Is your photographer only doing part of their job for you? Just some tips for you, Part 1

You’re clearly thinking… what on earth could she mean, I need tips? My photographer takes beautiful images of my baby and my family, then they give me a disc or USB of images. That’s completely fine, right?

Wrong. If you are thinking “I just want my images on disc, so I can print them myself”,

of course that’s a great idea in theory, but let me tell you why that’s really might not be a good idea.

What if I told you that getting a disk of images to arrange the printing yourself is akin to having plumber rock up to your house, find out what the problem is, then they buy the parts but tell you that you have to fit them yourself. How about if you turned up to a restaurant, ordered the most delicious sounding item, then the chef took you to the kitchen. In there he then provided you with the recipe, the ingredients, and his amazing kitchen to work with so you could create the said meal – yourself!!

Not exactly what you want at all. Certainly not what you are expecting either. You’ve got the solution you want, but you’ve still got a bit more work to do, yourself, when you’ve paid someone (or had you) to do it for you.

If you think that you would be very much ok to print your own images, let me ask you a few questions.

• What do you know about printer calibration, colour space, and crop ratios for printing?
• Do you know what suppliers that would print so the images would look exactly as your photographer expected them to, per the files they provided you with?
• What do you actually want printed? An album, wooden prints, canvas, photo book, prints, framed art?

Are you confused – colour space? Supplier? Wood print?

Now you’re also thinking, hang on that sounds a bit complicated, why would I be expected to know this?

Well the absolute truth is you shouldn’t – at all. If your photographer was creating beautiful images of you and your family and printing them for you, and doing so ready for you to display in your home and gift to your family, all of this would be null and void.

You wouldn’t and shouldn’t have to think about these questions.

Think about this. You went and got them printed at a local department store or big chain retail outlet. The images looked a little off, a bit washed out, or the colour was wrong and someone’s feet were chopped off. You’d be sure to still tell everyone who the photographer was, because you still love the images, it’s your family of course.

That poor photographer be mortified at the poor quality of their images, because it would mean that you don’t have the beautiful images that you should, even though you got the files that ensured you could get the images you were expecting. You just don’t know how to make sure you do.

Usually the question that follows this is, but it’s cheaper if I do it myself? Which is then followed by I then will do it in my own time. So is it cheaper? And will you get around to doing it….

See part 2 and 3 of this blog sequence to find out more. Interested in knowing more from me in person, then get in touch. I’d love to chat.