Chicago Wedding Photography

Planning a wedding is truly a full time endeavor. It requires an enormous amount of detailed work and time. While caterers, floral designers, and logistics/location etc., are all important projects in the wedding planning process, one of the most important and tedious tasks is knowing how to book the right Wedding DJ. Evaluating and selecting the right wedding DJ involves a tremendous amount of time and research. Narrowing your selection takes longer than most would think, but doing this will pay off when your informed selection results in a professional DJ that will make the most of the biggest day of your life. Just like many other professions, there are services that over promise and under deliver. This leads to unhappy clients and ruined memories. One way you can avoid a disappointing wedding reception from occurring is by conducting thorough research. When talking with the various wedding services companies, you will realize all the options you have available as a client, and thorough research will allow you to experience the difference between companies.Getting To Know the DJ Company is of the Utmost Importance.You might think that with all of the other tasks associated with planning your wedding, you can simply make your selection online, or as the result of a brief telephone conversation. This could be a major mistake. The ideal wedding DJ service would encourage you to meet in person to get a feel if there is a good match for your wedding and learn WHY the company has many satisfied clients. The best way for potential clients to learn about wedding DJ services and get information to determine if the company is a 'good fit' for them is to visit their office for a brief meeting. This way they can see examples of the work, and learn more about the company. Those wedding DJ s, that have succeeded for so long have done so primarily because they have built a Wedding Services Company by making people happy. You definitely want to deal with DJ companies whose main focus is on client satisfaction. They should operate under the philosophy of "we don't want our client's money unless they are really, really happy with the services we have provided".Setting the Right Expectations--And Communicating Those ExpectationsWhen booking wedding DJs, it is perfectly normal to ask your master of ceremonies detailed questions. Even more important, however, is for the DJ to effectively ask detailed questions as well. A well experienced and reputable DJ service knows exactly what questions to ask of the bride to insure that she will get exactly what she wants and expects for her reception. Setting the right expectations and then communicating those expectations clearly to the bride is the key to insuring she is not only on the same page, but that she can also walk away from the meeting KNOWING that all loose ends have been tied. While talking to your DJ, a good topic to discuss besides dedications, requests, and special announcements, is how many happy clients do you have? And, can you provide videos demonstrating this, and/or recent testimonials of satisfied clients? You know you've selected a reputable company when you are provided with recent glowing testimonials.Remember to keep the points above in mind when meeting with your DJ. This will give you some guidance on determining if company you are interviewing is a good match. The more questions you ask the better! And again, the right questions asked by your disc jockey allows him or her to fully understand what you are looking for in order to fulfill all the needs your special day requires. You are discussing your wedding and they should be as excited as you are about it. Your DJ should give you helpful recommendations and effectively communicate these important points with the ultimate goal of instilling confidence that you have properly researched and selected the right Wedding DJ. And if you can leave the meeting with a feeling that the DJ knows you and what you want, you can walk away with confidence and peace of mind.Wedding Services-One Stop ShoppingSpeaking of communicating, if you could hire a Wedding Services company that not only provided DJ services, but also included Photography and High Definition Videography in their mix of services, do you think that would help expedite the planning process, and more importantly instill confidence and help with vital communication? Of course it would! Most DJ companies do not combine these services, although there are reputable companies that will combine these 3 services, so a great tip would be to do your homework and seek them out. Knowing how tremendously stressful the whole wedding planning process is, selecting a reputable wedding services company that can successfully combine these 3 important services, together with a team of established long-time professionals is what I would call intelligent wedding planning. And that translates into a memorable, well planned wedding reception!

