Thursday 28 June 2012

Medway Wedding Photographer Reviews

Need a wedding photographer in Medway?

Here are some reviews based on the websites, prices and packages on offer:

Ian Booth Photography
http://www.ianboothphotography.co.uk/
Prices: £325 - £1485
Image Quality: The photographs are good quality, with strong, crisp colours and good balance.
Photography range: There is a good range of images, from profiles, to storybook style shots, elegant close ups of periperhals (such as shoes and the bouquet), posed and natural photographs.
Post production: Post production is minimal - most of the photos appear to be displayed as natural.
Digital images and rights included as standard: Yes
Professional appearance: the website, layout and content gives a very calm, professional appearance. There is all the information you'd expect, laid out clearly and concisely.
Summary: All in all, looks like a professional outfit, with very reasonable rates.

Gary Smith Photography
http://www.garysmithphotography.co.uk/
Prices: £595 - £2200
Image Quality: Quite good quality, though some images could be sharper and some images suffer from balance blow outs.
Photography range: Nice range of images, and some nice ideas for original compositions, anbd use of depth-of-field.
Post production: Confident use of post production, including black and white and colour balance manipulation.
Digital images and rights included as standard: Yes

Professional appearance: The website looks good at first glance, but after a bit of use proves to be difficult to navigate, and flashiness seems to have been prioritised over ease of use. Also, the social media is not regularly updated and the website is not cross-browser compatible.
Summary: This photographers edge is definitely on coming up with original looking photos, which are of good quality.

Photo 3 Solutions
http://www.photo3.co.uk
Prices: £999 - £1999
Image Quality: The images on the site do not look like very good quality. Very small examples given only, amateur looking shadows from flashes, grainy, black and white blow outs and dull colours.
Photography range: Range is okay, traditional shots, clos-ups of certain elements, but nothing particularly original.
Post Production: Post production seems to be limited to converting to black and white or sepia, and applying cheesy 80s soft lighting effects.
Digital images and rights included as standard: No
Professional appearance: The website looks completely homemade, the gallery is difficult and clunky to view, typesetting and layout is shoddy. A very unprofessional impression.
Summary: Definitely not up to the standard of some of the other wedding photographers in Medway, falling down in pretty much every area, from image quality to post production, to withholding image rights and digital versions.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

The Kent Wedding Photographer Review

The Kent Wedding Photographer is another name for the company Photo 3 Solutions, which is another name for Andy James who also runs Model 3. Phew! That's a lot of names for one guy!

If you're choosing a wedding photographer you probably have two main sides to your considerations - price and quality.

How does The Kent Wedding Photographer perform on price?

The cheapest package is just under £1000, and for that you will get 20 photographs in an album - but no rights to the rest of your photos, and no access to digitsl versions.

By comparison, David Fenwick's (http://www.davidfenwick.co.uk/) prices start at £500, and you always get high resolution digital versions and full rights to all your photographs.

The Other Day Photography (http://www.theotherday.co.uk) offer wedding photography in Kent starting at £950, but for that you get eight hours of photography, a 30 page album AND all your photographs in digital format.

How does the Kent Wedding Photographer perform on quality?

Obviously, with art such as photography, there is a certain amount of subjectiveness and personal preference involved, however, even an intrained eye can usually tell the difference between a poor photo, an okay one, a good one, and a great one.

The Kent Wedding Photographers images are mostly 'OK'. You could say this is fine 0 after all, they're not poor! However, when you're paying the kind of fees The Wedding Photographer Kent charges, you really would expect the results to be at least 'good' if not 'great'.

If you want your wedding photographs to be good, or even great - then we suggest trying one of tyhe following professional photographers instead:

http://www.davidfenwick.co.uk/
http://www.theotherday.co.uk/
http://www.helenbattphotography.com/
http://www.davidleeimages.co.uk/

Sunday 24 June 2012

Storybook Wedding Photographers in Kent - Reviews

Storybook wedding photography is becoming increasingly popular as an interesting way to preserve the memories.

