Wedding

Nothing could be more personal and precious than the photographs of your wedding day. We believe images of you ought to belong to you, not to a photographer who may not even be someone you know well.

Most photographers charge a basic sitting fee to attend your wedding and shoot for a certain number of hours, then edit the pictures they think you will want to buy and charge you again for each print of each individual photograph. You may think you own your images, but in reality, the photographer owns the digital negatives and is merely renting them to you one print at a time at a remarkably high profit. When you purchase your images from a photographer, you are generally only purchasing that one photo and do not have the right to make copies from it. That’s where they make their real profit, and we’re not saying that’s dishonest or wrong. We’re just saying we’ve found a better way that makes more sense and saves you money at the end of the day.

How We’re Different

We’ve developed a business model that we believe is more realistic and fair. It gives you unlimited reproduction rights to have as many prints made as you wish, in whatever sizes you choose, as often as you like. We’ve evaluated dozens of online printing services to find the best in terms of quality and value, and are pleased to make a recommendation to you when we present you with your images. However, you’re free to select a printer of your choice, or to even print your photos at home. You also own the right to have albums, greeting cards and canvas wraps made from your photos without requesting permission from us each time. You may place them on personal web sites and share them freely on social networking sites such as Facebook and flickr.

Two for the Price of One

We don’t believe in leaving anything to chance. That’s why there are 2 of us who will be shooting from different vantage points during your wedding day. This results in a greater variety of images and ensures that no special moment will go unrecorded.

A Word About Copyright

What we do retain is the original copyright of the photos we shoot. It’s really no different than an artist signing a painting, and then selling it to a customer. The buyer owns the artwork, but the artist’s signature remains so that its creator can be identified. This simply means that we reserve the right to display your images in our promotional materials, and that a copyright notice should accompany your photos wherever they might be publicly displayed, such as in a newspaper, on greeting cards or on a web site. The copyright notice is basic and brief, and simply credits us as the photographers: © 2010 OwnYourPhotos.com. To protect the privacy of you, your family and guests, only first names of the couple will be referenced in conjunction with the display of images on our web site, and children will never be identified by either name or location.

What You’ll Receive

We charge a one-time fee, with half due as a retainer at the time of booking and the remainder due when you receive your digital images on DVD. Once you have paid this fee, there will never be another charge from us. When your wedding day is over, we carefully apply professional Photoshop retouching techniques to each image, and prepare two versions of each; one at print resolution and one for web. Your images will be grouped according to resolution and topic, and burned to DVD. You’ll receive two copies of the DVD set containing at least 200 retouched images. All images will be catalogued in a PDF preview document, also included on your DVDs. This will help you quickly and easily locate particular images on disk when you need them.

We Also Create Web Sites

With 14 years of experience in professional-level web site development, we’re your one-stop shop. Having worked internationally for clients throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Mexico, China and Japan, we are widely regarded among the top web developers in the business. Not only do we produce beautiful wedding photos; we also offer web site package plans which include the creation of a uniquely designed web site through which to share your special day with friends and relatives.

Qualifications

Our business model isn’t the only thing about us that’s different. While most wedding photographers are still struggling to convert from traditional film photography to newer digital technology, we’ve been shooting that way since the inception of the first digital cameras. Our background includes 13 years of shooting professional stock photography images, including custom portraiture for the web sites we develop. We have extensive skills and knowledge in every aspect of digital photography and professional processing techniques. We are proficient in the use of all Adobe Creative Suite 4 applications, with 20 years’ experience in Photoshop retouching methods.

Style and Technique

Our style is photojournalism; our technique: stealth. Simply put, we believe the most meaningful images of your wedding day will be those unposed, spontaneous moments when no one was aware of the camera. We are quiet and unobtrusive as we move along in the background to cover every important moment of your special day. You’ll hardly notice we’re there, and that’s the way it should be. We respect the sacred nature of the wedding day, and are mindful to be non-intrusive as we go about our work. We use flash only when absolutely necessary, and all of our equipment is quiet. Although our style is photojournalistic, we also include the traditional posed group images.

Equipment

We shoot in a format known as Raw. This is the purest form of digital photography and gives us the highest quality images possible, with the greatest amount of detail and pixel-perfect control over the final editing process. We use state-of-the-art Canon cameras and lenses, along with the latest in lighting equipment. Our workflow includes the processing of all images using Adobe Creative Suite 4.

Timeline

We ask that you contact us as far in advance of your wedding date as possible to ensure our availability. A retainer of half the total amount of our fee is required to save the date. We then meet with you in person to discuss plans for your unique wedding day, tailoring our services to meet your specific needs and vision. We pride ourselves on making each couple’s photo story unique and reflective of their personal taste and style. We’ll ask the right questions to make the process seamless, as stress-free as possible, and even fun. (Yes, we believe that planning your wedding should actually be fun.) Next we’ll set up an engagement sitting for the couple at a location of your choosing. This session represents no additional charge, and is very important for several reasons:

• It gives us the opportunity to become better acquainted with you as a couple and helps you feel comfortable with us so we’re not strangers on your wedding day.
• The engagement session provides you with some lovely images that you may use to announce your wedding day. Some couples elect to use these images in their printed wedding materials.
• We learn valuable information about you which will help us plan more efficiently for your wedding day.
• It’s fun. This session occurs when the bride and groom are in a relaxed and playful mood, minus the typical wedding day stresses.

We take time and care in processing and retouching each of your precious images. You’ll receive your DVDs approximately 4-6 weeks after the wedding. We promise it’ll be worth the wait. Custom designed web site presentations are generally online within 2 months of the wedding date, dependent upon receiving text content from the couple. Web site development costs are calculated on an individual, per-project basis and are not included in the following pricing scale.

Rates:

3-Hour Coverage……………..$1200
4-Hour Coverage……………..$1400
5-Hour Coverage……………..$1600
6-Hour Coverage……………..$1800
7-Hour Coverage……………..$2200
8-Hour Coverage……………..$2500

All above packages include at least 200 Retouched images on DVD in both print and web resolutions.
More hours of coverage will result in a greater variety of images.