This page will answer some commonly asked questions.
In no particular order, you can find details on:
In no particular order, you can find details on:
-Pricing Details
Booking your Session
-Payment Requirements
-Details about your high resolution disk
-What will be included on your disk
-When you will receive your disk
-A special shout out to the boys
-Discounts
-Gift Certificates
-WHEN photo shoots work best
-On location vs in-studio
-Wedding Details
-What to wear
Booking your Session
-Payment Requirements
-Details about your high resolution disk
-What will be included on your disk
-When you will receive your disk
-A special shout out to the boys
-Discounts
-Gift Certificates
-WHEN photo shoots work best
-On location vs in-studio
-Wedding Details
-What to wear
Pricing
Specific prices are addressed under the “details” tab. Just know that prices are subject to change according to several things. The first is the demand for bookings. Also, as the quality of my equipment goes up, so will my prices. As I gain more experience, and can better guarantee my work, my prices will also adjust accordingly. For now, my prices reflect the amount of time and effort I put into planning your shoot, all the contributing factors during your shoot, and the post-processing time I put into editing your pictures.
Payment
Payment is due at the time of the photo shoot. Payment is accepted in cash or check.
Booking
Call or email me to schedule your session. I ask that you book out several weeks in advance. Some things to consider might be: When would you like to receive your DISK, not necessarily when you'd like your shoot to be. Contact me for available dates. **Please note -Holiday sessions need to be booked by October or beginning of December at the latest to guarantee your disk by the 2nd week in December. Exceptions can be made. Contact me for details under the "Contact Vanessa" tab
Why do I include a High Resolution Disk
in your price?
in your price?
Photographers come in all shapes and sizes, and so do their techniques. A lot of photographers require you to purchase prints in order to have your pictures. I always hated it when the local photo studio took cute pictures of my kids, and then wanted to charge me over a hundred dollars on top of my sitting fee for pictures of my kids. Some photographers just charge extra for the disk. I feel like all my work goes into the shoot and the editing of the pictures, so that is essentially what I’m charging for. After I put all that effort into your pictures, I don’t mind taking an extra 5 minutes to transfer your pictures onto a disk. It’s a lot of extra work to take your personal print order, and then have to follow through and make the orders, pick them up, deliver them, etc. I offer prints with weddings as a bonus if you desire, but for the most part, you can take your disk and print your pictures whenever and wherever you’d like! :) Your disk will include a copyright release that allows you to use your pictures however you’d like.
What’s on your Disk?
I read an article once. It included the most terrible picture of Beyonce you’ve ever seen. It’s pretty bad.
It was captioned: Why your photographer doesn’t give you all your pictures.
I was super excited to find the article, because someone out there had finally explained why you don’t get all your pictures. Clients often ask me for all their images. I don’t give you all your images, and there’s good reason. You don’t want all your shots, despite what you might think. During your shoot, I snap like crazy, and I take doubles and triples of everything. I change my angle. I change my lighting. I take lots of pictures. You don’t want 50 of the same picture, with slight variations. I’m not going to take the time to change all of these duplicate images to a JPG so that you can upload them onto your computer. I will choose the best picture from every shot, and I’ll give it to you, but I’ll give it to you with some light edits at minimum. If I took a picture of your baby with a cute outfit, with a really cute pose, but the picture didn’t turn out because my light or my angle was off, then I don’t edit the picture and I delete it. I try to give all my clients an average of 15-25 images -EDITED. I’ve also had clients tell me to not worry about editing the pictures. I, being the perfectionist I am, won’t give pictures back that haven’t at least had the color adjusted a tiny bit. Pictures just look better when they’ve been processed. You also have to understand, if you have unedited pictures that simply aren’t good pictures, (blurry images, bad lighting, etc) and you show them on facebook or print them and hang them on your wall, it’s bad business for me. Others will see them and judge the quality of my work based on those bad images.
In short, I will give you an average of 15-25 edited images, (with the exception of weddings and missionary sessions) but will try to give you anything that turns out (by my standards)
When will you receive your disk? & can you rush a disk?
