Unfortunately adversity can hit us at any given time. No one plans for it, it just happens. 

We shot a wedding about three years ago and we felt that we did a great job capturing the event. It was a beautiful venue and the Bride and Groom looked like they were right out of Vogue Magazine. We completed the post production as scheduled and posted their images on a private site for their viewing and sharing. However the Bride and Groom really never viewed their proofs or to order their album. We made numerous attempts to reach out to them to fully understand why. So we decided to archive their images so they would be safe for future use.

For a long time it trouble me and I often wondered if they did not like our work or were they not happy with how we captured their wedding day. As a photographer, you never want to disappoint anyone.

Then three years later the Bride reached out to me to ask if I still had her images. She went on to apologized for never getting back to us until now. She explained that she had a couple of ruff years and she wanted to surprise her husband with a wedding album. I was just so happy that her and her husband were still together and doing well.

I stopped doing wedding shows years ago because I saw a trend that Brides were more interested in finding a florists, tasting cakes and selecting the right venue, rather than finding that perfect photographer. I fully understand that a wedding is about beauty and every Bride wants their day to be spectacular. We all get it. As a Photographer I want the venue to be amazing. It makes for great pictures. 

In this case three years had past. Do you think anyone would still remember her Wedding Day. Would they remember what the flowers looked like or what the food tasted like? Would any of her guests have any images to share.

The iPhone may have devalued the Professional Photographer in the eyes of some Brides. I could never understand why a bride would spend more money on flour and sugar than a professional photographer. Social Media also has had an impact too. Photos are posted within second of the Bride walking down the Aisle. 

To any Bride that maybe reading this. Take the time and find a great photographer. Make sure you connect with them. Be sure that he or she understands your needs, your vision and I guarantee you will have beautiful memories for a lifetime. 

Dale Alan, Professional Photographer, Pittsburgh

My biggest suggestion for any bride and groom would be to look beyond the color or fade of the image and to look at the style of the photographer. Do you like how they capture important moments, are they creative, do they have more than one photographer, do they have back up gear and back up photographers. If you are looking for a certain look in your images, most photographers can do the matt, the faded, convert to B&W and pop contrast effects after the wedding has be photographed.

To see some examples of the faded look, the matt look, black and whites styles as well as the pop contrast, please visit our website at www.dalealanschmitt.com to see all the style that we discussed.

Do not be afraid to ask the photographer questions, this is your day and always remember to smile and have fun!. 

Dale

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some ideas that will help "brides to be" minimize their stress levels when it comes to managing your wedding.

Planning and organizing for your wedding is all part of the process. It can be a lot of fun engaging parents, family and friends to help plan your wedding. However, managing people can also cause anxiety and stress leading up to and on your wedding day.

Doing a little advanced planning and setting some expectations with your bridal party, parents and friends can make all the difference in the world. Always keep in mind this is your day. We see too often members of the bridal party thinking it’s their day, when infact, they are here to support you. When choosing your bridal party, set the expectation early that you expect them to be a part of the process and just not part of the party. Assigning simple task can make your wedding day stress free and amazing.

Tip number 1 "The Family Photos"

Weddings can have large and fragment families that can cause difficulty for any photographer to manage. High expectations and special requests from parents, grandparents and family members can cause additional stress for the bride and groom.

To minimize your stress levels you can start by setting exceptions with your photographer. Make sure you have discussed with the photographer your shooting list for your family portraits. Make sure you go over the list with the photographer in detail and not the day of, but weeks before. Make sure the photographer knows how many group shots and who needs to be in each of them. List the first and last names of everyone and the significance to both the bride and groom. Most photographers will provide you this shooting list, so don't worry about creating the list yourself.

Assign someone from your bridal party to wrangler your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Don't take this task on yourself. Assigning two people from your bridal party to help the photographer is a great idea. One to chase the wondering relatives, the other to make sure the photographer has all the people in the right photo. The bride and groom should never take on this task on running around and chasing relatives. 

If you follow these simple tips, you will have a great moment to relax while everyone else does all the work. It will go quickly without a hitch and everyone will be happy.

Have fun and remember, smile your beautiful! 

Dale Alan Schmitt

When a bride is planning her wedding a lot of attention goes into the venue, the caterer, the flowers and the music. So often the bride forget another important detail, picking the photographer who will be capturing her wedding day for a lifetime of memories.

I read this article from The Knot, "10 Steps to Finding a Great Wedding Photographer" and thought I would share part of it with you. When you look at my work, what style do you see? Your comments would be welcomed, I think, LOL!!!

Documentary: Instead of a series of posed photos, these are candid or spontaneous pictures of people, decor and the action. Typical shots might include the lavish raw bar before guests start digging in, your motley crew of cousins dancing, or you and your bridesmaids laughing, champagne in hand. With a purely photojournalistic photographer, you'll very rarely see people staring at the camera—the photos capture the moments exactly as they happened, and together they tell a story.

Portraiture: If you prefer classic portraits go with a traditional photographer who specializes in portraiture. These are posed shots of the two of you, your friends and family in front of various backdrops. That's not to say there isn't room for creativity in this category. While some photographers will pose subjects in more traditional spots, other photographers take portraiture further into the creative realm with a more dramatic composition.

Fine Art: Though it's similar to documentary photography, this style gives the shooter greater artistic license to infuse their particular point of view and style into your photographs. So while the shots reflect reality, it's the photographer's reality. The photos are dramatic and gorgeous, but are—or look as though they were—shot on film with a grainier, dreamier, more muted appearance. Usually the object (or couple) is in focus and the background appears to blur. Motion also looks very natural in this style of photography. The few wedding photographers in the world who shoot only on film tend to fall into this category, and typically they shoot in black and white, though some will do a mix of both. That said, a photographer using a digital camera can still capture this style with the right gear and camera lens. And some photographers will alternate between digital and film. 

Edgy-Bold: This style of photography, an offshoot of fine art, is marked by outside-the-box, tilted angles and unconventional framing. So instead of a straight-on shot of the couple exchanging vows at the altar, the photo might look tilted, with an object like an altar arrangement or a candle in the foreground. Or the photo of the bride having her makeup done might be shot from above, with an emphasis on the eye shadow brush rather than on her face. Even a single portrait of a bridesmaid might be shot so that her face takes over only the bottom right of the photo and the rest of the space is filled with the wall or whatever's behind her.

Regardless of the different styles a photographer may lean more towards, it still comes down to what the Bride desires. When selecting our photographer, please make sure he or she has more than one photographer one staff and more than one style of photographer. This will give you the best of both worlds with 2 or 3 different photographers, with different approaches, making your wedding day a true keepsake. 

​Dale Alan Schmitt, Photographer, Pittsburgh, PA.

2. If you exposure for the snow, your camera's metering system is programed to make the snow an 18% gray.

3. Over exposing by 1 or 2 stops will help and also bring more detail into your shadow area as well.