Why should you go for a candid photographer ?

This post is a part a series that I began to give you the insights of the emerging industry of wedding photography. No matter if you're a budding wedding photographer or a spouse looking for a wedding photographer, these insights and first hand experiences would guide you to make the best decision for your D-Day as well as how to avoid making blunders on your first wedding assignment as a pro.

For now, I am going to tell you what exactly is the main difference between a Candid/Contemporary photographer (an artist to be precise) and a regular Studio having a brand name in your city. How do they work ? what is the difference in their working style ? their approach ? the value for money and also which one would be a better choice for you as a client ? I shall be comparing both side by sides under various points of differences.


1. Approach towards the work.

Studio- Wedding season is the assembly line for them. Most of these have their entire calender booked back to back including multiple weddings within a same day. The owner whom you paid the advance payment may or may not be present to handle the things or shoot himself at your wedding. A team of hired photographers of varied skill set will be covering the events themselves.

Candid Photographer- Every wedding is like a plain canvas. The colours spread around at your venue are the ones he'd paint it with. These also have a tight schedule of bookings but the artist you paid to or talked to on phone would be present himself at your event clicking pictures (unless specified that he will not be covering himself for whatever reasons). A team which may have a junior photographer working as an assistant to the main or a studio guy to cover the formals and group shots if required by you. However, the candid photographer clicks a majority of pictures himself while the juniors work as an assistant.


2. Working Styles

This is perhaps the main and most important difference between the two genres of wedding photography. I shall get into a bit more detail  to explain better.

Studio- You dont know the photographer(personally) coming down to cover your wedding until you see the guy himself on the venue. So there are chances that he'd be a docile one to bug you the least while clicking pictures or a strict one to tell you how to stand and "chin-up" when he's clicking pictures. Well its your luck and a surprise element for you.

They have a certain mugged styles and poses that they do at almost every wedding. Also in terms of camera settings they have a certain set each for the open air shoot, the group shots, the formals and for clicking dance pictures.

Candid Photographer- A good candid photographer always asks you to meet in person for showing his work. If he's too far away to meet you, he'd talk to you on phone explaining the necessary details and discussing your choices, expectations and other things that you have in mind to be taken care of. Every candid photographer has his own way of working. But for the most of the part he wouldnt direct you how to sit, turn or "look here madam" while clicking pictures.

If you're too much camera conscious, tell your photographer and he will not at all ask you to form any pose. If you dont want to be directed at all during the wedding, tell him and he'd be the last person to tell you where to look. A Candid photographer works according to your choice of style but not at the cost of compromising his quality of work. Trust me he'll be like a good friend for you from the time you book him for the wedding and even after the pictures are delivered.

A candid photographer always goes out of his way to take that perfect shot.

3. Equipment

Though I always tell my clients and other people that a photographers equipment is the least one should worry about. No photographer: candid or studio guy would leave his best gear behind at home in a showcase and shoot with sub standard gear for his work.
But again, as a client if you have a little knowledge about cameras here are few small differences between both the genres of wedding photography.

Studio: Most of the studio guys I have met so far work with a single camera, 1 or 2 zoom lenses such as 24-70, 70-200, 18-105 are most common, a mounted speedlight and a light setup of 2 or more lights fixed at main stage. A noticeable difference is that they hardly use any prime lens like 50mm, 35mm or 85mm.
As the studio guy has to cover almost everything from close ups to formals and groups, a versatile lens with zoom is more suited for their purpose.

Candid Photographer: Well every candid photographer has his own distinctive style so its tough to put them under the same umbrella in terms of varied equipment used by each of them. Some are comfortable using 2 cameras (sometimes 3), one with a prime lens and other with a zoom lens so that to avoid changing lenses rapidly as the composition changes during a wedding, while some prefer shooting with a single camera with a set of lenses changed accordingly.

