What’s your photography style?
Our style is documentary. We love capturing the natural and beautiful moments that occur during your wedding day, with minimal intervention. But we also realize this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for you to have us capture amazing images of you in the most beautiful setting, and we feel it’s our responsibility to do this. So, we will direct a little during the times when we feel it’s necessary, but on the whole, it may be about 10% of the day.
Our goal is to provide you with images that are timeless, and our editing style reflects that. We love capturing the fun and romance of the day, and it’s important for us to do so without making you look forced.
Do you mainly shoot in natural light or do you utilize your own lights?
Short answer is we do both.
We shoot natural light whenever possible, when the natural lighting allows for great images. However natural light, most notably sunlight, isn’t always the most flattering and can create harsh shadows at certain times of the day. In those instances, we may move you to a less sunny location, or use external lights to overcome the sunlight.
Indoors, the natural lighting, or available lighting, can be dim or look flat. CFL lighting, which is used by some venues, can give off some weird colorcast that our eyes will correct for, but look terrible in photos. In these cases, we’ll introduce our lighting which creates a multi-dimensional spotlight effect, which we feel looks a million times better.
Take a look at the two photos below. The first without lights and the second one with.
It takes a lot more gear, experience, and effort to create the desired look with lighting, and it’s just not a matter of owning gear that’s good in low light.
What equipment do you use?
We use the finest professional full-frame Canon DSLRs and the fastest lenses that we feel renders photos with the sharpest and most beautiful colors, with the most flattering skin tones. The cameras combined with the lenses also produces great images even in low-light.
For photography, we use multiple speed lights to create dimension during the reception. Similarly, we use multiple spot lights for videography that can replace our speed lights when we shoot both photos and video.
When we’re shooting video, capturing quality audio is one of the most important components to what do during the day as bad audio makes for bad video. We will utilize multiple audio recorders just to ensure we have backups in case of failure.
We’re not that comfortable in front of the camera. How can you help?
Believe or not, this is something a lot of couples ask, and it’s something that a lot of normal (non-model) people feel, so don’t worry! We may be used to taking selfies with our phones, but rarely are we going to be in front of photographers and videographers for a whole day.
For that reason, we highly recommend all couples go through an engagement shoot with us. It’s like wedding-day bootcamp! This is where not only do you get to know us better and how we work, you’ll also be given some suggestions on how best to look in front of the camera. We’ll go through simple techniques, like how to stand, where to place the hands, where to look — all things that you’ll find will resulting in stunning photos!
An engagement session is also a more relaxed environment, unlike a wedding day when schedules can run late and stress level may be high. So having a pre-portrait session before your wedding day can make your wedding day photos look so much more natural. The bonus is that you’ll get some amazing images that you can use for Save-The-Date, Guest Sign-in Table, and Thank You’s, much less photos that you can hang around the house that’s not in wedding attire!
What advise would you give us as we’re shopping for a photographer?
Everyone has different taste in what he or she likes, so it’s important to check out the portfolio and see if the photos mesh with what you’re looking for. My advice is to stay away from photographers who over-retouch the images as what may look “cool” today might look dated 10 years from now. Trends come and go, but beautiful photos in true colors are timeless.
You’ll also want to see if you mesh with the photographer’s demeanor. You’ll spend the majority of your wedding day with the photographer (and videographer), so choose someone you’ll feel comfortable with and trust.
Budgeting for photography can be tough for some. Everything wedding-related can be overwhelming in cost, but at the end of the day, what you’re left with after the wedding day are memories instilled in photos (and video). They’re priceless to look back on and it’ll always be special to be able to share them with your kids and grandkids. You’ll definitely find a wide range of pricing, but my advice is to go with an experienced professional that you can trust to do the job. The pros will not only capture the day in the best way possible, but also be able to capture the day when things don’t go right and equipment fail.
What is the coverage difference between one photographer/videographer vs. two?