In real life, real women do not have Barbie doll proportions and recently all eyes are riveted on curvy models on the catwalk and they're doing just as fun as their thin-reed counterparts. Thus if you are a plus size, you shouldn't go red all over the face shopping for a wedding dress.Plus Sized and Sexy Size 16 Crystal Renn is proving that curvy women can ooze sex appeal in plus size dresses. This Florida model broke barriers in the modeling world by placing the curvy women in the frontlines of fashion. Just by watching her in different flirty, girly, and sophisticated dresses, you can already imagine how great you can look in of those stunning plus size wedding dresses. Now you know that if you are a size 14 or 18, you can swing it. Say goodbye to starving yourself to a size 10 if you are a size 18.In the first place, your groom loved you from the start proving that in love, weight does not matter. Top designer labels also adore the full-figured frame; now there's no reason why you should buy a size 10 dress when you are a size 14 or 18 to copy the unhealthy looks of reed thin models because this is the vogue.You can choose several designs from the plus size wedding dresses - sheaths, princess cut, ensembles, off-the-shoulder and sleeveless numbers. Remember these are all designed for the full-figured women, apple-shaped or pear shaped and the fabrics used are all selected to create a slim silhouette. You can buy your plus size wedding dress with confidence anywhere and anytime.Let Your Natural Beauty ShineImagine yourself exercising 8 hours a day and wearing out your joint muscles and eating vegetables day in and day out and avoiding even the slightest hint of sweets and butter! Your hair will fall off and you'll be irritable and unfocused. What a miserable preparation for a wedding day. Don't punish yourself beyond your limits; exercise to tone your muscles and eat healthy to put a glow on your skin. Let your natural beauty show instead of stunning your groom and your friends with a new look that isn't you.The same rules apply when you choose a dress from a rack of plus size wedding dresses. Go for softer fabrics and dress style to complete your body shape. The bridal salon's bridal specialist will help you sort out the dresses until you find one that's perfect for your height, coloring, and body shape.The concession you can make to the Barbie look, is copying a Barbie hairstyle. Ask your hair stylist if you can swing it with an 'up do' or just let your natural hair flow in its natural curls or waves. A diamond studded hair clip or flowers in your hair are ready options for long or short hair.

Probably the most popular type of photography today is travel photography and millions of people take photos during their holidays around the world, in the most beautiful travel destinations. But not every tourist with a camera can be truthfully called a photographer and not all images captured during our travels can truly be called photographs.Nevertheless, many people that like to travel have also become photographers along the years, either as a secondary hobby, or just to keep beautiful memories from the places they visited. The majority of people though, still do not know the difference between a picture and a photograph.If you are planning a trip and need to know a few basic tips and advice about what to take in your baggage in terms of camera gear, below you might find some valuable information in that matter. Travel photography is all about the ability to take good photos on the go.While traveling, you need to be prepared all the time to seize the perfect moment, you need to be able to get around fast and easy and that means reducing the size and weight of your equipment to the minimum.Unless you are serious photographer, traveling to a destination on an assignment, you should try to take with you just the strictly necessary camera gear. You cannot enjoy a trip carrying a huge backpack with several camera bodies, half a dozen lenses, tripods and so on.Camera body - If you have a compact or bridge camera, then just take that with you, but if you are serious about photography, you should own one or more DSLR camera bodies. Just take one of them, the most versatile and lightweight you have, the one that you love the most and offers good results in all situations.Almost all camera manufacturers have a huge lineup of models available, some of them better suited for travel photography. Depending on your personal preferences, try to also consider the size and weight of the equipment.Lenses - In terms of lenses, things are not as simple as it might seem. There is a huge variety of models that vary in terms of several characteristics. The basic recommendations would be to just take one or maximum two lenses in your travels.Either choose an all around lens with excellent quality, or a wide lens and a short telephoto lens in order to cover all your angles. Also, try to take good quality lenses, that give good results in most lighting conditions and also consider the weight of these lenses.

The big thing these days to have at a wedding reception, birthday party, reunion, or really any event is to have a photo booth. But if you have never rented a photo booth before what should you know?The first thing you should ask is what type of camera does your photo booth use? Why is this important? Some photo booths use a "web cam" camera, these produce a lower resolution than normal cameras, they are cheaper for the photo booth operator to have in their booth and can cause blurry pictures. What you want in a photo booth is a DSLR camera, these are the cameras that the professional photographers use and provide the best photos.The next thing you want to know is what type of printer they use. The worst case is a regular computer printer not made for photos, then there are "photo printers" that use the same type of ink cartridge as the regular printer. These printers do not give a good result and use the printer paper that you can buy at best buy or staples. You want a company that use the "sub dye" printers, these are more expensive printers (usually cost the operator about $1000) and uses a ribbon type of ink which provides the same prints as you would get at a photo store.Does it cost for setup? Believe it or not some booth rental companies charge for setup. If you need them to setup hours before the event ask for a rate that would include "down time" which is time that the booth is not running.What type of features does each package really contain? Ask about what you get with each of their packages. Plus if your event is not on a Saturday, ask if there is a discount for your date and what is their deposit.Photo booths are a great way to wow your guest with custom photo strips with your information on them. It also gives a great conversation piece for all of your guest and something they can trade between each other. It is now a must have for every event for everyone. Also make sure to let your rental company know if your reception is on anything but the ground floor as some photo booths cannot go upstairs. One nice thing to do is if your photo booth operator is treating you good is to offer them food or even a tip.If you want to spice things up a little bit you can ask about prop rentals or ask if you can use your own props for your event. This will make your photos more funny and interesting. One item you might want is a photo book if you are using it for a wedding, this way your will receive a copy of the strips to put into your book and everyone writes comments to you and you get to keep it as a present and is a perfect memory for your wedding. I highly suggest this as part of your package.Also ask if you get the photos on a flash drive or CD for you to keep all the photos also that way or if they upload it to their web site or Facebook so all the guest can get a copy of other photos as well. This will make it more fun for all of your guests.

