Selecting the perfect wedding photographer can be a very tough job. With thousands of photographers out there claiming they are up to the task it is very easy to get confused and be unsure of the best way to go about selecting the right one. As a highly experienced South Florida wedding photographer, I know first hand the nuances and necessities of wedding photography and the pitfalls brides could fall into if not careful when selecting a photographer for their wedding day.

Artistic wedding photography is much more complicated than just grabbing a good camera and taking pictures. While many photographers may call themselves a wedding photographer, wedding photography requires a good eye as well, a certain level of experience, the ability to work with people and the ability to adjust to a changing environment.

You may think you can weed out the good from the bad by meeting the photographer and looking at samples, but  what you’ll mostly end up being shown are just the best photographs from the bunch, rather than the whole set. Well, here is one little known fact that all the smart brides know – it’s not just the best photos you need to see, it’s the entire wedding set.

When meeting with wedding photographers, ask to be shown the entire set of photos from the wedding as they, together, form a sample of the photographer’s work rather than just the best five to ten shots. By looking at the complete set you can see whether or not the photographer can consistently produce beautiful and varied images – like black and white wedding photography, portraits, ceremony and the reception shots – with creativity, good angles and lighting. It is by looking at a diverse array of shots from a wedding, and not just the “lucky” shots, that you will be able to discern whether or not the photographer is what you need for your wedding day.

Some photographers will try to pass off their blurred and less than perfect photography as wedding photojournalism or artistic wedding photography, when in reality all it is, is a bad set of shots. While you may be fooled by this claim if you only look at a handful of shots, you won’t be if you look at the entire set. If the entire set of pictures if out of focus, then you really need to continue to look elsewhere for a wedding photographer as no bride wants those kinds of shots to be in her wedding album.

Whether it is portraits, reception shots, candid shots or black and white wedding photography every picture should be one you can proudly show off to your family and friends instead of hiding at the back of your photo albums. Here at Jeff Kolodny Photography, we pride ourselves on being a most reputable South Florida wedding photography studioand we always offer to show prospective clients the entire set of photos from a wedding – either in a physical meeting or online.