto your computer (the program is free) and then upload your album to the site. My large format, 126 page album, ended up costing roughly $100 per copy. Considering the time I spent on it and the cost of printing, I doubt it really made financial sense to do it myself. Remember that life-crippling unemployment I was talking about? After I made my album, I couldn’t actually afford to purchase it until a month later when we could afford it. Still, for me it was worth the time, the cost, and the wait.
(*Anne: Doing the math- if Annabel's album took her a week, and if she had a job that earned her $1000 per week, than her album cost her $1100... luckily she was able to spend time instead of cash.)

• Technology is frustrating – I have little bit of a background as a graphic artist and so was prepared for the technical part of creating my own album. If you are easily frustrated with technology, putting together your own album may not be for you. There’s a definite learning curve with the software on most of these book design sites. If you’re someone who picks up new technology easily and have a speedy computer with plenty of space for your photos and plenty of processing power for the software, then you’re in good shape. If not, you might want to pay someone to do it and save yourself the hassle. Sometimes the photos don’t load properly and you have to start all over again, sometimes the blurb.com software is glitchy (though to their credit they are always updating it and their customer service was great when I used it a year ago), and sometimes malevolent elves crawl into your computer and screw things up for no reason at all. That last one is almost guaranteed, trust me.
(*Anne: Agreed!! Stuff happens ALL THE TIME to delay what feels like should be a simple & quick process!)

And now, some tips

• Think about design – Before I started my album on Blurb, I looked through some of the public wedding albums on there and they were all kind of, let’s see how do I say this nicely?: terrible. Well, I guess there wasn’t a way to say that nicely at all, huh? It’s not that the people making the albums were terrible, it’s just that our first instinct is to try to get as many photos into as few pages as possible. Economical? Yes. Pretty? Not so much. That kind of design leads to a really hectic-looking and amateurish product. Instead of looking at other wedding albums, try looking through some of the books the professional photographers have made to show off their portfolios on Blurb or in your local bookstore. Use their ideas to organize your album and make it the piece of art it deserves to be. These people know how to use white space to draw the eye in and to use design to create a feeling. If you have ten pictures of people going nuts on the dance floor, put ‘em all on one page and let it feel crowded and crazy, just like your dance floor was. But you don’t want the picture of your dad crying in public for the first time ever to be sized down and hidden among a bunch of other pictures- give it it’s own page.
(*Anne: EXCELLENT advice! Annabel's album was BEAUTIFULLY laid out and provided just the right balance of things that went together, highlight moments, and space to appreciate the art and the memories all in the same space.)

• Put a pin in it for a few days – When you finish your album and preview it once or twice, don’t go to print and buy it right away. Let it sit there for a few days without looking at it. Then, go back and preview what you’ve made. Have other people look at it too. You’ll catch mistakes easier that way and maybe realize that two pages of people eating is not as adorable as you thought it was when you were making it.

(*Anne's final thoughts:
Most couples I survey after a few years of marriage never actually got around to making their own wedding albums. They tell me they hung a photo on the wall, or gave photos as gifts to family members, but their own wedding albums often don't get created, despite their best intentions. The sad part is... I'm equally guilty of thinking I can do my own album. I've spent 5 years helping other people make their wedding albums, yet even after being married for 7 years, I still haven't made time to do my own wedding album. We all start off with ambitious visions of having plenty of time and dedication to the project, but at this point, I'm ready to hire someone else to get it done for me just so I'll finally have the whole story of our wedding day in one beautifully bound place! Annabel's story is definitely exceptional- which is why I'm so glad she was willing to share her experiences on my blog!! Thank you Annabel- you're the bee's knees. ;-)

Do I Need A Second Photographer?

I have the ability to work solo or as a team, which means I'm often asked if couples need two photographers on their wedding day. I don't believe in one-size-fits-all solutions, so here are a couple things to consider when it comes to one or two photographers:



1. How big will your wedding be?
Are you going to have over 200 guests, or less than 70 guests? While I've covered a 500 person wedding on my own with no problems and great images, sometimes the sheer size of a room with many guests in it is better covered with two or more people. However, if what you want is an intimate wedding with a relaxed feeling, two photographers may be overkill and might make your guests feel as if they're always being watched. The images below are from an intimate wedding of only about 30 guests. You see three completely different perspectives from one person, and I didn't feel limited by trying to avoid another photographer being captured in my shots:






2. Will there be important moments happening in different places at the same time?
Obviously one person can only be in one place at a time, so if your wedding events involve important moments that you'd like documented simultaneous in different locations, you'll obviously need a second photographer. The next question would be, is it necessary for the second photographer to be just as skilled as the primary photographer? Some photographers bring along an "assistant" to every wedding, but that doesn't mean the "assistant" is a capable photographer- they may be more of a bag wrangler who might grab a photo if needed. Determine the importance of that second photographer and their ability to capture events when the main photographer is not around.

