FAQ – Flavio Bandiera – Destination Wedding Photographer

We are based in Turin and Milan – Italy, but we cover events in any city all over the world.

Only a specialized wedding photographer can give you the certainty to remember that day for ever as an exclusive, unique and original one. He is not just the one who focuses and shoots, because this is not enough.
The reality of a professional photography studio is more complicated and involves technical know-how and communication. There are several elements that must be taken into consideration and that require energy and investments to be always aligned with technological and style evolution: photographic equipment, backup security management, hardware, software, continuous training, constant commitment to the expression research, care and attention in the preparation of each product and selection of the best suppliers worldwide.
We wish to inform you about what we do in the best way; through the web and the press relations, and when you come to visit us, welcome you in a comfortable environment in line with our style

Yes we are very proud of the videos we have created around the world. To see examples of our wedding video services, visit this page.

Exclusively Flavio Bandiera.

Flavio Bandiera Fine Art Wedding Photography is based in Turin and Milan, Italy, but we serve clients all around the world. Our destination wedding photography packages are simply our standard packages plus the cost of travel and reasonable accommodations if necessary. Because of our frequent trips in Europe, special lower rates may apply depending on the specific circumstances. Email us at info@flaviobandiera.com for details.

We have shot at hundreds of venues so there is a good chance that we have done it. If we have not however we will be sure to perform an inspection (when possible with you) prior to your most beautiful day.

Your engagement session photos will be completed within three weeks after the date of the shoot. If you require the images to be completed prior to three weeks a rush-process fee of € 100.- will be charged, unless other terms were discussed.

We typically deliver anywhere from 100 images for a 3 hours engagement shoot and for weddings 80-90 images per hour.

Because most weddings occur on weekends, we do not shoot engagement sessions photos on weekends. If you can only do your engagement session on weekends, we can tentatively schedule your engagement session on a weekend, however, if a wedding is scheduled for that weekend later on, we will have to reschedule your engagement session. There will also be an additional charge (€ 250) for weekend engagement sessions because the few weekends we have free, we spend with our loved-ones. We also like to shoot on weekdays because locations are typically less crowded.

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

We dedicate the entire day to your wedding, so we won’t have other plans for that evening. However, we need to charge for additional coverage primarily because there are additional costs of having the team stay for additional hours. The lighting assistants and second shooters all require additional compensation. Furthermore, the additional photos taken all need to be post produced, adding to our overall costs.

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.

For a variety of reasons, we have to charge for the time in between events. The fact is that we are never truly resting during the day, whether 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 wedding day delays. In many cases we use that “downtime” to take you and your significant other out for a wedding photos session or do more family portraits.

The amount of time we suggest you to set aside for photos depends on the time of day.

Preparation Shots – Duration: 60 minute to 1.5 hours
Ideally we would have 45 minute for the girls and 45 minutes with the guys.

Couples session – Duration: 45 minute to 1,5 hour
We highly suggest doing this before the ceremony in conjunction with a “first look.” That way you can enjoy the rest of your day without having to worry about taking too much time out for photos. Also this is when the makeup and hair are fresh. We’ll set up a first look moment so it will still be a surprise when you see each other. Be sure to give us at least a full hour so we can capture the amazing shots you see in our Portfolio – Best Weddings Photos.

Family Formals – Duration: 30 minute to 1 hour
Have a list of pictures that you want with your family/friends right after the ceremony. Typically this is done at the altar but we can do it any location you’d like. Also, have one person from each side of the family that is really organized (and loud) to move people in and out of the photos.

The protagonists of the event are definitely you, but one of our aims is to reflect a positive image to your guests, whom we want to remember us as discrete witnesses, always available and positive. Your and your loved guests’ gratification is for us the best proof of success.

Choose your style below from “Journalistic” to “Cinematic”.

Journalistic style
Typically described as a documentary film of the event. Segments are edited as they occur to preserve continuity. This style of editing will produce a polished documentation of the day as it unfolds.

Cinematic style
The term is defined as making a movie or film. Within the wedding videography industry it has taken on the following meaning: It is captured and edited for the dramatic effect and mood.

Storytelling style
A video that relies on sound bites recorded pre, during or in post, usually from the bride and groom. These sound bites are then added to the audio track for dramatic effect and to push the story of the day forward.

Mix style
If you want the videographers are not limited to using just one of these styles; different amounts of styles can be found in every video.

No. Our studio policy is to guarantee consistent style and quality among our destination wedding photographers. First of all our photographers started training at the exact same time under the same mentor: Flavio. We’ve all been in business ever since, developing the unique style you see in our work; and once a week, our studio gets together and reviews images together to ensure that our quality and style are consistent. If one of us learns a new trick or technique, he shares it with the others; and on the other hand, all mistakes, whether major or minor are scrutinized by the team. We guarantee that the quality and style of fine art photography you receive will be consistent.

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 get bright crisp pictures. Some churches do not allow for flash photography; and for that reason, we shoot on cameras with superb low-light performance and lenses with low openings.

Of course you can! We are proud of the consistence of our work. We understand all wedding photographers put up their best shots from each wedding on their websites so it’s hard to determine how well he 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.

Flavio Bandiera Photography team is acclaimed for developing a unique style of wedding photography that is deeply rooted in wedding photojournalism while influenced by fine art photography and fashion photography. We love to use creative lighting, unique perspectives, angles, compositions and artistic post production refining to bring out our clients personalities and beauty while telling their wedding story.  Our work is not only being photographers, but rather artists creating unique and expressive imagery. To see examples of our quality and style, please visit our Photofolio.