A wedding photographer is one of the most important service providers for your wedding. To capture the magic of the moment can not be understated. Wedding pictures will be with you a lifetime and you want to be certain the person you hire will be the very best for you. But how do you go about selecting and hiring the person that that will capture the memory of a lifetime? How do you know she will "know" how to capture the best possible picture to truly tell the story of your wedding?The person you hire for your wedding is a service provider first and secondly she is an artist. From your very first interaction to the final follow-up meeting she has to be the most in tuned provider at your wedding engagement and with you! Once your wedding day is set get on the hiring of your photographer ASAP. Be sure to take your time interviewing a number of photographers. And when you interview - understand that although pricing is a factor - it cannot be the sole deciding factor. Cheap is never the best. And "truth be told" you will get what you pay for. Wedding photography is art, business, and service. So make sure that you are money-smart when selecting the wedding photographer.How do you do that? You start by asking five questions:

Who will shoot the wedding?
Do you have wedding albums to look at?
Do you have a list of recommended vendors?
Do you upload photos from the event to an online gallery and how long are they available to view?
What style of photography will be used and in what format?

Oh boy, there are a lot of wedding photographers out there aren't there? Or at least, there are a lot of photographers out there that claim to be good right? I have seen some really terrible shots, and hideous wedding photos, from people who are charging premium prices for their work.There are many really talented photographers out there, who are not getting the work. So why is this? It can be put down to one simple fact.MarketingLet us ponder this point for a moment: If you do not know how to market yourself, then you may be the most talented photographer in the world, but you will remain a very talented, and unemployed photographer. Here are some key points to help you on your way to success as a wedding photographer.Get Good Quality Printed MaterialNothing says, "I'm awesome" like some really great, good quality printed marketing material. The fact that you are able to produce such good quality material, inspires confidence and trust in your potential customers. Get the best that you can afford. You do not need 1000 brochures, or business postcards etc Quality rather than quantity is paramount if you are to court the right kind of clientele.Some suggested items include: High gloss promotional postcards, business cards of at least 300gsm (gsm indicates the weight of the paper), glossy tri-fold brochures.Be Clever with Where You Target your Printed MaterialThe most obvious place to leave a business card (along with 1000 other budding photographers) are bridal emporiums.

Wedding Photography can be one of the most enjoyable and lucrative professions within photographic industry, but it can also be one of the most stressful and demanding.A strong desire to succeed and a perfectionist attitude are essential to move up in this highly competitive market. Wedding photography is all about integrity and professionalism, and being organized and punctual is crucial for success in this field.Whether you are aiming to be a professional or doing the wedding photography as a favor for a friend or family, there are certain tricks of the trade to make sure that it all goes smoothly. Wedding photography does not include a re-do option, and you have one day to get the shots right.A good trick to successful wedding photography, is planning a shot list. This helps to get the wedding couple to think ahead about the moments that they want you to capture on the day. Compiling a check list of these will be helpful, especially with the family shots that are generally taken after the ceremony as you do not want to forget an important family member in the family shots. As there are so many styles and themes of weddings, this will also allow you to have a checklist for where you need to be and when, to ensure you do not miss some unique tradition in the wedding ceremony or the moments before and after. Many different religions consider different moments in the whole day as an important moment to be captured and you need to be aware of these before the day.Knowing the location you are going to be shooting at, or the different locations is also and essential part of successful wedding photography. Scouting the locations will give you some ideas about the positions for shots and the limitations of the location. It will also provide you with an understanding of how the light will come into play.Be prepared for things to go wrong. Having a back up plan in case of bad weather or any other unpreventable occurrence will make sure you have control of the situation.Ensuring simple things are taken care of will also go a long way to making the day run smoothly for you. Charging the batteries, having enough blank memory cards, and knowing the routes and time it takes to get to places as well as an itinerary will let you be where you need to be and when you need to be there. Simple things like turning the sound off your camera will also make a difference. Having a beeping camera during speeches or the vows will not add to the atmosphere of the event.Getting a little creative with your shots will allow you to create a more expressive and impressive wedding album. Wedding photography generally requires a lot of the images to be fairly formal and adding a few artistic pictures will make the album look more professional. Use the light around you (whether with a flash or not) to add extra texture and depth to the pictures.Whether you are a professional or a generous amateur, wedding photography requires a professional attitude to guarantee that you get the right shots. This is a one time only deal and it is important to make sure you are organized, prepared and ready to tackle wedding photography.

Taking photos is necessary at wedding ceremonies and other such parties. However, you are not able to get the perfect pictures every time. Sometimes, you are not able to take the perfect pictures because of bad camera quality. Sometimes, you get blurry pictures because of too much movement at the time of taking the picture. And on other occasions, the lighting plays a big role in ruining your pictures. Too much lighting along with bad lighting can also be bad for your pictures. If there is too much light, you will observe glares and extraordinarily white spots in your pictures. With photo restoration, all these problems can be dealt with.If you have had a bad experience with pictures on your wedding, you can take services from a photo restoration professional to restore your pictures. A lot can be done to your wedding pictures with the help of latest photo editing software and tools. Not only can you restore the pictures that have become faded but you can also add wedding photo effects to them. With the help of photo retouching and photo enhancement, you can bring life to your wedding pictures that have dull colors. Brighter, darker or lighter colors can be added to your wedding pictures with the help of photo editing software.With a background change, photo restoration experts can create a perfect picture of your couple. Due to bad lighting, your pictures can have a very dark background at times. Who would want to have a dark background on a wedding picture? With background change, you can get rid of the dark background issue from your wedding pictures. If there is something in the background that is ruining a romantic picture of the couple, you can have the background changed to your liking. Even if there is no background or picture is not from your wedding, you can make it a wedding picture by using background change options.If some features of your face or body are not looking good in the picture, you can make them disappear with the help of photo retouching. Photo enhancement can be used to balance any colors distortion in the pictures. If you visit a professional's office or website, you will find a huge range of wedding photo effects that could be added to your wedding photos. With photo restoration and editing techniques, you can add items on your wedding pictures. How about trying different color effects on your plain white wedding gown?

The invention of actions in Photoshop opened up a whole new arena for photographers wishing to improve the look of their work. They are particularly useful in Wedding Photography, where many images need to be edited in a short amount of time.Actions can be accessed from the Actions panel in Photoshop, where you will find several default actions already there. In short, an action is a tool, which performs multiple repetitive tasks with the press of one button. For example, there are actions for creating soft filters, for turning Wedding Photographs to black and white images and for almost any other action you want to perform.Many leading Photographers, as well as graphic designers have their own actions, which they have made and are available for sale. There are also millions of photoshop actions available for free on the internet. You can also make your own actions in photoshop, quickly and easily by pressing the record button before you perform a task and pressing the stop button afterwards. You can name this action whatever you like and use it every time you wish to perform that task, with the click of one button.There are many different types of actions, but some more popular ones will cover different sharpening tools, resizing images, adding borders and giving the image a particular look, like old fashioned, sepia or modern. Some very popular action sets for sale include Totallyrad actions, and Kubota actions. Both of these are utilised by Wedding Photographers extensively to quickly put out the beautiful images that their clients seek.

So You've Got TalentSo you are a photographer and not just any type of photographer you are a wedding photographer. You've chosen a profession that will require many different skill sets, not the least of which is your ability to take a great picture. But there is a lot more to running a successful business than just having a service to offer. Many people have had a great idea or a special talent but have not been able to capitalize on that talent. This series of articles is intended to help you achieve your dream of working on your own, providing a unique service to deserving clients, and doing it all successfully.The Real Cost of Wedding Photography BusinessFirst and foremost let's get the necessities out of the way. If you're going into business as a wedding photographer there are certain things you are going to have to have at a minimum. Some photographers have done without some of the following items but to be honest I wouldn't suggest it. These are just the basics to get you started. You can build up your equipment later on. Each of the following items is listed within its own article:• website (with a secure gallery for customers) and email• marketing plan• photography equipment and home office• a second photographer• insurance, taxes, business license and bank accounts