Most of the candid photographers I know as friends or whom I have worked with, love primes. Especially the 35mm and 50mm. Since these lenses give an amazing depth of field, they serve good purpose of shooting the little details. Some photographers use the stand mounted light strobes while others might not. However, an assistant with these lights is designated to cover groups and other stage formals if they are supposed to be included.

Note:
i. These differences would never ever cause any degradation in the quality of work one has to deliver according to their shooting styles. A studio guy would click the same shot with a prime lens as he would be using solely his equipment and similarly a candid photographer would click the same shot (pictured in his mind) without using the prime. So, the whole point is if any photographer knows his equipment inside-out, he knows what he is doing.

ii. As a client, its good and obvious to ask questions about the gear to be used for your wedding but once you have loved someone's work, don't reject him/her for the reason that he may not have a "bigger" lens you saw once, Or for the reason that the camera used isnt as expensive as the one you already own.

iii. Commonly used cameras are Nikon D800, D600, D610, D4, D3s, D90 and Canon1D, 5D Mk3/Mk 2, 7D, 6D, 60 D etc. With the rise of post processing of photos using softwares, its easy to further enhance the photos upto no limits and delivering good quality print work even if the camera used isn't a high end one. Just make sure that the photographer is not using a cyber shot or a compact digital camera ;).

4. So there's a studio which says they do candid photography ! What does that mean ?

With a spectacular rise of candid photography like a tide wave and the sudden drift of clients towards this thing has forced well established studios to offer "Candid Photography" as an additional package they normally provide for the traditional work.
If you seem to fall for this new "elite-package" offered by a studio, please make sure that you see the "only candid shoot" done by that studio. As they say during their pitch, its the "natural" style of shooting in which they wont bug you often to make a pose. Well thats not a trap but its not a boon either. I'd like to call them "pseudo-candid photographers".

The same studio guy would resist himself from directing you how to stand or hold the "varmaala" again. But that doesn't mean he can anticipate your tear drop or a gentle smile when you see your spouse waiting for you at the altar/stage. Nevertheless, then come the couple portrait session and here, you will remember your school's P.T. training for the poses he asks you to make. The longest portrait session I witnessed was over an hour and the girl finally pleaded to let go ! Well, that's not the right time to cry on your wedding day !

A studio person (since its uncertain who will be clicking pictures) may have an average or very good photography skills but you never know who is the one really shooting you. On the other hand when it comes to candid photography, one artist's way of working may not appeal you as much as other ones (under same price range).

5. Okay and what about "Clicked by- XY Photography Team" ?

As already mentioned, every photographer candid or studio has their own teams, so if you happen to come across a picture of a friends wedding which has "XY Team" watermarked, it means that the particular picture (or the whole event) was photographed by the team of that candid photographer while he himself wasn't present during the shoot. This is done for a special purpose.

Some candid photographers offer different packages for different budgets of clients they deal with. While the higher package includes the photographer coming himself and leading the team, the lower priced package includes his team or a junior photographer , who will be clicking pictures. Another case could be that photographer himself is not available and his team will cover the event itself (told to the client already in advance and agreed upon). This can be called as a pseudo studio approach, all candid photographers don't go for this and prefer shooting the event with the team themselves.
Some photographers prefer mentioning the junior photographers name or write "clicked by XY Team" for the pictures that they share but they didn't click it themselves.

6. Budget, pricing and packages.

A very thin line to differentiate between the two because now a days a studio offering "candid photography" package may be charging a closer amount to that of a "candid/contemporary/wedding photojournalist". Its a tough task to judge the difference in the quality of work based on monetary criteria.

A candid photographer may or may not provide the videos in his package. Most of them don't but some of them do provide you cinematographic videos additionally or inclusive within the package. Again, it depends from person to person. A budding and lesser known artist may charge lower sum of money (approx Rs.30K) while an established and a popular candid photographer may charge you Rs. 1-2.5 lakh or more (no limits). It also depends on the city you are looking in. These prices are normally charged as of now (year 2014) in the areas of New Delhi/NCR.

