On two occasions recently, brides have contacted me to ask if there’s any chance I could rescue them. They delivered the photos to me that they paid someone else to take, along with photos gleaned from their family & friends, taken on all manner of cameras from iPhones to consumer DSLRs. One of the brides was in tears as she handed over the carrier bag of CDs and memory cards and begged me to tell her I could do “some magic” to turn them into the body of photographic memories she had dreamed of. Of course there’s things one can do with brightness, contrast and colour problems – but ultimately if a photo is poorly composed then there’s nothing that can be done other than to discard it and move onto the next shot. Luckily for both these brides they’d been at least partially rescued by their family & friends. Generally their photos were poorly exposed – either over or under exposed – but at least sometimes they composed a reasonable shot. The photographers they’d paid to capture the day, alas, though they’d put themselves forward as professionals, had utterly failed to capture more than a few worthy shots in each case. All this editing work took a good week of work for each wedding before I could even design their albums.

I sent both brides away with a lovely hand made album cobbled together from what I could salvage, and a hefty bill, which in each case was more than it would have cost to hire me originally.

The moral of the story is caveat emptor – buyer beware – and don’t dare to think that wedding photography is something easy that anyone can do just because they have a mid-range digital SLR camera. You get what you pay for, and as I am always telling people, unless you can see several weddings-worth of work from a photographer demonstrating his or her ability to capture great shot after great shot, hundreds of times over, don’t book them. If you do, you’ll be regretting it for the rest of your married life… unless you pay even more for a professional wedding photographer to rescue the day.

If you don’t know how to override the automatic settings on your flash, it’s usually easily achieved. You’ll probably see a button with a lightning icon – pressing it will cycle through several modes, the one you want resulting in a plain lightning icon (ON) appearing on screen. Try taking a photo in bright conditions and the flash should fire.

Now try it on a face as instructed above. You should get a well illuminated face against a brilliant blue sky, or whatever else is in the background perfectly exposed.

If you fancy learning more about photography at any level, take a look at my tuition, courses, workshops, seminars and photo walks around Brighton.

So when it’s a choice between a bloke with a camera and an experienced, professional wedding photographer with an excellent track record, at least you won’t have to select based on cost alone. Give me a call on Brighton 01273 358834 to discuss your wedding photography.

I’ve been involved with many charities over the years but when Debbie Brown of Brighton’s I Leave My Mark came to tell me about her project, her mission had a special resonance for me. Aiming to help bereaved & traumatised children, ILMM is especially poignant for anyone with children, and anyone in the middle of their life pondering their legacy and wondering how they can help make a real difference. And I’m willing to bet it’s the first charity based at a beach hut in Brighton & Hove!

I’ve done the initial photography with Debbie at Beach Hut 44 down on Hove seafront, and shall be there on promenade on Boxing day with my children (and camera) for the first I Leave My Mark event.

Please support I Leave My Mark – visit www.ileavemymark.co.uk

See the I Leave My Mark official photo gallery.