Researching Photography Services Online - What to look for?

Online wedding planning resources are generally a dime a dozen. To you the bride-to-be the value is in useful and resourceful information that allows you to have an educated and beneficial meeting (“interview”) with a vendor of your choice. Prior to every picking up the phone and scheduling a meeting with a potential photographer, for instance, access to his/her website and an understanding of various photography methods, styles, and lingo could save you time and money. For your benefit, this site has provided you with much content about the business of photography with more to come. But how do you effectively analyze a vendor’s website to see if his or her style matches your taste, or more importantly, what does the effort in web design and content on a vendor’s web pages tell you about your potential future experience?

In this era of a technologically expansive universe and affordability, there is no excuse why you should not be able to view photographers’ offerings online and get an idea of price and style. Generally be on the look for some of these key characteristics:

1. Avoid flash introductions; a good web-site should be conscientious about dial-up customers in our area. Simple things like this identify a vendor in tune with current trends.
   
2. Be weary of any site that is under construction. Check out when the website was published. If it is 2006 and the site was first published in 2003, all links should be functional and all navigation buttons should work. If a website is going to be used as a sales tool, all characteristics that you view may be indicative of your overall experience that you may have with this photographer.
   
3. Analyze clarity of all pictures; the ability to transfer a photograph to a website is not an overly difficult task with the right piece of software. A clear and crisp on screen presence should give you a level of security that your photo will be of the same resolution and quality. Purchasing the right equipment to convey his/her abilities to you via online portals, should afford you a comfort level in scheduling that first appointment. Remember, photographers have a business to run too and families to feed, however a view to their website gives you the ability to be sold on their services without the “hard sell”, and when you do make that phone call allows you to relay your ideas and thoughts into action!
   
4. You should be able to view some sample albums, and don’t underestimate the value of testimonials. Chances are permission had to be granted to publish the album and testimonials online, so it is definitely a showcase of some of the artists’ best work. According to Ken Fox, Master of Photography CK FOX Studio (www.ckfox.com), “Brides should be able to view many flip albums in a slide show format. It will give you the best indication of the quality of a photographer’s expertise. Pages should be designed so that page loads are quick and efficient. You want to have fun planning your wedding, not frustrated staring at a blank computer screen. When done properly, all these things are possible!
   
5. Pricing should be clear.
   
6. Contact should be able to be facilitated easily. In other words, you should have easy access to all contact info, and be able send an e-mail without the encumbrance of a “request for information” form.
   
7. All-in-all after you have seen the sample body of work, you should be able to feel the photographer’s enthusiasm for his/her craft, and if you do, you won’t go wrong. This, I can assure you!