Top 4 questions you should ask before hiring a Professional Photographer

I have thought long and hard about this blog post and honestly have changed it too many times so here goes. I feel an obligation to help you choose your professional photographer and prepare for a great experience. In the last decade photography has had so many great changes like going from Film to Digital and some not so good ones like being the easiest form of Art to enter into professionally. I was hesitant to change over from film to digital but after years of dropping off film canisters and crossing my fingers nothing would get lost and watching images develop before my eyes in a darkroom it was time to make the change. I loved the instant access to my images on the camera and easy upload to my computer where I essentially use a digital darkroom to develop my images through some amazing software products like Adobe Photo Shop and Lightroom. I want to talk about the not so good for a few minutes. With the world knowing images can be uploaded in seconds it seems that clients think their images should be provided in seconds as well but please remember as professional photographer there is an entire behind the scenes process that takes place and that takes time. My biggest disappointment is that the words "Professional Photographer" seem to have a misleading definition since Digital came around. Professional by definition has many meanings from Dictionary.com: as an adjective Professional is 1. following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain 13. a person who is expert at his or her work (sited )
and the word Photographer as a noun means noun a person who takes photographs,

So in my opinion a Professional Photographer should be a person who takes photographs as a means of livelihood who is an expert as his or her work. I feel as a professional photographer and businesswomen I feel the need to talk about the "elephant in the room" in the photography community. When I was in college pursuing my dreams of being a professional photographer and attending Edinboro University pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in Applied Media Arts/ Photography it was a must have to get proper training and education before you even thought of calling yourself a professional photographer. It seems these days if you have a good eye for photography, a few hundred dollar camera and a computer with a few editing programs you can self proclaim yourself a professional photographer. I know there are some amazing self taught photographers and artists starting out that have to start somewhere and cannot afford top equipment, I should know I was a broke college student once too. The concern that I have is I can do a Portrait Photographer search on Facebook or the Internet and can find hundreds of photographers that are far from the true definition of Professional. Everyone is being conditioned by companies like cell phone and greeting card printing companies that non-professional images are "card worthy" or "good enough" to share as your most treasured memories. It scares many professional photographers that good enough will overrun the need to pay for professional photographers but I disagree. I know there are many families that still want quality and understand photographers pricing. I teach a pricing for profit class for photographers and can tell you that photographers price based on their cost of goods sold, insurance costs, equipment maintenance, editing & management software, taxes and many other monthly, quarterly and yearly fixed and variable costs just like any other business. Most importantly in the price of a great Professional Photographer is the customer service and experience they provide of your family while capturing those once in a moment memories that last a lifetime. I worked in the retail side of portrait studios and saw some amazing photographers but they lacked a great customer experience because in order to keep their prices so low they had to a very high volume per day. If you shop for a photographer for price over quality please make sure you are confident in what you are getting. As a consumer you have the right to know what you are paying for. 

The first question you should ask is, Do they have liability and equipment insurance? Yes, that seems like a given for any business to carry insurance but a photographer does not need a business license in the State of Pennsylvania as well as most other states so no one is making sure normal business practices are being done properly. If you are wondering why this is first on my list it is for safety. Let's say a photographer comes to your home and the family dog knocks over their light into the lamp and it catches the curtain on fire and they do not have insurance? Who is going to pay for the damages? Or your photographer photographs your charity event and someone trips over their camera bag and breaks their ankle, who's is going to pay? On the flip side if you are a photographer with no business insurance someone can come after you personally and I honestly do not think anything is worth jeopardizing your family and losing your house over an accident.