A studio gives you the package that's inclusive of photography, video and photobooks all together. Depending upon your needs, you may opt out either of these and the respective amount will be reduced from the inclusive package. However, the studios also provide and try to lure you with things like "live telecast on LCD/Plasma screens, shooting with zip cranes, video shoot using helicopter ( not the real helicopter of course)". 

It depends on your personal choice and opinion, if you want a large zip crane shooting on your venue or a more subtle candid photographer capturing the minute details and giving you a quality photobook filled with emotions and memories from your D-Day that you will cherish forever, or maybe a combination of both.

On a personal note, I'd like to suggest you that instead of putting extra amount into things like "helicopter shoot" or multiple stage performances of dance groups, invest it in hiring a good photographer because after 5-10 years down the line of your life, you will have good memories captured inside your emotion filled photographs while those dance performances or 5 extra Thai dishes wont last until next morning !

7. Where to find them ?

Studio: More convenient to find them. You can see large sign boards, wall paints, newspaper advertisement, stickers at the back of the cars parked at the venues, full page ads in the wedding magazines etc. These are a few media they believe in, that would fetch them clients of every budget range.

Candid Photographers: Not likely to see them putting up an advt at the above mentioned places. Word of mouth publicity and their work speaks for itself. Easy accessible way to get info is the internet. Websites like facebook, flickr, 500px, tumblr etc. will show you a whole lot of photographers showcasing their works. If you have seen a friends' wedding pictures you may ask for a referral or look up at justdial or google to get more info. Many have their own websites where you can see their portfolios as well as drop a mail. Its more likely that every candid photographer works within a particular budget range and wouldnt negotiate for lower prices. Generally,it depends on the amount of experience he has gained in the field. 



8. Well it seems like candid photographer isn't at all affordable for me, but these 2 studios are well known in my city !

Behold, if you are opting out a candid photographer only because he isn't in your budget range, please check with the following points:

i. Have you decided to put more money for a 7 star venue ? Well, a 5 star isnt a bad option if you can have a candid photographer for the difference amount.

ii. 5 diamond studded necklaces can be cut down to 3 and guess what, a budding artist or a well established pro can  come for free within the same amount (depending upon how many diamonds were there in those neck pieces :p )

iii. Its an insult to wear Jimmy Choo's without a good candid photographer who knows that those are actually "Jimmy Choo" and they should be a part of your wedding book.

iv. If you lost 10kgs of weight since last 10 months in a gym which charging you 40k as their annual fees, a studio guy may not be able to click that perfect jawline with prominent cheek bones.

v. Going to Australia or Switzerland for honeymoon, you dont say that candid photographers are a costlier affair !


During the early days of my career as a wedding photographer, I noticed that people spent lacs of extra money into avoidable expenses and thereafter looked for candid photographers with cheapest package ! This is mainly because of traditional thinking and planning where the photographers are not even considered as a big expense in the first place. Thus, the clients having 3 stars and 5 star venues would negotiate for 60k-like packages of candid photographers.

I have seen beautiful couples spending 50k for weight loss sessions and saying NO for a pre wed shoot because the photographer is charging 35k to do it. Please try to avoid such scenarios with good planning and research before your first shopping spree for the wedding.

Last word of conclusion can be that no matter which type of photographer you hire, have faith in the quality of work he has shown you and its always better to ask a bunch of questions before you book a particular person to clarify everything rather than complaining for some errors later when the job is done. A wise option is to have the "terms and conditions" document read carefully before investing and if the photographer is asking you to sign a contract paper, its a way to safeguard interest of both parties, read it carefully before making the final decision. 

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I hope that this series of posts will help you out in making important decision as a planner and clear your doubts as well. For more queries, always feel free to drop a mail or "Ask" me at :

 http://ask.fm/puneetbatra

You can view my wedding and other photography work here at: 

www.facebook.com/puneet.vivid

The opinions and views I’ve expressed here are through my personal experiences in this field and to help you understand the small details and insights of Wedding Photography.

