What will the finished product look like?

On the photographic side you have the option of a traditional Henzo album and a coffee table style Photobook.

The 80 page Henzo album is a leather bound album that has thick black pages and each page is separated by a glycine sheet which adsorbs chemicals and protects the photographs and pages from one another. The photographs from your wedding are then creatively mounted into the album. The coffee table style Photobook consists of 84 pages and has a printed personalized cover and back. The pages are designed digitally in a software program and then sent off to JHB for the final printing and binding. We do offer another kind of Photobook but this album is subject to quotation as it is bigger and bound differently to the standard Photobook we offer.

All the DVDs/Blu-rays come with photographic covers in boxes with the disc faces printed. All the DVDs/Blu-rays come with moving menus and scene selections that follow the theme of your wedding.

What is the difference between a Henzo album and a Photobook?

The Henzo album is an 80 page leather bound 30cm x 36cm with black pages and white glycine pages to protect your photographs. The Henzo album has printed photographs that are creatively mounted into your album. A Photobook is a 30cm x 30cm hard covered coffee table style book where the pages are designed in a digital program and the book is sent to JHB for printing and binding. There are other sizes of Photobooks available so please contact us regarding these books should you require a bigger or smaller book.
How big are the albums and how many photographs do they hold? The 80 page Henzo photo albums are 30cm x 36cm and holds 220 to 250 printed photographs. The 84 page coffee table style Photobook is a 30cm x 30cm printed book and has about 250 photographs from your wedding day.

We are having still photography, do we need a video as well? This is entirely up to you. With video you will be able to hear and see all that happened on your day. You will also be surprised as to how much you forget on the day as there is so much to take in. With video you have a living memory of all that took place on your wedding day to
share with your family, friends and children in the future.

What is Blu-ray (High Definition) and why should we have our wedding filmed on Blu-ray?

Blu-ray is the new format of ‘DVD’ that has come onto the market. In the past, footage was filmed on Cine cameras ‘old film reels’, then from there came VHS tapes which was later replaced by DVD, and now from DVD we have Blu-ray (High Definition). In our opinion it is better to have your wedding filmed on Blu-ray which is a much higher quality compared to DVD. If you do not have a Blu-ray player we will down convert to DVD format for you. But once you do get a Blu-ray player, we will never be able to replicate the quality of the footage should your wedding have been filmed to DVD format. On all Blu-ray packages BD.1, BD.2 and BD.3 you will receive a copy on Blu-ray format.

How many photographs will we get at the end?

We sift through approximately 1000 photographs taken on your wedding day and then we select between 300 and 500 photographs to be edited. These edited photographs are then given to you as part of the package to e-mail or make enlargements from. Approximately 220 to 250 photographs are used in your Henzo album or Photobook.

Will we get all our photographs on disc for emailing and making prints? Yes, you will get between 300 and 500 full resolution images on a DVD to e-mail and make prints from.

Will our DVDs/Blu-rays have chapter points for easy movement in the DVD/Blu-ray?

Yes it will. We do interactive moving menus on all the DVDs/Blu-rays with a scene selection. We also put chapter points in the DVDs/Blu-rays to enable you to skip through fast. The chapter points will also be placed at crucial points on the DVDs/Blu-rays. For example: “the start of each speech”.

Is there anything extra that you can put on the DVD/Blu-ray?

Yes, as separate buttons on the DVD/Blu-ray we place the Family Photos, Table Photos, Words of Love from your guests and a Photo Montage of you both growing up.

Can you do family and table photographs?

Yes, this is a request by you. There are several ways to do these photographs. This will depend on your sequence of events. Please discuss this with us to ensure that these are covered at the correct time.

Can you interview some of our guests?

We like to do this on all the DVDs/Blu-rays and put it in a separate menu option on the DVD/Blu-ray labelled, ‘Words of Love’. This is however dependent on the timing of your day and how willing your guests are to talk into the camera.

How long will the complete DVD/Blu-ray run?

It is hard to give you an exact length, but generally they can run for up to 3 hours. We feel, for the sake of your memories that you should have all the moments of your wedding day filmed. We do offer highlighted DVDs as an extra which run for about 1hr – 1hr 30min. These are a great way to show friends and family the main parts of your wedding day without having to watch the entire DVD/Blu-ray.

Is your audio good quality?

On packages BD.1, BD.2 and BD.3 you have the option to have lapel microphones to enhance the sound on the vows and the speeches. In all other areas of the day the sound is of exceptional quality. On packages DVD.1 and DVD.2 we use the camera’s onboard microphones which give and all round good sound quality throughout the day.

What is a slide show?

A slide show is your wedding photographs in digital format on a DVD which moves photograph by photograph with background music. The slide show is separated by category of your wedding so you can watch certain parts like the ‘Bride’s Preparation’ without having to watch the entire slide show.

Can we choose our own background music for the Slide Show and DVD/Blu-ray?

Yes, you can. We prefer it when couples do choose their own music for their Slide Shows and DVDs/Blu-rays as it makes it more personal. We like the music to be given to us before the day of your wedding as this enables us to start editing the week after your wedding. An average of about 20 songs are required if you are taking photography and video production. You are more than welcome to choose which ones you like best as we may not use all of them on the Slide Show and DVD/Blu-ray.

What kind of music can be put on the DVD/Blu-ray?

We would say anything you like. It is your DVD/Blu-ray and if you like fast music with a beat then we will make it work for your DVD/Blu-ray. We do take the volume of the music down so that it plays in the background. You will still be able to hear the talking which is important.

Will we watch my Wedding DVD/Blu-ray more than once?

