Five Things Your Photographer Wants You To Know

Let me start right off the bat by saying that this is coming from a place of love and wanting to educate those who wouldn’t know this information otherwise. These are all things I’ve encountered in the past, and I’m sure many other photographers have dealt with these at one point or another. It’s important to talk about these things proactively to help create a healthy community of photographers and clients.

Look at their portfolio before you hire them

Finding the right photographer for you takes some effort and searching. If a friend recommends a photographer to you, make sure to look at their photos on social media as a preliminary step. Really pay attention to their editing style and composition. Do you like what you see? Can you imagine your session looking similar to the photos on their site and being happy to share them? If not, there’s no shame in looking elsewhere. Art is subjective and photography falls under that category. Find a photographer whose photos you love and ask for a consultation meeting!

We will not give you the RAW files, and here’s why

When you choose a photographer, you are not simply picking someone to take a picture. You are hiring them for their artistic abilities in framing and composing the photos and how they edit those photos.

When you ask for unedited photos, you are asking for incomplete photos. It takes us many hours to reach the point of completing the retouched photo because we know what to look for to enhance the photograph while also staying true to you. We want our clients to have the absolute best quality of our work, which leads to the next point.

It’s illegal for you to edit the photos we give you

Let me explain what falls under this category. When you post a retouched photo that we give you on social media and you put a filter over it or change it in any way, that is technically copyright infringement. This sounds extreme, but it’s true (learn more about it here).

Now, photographers will want you to be happy with your photos and most are willing to work with you beforehand on what you envisioned for the session. Make sure that when you talk to your photographer before the photo shoot, you communicate clearly what you hope to capture.

We edit in a way that reflects our personal style, so if you put a filter over our finished product, it no longer reflects the vision we had for the photo. It may seem like no big deal for you to quickly edit a photo before you post it, but it’s a huge deal for us. Please, respect our work. Again, we want you to love your photos, so create a dialogue with your photographer about your photographs.

Do not wait until the last minute to book a session

This probably seems like common sense to a lot of you, but let me give you a timeline for why it’s so important to remember.

I usually tell my clients that I’ll have the photos back to them in about two weeks. That’s because I have to balance work, classes, homework, and retouching the photos within that span of time. Not to mention I might have other sessions I’m working on at the same time. I like to do the preliminary set of edits within the first week, and give myself some time away from it because I’ve probably been staring at the photos for hours at a time. I give myself this small break to step away and clear my head so I can come back with a fresh perspective. This all comes from a place of making sure I give you photos I am very proud to share with you.

If you ask for a quote last-minute, the photographer might already be booked up for the time you were hoping for.

So if you think that you’d like to have your photos done at or before a certain time, make sure to budget potential time for editing. Ask your photographer what their turn-around time is for editing photos so you can get an idea of your timeline. Start searching for a photographer as soon as possible, because you never know what their schedule looks like until you ask.

You need to credit your photographer on social media

I’ve seen a lot of people improve on this over the years, but I still needed to mention it and mention why.

As a photographer, I love that you love your photos enough to want to share them on social media. As a small business owner, it’s so important that my photos get credited from clients on social media, because that is how I get a lot of my business. You share a photo with your friends and family online, and someone is interested in having their photos taken. With something as visual as photography, people and potential clients will see these photos that you and I are both so proud of.

Like I mentioned before, photography falls under that category of art. Every artist needs to be credited on their hard work. The focus of the photo is and always will be you, but please take the time to tag your photographer in your post. If you truly love our photos, crediting us online can help our business grow.