Atlanta portrait and wedding photographers Craig & Cathy Willis
404-375-6280
Our Style
Romantic Wedding Photography
We offer the perfect blend of Classic romantic wedding photography and journalistic style photography.
This page was first set up with a description of the 4 main styles used today to photograph weddings, but no matter how I tried to word the description of the different styles, journalistic, traditional, fashion or creative/artistic, it is very difficult not to show bias in the description it's self. So please read on and see what is really important about style.
No mater what a photographer calls their style, what is important is that the photographer takes photographs that you fall in love with. Then discuss how your day will flow, if that fits your desires of how you want your day to go, then you have found a good match.
Most photographers have a set way they do things, to expect you are going to magically change the way they do things is unrealistic, so ask the question, "How would you suggest that the photography be scheduled for our wedding". and let them explain the style they use, and how they suggest that your photographs be scheduled and completed.
If those suggestions fit what you had in mind, again, then you have found a good match.
Journalistic style photography
This is how we photograph 80% of what we photograph at a wedding normally. It is actually a method of making photographs, not a certain photo.
Photographing the bulk of the wedding day in a way that let's the couple enjoy their wedding, is a key element that has made this style desirable. Although few couples ask for pure photojournalism on their wedding day the main aspect is that they don't want to be have photos that look stiff and posed. Some grouping of the subjects is necessary because of photographs that you want to make sure are made. But having a fun and relaxed atmosphere during the few formal shots that are made is very important. With this style a better part of the final photographs are made without the photographer controlling the people in the photo, just controlling that the photo is great.
Traditional style photography
We listen to you, if that is the style you seek we can provide that style of coverage also. At the same time we still seek to cover the moments, the details, and events of the day as they occur.
Most of the more established studio photographers were for many years called, traditional wedding photographers, and nothing was wrong with that until too many inexperienced photographers were taking mostly posed portraits and neglecting covering the events of the day.
This happened because of the 80/20 rule in life also applies to wedding photography, even with journalistic photography coverage.
That means, 80% of the normal wedding photography orders will come from only 20% of the total photos captured.
If a photographer gets too hung up on that fact, they tend to restrict what they will shoot during the wedding.
The fact that, too many were doing just that, restricting what they would photograph at the wedding, this is what really what put a black eye on many traditional style photographers.
The problem was magnified when this was being done by inexperienced photographers were they were spending excessively long amounts of time after the ceremony taking their formal family photos and denying the couple from enjoying their wedding day. And only photographing a list of "sellers" and not capturing the whole wedding as it unfolds.
There are still many excellent wedding photographers that call themselves a traditional wedding photographer, one more time I must point out how important it is that you see and love the photography that is made by the photographer you are considering. Then ask how the days events will be scheduled, and decide if this photographer is right for you.
Please note:
We at Craig Fine Portraits offer the perfect blend of the two, We photograph in a journalistic style, capturing the emotion of the day in hundreds of beautiful photographs for you to treasure. And having been trained in making fine portraits over many years, we are able to do your formal portraits in a way that flatters and make everyone look as good as you possibly can.
Two problems exist today with wedding photography.
Digital photography has given us many neat and fantastic creative advantages, that can be learned and performed so much easier then back in the days of film.
And the price for a good digital single lens reflex camera has made it very common to find people who are very new to photography with one of these great cameras.
So they start photographing weddings to make a few bucks on the side, while still working their 9-5 job.
As long as one of this type of photographer is honest and open about their lack of experience and you are willing to live with that, that photographer might be a good match for you.
But if they were not honest, and do not have the training, and knowledge, you could end up very unhappy with the wedding photos they provide, and never be able to get that moment back.
The lack of experiance can also lead to them being un-able to handle the pressures of the situations that can and do occur at a wedding,, and their lack of training means they normally will not pay attention to details that will help their subjects look their best.
Knowing how to analyze the face, and position people so they look their best, is a very important part of wedding photography.
When a photographer is not ready to photograph weddings but seeks to book them without being honest, I look at it as "hit and run" wedding photography.
