December 2012

This post is more for photographers than clients and contains some advice when creating a wedding photo slideshow for clients.

Wedding Photo Slideshows are requested by some clients and the quality of such a slideshow can actually damage your reputation if not put together properly. I do wedding photography all over the North-West Province from Potchefstroom to Wolmaranstad and Bothaville at various wedding venues and through this I see much of the other wedding photographers work. In general the North-West Province has some great wedding photographers offering a really professional service, but in many cases the one thing that falls short are poorly put together slideshows. I do not generally include a slideshows in packages, but do put them together on request as addition to packages.

So why can a wedding photo slideshow damage your reputation and actually mark you as a bad wedding photographer? No matter how good your wedding photos are, if the slideshow has no life it can become very boring and once people comment on its poor quality then it can cause damage. Consider the following scenario: Two people are discussing wedding photographers… They have 2 of the best wedding photographers in mind who have the similar packages and quality, but one shows a poor slideshow on their website and the other just a gallery of the best photos; which do you think will get the higher regard from these people?

If you cannot put together a great slideshow, then rather do not put one together at all and keep to photo galleries. Simple slideshows showing just a photo slowly panning, tilting or zooming with fading back and forth gets boring quickly. Bring life to your slideshows if you want your clients to be impressed.

I have decided to now also add a wedding photo mosaic option to my packages. Below is a sample of what a photo mosaic would look like. These are best when printed at larger scale where, when you come closer, you can see the individual photos. Suggested sizes would be minimum A3 size, but larger would be better. The couple will have the option to pick their favourite wedding photo to have a mosaic don. I will then use all the images from the wedding day to compile the mosaic. Viewed from a distance the chosen image will be seen and when looking closer you can then see the individual photos.

Click the image below for a full-size version (image is 16Mb in size)

Wedding Photo Mosaic Sample

On 13 December 2012 Marilyn Ramos (21), Miss South Africa 2012, was welcomed back to her home town of Klerksdorp by friends, family and people from Klerksdorp at an event at Coobah in Klerksdorp.

On 9 December 2012 Marilyn was crowned Miss South Africa at the Sun City Superbowl. Since her crowning people from Klerksdorp could not await her return to congratulate her and celebrate with her. Marilyn is a very down to earth person and very sociable. She was very patient with the very long queue of people who wanted to say hello and have their photo taken with her. In the 2 hours it took for everyone to say hello and have a photo taken her smile never faded. Klerksdorp is proud to have Marilyn Ramos as the new Miss South Africa for 2012.