Not even us. We believe beauty lies in the spontaneity of the gestures, in the emotion of one look and the extraordinary transport that only naturalness is able to express. Being able to grab everything with elegance and discretion is our task, yours is to have fun and live this day with full intensity.

There is a € 100 replacement charge for additional downloads after the event has been archived. We strongly suggest you make at least one copy of the download when you receive it from us.

All of our packages come with Maximum Resolution images download in .JPG format.

For a 3 hours engagement session we typically deliver 100 images and for a wedding we deliver 80-90 images per hour of coverage.

Each of our packages comes with a maximum 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 if you absolutely want your RAW images, we will provide them to you along with our post-produced JPG’s for an additional fee of € 1.000,-.

You have the right to reprint images whenever you want, wherever you want. However you may not sell your images for a profit or publish your images without the written consent of Flavio Bandiera Destination Wedding Photography.

In most cases, you can print your photos up to 70×100 centimeters without any quality loss. If you would like to print larger than 70×100 cm., additional post-production will be required. For pricing on these services, please email us at info@flaviobandiera.com .

No we do not. We eliminate duplicate images, test shots, missed focused shots, shots with bad expressions and other images that may decrease the overall product quality. 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 weddings photos 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 in processing millions of images each year, we may eliminate ones that we feel are duplicates and only deliver the best ones.

In order for us to post a blog entry from your wedding, we require some information from you. We realize that weddings are intimate events and not all of our clients want their wedding posted, so we submit a “blog entry form” to every couple, to be sure that our clients are comfortable with the exposure. It also collects enough info so that we can give the vendors proper credit.

We shoot most of our images in Medium Raw but in certain situations we use Large Raw format.

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 our studio manager for a quote for custom post production.

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

Yes, of course. Ask for receiving our catalog with all our frames.

Yes, each additional page can be added for additional cost and includes the design time/revisions.

Our signature album contains 40 pages and 90 images. If you would like to add more pages and images, each additional page can be added at additional cost and includes the design time/revisions.

We work with Album Epoca, one of the photo albums major printers, due to their durability, print quality and cover style options Flavio is an Album Epoca’s Ambassador. Also because of this we have chosen Album Epoca as our printing partner for your premium albums.

Production times vary. However you can expect to receive your album 3-4 weeks after confirming the order. The process before placing the order differs in duration depending on how quickly you respond to the instructions for the album wedding design as well as the amount of changes you request after the initial designs. Some brides complete this within a month or two, others take over a year. Similar to the post production process, if you require rush-processing, a fee of € 100.- will be charged. Additional fees for rush shipping may also apply.

Product creation times vary, however in general, print orders will be completed within four weeks after the product order is submitted. Similar to the post production process, if you require rush-processing, a fee of € 100.- will be charged. Additional fees for rush shipping may also apply.

We have never lost an image from a wedding due to the following backup workflow: during the event we shoot simultaneously on 2 cards and then we do back up on a external Hard Drive. This leaves two copies on the cards and creates one more on the external Hard Drive. After the shoot, we back up the cards to a local server set up in a RAID 1 configuration. Once the images are completed we upload the photos on an offsite location. At least two copies of your files are available any time.

Contact our studio manager at +39 011 020 47 55 or email us at info@flaviobandiera.com .

Due to our limitated schedule, we currently do not travel to meet clients. If you would like to fix a meeting please contact us at +39 011 020 47 55 or email us at info@flaviobandiera.com .

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 think about what you hope to achieve from that meeting and we can think of the best ways to get it. For example, if one of your goals is to see more work, we can gladly show you complete events online. If your goal is to talk about packages and get a sense of the Flavio’s personality, telephone calls and webcam appointments can be arranged.

Unfortunately, collecting in cash does not exempt a photography studio from paying taxes in Italy on the amount of the entire package price, whether that product is an album or any other physical product. However, we do offer tax-free services for shootings in Switzerland, UK and outside EU countries.

We do not offer discounts on Sunday weddings and off-season weddings. We are shooting throughout the year. We also cannot offer discounts on weekday weddings, as all of the costs associated with the wedding remain the same.

The primary purpose is to provide adequate compensation for our photographers and our lighting assistants for the additional time spent in travel. Trips to Switzerland, for example, can take over three hours each way, time for which we have to compensate our team. For this reason these fees are unfortunately necessary.

For all engagements sessions, the first 100 km. roundtrip of travel is included (50 km. each way). Each km. in excess is charged at € 3.00/km. The following engagement photos session destinations are not subject to the aforementioned travel fees but are subject to specific travel fees:
– Lake Como, Italy – € 100.- flat fee
– Venice, Italy – € 300.- flat fee
– Zurich, Switzerland – € 400.- flat fee
– Paris, France – € 400.- flat fee
All other engagement session destinations not mentioned, beyond 100 km. roundtrip must be negotiated and will be handled on a unique basis.

Yes. However, if rates change from the original date to your new date, the new rates will be applied.

Unfortunately no, deposits are used to reserve your date. Once we’ve reserved it we do not accept new clients for that day.

Yes. Our Credit Card/PayPal processing fee is 3.0% of the total package price.

Standard rates apply for overtime. Overtime is billed at the rate of € 150/hour per Photographer.

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

We use only professional gear provided by Canon and Nikon. All our bodies and lenses are engeneered for working in any weather situation and light condition.