I was in quite the pickle over the 2012 holiday season. I had booked photo shoots, taken lots of pictures, and then got a part time seasonal job that demanded a lot of my time. On top of that, I had clients that were asking to book shoots last minute in mid November, but wanted their disks a week or two before Christmas. That would have barely given me a 3 week window as it was, but then take into account the fact I was already incredibly behind in my processing and editing. I was drowning and couldn’t deliver. Let’s just say that by the time I caught up on all my shoots by the end of January, I learned a valuable lesson on scheduling, saying no, and charging for my time.
You can expect your disk within 2-3 weeks, with the exception of big weddings, and big family groups. The more people there are to edit, the more time it takes. You should expect a big wedding or a big family shoot closer to 4-6 weeks. You are welcome to rush your disk. It will be an additional $50.
Whenever I had pictures done of my family, I was beyond excited to see them. I couldn’t stand waiting 2 days, let along 2 weeks. I watched the calendar faithfully, and fell apart if my pictures weren’t in my hands by day 14. I totally understand wanting your pictures asap, and it seems simple enough right? I always thought so too. I always try to provide a sneak peak of your pictures before you get your disk.
Just take into consideration that It takes me about 24-48 hours to get your pictures uploaded. Then I have to sort through the hundreds of shots to find the best ones, which can take a couple days. I’ve taken anywhere from 300 to 2000 pictures in one shoot, which doesn’t even include weddings. Then I go through and adjust your pictures so that I can work with them more easily in photoshop. As I get your images up on my big screen, and I zoom in, I tend to find fly-away hairs in front of your eyes, or other nuisances that require more time. Either the shot is bad and I delete it, or I take the extra time to edit out the hair. After I’ve edited and enhanced all your images, I have to put them side by side and take another look at them. I could put two similar shots up next to each other, and realize that one is a lot darker than the other, or the red background looks more orange in one shot than it does the other. This requires a new round of editing, that I’ve only learned to do in recent months. You don’t want to print those two images and hang them on your wall, then have them not match. Yuck! Once your images are processed and edited, I create a folder, create your copyright release, and burn your disk. It’s a process that I have to incorporate into life. It's a lot more time consuming than clients realize. Like I said in my “How to choose a Photographer” bit, I never fully appreciated what goes into photography until I dabbled in this world. Once your disk is burned, I’ll be in touch. Some people like to have their disk mailed, which is an extra step in the process because I can’t just toss it in my mailbox. I have to go to the post office in person, find the correct packaging (since they will consider your envelope a regular letter and send it through a machine, which can damage your disk.) If you are in the area, a lot of times clients will just arrange a time to swing by and get their disk, or sometimes we meet up and exchange the disk.
Don’t know what to wear?
A lot of people ask for advise on what to wear for their photo shoot. I’ve seen similar tips on other photographer’s blogs, but they all seem to offer the same vague help. They all say, “wear what makes you comfortable.” I know why their recommendation is so vague, but if I genuinely don’t know what to wear, then that’s not very helpful. I love vintage, I love bold colors, I love modern, classy, you name it. Everyone has their own style.
Here’s what I have to say on this subject. It’s all going to depend on your style, so yes, wear what makes you comfortable. But, here are some other things to consider:
-It’s fun to throw on a scarf or a chunky necklace and change things up a bit.
-Wear something weather appropriate. If it’s freezing cold outside, don’t wear a t-shirt… being stiff and frozen will make you hate your pictures. You’d be surprised at how many people don’t think of this before their session.
-Wear clothes that will flatter you. If you are insecure about certain problem areas, think about how your outfits fit. I personally can’t wear horizontal stripes. They make me look wider than I really am, and I don’t need anything to enhance my insecurities. I had a photographer friend who had a bride who wore a strapless wedding dress, but was overflowing out over the top of her dress. My friend wasn’t going to edit hundreds of photos the way they needed to be fixed, (which I agreed with,) yet the bride hated the overflow of skin over the top of her dress. Use some common sense, and know that everyone’s body is different. Wear what flatters YOU.
