What should we wear for our portrait session?
Nearly every client asks me “what should we wear?!” before their session. I’m happy to give individual recommendations to every client, but I thought that since this is such a common concern, I’d share with you some ideas for how to pick clothing that will photograph well. Basically, when choosing clothing for yourself and your family for photos, you should keep in mind the following principles:
Remember:
At least 2 STYLES
Multiple LAYERS
Use TEXTURE
Mix up PATTERNS
Go for COLOR
Add INTEREST
Coordinating, but not matchy matchy
During full sessions, I allow as many outfit changes as you’d like as long as you fit them into our scheduled time. So you may want to go for a couple of different looks during your session.
Click here for some visual ideas for spring, and here for fall and winter ideas.
What is a “finished image” ?
I get this question a lot, and it is understandably a confusing issue. You’ll hear photographers use lots of different lingo for their post-processing. Some might say “final” or “finished” or “fully edited” but we all (mostly) mean the same thing.
A finished image is one that we’ve done some sort of significant post-processing to (this means it’s not straight out of the camera and then just dumped into your online gallery). For me, though I take 70-100 images at a full lifestyle photography session, I pull out only 25-30 of the very best images to “finish” and present to you at your ordering session. I generally spend at least ten minutes on each image that I present to a client from a lifestyle session.
What I do to the image largely depends upon the individual image and the feeling that I want to convey, but in general I enhance what’s already there. Pop the color, eliminate distractions in the background, even out skintone, maybe do a custom black and white conversion. Even with perfect exposure and great light, most images can benefit from this treatment. I work hard not to get too Glamor Shot-ey, but I want to deliver something to you that has that extra wow factor.
Below is an example:
What is the “Photo of the Month”?
I choose a “Photo of the Month” at the end of each month. I’ll pick the photo based sheerly on my own whim– maybe this was my favorite composition, or I loved the color, or the shot was really hard to get and we pulled it off, or maybe it was one of those happy accident shots. Anyway, I’ll pick it, dress it up, and post it here. At the end of the year, I’ll post all 12 Photos of the Year and hold a contest. Vote for your favorite Photo of the Year by commenting on that post, and tell your friends to vote too… The person who’s photo receives the most votes gets that photo mounted on 11×14 or 12×12, PLUS a $50 gift card to use on their next session.
You can see the 2010 entries so far:
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September
Can you recommend wedding vendors to us?
I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of local wedding vendors along the way, and some have stood out to me for their excellence in their fields. Each wedding that I shoot, I meet many professionals and see lots of styles of work. For current clients, I am happy to point them in the direction of a vendor who might suit their personality and style.
Florists: Abby Chic, based in South Berwick Maine, www.abbychicflowers.com
Music: DJ Bill Adams, of Sonic Boom Entertainment, based in Naples, Maine. www.gotboom.net, Joe Farren, who provides DJ services as well as piano, guitar and vocals- www.joefarren.com.
Invitations & Design: Olio Designs- beautiful, Maine-made, handmade cards and invitations. www.oliodesigns.etsy.com. Good Girl Graphics- amazing graphic design. Hanna Bulger, goodgirlgraphics@comcast.net.
May I use images from this blog?
No.
All images on this blog are copyrighted by me, the photographer, Nicole Derr. It is illegal and unlawful to scan, copy, or reproduce my work in any manner or medium and is punishable by law with fines starting at $150,000. I thank you for respecting my work and livelihood by choosing not to reproduce (steal) my images. (This includes using them digitally, like on your computer desktop or facebook, or printing them, or anything else).
As an artist, I wish to have complete control over the final look of my clients’ images, and scanned images damage my reputation as a photographer by distorting and devaluing the image quality. I wish that all images carrying my name look their absolute best.
“But don’t I own images of my own {family/wedding/child/dog}?”
When a photographer takes images of you or your family, the images are copyrighted. You have the permission to hang the images up in your home and enjoy them; you do not have permission to make copies of the images. This includes home printers/scanners or printers at local camera shops and convenience stores (such as Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, etc). I keep in close contact with local stores, letting them know that we are to be alerted when issues of copyright come up in their stores.
What is Custom Lifestyle photography and why does it cost more?
The photographic art you choose to place on your wall is ultimately the result of the vision of the photographer. This vision, coupled with what you wear to your session, the environment, the lighting, even the mood the subjects are in at the time of photographing creates the work that you will want to proudly display on your walls forevermore.
Your first step in the process is more about determining who you are, who your family is, and then seeking a photographer that reflects your style. If you are drawn to the style of my work, where people are often unposed, enjoying life, you probably like the LIFESTYLE or PHOTOJOURNALISTIC photography style.
What custom photography ultimately is all about is choice and experience (as in THE experience). Custom photography is about finding someone who will photograph your family, give you devoted 1:1 attention without worry of the next ‘in line’ or the feeling of a crowded portrait studio. A custom photographer will typically show you a fairly extensive gallery culled to only show the images that meet the photographers’ creative sensibilities. Often the images are fully edited images-color corrected with blemishes and undereye circles removed. Custom photographers are also known as boutique studios, offering a range of products and unparalleled service. Think Lexus vs. Hyundai, think Nordstrom vs. WalMart.
Custom photography should have you, the client and your experience in mind.
The digital revolution has brought amazing flexibility and ability to control various factors during the image taking and making process. Photographers, the hobbyist, the professional, the amateur all benefit from this ability to manipulate pixels. However, with flexibility comes a price. Digital camera equipment is still considerably more expensive when you factor in its’ lifespan, the need for additional resources for processing those images, the time it takes to get a usable image and the effort that goes into creating a work of photographic art.
We all know that you can go to the local Walgreen’s and pay a $1.99 for a print – as a client you may wonder why you may pay upwards of $50, $70, $90 for a custom photography print. Photographers hear this statement every once in awhile:
“How in the world can you charge $xx for an 8×10 if it costs me less than $2 to print at x store?”
Much of the cost of a photographic print produced by a professional photographer has a lot to do with the time, equipment costs, artistic vision and reputation of the photographer, not to mention expertise and the usual costs of running a legitimate business.
Approaching it from a time standpoint, let’s imagine that you have hired a photographer who has work that you love. This photographer is traveling an hour to your destination to photograph your session. Here is an example of a time break down:
- session prep time (30 mins – 1 hour, includes equipment and back up equipment checks + vehicle checks)
- one hour travel time TO session
- 15-30 minutes prep time at client’s home
- 90 minutes-2 hours with client photographing subject
- one hour travel time FROM session
- 30-45 minutes uploading time from digital cards from camera to computer
- 30-45 minutes time spent backing up the original images
- 2-5 hours editing time to present you with a diverse gallery of edited images
- 1 hour prep time getting ready for ordering
- 2-3 hours time with client for ordering images
- 1 hour sorting through and checking order
- 30 minutes-1 hour prep time for delivery
- 30 minutes-1 hour getting order shipped
- any additional phone time or time needed for add on ordering, shipment issues, quality issues
In this example, the time spent per client can range from just under 13 hours to 19 hours – dependent on the photographer’s level of service. This is time dedicated only to ONE session. When the photographer charges $100-$300 for the photo shoot (aka SESSION FEE) you are not just paying for the two hours of session time, you are paying the photographer for 12-19 hours complete time for your session.
Keep reading this article: www.professionalchildphotographer.com
{Text by Marianne Drenthe, from www.professionalchildphotographer.com, used with permission.}