What is the Process?
Every photographer is different & offers different packages, styles, images, & number of photos. I am here to tell you what you will get from me as your photographer! From the inital inquiry to booking all the way to delivery of your gallery, here is the breakdown that you need to know.
INQUIRY:
Any time someone inquires (fills out the contact form), I get a notification on my phone & an email with all that info you just filled in. I will reply to that email as soon as I can. That could be within a couple of minutes or a few hours, depending on what I am doing. I am a working mother & wife & I am busy with all kinds of things during the week & especially on weekends.
PICKING A DATE/LOCATION:
Next, we will chat about what you’re looking for exactly, what location would be good, & what day/time would work for you & for me. Sometimes I already have things booked, so we need to work it out beforehand. I don’t have a scheduler on my website for this very reason. If you pick a date/time that doesn’t work for me then we would have to have that whole conversation anyway.
PROPOSAL:
I will send you a proposal! This is NOT part of my website, it is a file on a separate site that I send out to everyone, yes even friends & family, because it helps me keep reports of everything & keep it all organized. There will be a page on the booking process which is super important for everyone to read FULLY. It also has some tips for the day of your shoot that can be helpful for you, your kids, & for me, & info about your gallery delivery.
PICKING YOUR SESSION:
There are a few different sessions that I offer, so please read the descriptions of each one & pick the one that you think is the best for your unique situation! Sessions can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, with each session offering more images than the last. Whatever number of images that is in the description is the MINIMUM amount that I will give you.
*Example:
I PROMISE to give you 25 images for a Full session. Any images past 25 are BONUS. These could be extras that I just loved & wanted you to see, or it could be when I decided to get a little creative & artsy & try something new that you weren’t necessarily expecting, or images that I think just look cool, or it could just be bloopers! I love all types of images & I don’t want you to miss out on seeing them, so I add them in there too! If you aren’t that into them, that’s ok! You can download & keep any that you like & discard the rest. It really doesn’t hurt my feelings because I know that we all have different tastes & see ourselves differently.
CONTRACT:
Once you select your session type, it will take you to one of the MOST IMPORTANT steps: The Contract. Yes, there is a contract. Every photographer should have one because it protects both parties. It tells you what I will do for you & what you can expect from me. In order for me to secure your date/time for your session, the contract has to be filled out & signed. The sooner you do that, the sooner I can book that spot in my calendar for you!
INVOICE:
This lovely page is all fancy with the session you picked, the price, any added travel fees or discounts, & the payment schedule! This will let you know that the deposit is due the day you get the proposal, & the remaining payment is due the day or service. It’s all very standard, but if you ever have any questions, you can always reach out to me!
SECURE YOUR SPOT:
Usually, the page after the invoice details how to pay the deposit to secure your spot. This is VITAL. I cannot guarantee your date/time until I have the deposit, even if the contract is signed! This deposit is Non-Refundable & Non-Transferrable. I require this because I have had too many people cancel at the last minute (when I am already at the location) & I have actually lost out on potential clients, wasted gas, & time away from my family. I understand cancellations/reschedules, but this ensures that I am still slightly compensated for it.
On this page there is a list of ways to pay the deposit using different money apps on your mobile device or entering bank info. It also mentions that you DO NOT have to pay the remainder the same way! This helps if someone would rather pay with cash on the day or service, which I have no problem with!
SESSION DAY:
We will meet & take photos & chat about all kinds of things, then say goodbye, & go our separate ways.
But wait! My job isn’t over yet - I go home & upload ALL those images (usually a few hundred to a few thousand). I cull (go through) EVERY image & choose the ones I like the best. If there are very similar shots, I will keep them & usually make them black & white or crop them in a different way.
EDITING:
When I say I ‘Edit’ your photos, I don’t mean photoshop. I DO NOT use photoshop. I use an Adobe program called Lightroom. It enhances the LIGHT of the images. I can manipulate colors, tones, light & shadows, but I do NOT do major edits. I will erase blemishes or things like poles or ugly fences, or people in the background that will take away from the image, but I usually try to get you in the right spot before I take the photos so that I don’t have to do all that editing. It takes a lot of time to edit & I try to get your photo back to you as quick as I can. I know there are photographers out there who use photoshop for every image & do a ton of edits, & that’s great! I love that people do that! I don’t like doing it though. I don’t do glamour shots; I love to take realistic images (posed or candid) & I want every person to look how they look in real life. I want you to see YOU, not some filtered up, airbrushed version of yourself. I’m not snapchat lol! If that is what you’re looking for, you won’t find it here.
DELIVERY:
Once all the editing is done & I am satisfied with the images, I upload them to a separate online gallery. All of this is digital which means you will get an email with a link to your gallery. It will have to sign in with your own special code for security purposes. Your gallery will show all of the images I am offering to you. You can download just a few or the entire album! I usually suggest that everyone download the full gallery just so you have them. You can order prints through this site too, which makes it super easy, & it’s one of the best printing companies out there!
STYLE:
My style is going to be different than any other photographer AND it’s going to be a wee bit different with every shoot that I do because of a few things:
Lighting - the light is different throughout the day, so your images might look different if you choose a morning session vs. a golden hour evening session or a winter vs. summer session. Studio or in home sessions are very different because we might need to use artifical light or flash.
Color - I will adjust the tones to look warmer or turn the whole image black & white.
Lens Flare - Sometimes when the light hits the lens just right, it creates little orbs or rainbows in photos. Sometimes I do this on purpose, sometimes it’s a happy accident! Personally I think lens flares are neat, but if they take away from the image I will edit parts out.
Framing - I love to use natural things to frame a photo like leaves, tree trunks, bushes, doorways, etc. You’ll most likely see me hiding in some bushes during the session, it’s no big deal, just me trying to get some foreground blur lol.
Artistic Freedom & License - I use every session as a way to use my creativity & try new things. I might try new poses or props, I love to use different angles, backgrounds, & light in different ways to get a certain look for an image. Doing this helps me learn! I will always take posed &/or documentary style images, but I will almost always add in some creative/artistic images that I like. You might not like them & that is totally ok! But I give them to you just incase you do like them! Sometimes we don’t know how something will turn out until we do it & we are surpised at the result.
I hope this helps answer any questions you might have about the whole process from inquiry to gallery delivery! If you haven’t yet, you can check out the FAQs page too.
If you know you want to book a session with me awesome! You can just click the button below & fill out that contact form & I will get back to get ASAP! If you need location ideas head over to Photography Locations Part 1 & Part 2.
With all the love,
