Videographer

Top Tips: Videographer

If you’re anything like me, you may be thinking that a videographer is a bit cheesy or you might not want a camera following you all day, but check out some wedding videos and see if you change your mind.

I have!

Photos are amazing, but videos show what’s happening between the poses. You may see something you didn’t notice on the day or catch a cheeky smile or a glance between you and your new husband. You may even catch a video of your MIL dancing on the dance floor! Or the tables!

Choosing a Videographer

See their work!
If I could offer you only one tip for choosing a videographer, it would be see examples of their work. Even if the video only lasts a few minutes, if it is cleverly edited it will still give you an excellent impression of their work.

If you don’t like the style of their work, don’t go with them. Be honest about what you want, and talk to them about their style.

Ask a Guest

With very simple video editing software available as standard on a PC and an Apple Macintosh, it is very easy to create your own, high quality wedding video.

The Camera

One of the best and easiest to use cameras available at the moment is the Flip Video Camera. It really is point and click with a clear video screen so you can see where you’re pointing. It has a USB connector built into it to allow for easy transfer of videos. The Flip costs on average £120.

There are lots of different video cameras available, and there are a lot of photo cameras that also take good TV standard videos. You should choose the camera that suits you the best.

The Software

As I’ve said, both Microsoft and Apple have their own standard video editing software, but there are also other free editing software that’s very easy to use but also offers a fantastic effect.

Avid DVD is a lovely online service which is free, and allows you to edit your videos quite easily.

Wax is a free to download program that again is easy to use and lets you edit photos and videos together.

But Windows Movie Maker and iMovie especially are far superior and free editing programs. Or if you’re feeling a bit professional, there is always Adobe Premier.

Little Brother Videographer

I have asked my little brother to be our unofficial videographer for the day using my Flip camera.  When I get back from my honeymoon I’d be keen to edit the videos myself to make a snappy, and hopefully interesting wedding video that people won’t groan to watch.

Top Tips

How to Pose for Your Wedding Photos

You are most likely going to keep your wedding photos for the rest of your life. You want them to be memorable, beautiful and filled with all your friends and family. You may also want to look your absolute best! Here are some tips on how to look your completely amazing in all your photos!

1. Stick out your chin!
   To avoid double chins in pictures find a natural pose where you can extend your chin or tilt it to the side.
   
2. Have good posture!
   While you don’t want to look stiff, you want to show your figure off at it’s best. If you slouch it will make you look saggy, keep your shoulders back but relaxed to make you look more perky.
   
3. Find your perfect angle.
   If you notice, on the red carpet actresses never look straight down the camera.  They always stand at an angle to have their picture taken. Do some experimenting either in the mirror or with a camera to find your perfect angel. Stand at about a quarter turn from the camera. Put one foot forward, straight ahead of you. The other foot should be turned to the side so that your body is at an angle.
   
4. Avoid the closed eye look.
   If you’re anything like me, you will blink when the flash goes off. To avoid this, ask the photographer to count to ‘three’ before he takes the picture. If take in a breath when he says ‘three’ then you won’t blink. Crazy but ezinearticles.com say it’s true!
   
5. Idol hands
   Make sure you do something with your hands. It needs to be a relaxed pose. A lot of the time when I’m posing for photos, I put my hand on my hips in a vain attempt to look thinner. You could vogue with your hands or hold hands with your hubby. Your hands may be hidden under your bouquet.
   
6. Smile or no smile?
   Don’t force a smile. You will probably feel like smiling lots and lots and lots! I feel like  smiling just thinking about it! There may be times during the day when you don’t feel like smiling and if your photographer snaps a picture of you during those times they can look lovely and peaceful.
   
7. Interact with your guests
   Some of the best photos are of people hugging or talking or being natural in pictures. Make sure you forget your photographer is there and talk to your guests. They are there for you and these natural photos will look fantastic in your album.

If you have any tips for posing for photos please let me know and I will include them in my post. Have you had your photos taken for your wedding? What would you advise?

To Film or Not to Film, That is the Question

To Film or Not to Film, That is the Question

Hiring a videographer is becoming more and more popular, however, does your budget stretch that far? With some videographers charging upwards of £300 is it financially viable? A hefty chunk out of any budget… at my wedding £300 equates to 6 meals, or a wedding car and a half, or 30 pairs of wedding shoes! (I had them made to order in China, soooo comfortable!)

