Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions for your convenience. If you have other questions, feel free to email us at: orders@volkmanphotography.com.

General Questions

Do you deliver every image you shoot?

No, we do not. We eliminate duplicate images, test shots, missed focused shots, shots with bad expressions and other images that may dilute the overall product delivery. For example, because we shoot with low apertures, sometimes we take a few extra shots to make sure we have the perfect focus. We don’t expect you to have the expertise or the time to zoom into each image to select the one with the sharpest focus, so we spend hours doing that on our end. In another example, candid laughs and emotional tears are some of the best images from the day. Unfortunately, they can also yield some unflattering facial expressions. We might snap a few extras of any of these moments to make sure we have a great shot with the ideal expression for the moment. With our expertise of processing thousands of images each year, we may eliminate ones that we feel are duplicates and only deliver the best one.

Have you shot at my venue before?

We have shot at hundreds of venues, so there is a good chance that we have. However, if we have not, we will get to the venue early on the day of and be sure to perform a thorough walk-through to scout out the best photography locations. We also do extensive online research prior to your big day!

Do you do destination weddings? What additional fees are associated with destination weddings?

While Volkman Photography is based out of Winona, MN, we have served clients all over the region and abroad including weddings in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Our destination wedding photography packages include the cost of travel and reasonable accommodations (check out our destination wedding  FAQs here).

Does your studio do weddings, headshots, individual portraits, family portraits, newborn shoots, commercial photography, or other types of photography?

Yes, we have experience in many fields of photography. Feel free to contact us.

My venue is very dark. How does your studio handle these situations?

We have shot in the darkest of dark chapels and reception halls so no need to worry! If the situation allows, we will set up additional lighting to ensure we get focused pictures. Some chapels do not allow for flash photography; and for that reason, we shoot on camera’s with superb low-light performance and lenses with low apertures (check out our Toolkit here).

How do I get my wedding published on other wedding blogs or magazines?

Click Here for a list of our favorite wedding blogs and their instructions for submission.

Style & Quality Questions

What is your philosophy regarding photography?

We are focused on providing you with a full Volkman Photography experience. Our team will start by helping create a custom package that fits your individual needs and desires. We will assist you in planning your wedding day or session photography by giving you some “best practice” ideas based on our experience. When we shoot your event, we will capture each moment with our artistic vision. Finally, we will deliver you an artistic product worthy of the Volkman Photography brand.

In the end, our philosophy on client service creates beautiful friendships with each and every one of our clients that go far beyond the day of your wedding or session. We pride ourselves on always being available to our client/friends, so if you have any questions or would like to reach your photographer, please visit our Contact Us page for email addresses and phone numbers to reach us.

To read more about what our clients are saying about the Volkman Photography Team, please check out our reviews on Facebook.

When it comes to weddings, we believe that the clients deserve a professional that can use his or her technological expertise and creative vision to create a product that clients and amateur photographers could not do on their own. With digital SLR cameras becoming more and more affordable, there are many amateur photographers out there posing as professionals. Our goal is to educate our clients on the differences and provide artistic imagery that far surpasses other top notch wedding photography studios.

Therefore, our wedding photography philosophy has 5 primary parts as follows:

1. Where words fail, our imagery speaks. Strive to capture the intangible, the inexplicable

2. Many of life’s best moments are unexpected. Anticipate and seek these moments.

3. Always appreciate our clients because they enable us to do what we love.

4. Push the boundaries of creativity, using any and every available tool – Wedding photographers should be using professional grade camera and lighting equipment. Wedding photographers are artists; therefore must have a deep understanding of artistic theory including concepts on composition, lighting, color, design, balance, etc.

5. Strive for technical and compositional perfection in every image – Wedding photographers are constantly in unusual lighting situations with significant time constraints. Thus, wedding photographers must be masters of their equipment. Being able to adjust camera settings quickly, anticipate lenses needed for each scene, use on and off-camera lighting techniques, etc. are crucial to being able to create a professional product.

What is your photography style?

The Volkman Photography team style of wedding photography is deeply rooted in wedding photojournalism while influenced by fine-art and fashion photography. We love using creative lighting, unique perspectives, angles, compositions and artistic post production refining to bring out our clients personalities and beauty while telling their wedding story. We pride ourselves on not just being photographers, but rather artists creating unique and expressive imagery.

Can I see a full event from start to finish?