There are some obvious advantages to having two photographers. Starting with the beginning of the day, if the bride and groom are getting ready in separate locations (not in the same hotel, home, etc), the 2nd photographer can be with the groom while the lead photographer will be with the bride. Also, with one photographer, you’ll get a perspective from one angle. For instance, during the ceremony, the one photographer may get the shot from the head of the aisle during the procession, but with a 2nd photographer, you’ll get the shot from the back as well when everyone turns towards the bride as she walks down the aisle. Similarly, other events of the day where a 2nd angle is available (for instance reaction shots), or where we can possibly capture multiple events in parallel (one shooting portraits while the 2nd shoots cocktail candids and reception details), it’s definitely advantageous to have that 2nd photographer.
With one videographer, we’re limited to 2 cameras at any one time — one manned and one unmanned. A 2nd videographer allows us to have two manned cameras and one unmanned. The two active manned cameras can follow the subjects if they’re moving and either get them from multiple angles or one can capture the subject while the 2nd captures reactions. And similar to the advantage with photography, a 2nd videographer can capture the groom if he is getting ready at a separate location, or capture other candid moments while the lead videographer is busy with another shoot. Lastly, a 2nd videographer allows us to light the reception properly with our spotlights. With one videographer, we will be limited to using available lighting.
Our recommendation is to go with 2 photographers and/or 2 videographers always unless you are extremely budget-constrained.
Are you a commercially licensed drone operator?
We are FAA Part 107 Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems certified and fully insured. This means that we’ve taken the time and effort to ensure that whenever we fly the drone in the vicinity of you and your wedding guests, we’re not just FAA-certified to do this, but we’re foremost thinking about your safety and liability.
Is there any advantage to choosing you for both photography and videography?
As a studio offering both services, it streamlines the process for you so that you only have to deal with one vendor. Other than the simpler logistics for you, our photographers and videographers work as a team together and know to avoid getting in each other’s shots. We have a unified goal of delivering top-notch results for both photography and videography.
That said, should you decide to hire us for either photography or videography, our expertise in both fields allows us to communicate with the other vendor ahead of time to ensure both parties will get the shots we need.
What sets you apart from other videographers?
We utilize the finest equipment available for the run-and-gun style required of the wedding day. Our equipment list doesn’t end with just camera bodies and lenses, but we also use video lights that render accurate colors and audio recorders for the best in quality recording, with backups in case of equipment failure.
Once we get the footages back in the office, the process of creating a cinematic video can be a time-consuming one. Just picking out the music that fits the storyline of your wedding day can take a couple days. Then picking the best of the best from the hundreds of footages to fit within a 5-minute highlight will take time as well, along with color grading each footage individually to make them all look seamless.
When everything comes together, we’ll go through several revs of the film and test it amongst ourselves and close associates to make sure everything is right before releasing it out to you. We feel we have to be meticulous with everything we do with your video so when you receive it, you’ll be proud to share it to the world.
Not every videographer use quality gear or as much gear as we do, and not everyone is passionate about the edit process as much as we are. That said, it’s important to check out a number of videos from the portfolio of videographers you’re considering as once the video is complete, editing it to different music or making drastic changes is not easy and can be costly. It’s important to choose the videographer that produces videos similar to what you’re looking for.
What’s your highlight style for video?
For highlight reels, we love motion, and we’re all about running around to get beautiful shots that turn into a cinematic film. Every wedding is different, and every highlight is going to be different. We don’t have a template that we apply to all films, and our edit is going to be unique to the story of your wedding day.
We have a lot of highlight films at http://cinematography.alexwinstudios.com. Take a look to see if our style fits what you’re looking for.
What are your payment terms?
We require a non-refundable retainer fee of $1250 to book your wedding day with us. The retainer fee goes towards your coverage package price, and the balance is due 4 weeks prior to the wedding day.
If you are booking both photography and videography with us, you will pay a retainer fee for each service.
What is your turnaround time for photography and videography?
For photography, our edits typically complete within 4 to 8 weeks after the wedding day. For videography, edits will generally take 8 to 12 weeks. Towards the end of the wedding season, there is a small chance of a backlog, and we will let you know if your wedding edit may be affected. Please understand that we strive to deliver the product in a timely manner but not put a rush to diminish its quality.