What is storybook wedding photography?
Storybook wedding photography is when you have a series of pictures - usually starting with the bride and groom getting ready in separate rooms, that follows the days events - you've guessed it - telling a story.

What Kent photographer should you choose for you storybook wedding.
In a word? A specialist. Or does that count as two words? Either way, if you're looking at a storybook wedding, you obviously want something special, so you need to be careful not to hire the wrong person and end up with something disappointing.

A storybook wedding photographer has to have a range of skills, including good planning, understanding the key moments, fast reactions, top quality equipment, excellent editing skills.

So it's best to go for someone who specialises in Storybook wedding photography, rather than a general photographer whose work spans a variety of things.

Here are some recommendations:

http://www.davidleeimages.co.uk/ RECOMMENDED. Beautiful example shots on the website and information that clearly shows he knows what's involved in making the perfect storybook wedding album.

http://the-kent-wedding-photographer.co.uk NOT RECOMMENDED. This is actually a sister site for Photo 3 Solutions, who photograph everything from portraits, to weddings, to model portfolios to glamour shots. You probably don't want someone who specialises in photographing topless girls taking the pictures at your special day!

Friday 22 June 2012

Digital Wedding Photographers in Kent - The Kent Wedding Photographer Review

If you're looking for a digital wedding photographer in Kent, presumably that's because you'd like to have digital versions of your photos, so that you can upload them on Facebook, or create your own albums, use them as backgrounds on your computer, create slideshows, that kind of thing.

The problem is that some wedding photographers don't actually give you access to your own photos - and they'll make sure that you don't even own the rights to them!

So, when you're choosing a wedding photographer, make sure that a full set of high resolution images are included in the package - not just a handful of prints.

The photographer may give you a CD of the images 'for selection purposes' but the images will be low resolution (poor quality) and will be branded with the photographers gaudy logo.

Also, be careful of photographers that claim they own the rights to the photos or your event - rather than you owning it - even though you paid them to be there! Not only does it mean that you won't get access to your photos, but it means the photographer can use them however he pleases, whether you like it or not.

Make sure you ask who will own the rights to the images, and make sure you don't sign anything giving the photographer rights to use the images on whatever website, brochure or wherever else he wants.

How 'digital' friendly are the top Google ranking 'digital wedding photographers in Kent'?


http://www.davidleeimages.co.uk/ - Cheapest package £300, includes 200 photos on DVD, and full licence to print photos however you please.

http://www.timstubbings.co.uk - packages start at £995, and high resolution disc is included as standard

http://the-kent-wedding-photographer.co.uk - prices start at £999, zero digital images provided, and rights to images retained by photographer. Even for around £2000, all you get all low resolution digital images and still no rights.

REMEMBER - They are YOUR photographs, that you paid for! Demand the rights to them!




Wednesday 20 June 2012

Photo 3 Solutions - Jack of All Trades?


Photo 3 Solutions have no qualms about sharing their opinions on a wide variety of topics.

The areas that they advise on include: camera equipment, modelling careers, scams and even reality TV shows.

But are they really in a position to be giving advice on these topics?

A quick look at the website of Photo 3 Solutions shows an amateur website, filled with amateur photographs.

If someone purporting to be a professional photographer has a home-made website with photographs that aren't of professional quality, it's time to question the advice they're giving out - and their motivations.

For example: camera equipment:

Photo 3 Solutions gives recommendations about buying digital SLR cameras, but specifically badmouths SLR Hut, stating that the products are available much cheaper from the States. But he doesn't take into account shipping - an extremely serious consideration with delicate equipment. 

Furthermore, when buying from abroad, consumers are not protected by the kind of legislation that they are when purchasing from UK based companies.

So, perhaps Andy James of Photo 3 Solutions isn't giving the whole picture, after all. And if not, why not?

We'll write more soon with more questions as to Photo 3 Solutions hidden agenda.