9 Things Photographers Wished All Clients Knew
I'm excited to be starting this new year and getting to work with returning and/or new clients. As a photographer there are a few things I wish my clients knew and I thought I would take this time to share them with you.
Hourly rates include more than just time shooting a session. They include time scouting chosen locations, editing/retouching and overhead (software subscriptions, web hosting, etc).
The goal in poses is not to create the amazing shot you found on Pinterest. More often than not, we are working with clients who are not professional models and/or are very anxious about not knowing how to pose. Our main goal is to make sure our clients look as natural as possible and will often stick to less advance poses to get this end result.
The photographer is the director of the session. Suggesting posing ideas during a session can be helpful and often welcomed but too many suggestions ends up disrupting the flow of the session. Allow the photographer space to do the job you hired them to do.
Online labs and one-hour photo kiosks will not get you the same quality products as a professional printing lab. Professional printing labs use high quality paper and employ experts in color correcting and other more difficult touchups.
Photoshop is not a magic tool that can Photoshop everything out of your image. We do the utmost best at cleaning up each image but leave the more difficult work to the expert and skilled employees of the professional printing lab.
Lighting is important. We will not shoot in the middle of the day when the light is the brightest. Sessions take place at the best time for even lighting from 10 or 10:30 a.m. till the lighting gets too harsh and from around 4:30 p.m. and run till the lighting gets too dark.
Have patience while waiting to see your images. It takes time to cull through all the images and make adjustments. Proofs will be available in your personal online gallery within three weeks.
We know it is exciting for you to see your images and we are excited for you to see and share them. Please refrain from taking screen shots of your images in your client gallery, cropping out watermarks and/or adding filters. We want our images to look the best they can and taking screen shots will create a lot of pixelation (a less sharp image). Attempting to edit and/or crop an image yourself will alter the way the image was intended to look not to mention going against legal photography copyright laws. The photographer owns the images and grants permission for the client to use them.
Focus on having fun and not on getting the perfect shot. Let go of the small things and expectations. Don’t fret over every little wrinkle and hair. Relax and enjoy the process.