And think about it, really, as much as your friends and family love you, how many of them will sit for 2 hours and watch your lovely but long wedding video? I love weddings (could you guess) and I could sit to watch wedding videos but with the best will in the world, I couldn’t last 2 hours! And if it does cost £300 I would want it to last 2 hours at least!

An alternative is to ask a guest to video your wedding. At my bessie mate’s wedding, her sister who was a bridesmaid videoed a lot of the wedding. A cousin later used the footage to mix in with still pictures when creating a wedding video. That video was a very manageable 30 minutes, just perfect! The video clips added a very personal touch to the still photos and brought the video to life. I do think there is a lot of merit in videoing a wedding.

Most cameras these days have a video option. My camera does, as does my phone!   (I wouldn’t suggest using a phone camera as the image quality isn’t suitable for TV standard.)  With this option on most cameras, any of your guests could be a potential videographers, and so many easy to use video editors available such as Windows Video Maker which is free with windows, or iMovie which is free on Apple Macs (and better than Windows Video Maker, if only it worked on PC’s) then anyone can make a wedding video.

I recently made a video for my niece and nephew’s christening, and I also made a video for my friend’s wedding before that. Even people who aren’t that good with a computer could put together a very effective and meaningful wedding video using these simple to use editing programs.

For top tips on videoing your friend’s wedding, see Jake McMillian’s blog.

However, if you do decide to hire a wedding videographer, there are some very professional videos out there. Some photographers offer videography as part of their service. That would mean that your photographer and videographer would be working in sync and produce a much better product. Alternatively, your photographer might be able to recommend a videographer they have worked with before, or your venue may be able to recommend someone who has impressed them in the past. Often, if a service has been recommended through another person, you may receive a discount on their services.

To answer the question of ‘to film or not to film’… I think you should film, but not hours and hours of footage. Think of your audience, who will watch the video? Film key moments in the wedding, touching moments that you will want to remember for the rest of your marriage: walking up the aisle, exchanging the rings, walking down the aisle, some moments outside the church, the speeches, cutting the cake and the first dance.

If you do know any good videographers to recommend, please post them as a comment in my blog. Alternatively, if you know any good tips for videoing a wedding, post those in the comment box too!

Photo Albums

I have already posted that I believe photos are one of the most important aspects of a wedding. This is why my h2b and I chose Clive Blair to be our photographer. I may have mentioned that h2b and I were absolutely inspired by all his pictures. I honestly cannot recommend Clive enough but this post is about wedding albums.

Since we booked Clive he’s introduced Queensbury albums. They look spectacular! They appear similar to photo books but with the quality of a traditional album. My sister-in-law and my brother have this tome, I call it, a huge wedding album in a traditional style. I wanted a tome, but I like the style of the photo books. It appears that Queensbury albums combine the quality of a traditional album with the modern chic of a photo book. This is what I want for my wedding album, something that we could keep for the rest of our lives as a reflection of the most wonderful day we spent together, and the start of our married life.

However, that’s just the one album for you and your hubby to keep, what about the rest of your family who want an album. Clive does offer parent albums, but perhaps your sister would like a picture because your niece was a bridesmaid.  Many photographers out there offer a CD only service, where they take a lot of photos and put them on a disk for you to order your own wedding album. This is a cheaper and quicker way of seeing your wedding photos but which photo album should you choose?

There are so many websites out there that offer photo books by uploading your own photos and making a book, printed with a hard cover. As I’m a bit obsessed with photos, I do make quite a few photo books. My h2b takes some brilliant photos and I make them up into books so I have used a few of the photo book websites.

Photobox
User friendly, easy to use, fantastic templates and plenty of choice, Photobox was the first photo book making company that I started to use. This picture here is of me holding the first photo book that I made for my fiancé and I to celebrate seven years together.

There are a variety of covers available in a variety of colours. I chose a black cover because I thought that would be more manly for my h2b. I would have liked a pink cover!