Of course you may! We pride ourselves on the consistency of our work. We understand all photographers post their best shots from each wedding on their websites so it’s hard to determine how well he or she will perform on the wedding day. That is why we encourage all of our potential clients to view full events from all photographers they meet with to see how well the photographer performs throughout the day.

Post Production Questions

Do you touch up all the images in our image download?

Yes we do. Every image we deliver is post produced with our unique signature style of post production. This involves color correction, exposure adjustment, selective black and white processing, clarity adjustments, tone-mapping, and other corrections. Many photographers will not post produce any images, or will only post produce “select” images from your wedding. This means that you may have pictures that are too dark, have strange skin tones or other common photography flaws.

What do you mean by “touching up” the photos?

“Touching up” in our studio is the same as our signature (basic) post production. See the question below for clarification.

What is the difference between advanced and custom; and why are there additional costs for custom retouch?

Advanced post-production includes touch ups such as removal of blemishes, removal of bags under eyes, removal of fly-away hairs, etc. On the other hand, custom post production is anything that requires extensive, custom work in Photoshop such as removing entire objects from the scene, changing the size and shape of body parts or other objects in the scene, adding objects to a scene and other custom work. We charge hourly for the custom post production as the time required ranges depending on the complexity of the project. Please contact us for a quote for custom post production.

Wedding Day Questions

How many hours do you suggest we set aside for wedding day photos?

Take a look at our Ideal Wedding Photography Timeline to see a detailed breakdown of how much time you would need to have set aside for your wedding photos.
I have downtime between events on my wedding day. Will I be charged for that downtime?

For a variety of reasons, we have to charge for the time in between events. The fact is, we’re never truly resting during the day, whether we’re backing up images, setting up for the second venue, traveling to the second location, taking venue shots, or making up for lost photo time because of unforeseen wedding day delays. In many cases, we use that “downtime” to take you and your significant other out for a photo session or more family portraits.

What happens if we go over the contracted amount of time

We understand that not everything goes as planned during a wedding. We never pack up before the contracted time, and moreover we’re not leaving on the dot when the contracted time is up. Instead, we will ask you at the end of your contracted time whether or not you would like to extend. If you would like us to stay, we will charge the rates specified in your contract rounded to the closest 30-minute increment.

Why do we need to charge for additional coverage?

We’ve dedicated the entire day to your wedding, so we won’t be racing off to catch other plans that evening. However, we need to charge for additional coverage primarily because there are costs of having our team stay for additional hours. Furthermore, the additional photos taken will need to be post produced which adds to our overall costs.

Engagement Questions

When can we expect to see our photos from our engagement session?

Post production for engagement sessions are completed 2 to 3 weeks after the date of the shoot.

When should we do our engagement session?

We encourage you to do your engagement session as soon as possible. The latest we suggest is at least ten weeks prior to the wedding date due to the time necessary to post produce each image (3 weeks) and complete your product order(s) (2-3 weeks). See the engagement session post production delivery time and engagement session product delivery time FAQ’s for more details.

How many images do you typically deliver from and engagement session? From a wedding?

We typically deliver anywhere from 80-120 images per 3-hour engagement shoot and for a wedding, we typically deliver 60 images per hour. Keep in mind these numbers may increase or decrease depending on the flow of the day and the number of events/activities needing to be captured.

Albums, Prints, and Books Questions

How long does it take to get my prints?

Product creation times vary, however, print orders will generally be completed within 2 weeks after the product order is submitted.

How long does it take to get my album?

As with our other products, production times vary. However, you can typically expect to receive your album 4-6 weeks after placing the order. The process prior to placing the order varies in duration depending on how quickly you respond to the instructions for the album design as well as the amount of changes you request after the initial designs. Some clients complete this within a month or two; others take several months.

How long does it take to get my guestbook?

The guestbook book takes around 2-3 weeks to print after the order is submitted. As with the album, the time it takes to get the order ready for print depends on how quickly you respond to our instructions and how many changes you request.

How many pages and images do we get in our wedding day album?

Our wedding package album contains 20 pages and 80+/- images. If you’d like to add more pages and images, each additional page can be added at additional cost and includes the design time/revisions.

Can I add more pages and images to my album?

Each additional page can be added for additional cost and includes the design time/revisions.

Do you guys provide framing services as well?

We do not provide framing services, however, we can provide you with recommendations on where to purchase and frame your images.

How do I get started on my wedding album?

The Wedding Album Design Process is outlined here:

How do I get started on my engagement album?

The Engagement Album Design Process is outlined here:

Image Download & Legal Questions

What size can we print our photos up to with our full resolution image download?

