A: TIME: Discount photography stores schedule people on 5-20 minute increments depending on the season, day of the week and even which part of the country you’re in. Especially if you are dealing with younger children, 5-20 minutes does not allow enought time for anything special to happen. "Quality time" cannot and will not happen when a kid is sitting in a small room or when you have to wait because the customer in front of you is taking too long. These types of businesses cannot give customers "true" custom portrait photography.
EXPERIENCE: Discount photography stores usually pay their employees at a very low wage and employees are generally inexperienced people in a transitional period of their lives. These aren’t people who are committed to being great photographers in control of the final product. These folks don’t own any of their photos so you can’t see what they can do before choosing a day or photographer at the mall. Compared to custom photography, with a custom photographer you will be able to view their work on their website, studio, sample book and social networking pages.
CREATIVITY: At discount photography stores, sales are priority. More time is spent training the ‘photographers’ to sell prints & packages or how to use the cash register and process coupons than they are trained to understand photography.At the mall, once you step out of the camera room, they have to ‘sell’ you. Often the person ‘enhancing’ and selling your photo session is not the original photographer. Pictures straight out of camera can be a little lack luster and creative editing allows the photographer to bring their vision to your portraits.
PRICE: A true examination of pricing at a mall studio reveals that you get very little for a lot of cash. The coupons tend not to apply to large expenditures. The mall packages always include options you can’t alter or meaningfully substitute out-of, and you won’t be getting very many photos because the maximum number of frames a department store can shoot is an average of 30.Even if every photo survives the camera room and each one gets an enhancement that’s only 60 photos. To get them on disc is typically an additional fee (in the area of $100 in American dollars). If you create and order a collage, those can’t be burned to disc, even though the ‘multi-images/collages’ cost an average of $40 to print through the mall store’s printing system. Your photos are deleted from the mall store’s system after 30 days. You pay extra to see your images on an online album via the mall store (also disappears after 30 days).At discount stores, they depend on the coupon to get you in the door and push you hard to buy lots of prints or a CD of your photos. That’s the priority. Pricing and product are strictly obeyed and narrowly defined at the mall and the two can never be disengaged.
(Reed, V., (2010, November 30) 4 Ways to Compete With Mall and Discount Photography Studio Prices, retrieved from http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2010/11/30/4-ways-to-compete-with-mall-and-discount-photography-studio-prices/).
Q: Why does wedding photography cost so much more than family or kid portraits?
A: Two words, time and quantity. Typically a bride and groom want a photographer to be present for all the wedding events (i.e. ceremony, reception, pre-wedding events such as getting ready, etc) and sometimes that is all day long. Aside from the time spent with the bride and groom on their special day, a photographer can take up to 800 pictures as compared to 200 or so for a typical family portrait session. After the wedding events, it takes hours and hours to go through, organize and then edit those 800 or so pictures. The bride and groom pay the photographer so their special day is remembered forever and want as many pictures as possible. Weddings are very time intensive and a lot of effort and attention to detail is put into ensuring a brides wedding day is remembered forever.
*Special note: Although a photographer may take a ton of pictures on a wedding day, not all of them work out. Any good photographer will go through, find the pictures that did work out and edit those. There are usually a lot of repeat pics/poses, pictures with incorrect exposure or someone's eyes in the pictures are closesd, etc. On average, a photographer will edit anywhere from 200-500 pics.
Q: What should I wear to my portrait session?
A: Wear what you feel comfortable in! Your entire family does not need to be wearing matching polos for a picture to look good! :) In fact, I kind of think matchy-matchy is a little boring! Don't be afraid to go for bold colors or patterns. You obviously don't want to clash with each other but don't be afraid to try bright and coordinating colors and patterns.
Q: After my portrait session, how soon can I expect my pictures to be done?
A: For a typical family, child or engagement session, my usual turn around time is about a week. In busier months such as September-November, it can take up to two weeks because of the volume of clients I tend to have during that time of year. Weddings are a very different story and can take up to a month or so for all the pictures to be done and edited. Upon completion of the pictures, all clients photos will be added to a private viewing site on line where the clients can proof them, make comments/requests and then order their pictures.
Q: Why don't you include a disc with all my images on it as part of my photography package?
A: I do include a limited number of files on a disc as part of my photography packages with a print release but I do not want to give all my work away. A big part of the reason is because I have spent a ton of time working on the pictures and time is money for me. A digital photo isn’t just a bunch of pixels. It’s my creation, my vision, my art. I plan it, I capture it, and I edit it, until it looks exactly the way I want it. Anyone would be reluctant to show an unfinished proof to a customer, just as a chef would be loathe to serve a half-cooked meal to a diner. When a photographer releases their digital files to a member of the public, they relinquish control of their work. Believe it or not, there is almost an art to making pictures look good for print. There are factors such correct resolution size, a good printing lab (Wal-Mart by the way, is not a good place to print up your pictures :)), a correct crop size to keep the composition of the picture, sharpening (helps a photo look clearer in print), or even having to worry about a client changing the photo (which is illegal) after the photographer has spent hours and hours working on them. I want my clients pictures to look the best they possibly can and I am more comfortable when I have control over the finished product. I value my work and put a lot of time and effort into ensuring your pictures look their optimal best. If you do decide you'd still rather have the images on a disc so you can print else where, I do offer them for a price of $395 for 30-40 images. After that, I do not claim liability for the print quality of your pictures.
Q: What are your policies?
A: In order to hold your appointment, a 50% session retainer must be received within five days before your session date. The money is non-refundable but we will reschedule if difficulty arises. The remainder of the fee is due the day of the session; before it begins. Please notify us at least 48 hours before the photo session if you must reschedule. If the weather isn't agreeable on the day of the session, we will gladly reschedule to another day. I currently accept payments via check, cash or paypal.
Images will be available approximately 14 days after your photo session and will be presented to you via a client viewing site online. It is at this time you will make your portrait selection, and place your order. There will be about 50-100 images to choose from.
Images from your order will be kept on file for 1 year for further additional reprints at a later date. There is a $75 minimum for re-orders.
All images (and preview album, if purchased) are to be inspected by you when they are available on the client viewing site and your signature is required stating they meet your approval. After this, all sales are final. Due to the nature of photography there are no returns or exhanges, no exceptions.