Believe it or not many people ask this and we repeatedly have past couples phoning and saying that they watch it all the time. One of our brides once said to us, “I would rather have my wedding day filmed and never watch again than make the decision not to have it filmed and spend the rest of my life wishing I could sit down and watch the DVD/Blu-ray”.

Do you use studio flash units?

Yes we do. Studio flash units are utilised in the reception to give you unsurpassed quality photographs without losing the ambient feel of your venue. The flash units are driven by remote triggering leaving the photographer to move freely around. No flash units are placed on the cameras thus doing away with the ugly shadows found behind people against the walls. How long will you be there on the day? As a standard on all packages we are there from the bride’s prep till midnight. We do not like to rush you during the reception so we have a later cut off time than most others photographers/videographers in the industry.

Will your photographers/cameramen have a professional appearance?

Yes. The standard dress code for our photographers/cameramen are dressed in smart black. This ensures that we do not look like a guest and have a professional appearance on your wedding day.

Do you use Bright lights?

On Packages DVD.1 and DVD.2 we do use two 500w lights in the church and the reception. They are used to brighten the venues if they are not lit properly as without the lights you will have grainy footage. They will be pointed towards the wall or ceiling to enhance the light and not straight at your faces. For your first dance we can turn one of them off to keep the ambience of the room which will give us enough light for filming purposes. For the rest of the dancing we will turn them off as it tends to scare people off the dance floor and we like to be as unobtrusive as possible. On Packages BD.1, BD.2 and BD.3 the cameras can handle much lower lighting so lights are not always necessary.

Can you provide us with big screens if we are having a big wedding?

We most certainly can. You have a choice between projector screens and plasma screens. Both can be used with live feed from the cameras so your guests can get a close up view of what’s happening in the chapel and the reception. The prices do fluctuate, so please give us a call so we can give you a quote on the current prices.

Do you use special effects on the photographs?

Yes, certain photographs lend themselves to be made B&W, sepia, soft focus or hand coloured. Hand colouring is when a photograph is B&W and another part, like the bouquet is left in colour. Sepia is the yellowing of the photograph to give you an old age feel.

What if something happens to my album?

Softlight Media as a standard keeps a master DVD of your wedding photographs just in case something should happen to your copy. We will also keep all the raw images from your wedding on a DVD for life. The day after your wedding two back ups of your wedding photographs and are burned to DVD. We also keep a copy of your wedding photographs on the computer until you have received your final product.

What if something happens to my DVD/Blu-ray copy?

Softlight Media as a standard keeps a master DVD and Master Blu-ray copy of your wedding just in case something should happen to your copy. We will also keep all the raw footage from your wedding day on tape for 12 months. On the day of your wedding when shooting on the High Definition cameras we will have an instant back up to CF card. The instant back up facility is only available on packages BD.1, BD.2 and BD.3

What equipment do you use?

On the photographic side we use the Canon ‘EOS’ range of photographic cameras. At every wedding we carry a backup camera in the unforeseen event that something should go wrong with the main camera. We carry a selection of 3 lenses so that we can have the perfect lens for the perfect shot. We have a master flash unit for the church and creative shoot as well as studio flash units for the wedding reception.

On the video side we have

3 HDV Sony Z5 cameras.
CF card memory record units.
External Microphones for the Sony cameras.
2 Canon XM2 SD cameras. On board lighting for the cameras.

Why should we pay a professional when our Uncle George’ has offered to do it as a gift?

There is a big difference between a professional DVD/Blu-ray to a home video and professional photography to happy snaps. Your ‘Uncle George’ is at the end of the day a guest at your wedding. When he might decide it is time for him to ‘party’ that is when we will get the most candid shots of your guests fooling around at the reception. We will also get a lot more footage and photographs of you interacting with your guests and know when to have the camera ready not to miss the crucial moments. We have also heard some horror stories of ‘Uncle George’ running out of tape, memory on his CF card and having his batteries go flat. The average consumer camera does not do well in low lighting conditions found at wedding venues. This will result in a black video with just audio. Remember we use studio flash units for photography. This leaves many couples wishing they had their wedding day professionally photographed and filmed. Softlight Media has invested in costly professional grade equipment such as photographic cameras, studio flash units, video cameras, memory record units, lighting, tripods and editing equipment to ensure the best quality of your wedding DVD/Blu-ray and Photographic Album. ‘Uncle George’ doesn’t have the equipment or the expertise to provide you with a professional DVD/Blu-ray and Photographic Album.

Why should we hire your company to photograph and film our wedding?

Firstly, we really want to photograph and film your wedding. Our heart and soul goes into every single one of our weddings making each album unique and special. We strive to capture every moment on the day and spend up to 46 hours editing your photographs and DVD/Blu-ray and putting your final product together.
Our photographs are printed on the highest quality photographic paper and the Photobooks are finished on high quality paper bound in a hard cover book.
In the Henzo album the photographs are creatively mounted with backing boards that follow the theme of your wedding.
Our DVDs/Blu-rays are professionally filmed, edited, printed and packaged in ‘movie’ style DVD boxes with printed covers and disc faces.

The disc of photographs and the DVD slide show are printed and packaged in a ‘movie’ style DVD box with printed covers and disc faces.
Softlight Media backs up all photographs (raw and edited) and final DVDs/Blu-rays onto master copies, which are then stored for life. This is an assurance for you that in the event that anything should happen to your Henzo Album, Photobook and DVD/Blu-ray such as a robbery, damage or should you require additional copies, you can always get another one from Softlight Media.

What do we do to book you as our Photographer/Videographer?

You can call Martin on +27 (0) 82 830 7878 or Hayley +27 (0) 82 775 9493 or email us at info@softlightmedia.co.za