I too have never commented but I’ll go ahead and chime in on this one! I completely understand where you’re coming from with the advice of finding a talented photographer on Craigslist. In the situations where you simply don’t have the money for another solution, this is the kind of advice that makes sense in many ways. You just have to be that much more critical about who you decide to hire off of Craigslist – it can go either very very good or VERY VERY bad with these kinds of things, which I think is what you’re getting at.

The part of your advice that I do feel uneasy about is the part about buying the original digital negatives. My husband and I are pro wedding photographers and we give each of our couples a copy of the final edited images from their wedding. This is something that I feel the couple should definitely have for many reasons. However, if a photographer is willing to give you the original files, I would be extremely hesitant to even hire them. This is not a legitimate business practice in any way shape or form and really is a red flag for me. Most photographers don’t shoot on JPGs files anymore (they’re too small to edit correctly – especially if you don’t know what you’re doing), but we shoot on much larger files that a consumer can’t even view, much less process, on their computers without certain professional programs (not Photoshop – we use different software meant for professionals only), so this advice (I don’t mean to offend) can’t even be done with most situations.

I could go on, but the bottom line is please, please, please don’t edit your own images! Its not worth it. Let a pro handle making you look fabulous, even if that pro is from Craigslist.

Again, this is just my 50 cents from years of experience with working with brides, vendors, and images. I always love reading the blog and really appreciate how its so thoughtful!

Erin

I do think that the amateurs with new camera technology have contributed to a misunderstanding about what talent it takes to be a pro photographer. And I also think that people are not particularly skilled at assessing work — you can hit the saturation button in Photoshop and fool some people into thinking you’re a good photographer — I know, because I do it all the time!

Fair enough — in every profession, there are people who are experienced, cost more, and are worth it. But I am talking about ways to cut your budget, if you decide that photography is an area where you’d like to cut. From what I understand about photography, there are technical skills and then there is a kind of artistic “know-how” that cannot be taught, exactly, like an instinct — much like writing, I suppose. I think if photography is a priority for a bride, then she should by all means seek out that professional with technical skill *and* that artistic gift. But that still doesn’t mean that she has to pay for more than the pictures being taken — in my mind, that is what the photographer does that cannot be done elsewhere, capturing the moment. My point was about paying for that capture, and then using tools available to you to edit pictures because you don’t absolutely have to have the photographer do that for you if you know how to use photoshop well.

It’s like my dress, I spent an unholy amount of money buying a Monique L’huillier dress. I’m sure a bunch of people thought I was insane, but it was important to me, however silly, that I buy that dress, and not a knock-off or whatever. Some people will feel that way about going to a photographer, and that’s cool. I just want to try to get people thinking about what they are buying, because although I totally believe there are expensive photographers who are worth it, I also believe there are expensive photographers who are NOT worth it. People just have to learn to look at things critically, particularly if they are on a tight budget.

I have had so many brides call me in tears after their wedding asking if I can do an anniversary shoot for them just so they can have some good photos because they hired someone off craigslist who was uninsured, unprofessional, new, and had no idea what they were doing.

With photography, you very much get what you pay for.

We got married in a tiny historic chapel up north (“up north” is the pretty part of Wisconsin) with just immediate family. Then, later, we had a Sunday brunch reception on one of those dinner cruise boats. Many of our attendees were from a rural area, and every wedding up there is exactly the same: same hall, same menu, same decor, same DJ. We wanted to give them something different. Also, Sunday brunch is a time when even people who tend to drink a whole lot will drink less, and that was a concern with a couple of family members (for behavioral reasons, not financial ones).

We actually got thank-you notes from a few of the rural attendees, who thought it was a very big deal to have a champagne brunch on a boat. They’re still talking about it…and we got married with no debt at all.

Also, I got a $1000 wedding dress for $137 because it was a sample size. To this day it’s still my best bargain ever.