Photobox offers a variety of different products. My friends bought their thank you cards from Photobox, they looked fantastic and they’re a memento from the day. I will be doing the same. Other products include calendars and diaries, wall decor, photo mugs, prints and home gifts. The photo book I received was very high quality. One of the pictures I used was from the camera I had in 2003 which was barely 3 mega pixels, when I put that photo into the album they told me that the photo wasn’t print quality. That kind of help is invaluable! (I used it anyway, it was an important picture!)

The photo books come in different sizes and shapes. It depends on which photo album you’d like. It’s completely online, there’s nothing to download and it’s all easy to use. You can even preview your creation online before you print. My dad so loved the album I had from Photobox that we made a funeral album for my Granddad’s funeral. It was filled with photos from my Granddad’s life and everyone at the funeral said it was lovely and deeply touching. See, photos are for any occasion.

Blurb
Blurb is a website I’ve only just started using and I like the look of it. They have a variety of methods for creating a photo book.  You can use a pdf book, if you’ve taken the time to make one, download their book making program, or make a book online. I have tried both in the interest of giving you a full review – and wow!

I first tried making a book using the BookSmart program that is downloadable from the Blurb website. There is a fairly clear user guide, some interesting templates and the option to edit layout. To me, an amateur, I think this is amazing! I get the feeling that some of the elements of BookSmart are aimed at marketing or advertising companies, as they are very customisable. You can add photo boxes, text boxes, resize these boxes and move them around the page in any layout that you’d like. Imagine working on your wedding pictures, creating an album for a friend and you can design the layout into any format you like.
I am fairly computer savvy but I did find this program very easy and simple to use. I was just bashing about pressing buttons to see what happens but I achieved a fairly nice effect using this program.

I’ve added a photo here to show what the photos looked like when I added them to the template. Pretty nifty if I do say so myself. I just quickly added some photos from my computer (there’s also the option to add from online albums) and messed about slotting the pictures into the spaces.

It really depends how much time you would like to put into your photo album. If this was the only option I had for my wedding album I might spend a bit more time making it. As it stands, this is the kind of thing I would enjoy spending my time making as I’m that sort of person, so I would really use this type of program.

The Bookify option doesn’t seem to have as many templates. I chose a small square album as I would if were making an album for my parents to have and there was a set format that I couldn’t change, although I could alter colours of backgrounds and so forth. This could give the less computer savvy person the option of using a simpler book builder. The BookSmart option does give you a lot more control over what your final book will look like.

Boots
Just to demonstrate how good Photobox is, Boot’s online photo book maker is in partnership with Photobox! I was about to type that I thought the Boots books were very similar to the Photobox ones, and then when I click on the website I see that they are made by the very same company! It goes to show that not only do Photobox provide an excellent professional service, but they are also used by a nation wide chain of shops – a brand that we all visit and use from time to time.

Jessops
Jessops use CEWE to make their photo books. There doesn’t appear to be an online photo book making function, but the program is easy to download and install. However, I didn’t find the program as easy to use as the Photobox and Blurb programs.

I’m not sure if I clicked on anything wrong but the pictures I’d selected (randomly from my pictures folder) filled into the album without me indicating where I wanted them to go. Once you get the hang of it, it is possible to customise the backgrounds, photo layout, and add additional photos to the page. It takes a bit of fiddling and experimentation, but there is a fairly decent customisable element to the program.

Kodak
Kodak’s photo book maker is online, where you can upload your photos to their website and  then edit them into your photo album book. I like the function that you can add yourself as a guest, you don’t necessarily have to sign in or register to use their website. Always a bonus if you’re in a rush.

Depending on the size of your photos and on your internet speed, the uploader is fairly speedy. I uploaded a few pictures from my computer to use with the album and it was fairly speedy.

There is the option to change the layout of the photos if chosen from a set layout, but it seems like the background colours aren’t customisable. It is quick and easy to use, just a drag and drop system, but for me I’d rather use a much more personalised layout than simply using the set layouts.

My Conclusion

Which ever website you decide to use, remember you could always ask your photographer for his or her recommendation. I think it’s important to weigh up cost with the product you receive in the end, and to think about how you want the photos from one of the most important days of your life to be presented. Think about how much time you have, and how much computer know how. Each of the websites have their own positives and negatives, I’ve tried to give you a fair appraisal of all the main ones that I use so that you can decide from a bride’s opinion.