For more posts like this, hit the subscribe button and post your suggestions about this in the comments below.

Puneet Batra Photography

|| Capturing the Moments ||

©2014 All rights reserved

Getting Married ? Need a wedding photographer !

So, you’ve finally decided to tie the knot with your Mr/Ms Perfecto and have finalised the dates of your D-Day. Now here comes the bulk load of tasks to be done and the shopping spree is about to begin, with a long to-do list and limited time people often miss out or forget about one of the most important thing for the wedding- Well, who is going to capture the memories of the happiest day of your life.

Always remember one thing, after 1 month or few years after your marriage, you might not wear your wedding dress anymore to an event or you wont remember how the decoration was on the gate, the only memories of your wedding that will be with you for the rest of your life are the photographs ! So, pay a little more attention about how they’re gonna look like. Its ironic here, especially in India that sometimes the photographer makes a last time entry into the budget and you miss your favourite wedding photographer because he was either already booked or you spent extra grands somewhere else in shopping and he’s out of your budget now.
To save you from such unseen scenarios here are some tips to help you out.

1. What are you looking for ?
Firstly, you – the decision maker (you/parents/family) must have a basic idea  about what do you mainly require ? The bigger the group, more discussion and confusion will be there. Doing a quick market survey, google could be your saviour. See what’s in the “trend” and the variety of choices available out there. Liked a friend’s weddings’ photos, ask her for recommendations. Facebook can also be very much helpful.


2.Studio or Candid ? Oh I heard this new term wedding photojournalist !

Lets talk about it in detail to make you understand the difference. A Studio is the guy who comes from that “XYZ Studios” around the corner of the street. The boss sits at the counter and has a team of hired shooters who come to shoot the wedding. These shooters can click from average to awesome pictures, depends on which “guy” shoots it. The only brand is the STUDIO himself and the shooters don’t have any personal recognition. You might get lucky if the shooter clicked awesome pictures.
On the other hand there are Candid/Contemporary/Wedding Photojournalist most of them are active on online platforms like Facebook/Twitter/tumblr or Flickr. So there are chances that you get to know about them through these websites. Now, in terms of photography, every person has their own distinctive way of shooting so they can be categorised among any of these three (or more) categories accordingly. To avoid you any hastle, lets keep it simple !

A Candid or Contemporary photographer is an artist, each of them has a different style of shooting and “seeing” the things. For most of the duration of the event, he wont direct you to “Look at the camera- Smile- Click-Thankyou madam/sir.” A Candid or any of these three types of photographer would communicate, initiate a talk or might crack a joke or two to make you giggle and shoot like a sniper. You might wonder “ Oh ! When did you click this”

So, my whole point is that some photographers might not be sure about categorising themselves into a particular category and just the wedding photographers, others  simply use a tag to define more about themselves. But an artists’ work speak for himself.

#Candid Photographer/Contemporary/Wedding Photojournalist:

• What to expect: A Candid or any of above mentioned photographers have an artistic approach towards wedding photography. Most of these will give you 400-500 images per day of shooting. 1000 images for wedding. The choice of final selection of pictures should be done majorly by you. Final edited pictures: 100-200. Unedited RAW data- maybe/ ask and confirm about it.
• Working Hours: It would be highly appreciated by the photographer if you provide a detailed itinerary of your events before wedding to avoid any confusions or mismanagement.
• If the shooting time exceeds beyond the discussed time, be ready to pay for extra hours. Again it depends on the photographer himself if he doesn’t charge you extra for a couple of hours or charges for a full day of shoot in such case. 
• But still, If there is extra work- There is overtime for us. Understand that. 
• What not to expect: Group shots, Dancing uncles’ Pictures and Posed traditional pictures. Delivering the picture, next evening. If you might miss your mother’s sister’s daughter’s husband’s photo who danced with his wife. Skip this photographer.

