South Asian Wedding Photography

 

What do South Asian Weddings include?

South Asian Weddings would include any weddings from cultures orignating in the South Asian sub-continent. These would include any Pakistani or Indian weddings such as Sikh Weddings, Hindu weddings, Church weddings, Punjabi weddings, Muslim wedding, Gujrati weddings, Tamil weddings, Bengali weddings, multi-cultural weddings … etc.

 

How would you define your style?

A majority of the pictures taken at weddings are candid. In any traditional or ceremonial proceedings, We do not interfere. Rather the event is keenly scanned for any possible pictures and most often we get close to the action using appropriate zoom lens. Posed park shots and other portraits being an exception. Some call it candid wedding photography, to some it is photojournalistic wedding photography style and yet some call it portrait journalistic wedding photography. Whatever name you would call it by, you do get plenty of detail shots and plenty of emotion shots, and plenty of shots that would bring memories of the events that happened on your wedding day.

 

What equipment do you use?

Equipment used is professional Canon Digital cameras with backup. Studio lights where required.

In South Asian weddings there are all kinds of skin tones, all kinds of vibrant colours. Lights are used to enhance the end result. Great care is taken to ensure that the end result looks natural and has no telltale harsh flash shadows with background going dark.

 

How many pictures do you shoot? Do you limit the number of pictures taken?

There is no limit to the number of images shot. The most important thing is to make sure that nothing is missed. However going by the experience of numerous South Asian wedding photographed, on an average 60 to 80 images are taken for an hour of shooting and then only the best are selected during editing.

 

Do you back up the images from a shoot. I have heard horror stories about photographers losing shots from an entire wedding because of a computer crash.

In wedding photography we know that there is just one chance to get a shot. We know how valuable that is. Especially so in South Asian weddings where relatives have traveled across the globe just to attend the event.

Today’s photographer is dependent on technology and is as reliable as the equipment. Every effort is made to minimize any loss to images. Your special day is photographed on numerous different memory cards (not one gigantic memory card). No image is ever erased, and no card formatted on location. Therefore we travel with over 40 gigs of memory cards. As soon as we get back to the studio, all the images are copied to an external hard drive, and then backed up on DVDs (which are stored in a different physical location)

 

Do I receive Hi Res images?

Yes. You receive the Hi-res images (digital negatives) without any markings

 

Can I make my own prints?

Absolutely. You can make as many prints as you want for yourself and family, as long as no reproduction is for any commercial use, or for any publication. Please read “How to get really good prints” in the info page.

 

Will I be able to make a copy of the Hi Res image DVD or CD?

Yes. As a matter of fact, you should not give the original to any lab. Make a copy for the lab and keep the original in a safe place.

 

What is a digital album?

Please see “Different types of Albums” in the info page.

 

What is a pre- wedding or an engagement shoot?

A pre-wedding (Engagement shoot) is a photo shoot done much earlier than the date of the wedding. This is really a fashion shoot generally done at an interesting location, without the pressures of the wedding day. Most couples get a framed enlargement from the pre-wedding shoot to display at the reception.

 

Why would you recommend a pre- wedding or an engagement shoot?

A pre-wedding (Engagement shoot) is recommended for a few reasons. One, it gives you as a couple a chance to get comfortable in front of the camera. It gives the photographer a chance to study your best features through the lens. It is casual and fun and you can try out different pictures just for the fun if it. These result in some interesting shots that you could get enlarged and framed to be displayed at the reception. Seeing your photographer in action at the pre-wedding shoot also gives you reassurance that you have made the right choice for the photography of one of the most important days of your life.

 

How flexible are you about time?

There are a lot of intricate traditions woven around Indian weddings. A number of relatives become an important part of the event. Delays are not unusual. As such the entire events agreed upon are covered (unless a fixed time for the coverage of the event has been previously agreed upon).

 

How are you different from other photographers?

I have been very successfully been serving the advertising and corporate clients for over 19 years and continue to do so. This has only been possible because of the training and education that I have received (See profile for details) and continue to further my education in the field. To even survive in that industry one had to have a through understanding of the technical side of photography and grasp what the requirement of the client is and to deliver no matter what the circumstances.

With such a background I have been doing South Asian Wedding photography for the last four years. We pride ourselves for delivering brilliant pictures under difficult situations time after time after time. The quality of work caught the attention of Queensberry, one of the most prestigious album manufactures in the world. We are the only South Asian wedding photographers to be featured on their site. You can read the article at http://blog.queensberry.com/2008/02/  The wedding I have photographed was also written up in Saturday Star and one of the best sources of new clients is referrals from satisfied clients, ensuring a booked calendar (bookings already started for 2010)

 

What is a raw file?

Every digital camera shoots raw data. However raw data cannot be used in the real world unless it is converted to a format like JPG or Tif. This conversion is either done by the camera, or if the camera allows it the raw format can be saved on the computer and using very sophisticated software the conversion can be done later.

 

Why shoot in raw format?

A raw format has all the information the camera recorded, whereas JPG has only a fraction. When a photographer shoots JPGs directly on a camera, most of the data that the camera recorded is discarded and ony the portion of the data that the camera decided to retain is kept as a JPG file (although cameras today do a great job of selecting the best portion of the entire data).

When a raw format is shot, the entire data is retained and sophisticated softwares are used to tweak the best image from the entire data. Moreover the raw file is not touched in anyway so one can always go back to the raw file and process it differently each time.

One of the biggest advantages of raw format is thatone can work with 65,536 brightness levels to work compared to JPG which has only 256. This enables a photographer to use software to get details in a light sherwani  as well as bring out all the exquisite details in a dark dress.

 

Then why do some photographers still shoot JPG?

A JPG file is much smaller than a raw file as such a photographer can accommodate many more shots on a memory card.

A camera can also shoot JPGs faster than it can raw.

Downloading to the computer from the memory card is faster.

It is also less work for photographer as camera has already processed the image and has created a usable file.

Since number of processes have already been applied by the camera, it looks snappier than raw as it comes out of the camera.

 

Would you travel out of town?

Absolutely. There is no extra charge for travel upto 100 kms. For any travel beyond that please discuss with photographer about expenses for travel.