What Photography Style Did You Look For When Booking A Photographer?

As a photographer, I love reading these threads. There are a lot of trends, but it's reassuring to see how interested people are in finding a photographer that fits their personal style, and not just recent trends.

View Quoted Comment Lol yea there's that part too haha

Our style is a blend between classic and bright and cheery. I wanted "clean" and "timeless" looking photos. We ran into a few photographers whose style looked like an Instagram filter, and that wasn't what we were looking for.

I found when I was looking, that a LOT of wedding photographers near us seemed to have photos that got some fantastic captures of emotional moments, but all of them would have this silvery, grey caste/filter over them which made them look moody and dark. Many of our friends also chose native Australian flowers, with dusty, grey-ish blue leaves which toned in with that.

It was the opposite of what my fiancé and I wanted. Our colours are soft peaches, pinks, creams, and bright, spring green, and we wanted a really soft, pastel vibe to our photos, which didn’t seem to be not so common where we live right now, but luckily we were able to find a few photographers that do the style on Instagram.

We spoke to a few and fell in love with one in particular who we wanted to book, but she got a deposit for our date from a couple she’d spoken to previously, so we weren't able to. We asked her for some recommendations and ended up going with one of them, and he has been so, so lovely.

Honestly, the 2 things that mattered to my fiancé and I were:

1. The person would have a style that fit the overall ‘look’ we wanted – even if the emotional captures are perfect, if their editing style isn’t what you want, you’re better off going with someone else, not trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

2. The person had to have a nice feel, and generally get along with us, since we knew we’d be spending 10 hours with them on the day! We’d been at some weddings where the photographers were full-on divas, and I guess if you get really outstanding results that would be okay, but my sister’s photographer was not only a nightmare on their wedding, but they’re also unhappy with the end result, so we decided we wanted someone with a friendly vibe.

The first was pretty easy – we were able to find people’s Instagram accounts and stalk them to see if they had the style we wanted. The second wasn’t too hard either, we met with our options and asked them a bunch of questions, and then we had an engagement session with the person we chose, to see how they worked, and what their end results were.

View Quoted Comment I feel like photos are often a "you know the right one when you see it" type of thing - my fiance and I also weren't looking for a specific style, but knew that we would know the right one when we saw it. The style you mentioned sounds perfect for a spring wedding! And awesome that your photographer is very consistent in her style!

View Quoted Comment Love the natural colors!! I also love candid photos over posed photos - true emotion seems to be captured best through candid moments. Have you booked your photographer yet?

View Quoted Comment Awesome!! Glad you were able to find one you like! My fiance and I also booked our photographer first thing too - as soon as we found one who we felt would be perfect for photographing our wedding, we immediately booked. It's crazy how quickly vendor schedules fill up!

View Quoted Comment A lot of people referred to the "light and airy" style, though I'm honestly not super familiar with it - I *think* I know what they mean, but just to clarify, can you please share an example picture of what that style looks like?

View Quoted Comment Yes we booked our photographer! He has the style we were looking for: high quality, crisp, natural photos with everyone in them looking relaxed, happy, etc. He was super nice and organized on our phone call as well, so it was a nice easy decision from there. Though I must have looked at 50 photographers' work online before figuring out what I liked. There are a lot of styles out there that were definitely not for us - moody, dark, fantasy, extremely bright and washed out, super formal and posed, etc.

View Quoted Comment Definitely! I never really realized that there were photography trends until my fiance and I started looking for a photographer. It's always interesting to get the perspective of a photographer too - do you find that people often ask you for a specific style?

View Quoted Comment That sounds like a beautiful style! I agree, having timeless photos is important to me as well. The Instagram filter style seems to be somewhat of a trend, but not one that I'd like to follow lol. Do you have an inspiration photo that shows the style you were looking for?

View Quoted Comment The dark and moody filter definitely seems to be popular lately! It's not my personal style, but if other people like it, that's great! Glad that you were able to find a photographer whose style you liked! Do you have an inspiration photo or an example photo of the style you were looking for?

View Quoted Comment Very cool that you found a photographer that matches what you were looking for!! I agree, there are certainly a lot of different styles out there, but since everyone likes different photo styles, there is an option out there for everyone!

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Something like this:

The colors are a little more muted than they would be in real life.

View Quoted Comment Oh I see - that makes sense! That's kind of close to what I had thought the style was. Thanks for sharing that example!

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I sure do!

We wanted this vibe:

View Quoted Comment Very cool!! I definitely see how your wedding colors would work out beautifully with that photo style. Thanks for sharing the picture!

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You're so welcome.

And we hope so! Our venue has some beautiful fruit trees that blossom like that around the time we're getting married so we're just crossing our fingers that we get lucky and the weather conditions are right for them on our day!

But if not, our photographer has such a beautiful style I'm sure we'll get some good shots - he did a great job with our engagement photos!

I wanted true to life colors and shooting style that was more "storytelling" and photojournalistic with an emphasis on candid snaps vs posed shots. I also looked for natural looking skin tones because those are the hardest to correct if they are too orange or too washed out. As a photographer, I can edit later to have a "bright and airy" effect or a "dark and moody" effect, but if the authentic colors aren't there to begin with its much harder to get a natural looking result.

View Quoted Comment Ooh that sounds super pretty!! Fingers crossed for you that the trees will be beautifully blossoming on your wedding day. But even if not, the photos will still turn out gorgeous!