#Studio Photographer:

• What to expect: Everything, Literally everything. From bride and groom getting off the car at venue to all the uncles and aunties enjoying snacks, the photos of decoration and stalls they cover everything. You want it, they have it. Posed, candid, group shots, bride and groom being posed like to climb a wall or something, kids dancing and the list goes on. Delay, extra hours ? No problem Sirji. You might have to shoo them away after the event is over. Albums ? ahem, a 230 photos in a karizma album with bride skin looking like a model and splash of flashes in every photo they might include it in their package. All the studio light equipment around the stage to kill the view of stage too. 
• What not to expect: A collection of very good photographs with details and emotion. Note this point that when you hire a studio you basically get a team of people who have been taking the same shots at every wedding they shoot. They click by number ! Their skills maybe average or really awesome. So you don’t get any artistic individual to shoot your wedding. You’ll get a mix blend of average, good, nice and very nice pictures.  Also they never let any other photographer work in their vicinity peacefully. They have a tough time realising that the new breed of “Natural Photographers” have outdated them. (Yes, I’ve heard this thing many times from these studios- Bhaiya natural photos kheechte hain ) 
• Sometimes a lot of “businessmen” showcase their work of fairly decent pictures but they send a team to cover the wedding. These people also fall in the same category of studio. So please clear this thing before you decide to book someone. Well if you wanted a studio, you wont be searching online and have found this :p

3. Equipment ? Flashes or studio lights ? Should I hire a Nikon shooter or Canon Shutterbug?

Relax ! Do you ask a chef in a hotel which company’s oven did he use to make this delicious dish ? NO, right ! So once you’ve seen and liked someone’s work have faith in it. Any photographer wont leave is best gear at home in a showcase. A camera is merely an extension to a photographer’s mind and soul. Some are used to Nikon while some are comfortable with Canon or Sony. As long as you’re interested in having a good end product, leave the Canon vs Nikon war upto the photographer only. If you still want to know, ask them. Its better to be sure and informed.

One more thing, sometimes people ask me if I’ll put the elinchromes and soft boxes on stage or anywhere. Well here’s a secret- I never bring those bulky lights to kill the free space available for me to move around the stage. At most I use external Flashes/Speedlights when required. As I said, each person has their own style- some might use these lights, others might not. If you still want those lights, discuss it with your photographer beforehand.

4. So you shoot video also and we want an album too !

Video-ummm… I’m a photographer I don’t shoot videos ! Yes, the times have changed and gone are the days when everything was included in the package itself. Now the video means a 3-4min short film with cinematography and vfx. The modern day videographers have evolved, working parallel with us (photographers) and have their own expertise. So don’t get disappointed when your photographer says that he don’t shoot videos. Hire a videographer separately, If you cannot arrange it, talk to your photographer, he might recommend or arrange someone. We all have each others contacts sometimes ;)

Albums ? hold on.. I’m coming to that.


5. So whats in the package ? any freebies ?

Everyone formulates their package in a different way. Some include giving you “All the RAW data” and some “edited” images. While a studio may give you albums included in package or something.    At the end, do a little bit of market survey and observe the things. Then discuss your requirements with your photographer about what all does he offers. Mostly the candid photographers provide Edited and Unedited/Raw data as soft copies and the selection of photos to be edited is selected by you. However the number of these edited and raw photographs depends on every photographer individually.

6. RAW data… color correction.. photoshopped.. Whats all this ?

With the new age digital cameras, the “negative-film” is replaced by “Camera Raw” format. This is just a setting on dSLRs by which the camera stores the photograph with highest possible details and ofcourse a large memory space. Some photographers shoot in strictly RAW format. What you get at the end is the only fine tuned and color corrected images in JPEG. Please note that RAW is not unedited JPEG, it’s a picture format .cr2 .arw or .nef, which might not open on your default photo viewer. So check with your photographer what you expect and what he provides.

The edited pictures are the ones which have been toned up in terms or contrast, filters, highlights, vibrance, saturation etc. There is no limit of using photoshop. But here, on a personal note, I’d suggest while viewing the work of your favourite photographer, observe If he takes a good picture or makes a good picture. Sometimes, the image changes from being photographic to graphic.