3. Does your location have restrictions on where photographers can be and how they can move?
Many couples may not realize the policies and implications that their venue places on photographers or videographers. Some churches won't let photographers into the sanctuary at all during the ceremony, which would completely kill the need for a second photographer. Some will allow photographers to be stationed in different parts of the church as long as they don't move around, which might mean that a second photographer can get a different angle without movement. A photographer's favorite place to shoot is obviously one in which they aren't restricted. Know what restrictions your venue has so that you can speak with your photographer about how they feel they can best cover the events.



4. How does your favorite photographer prefer to work?
As someone who shoots both solo or as a team, I can see the benefits and drawbacks to both situations. What it really comes down to in the end, is selecting a photographer for their images. Images that make you fall in love when you look at them. If you start your decision with the work, than you can allow the photographer to decide what they need in order to capture those images. Ultimately, no matter how many photographers there are, there's only one editor deciding which images are worth keeping. Some people create their best work in a team and feel completely off without a second photographer in the same room, while others create their best work when they are the lone gun, getting all of the shots they want on their own without worrying about where a second photographer is or what they're capturing. There's really only one best angle or shot at any given point in time, so even if two people are shooting the same moment, it's highly likely that only one of those images is going to be worth keeping. Whatever your wedding requires, trust that your photographer will make the best recommendation that what will allow them to get the best images for your particular event.



Myth: A second photographer means better images
Quantity does not equal quality. Hiring two inexperienced photographers over one experienced photographer isn't a better "deal" if you're ultimately disappointed with the quality of the images that were produced. The best "deal" is to hire the best quality you can afford, no matter how many people it takes to achieve that quality.



Myth: More photographers means more images
There are times when I've worked alone and captured more images than I did when I had a second photographer. Each photographer has a different style of capture and editing images down to the final selection. Ask your photographer approximately how many images you can expect from your wedding, and ask to see an entire proof gallery featuring the images of the photographer that you're going to be working with. Take notice of how many posed vs. candid vs. detail images they capture and decide if that's the same balance you'd like from your wedding day.



Myth: Males & females see things differently
Any two people will have different perspectives no matter what their chromosome structure is. Bigger factors in the way that people perceive the world may be how tall or short they are, if they are near sighted or far sighted, what lenses they prefer to use, if they like details or people more, if they prefer to be in control or go with the flow, or if they get more excited over candid or posed images.

Myth: Guests and family members with cameras will provide acceptable additional coverage
First off, if you're getting an album from a photographer, a guest's images are not going to be included in that album. Secondly, I've seen the photos your guests and family members take and I'm in no fear of losing my job to them even if they do have a "fancy camera". They aren't very good at anticipating moments, they don't know how or where they can get the best angle, they really don't understand lighting at all, they generally limit themselves to taking pictures of only people they already know, and they don't have back ups of things like batteries and memory cards in case their camera dies or they run out of memory. Oh, and you may never actually see the images they took if they forget to upload and share them.

Myth: Two photographers is more expensive
Everyone has different expenses in their personal and work life, so you can't automatically assume that two photographers will be more expensive than one. Sometimes intern photographers join me as a second shooter for free just to get experience and build their portfolio, but I also don't guarantee the quality of their work or rely on them for important moments. If all you want is an extra photographer as a back-up plan, ask the photographer if they can provide that for you rather than hiring or inviting someone else who is going to try and compete for the same important moments.



Hopefully my responses do not elicit a definitive yes or no answer, but rather points to consider. First and foremost- look for a portfolio that has imagery you can fall in love with- then talk about the rest with the photographer who created that portfolio and make sure they're a great personality fit as well. Most client relationships with wedding photographers last 1-2 years- so you really want to make sure you enjoy working together!