The next thing is you should ask to see some work from their most recent photography sessions and even ask for references if you want. It's your right as a consumer to ask anything you want to ensure you are getting a professional service and high quality product. If your photographer only has samples from two years ago or only photographs babies but wants to photograph your wedding, maybe ask more questions or shop around. I am not saying a baby photographer cannot photograph weddings but you need to know if your wedding day will be captured adequately, remember it only happens once so you cannot afford an inexperienced photographer to take a lot of your money and not produce the results you expect from a Professional Photographer. The third most important thing is to ask what is in their camera bag and what type of equipment are they planning on using for your session. You might not have any idea of what the answer is but if they tell you they have the same camera as you then maybe you are not going to get the professional quality you are looking. In that case why not buy a tripod and save the money and do it yourself. I know that a true artist can take an award winning image from a $5 camera and a $10,000 camera but there are professional grade equipment that has more megapixels, sharper images, and a million other bonuses from a camera you cannot buy in a retail store. There are variations in lens and flash units that can make or break an image. 

The 4th questions,  is where where my portraits be printed? A Professional Photographer should be using a Professional Print lab. If they are using a local printing lab like Wal-mart or Walgreens the color will be off and the images may look ok but are not what you want to hang on their wall. It is not that those stores do not provide good products but their color calibrations and printing processes are very different. Think of it this way if you go into an office supply store and look at office printers they have some that have 1 color cartridge and 1 black & white cartridge or you can buy a printer with 5 different color cartridges and a black & white one. The 6 cartridge printer hands down will print more vibrant colors and have a better output. A professionally printed 8x10 may cost anywhere from $20-$60 from your photographer and the cost varies on if it is sprayed with a uv protectant, if it is frames, where they get their images printed, how much editing time and more so just because you can get a 8x10 at Wal-mart for $4 please remember that is comparing apples and oranges. If your photographer only offers digital files there is probably a section in the contract or the print release stating they are not responsible for poor print quality. My suggestion is to research non-commercial print lab like mpix.com they are a sister company from a professional print lab called Miller. There are a hundred other questions you can ask like are you registered in the State of PA to charge sales tax? If you go into most businesses their business licences are displayed in a little frame by their front desk but photographer do not carry their business certificates in their camera bags. This is a big pet peeve of mine if a "Professional Photographer" does not have a Federal EIN number and is not paying taxes that is cheating, unprofessional and most of all illegal. I am not going to get into a discussion about criminal backgrounds and child clearances but they are things you should consider before inviting someone into your home or spending a few hours intimately with your family. All Professional Photographer should require a Photo Agreement or Contract as this protects the consumer and the photographer to ensure that each party gets what is agreed upon. We hope you don't ever have a photographer not show up to your event or take your money and run but with an agreement everyone is protected. At Clicks for a Cause we have a Federal Sales Tax License, Fictitious Name Certificate, BFA in Photography, our owners have criminal and child clearance and we are proud to only use professional grade Nikon camera equipment, professional lighting equipment, only use professional printing labs and will provide you with a written photography agreement. We want every photographer to succeed and client to get the best experience possible and really get their money's worth while protecting the integrity of professional photography. Make sure you are getting the most of your Professional Photographer experience, If you are like me you think if something is priced too cheap and always on sale then maybe it isn't the best because no one else wanted it. Have you ever looked at a $50 blouse and did not think you wanted to spend that much money but after you tried it on it felt so soft and fits your figure perfect so you bought it no matter the price? I honestly believe the same in photography if it is priced to low then ask the questions above to see if you are going to "get what you are paying for" and if it seems priced high but you love the photographer and the quality products then it's worth it! Luxury items are higher priced because of the quality and service. If you really want a photographer that may be out of your price range just talk to them maybe they offer payment plans or have specials from time to time. Clicks for a Cause photo parties are a great way to get the quality we offer to our private clients for a lower price due to us photographing in bulk. 

Many photographers start their own photography business thinking it is the natural step but have limited business knowledge and cut corners. So please make sure that you are choosing the right Professional Photographer. We have had many clients contact us to retake or fix portraits that they thought were from a professional photographer and we don't want that to happen to you!

Thank you for reading! 

Please comment below if you have any questions or if there is a question you think someone should ask their professional photographer.

For more information about Clicks for a Cause Photography click here Clicks for a Cause

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~Wendy
 Clicks for a Cause Founder