7. So far so good ! Now tell me what is the least price at which you can give your best work ?

Well, please never embarrass the photographer by saying something like this. A good quality comes with a price tag. We too have the bills to pay. Wedding Photography is not a commodity in the market for sale. You hire a creative individual who will put in his imagination, experience, thought, a part of his soul, the books he has read, his music style and a signature of his personality in making your pictures worth remembering.

I’m not saying that you deviate too much from your budget but choose the best among the options available within your budget flexibility.If the photographer is out of your range, there’s no harm saying no to him and move forward.
Generally a candid/contemporary wedding photographer may charge anywhere between 25K-1.5 Lakh for a wedding. A studio, on the other hand may charge 20-80K for a wedding and give you photos+video+album but certainly a poor value for money. Never compromise on quality.

You can also mix and match. Hire a local studio to capture the traditional stuff and a candid photographer for the artistic work.


8. So I’ve spoke to this photographer and asked him to book the dates ! What…advance payment ?

Well, never expect any photographer to book your dates unless you’ve given him a token amount. So tomorrow if someone approaches him to book for the same dates and giving a token amount before you could do, he’s gone for you ! A wedding photographer will take some amount as a down payment to hold your dates (40-50%) at the time of booking and the remaining after the shoot or at time of delivering pictures. Some might take full payment (100%) of the amount at the time of booking, Yes photographers certainly do that, not studios.


9. Ohkay, we’re set to roll. Anything else !

Wait, if you have hired a candid photographer, congrats ! Now listen.

• Introduce your photographer to your parents and other family memebers so that he can be familiar with them while clicking.
• Treat him with respect, you’ve hired an artist for your wedding and not a cameraman. Don’t call “Hey you ! click over here ”.  If you want a posed shot with your friends, better to call him politely and get your picture clicked.
• Review his work beforehand and once you’ve liked it, have faith. A candid photographer will do his best to cover your wedding coz we love our work so much. But sometimes due to some constraints or improper lighting and situations beyond our control if a few pictures are not that good, then no one is at fault. No photographer would deliberately miss something or give sub standard work. We put our full potential at every wedding to improvise with what we’ve got. 
• Explain your itinerary in detail to him to avoid confusions. 
• If there are multiple venues, arrange a separate vehicle/taxi for him and his team unless they have any vehicle of their own. Ofcourse so wouldn’t want your photographer left behind when bride is entering the venue. 
• We appreciate if we are not directed every now and then to take a shot. We know when to click ! 
• If there are any last minute changes of programme, keep your photographer posted.

10. Its been 2 days, when are we getting to see the pictures ?
Keep calm. Sorting out some 60GB of data and more than 4000 pictures takes a lot of time and effort. Everyone has their own timeline. Discuss it early if you want pictures before any particular date. Pestering the photographer to finish work sooner will only lead to low editing quality.


11. So what about albums ?

Good pictures = Good Album, Bad pictures = Bad album.

There are so much variety of photobooks, coffee table books, albums available in the market. A photobook is a lightweight hardcover book. There are more than 20 types of different paper profiles available for printing and prices are too much variable. Some of the top photobook/album, vendors are Canvera, Blurb, Leather Craftsmen each providing a wide range of products. A normal hardcover album of 12X12 size with 50 printed sheets would cost 20K and more. There is no limit in range of albums present in market today.  See what your photographer is offering, carefully. Without good pictures, even a diamond studded album would lose its charm.

12. Lots of work ! so less time !

Well I guess a bit of extra pain towards hiring a good photographer is worth it. Afterall Its your big day and it has to be just perfect. So the person covering you at that day is going to your favourite photographer of all the times.

Pardon the spelling and grammatical errors. I’m not much of a writer person.


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The opinions and views I’ve expressed here are through my personal experiences in this field and to help you understand the small details and insights of Wedding Photography.


Puneet Batra Photography

|| Capturing the Moments ||