How To Choose A Family Photographer
Maybe you’ve always wanted portraits of your children but are unsure how to choose the right portrait photographer? Searching on the internet will find an overwhelming number of photographers – for example googling “Islington family photographer” finds over 950,000 websites.
The best way to find a photographer is personal recommendation. Do your friends or colleagues have photographs you admire and did they enjoy the portrait experience? If you can’t find a recommended family photographer, the tips below should help you find a professional who will take family portraits you’ll treasure. The internet is the obvious place to start, but the advice also applies if you look at adverts in magazines or go into portrait studios.
Style, price and the products you can chose are the key factors to look at in making your choice. Consider all three and decide if I'm the right photographer for your family.
Style
One client said she wanted her pictures to look as if a friend had taken them on a day out – only better! If you want this kind of natural and informal portrait, you need a photographer like myself who’ll come to your home or take pictures on location. This is the best way of ensuring a relaxed atmosphere and has the advantage that you don’t have to drag the family to a studio. Click here to see a gallery of lifestyle portraits.
A family photographer can also pose the portraits and use lighting to create either contemporary portraits or traditional poses. I can bring studio lights to you to combine the advantages of being at home with the look of a studio shoot. Click here to see a gallery of studio style portraits.
So, once you’ve decided on the style you want, you can short-list photographers in your area. Most photographers have websites with galleries of their work. Take some time to look through the ones on this website to decide if they are the kind of pictures you want to display in your home or to give to relatives.
Price
My website sets out all of the costs involved in buying pictures from Michael Crabtree Portraits, because I believe it's important that you understand what the likely costs are before you commit to the family photography session. There are two main components in what you’ll spend: a fee for the photography session and the price of any pictures you buy.
Some photographers' portrait sessions are virtually free but it can be very expensive to buy the pictures. I prefer to balance the session fee and the cost of the prints or frames. I also offer packages including a set number of prints. You should be comfortable with the likely costs before the session to avoid nasty surprises or hard-sell.
The most important thing is to choose a family photographer whose work you like. When comparing prices between photographers you may want to consider what the photographer needs to do to produce the final images for you and how that affects the cost.
- What is included in the cost? There may be travel time, maintaining a studio, and (apart from the basic shopping-centre portraits) the photographer will edit the pictures after the shoot.
- For portraits, I spend about twice as long selecting and editing pictures as I do on the shoot itself. Editing the raw images makes sure that the colours are true to life even in difficult light conditions, then I remove scratches and crop the pictures to perfect the composition. Using advanced editing software you’ll find that very different pictures can be created from the same original photograph.
- It is worth asking your photographer what editing they offer if you want a choice of black & white or different colour effects. I like to talk to families about what style of picture they like and will edit to achieve that style. I can also suggest how each picture can be displayed to its best advantage.
Products
Before booking a session, check that you can buy the pictures in the format you want. I will try to produce the photograph exactly as you want to display it. I regularly create aluminium prints, framed prints, canvas or acrylic board, or simple prints to put in your own frames. Pictures have even been printed on mugs or mousemats.
One of the most popular products for my clients is a high-resolution DVD of all the images from the shoot. Not all photographers will sell the digital images on a CD/DVD because you can then choose to print them yourself. (You’ll need to check that the images are high-resolution rather than low-resolution if you want to print from them.) A CD is also a good memento of the shoot which you can share with relatives or view on your computer.
Experience
In addition to style, price and products it’s worth checking the photographer's experience and what guarantee they offer if you’re not happy with the results.
My post-graduate training in photojournalism and 19 years' experience gives my clients confidence that I will produce quality portraits whatever the circumstances.
Guarantee
In the unusual event that you don’t like the pictures, any reputable photographer should discuss this with you and if neccessary offer a reshoot or a money-back guarantee. A guarantee is valuable but remember that you’ll have spent your time on the session so it pays to research your choice before committing to a portrait shoot.
Use these tips and you should achieve portraits that are perfect for your family. If you are interested please get in touch by phone on 07976 251 824, or website www.michaelcrabtree.co.uk/familyabout.html, or email: Michael@michaelcrabtree.co.uk and we can talk about what you're looking for.