I am not trying to run anyone into the groud with my words, I simply want you to make sure you have found the right photographer for you and what you expect, because after the wedding is over it's too late to make a change.
Will we sell you your digital files or negatives?
The answer is yes, in fact we want you to own the files! However with every collection we offer an album and print allowance that will give you some images that you can see first hand how they can look when done right.
Without having some of your images printed under our control, you might not realize that the lab you picked to print the files from your wedding might have been printed very poorly, and you might blame us for their errors and that would put our reputation at risk. for that reason all collections do offer some print credit.
Even from a pro quality lab like the ones we use, there are many occasions were we have to send prints back to be redone to meet our high standards.
We take and edit the images that we capture for you on the wedding day, for color and density, crop and other aspects that may be needed and they are already for the lab to print.
Also we do something special as we know you own the files, and that is wall portraits, or individual prints you wish to order, If you choose to have us handle the orders for you we will give you a 20% discount off from our portrait print price list.
Computer enhancements and other services are not reduced, just the price for the prints.
What is, romantic wedding photography?
Some photographers think that it is a look you create with a filter, or in the use of a Photoshop action, but to me romantic wedding photography means, making photographs that show the love between two people. When I am photographing a bride and a groom, I let them interact with each other and tell them to pretend that I am not even there. I let them spend some special time together and I record it.
I think that the bride and groom need this time, If they are not given a few minutes alone together without being told every move to make they can go through the entire wedding day and at the end be totally worn out and not even have said anything to each other except their vows.
What would be the perfect blend of traditional & photojournalistic coverage? After all we will have family there at the wedding and I do want make sure we have photographs of them.
Weddings are actually 3 events in one, two family reunions and the celebration of the wedding.
Much attention has been given lately to the photojournalistic style of wedding coverage, yet many photographers have been photographing weddings in a non-obtrusive, un-directed photojournalistic style long before there was a name for it.
Craig Fine Portraits photographs normally a mix of 20-25% of the total days photography directed at the family and formal and informal portraits and 75-80% being the capturing of the day as it unfolds, or any mix of the two according to what you want.
Looking for emotion and feeling as well as recording the details of the day, this is known as photojournalism, it is a way of working, not a certain shot.
For example:
If the photographer directs your wedding party to all jump into the air at the same time for a photograph, that is using an informal portrait style, but seldom would just happen without planning it. Having the family pay attention to each other, or getting in close, cheek to cheek is another way to make informal family portraits.
But I don't want to have the formal portraits take up most of my wedding day, how much time is needed?
In all honesty, we do not want to spent a lot of time on formal portraits. It is your wedding day, not ours. That means we sit down with you and listen to what you want to have happen.
One month prior to the wedding day we sit down with you and go over the details of the day so that when we are there on the wedding day itself there won't be any question about what you want. It is important to know what family members will be there that you desire to be photographed with.
Also If you don't have grandparents for example, on the wedding day it can bring the bride to tears if the photographer were to ask, do you want photographs of you and your grandparents, or a parent that has passed away for that matter.
Also knowing how much time or how many formal photographs you want taken, we can suggest the best way to make this all happen without distracting from the wedding and reception. I have always felt that anything more than 30 minutes total after the ceremony is too much. If your list of formal portraits will take any longer than 30 minutes to accomplish then I suggest that anything that doesn't require the bride and groom to be together be done prior to the ceremony.
A half an hour with the bride and her family and bridesmaids, and another half an hour with the groom and his family and groomsmen is all that is needed prior to the ceremony at the very most. After the ceremony you do any of the formals that couldn't be done prior to the ceremony, that means anything where the bride and groom are together at the same time.
Only 15-20 minutes for the groups and another 10-15 minutes to get the romantic and formal traditional photographs of the bride and groom. I personally feel that it is in bad taste to take the bride and groom from the reception for any formal portraits. Once the reception starts only photojournalistic style photography should take place.
Back to:
Information Pages Directory