CAUTION!!
Recently I heard a very disturbing story about a local photographer who tells couples they'll have two photographers for their wedding day, only to send one "second" photographer to the wedding to tell the couple at the last minute that the "first" photographer was too sick to make it. In reality, this "first" photographer is booking multiple weddings on the same day, hiring a bunch of "second" photographers to tell couples the same story, while he may not even be photographing a wedding at all that day! It's people like this that make me sick to my stomach. The couples end up just being glad that the second photographer is still there, even though they've paid for two photographers and the person they met with isn't the person shooting their wedding. Please make sure you do your research before hiring a photographer. Check for online reviews and ask for references from three recent couples before hiring someone to document your once-in-a-lifetime event. Make sure that the quality of the images on their website represent the quality that you'll receive. Since a wedding day is something you can't do over, you want to make sure you're getting the best you can afford so that you'll have no regrets later.

Dena & Jeff - Four Years Later

Today is Dena & Jeff's 4th wedding anniversary!! I thought I'd check in with a little facebook interview to see what their thoughts are on four years of marriage...

Anne: Four years since the wedding, what's changed since then? Has anything stayed the same?
Dena: Well, we are now four, with the addition of Miss Evaline on 01.09.10. Cisco [the adorable dog] is still with us getting older, but still sweet as ever. We are still living in Clearwater. Jeff is still at the same company. I am now a stay at home mom with a side business at www.denarella.com. [I love her upcycled bags!]
Jeff: The biggest change: our daughter Evaline was born this past January. There may have been other changes over the last four years, but they're all eclipsed by the joy (and terror) she's brought into our lives.

Anne: When looking back on your wedding day- what do you remember most? Was there anything you would do differently if you could do it again?
Dena: The friends and family that came together to have a great party. Dancing, eating and socializing with everyone! If I had to do it differently I would of taken group photos before the ceremony. I also would of made the list of photos that I really wanted to make sure that we got them - like you suggested :)
Jeff: You mean other than the obligatory "my beautiful wife walking down the aisle"?
The band.
After our original band cancelled a few weeks before the big day, we were able to find a Blues Brothers tribute band that could perform on short notice. I was worried we'd end up with a theme wedding based on a theme neither of us wanted.
They showed up for the reception... all seven of them, including a full horn section and rocked out all night long to the delight of our guests. The next day, our caterer told us that in the hundreds of weddings he'd been to, he'd never seen so many people on the dance floor for so long.

Anne: What advice would you give to a couple who's planning their wedding right now?
Dena: My biggest advice to couples is to trust in your vendors. Research them and then let them do their job. They do this for a living and they usually know best. Also dont sweat the small things. In the end they do not make a difference and no one will notice except you!
Jeff: Don't sweat the details. I can say this because I was the guy portion of the equation, but I think my wife would agree. On our wedding day, she found out the flowers delivered were totally different than what was ordered, but beautiful nonetheless. She didn't make a big deal out of it because the guests wouldn't have noticed and it would have gotten in the way of why we were there that day: to have a great party with our family and friends.
...and get a band.

Anne: I have to ask... what did you end up doing (if anything) with your wedding photos?
Dena: Um. . . We have a bunch around the house. Jeff also made me a 1st year photo book that has them in there. We also gave most of our family framed photos. I still need to make photo books for ourselves and our parents.
Jeff: We have a few of the photos, in frames, around the house. But, we're both pretty tech savvy, so all of our favorites are in digital photo frames, or screen savers, or photo slide shows. I end up seeing a few different photos of our wedding every day.

Anne: Can you share your top 10 favorite wedding images and why you love them?
Dena: I almost bit it coming down the stairs. Too funny.


Loved having my cousins, room mate from college, and my sister with me for the wedding.


I love this beach. I wanted to get married here since I was small.


What a great group of guys!


Daddy tear - nice shot anne.


My dad got the sand from the beach, and it was a bit wet. Stuck in the bottom.


Our personalities exactly!


Our new family!


My favorite all time PHOTO!


Why you buy a $200 dress and not spend a fortune!


SPEND THE MONEY ON A REAL BAND. It is worth it! My caterer said that he has never seen so many people on the dance floor EVER!


Anne: What have these last four years of marriage taught you?
Dena: Patience, Love and Understanding. Things will happen in time and enjoy the moment you are in.
Jeff: What have I learned? If this was the Newlywed Game, I'd guess that Dena would say, "not enough."
However, I would say that having a partner to share my life and experiences has made the bad times better and the good times extraordinary.

Anne: Can we see a recent image of your family?
Dena: Check [Jeff's] Flickr. You can also check Evie's blog at evalinetherese.com


Happy 4th Anniversary Dena & Jeff!! To see a slideshow of my favorites from their wedding day, click play on the slideshow below: