This post is not really about Science per say. It is something that you might say is from experience.

I am an amateur photographer. I have some shots that I really proud of. Some were by accident and some I planned that way! (I will never tell which were which!)

I get asked every now and then, if I could shoot pictures of a wedding.I immediately decline, and urge them to hire a professional!

Taking photos of a wedding is a job for someone who does it all the time! Someone who understands lighting. Wedding dresses are bright white, and the groom’s Tux is probably going to be dark black. This is VERY difficult for even a good amateur to get right.

Ask yourself, what physical memories your parents have of their wedding. Likely, your Mom has her wedding dress boxed away some place. Other than that, they have the photos. My wife’s Dad was a professional photographer, and when he got married, a fellow professional shot the pictures.

They are both gone now, but my wife has beautiful large photos of their wedding day, over 50 years ago.

My closest friend is a wedding photographer in the UK. I also know several here in the States. They are all seeing a big drop in their business, as more and more people, get high quality digital cameras. With wedding dresses, and a cake costing thousands, it seems tp make sense to young couples to cut costs, by getting someone they know with a fancy camera to take the wedding pictures.

This is a huge mistake.

Take my advice. Cut the costs on the cake, the place, or the dress. They will all be forgotten 10 years later. The pictures will be the one thing that lasts! I speak from experience. I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary last month.

Every wedding photographer I know gets calls constantly asking if anything can de done with their amateur wedding photos. Sadly, the answer is not much.

Ernest Hemingway was being visited by the famous western landscape photographer Ansel Adams. Hemingway asked him “What brand of camera do use?”.

Adams replied “What brand of typewriter do you use?”.

Later,

Dan