In most cases, you can print your photos up to 20×30 without any quality loss. If you’d like to print larger than 20×30, additional post-production will be required. For pricing on these services, please contact us.

What rights do I have to the digital prints?

You have the right to reprint images whenever you want. However, you may not sell your images for profit or publish your images without the written consent of Volkman Photography.

Do you provide the RAW files from my engagement session and/or wedding day?

Each of our packages comes with a high-resolution image download. However, we typically do not provide RAW (unprocessed) files from our shoots because we believe in delivering a finished product. In fact, we’re often shooting with the end (post-produced) product in mind. However, on occasion we may provide RAW images along with our post-produced JPG’s for an additional fee and restrictions.

How many images do you deliver on the image download?

For a 3 hour engagement session we typically deliver 80-120 images and for a wedding we typically deliver 60 images per hour of coverage. Keep in mind these numbers may increase or decrease depending on the flow of the day and the number of events/activities needing to be captured.

Do you provide the digital negatives after the shoot?

Yes we do. All of our packages come with Full Resolution image download.

What if I lose my images? 

There is a replacement charge for additional downloads after the event has been archived (Typically 6 months after your gallery has been published). We strongly suggest you make at least one copy of the download when you receive it from us.

EQUIPMENT QUESTIONS

What type of camera/equipment do you use?

Click here to view our Photography Equipment

BUSINESS INSURANCE AND IMAGE BACKUP QUESTIONS

Do you back up our images? How can we ensure that our images won’t be lost?

We have never lost an image from a wedding due to the following backup workflow for each our events:

Our primary camera bodies contain dual card slots meaning your images are captured on two separate memory cards. We change out our memory cards after each major event during your wedding day to ensure that even if a camera were to fall into a fire, prior major events would be safely secured in a weather-sealed case. Once we are back at our office, we then upload the images onto at least two separate hard drives, including at least one of those hard drives being an external drive. This ensures there are always two copies of your images.

Do you have liability insurance? 

Yes. Many venues require the photographer to have Liability Insurance. So before hiring a photographer, make sure they are covered.

MEETING POLICY QUESTIONS

We live out-of-town. Is it possible for our family/friends to meet with you instead?

We’d love to meet your relatives, answer their questions and review our work with them. If possible, we’d like to at least webcam with you to get to know you better.

We’re very busy and won’t be able to meet. Are there any other options?

We would love to meet with you prior to our engagement shoot or wedding; however, if you’re too busy or too far away, we can handle everything remotely. Just let us know what information you need and we will do our best to accommodate your request. For example, if you would like to see more of our work, we can gladly show you complete events online. If you would like to talk about packages and get a sense of the photographer’s personality, telephone calls, and webcam appointments can be arranged.

PAYMENT AND TAX QUESTIONS

How do I reserve you for my date?

All dates are reserved once we receive your signed contract and deposit.

What if we exceed our contracted time for our engagement shoot and/or wedding day coverage?

Standard rates apply for overtime. Overtime is billed at the rate of $120/hour.

Is there an additional fee if we pay via credit card?

No.

If we cancel the wedding, will we receive our retainer fee back?

Unfortunately no. Retainer fees are used to reserve your date. Once we’ve reserved your date, we do not accept new clients for your date.

If we change our wedding to a different date, will we be able to use our retainer fee towards a future date?

Generally no, but this is taken on a case by case basis. The reason for canceling and our availability is taken into account. Also, if rates change from your original date to your new date, the new rates will apply.

Are there travel fees associated with the engagement session and/or wedding day shoot(s)?

The first 100 miles roundtrip from our office are included in wedding packages. Additional miles are billed at $0.50/mile.

Engagement sessions in the immediate Winona area do not incur additional fees. Travel outside the immediate area will also be billed at $0.50/mile.

Do you offer any discounts on weekday weddings, Sunday weddings, or weddings during the off-season?

We do not offer discounts on “off” days. We currently price our sessions at very reasonable rates that don’t allow for much wiggle room. Our costs (second shooter rates, etc.) associated with the wedding remain the same no matter which day it happens to fall on.

If I pay for my package in cash will we be able to avoid paying sales tax or receive a discount?

Unfortunately, collecting in cash does not exempt a photography studio from paying Minnesota sales tax on the amount of the package price when a physical product is delivered, whether that product be an album or any other physical product. However, we do offer tax-free services and packages that fall within Minnesota State law if you would like a service only packages.