-I also suggest not being “matchy matchy.” I’ll admit, I don't love the "matchy matchy" outfits. All the boys in the family don’t have to be wearing the same exact shirt, and all the girls don’t have to have the same exact dress. You want everyone to coordinate. If mom has bright yellow pants, you don’t want to overuse the yellow. Give baby girl a cute yellow hairbow to tie the yellow together. You want your colors to work well together without everyone essentially wearing the same thing. Here’s a couple examples:
Busy prints tend to push you over the edge. I like that my son and my brother-in-law have enough print to change things up, yet it doesn’t ruin the picture.
Another rule I live by is, "wear nice shoes." I wouldn’t put my 4 year old in light-up rainbow Dora shoes. It’s going to be distracting and maybe a little tacky, and what matches light-up rainbow Dora shoes? Nothing. Boys usually fight the “wear nice shoes rule.”
Glasses. So many of you have glasses. You need them. I totally get it. My photographer friend who taught me how to take pictures, makes people pop out their lenses if possible. Popping out the lenses have never been an option while I’ve been shooting, but clients didn’t want to take their glasses off either. Glasses almost always catch some sort of light, and they almost always have a glare. It makes for terrible pictures. I have had a 20% success rate when it comes to editing out the glare on your glasses, but I can’t do that with 20+ pictures. I do my best to work around it, but just know that you’ll probably have that glare. If you happen to have an old pair of frames, see if it’s possible to pop out those lenses and bring the old pair along. It’s your call, just food for thought.
Boys: do your hair! Your fuzzy frizzy hair looks awful in pictures. I don’t care if you got it wet and combed it flat as you walked out the door. It will dry, it will be fuzzy, and your pictures won’t look as nice. Even my hubby, who hates having pictures done, understands the importance of not looking like a slob in pictures. Do your hair, it won’t kill you.
Short shoots.
I’ve been on a couple of shoots where people wanted to spend maybe 20 minutes altogether. They wanted to click a shot of mom, dad and the kids together, one of the kids by themselves, and call it good. Those shoots are always my worst. Like I’ve said in other posts, I’m working on lighting, camera settings posing, etc. It’s better to set up and take a family shot, move, and set up elsewhere trying something new. Out of all the family shots, one is going to be our best shot. I also have to click a lot to get one great picture. Kids don’t want to look at the camera. And when the kids FINALLY look at the camera and smile at the same time, dad blinks. Then I might get the perfect shot where everyone looks great, get home, look at your picture on a huge desktop screen, and realize that a breeze came through just at the right time and all the girls have little fly-away hairs across their eyes. That picture’s ruined. I’ll delete it. And if we only snapped that one picture, we’re out of options. We don’t have any good shots from your session. You’re going to hate your pictures. Please don’t rush a shoot. I’ll shoot until I feel like I have something to work with. I know kids only smile for so long. I’m already racing against the clock. But give me the best chances at giving you quality images you’re going to love.
That leads me to my next thought:
They are almost all the same. They HATE taking pictures.
They groaned when you announced, “We’re going to take family pictures, and we’re going to like it!”
They complained when you bought the sweater.
They complained when you made them do their hair (because as I said in my “what to wear” bit, they must do this)
They whined the whole way to the location.
They made it very clear they would only cooperate for a half hour max.
They’re worse than the 4 year olds.
Their smile the whole shoot said, “I’m showing my teeth because I have too. But I’m not happy to be here, therefor I can’t actually smile a real smile for my family picture that will be hanging on my wall for the next 2 years.”
Drives me to the moon! Drives mom to the moon too! It’s a huge bummer when you finally FINALLY get the 3 year old to actually look AND smile at the camera, you take the picture, but dad looks awful and the shot is ruined. Hey boys… this is what I tell my hubby, my dad and my brother.
I am asking you to take an hour out of your day. An hour out of your year, or even possibly, (like in my case with my own extended family picture,) an hour in 7 years to update some pictures. It will not kill you to cooperate and smile. I know you’re not having a blast, but be a grown up and not another 4 year old I have to bribe with treats and threaten with time outs ;)
From a photographer’s perspective: I know dad is tapping his toe, and I feel rushed. I get anxious, so I start to pick up the pace. I know I need to adjust the light, but I don’t have time, dad’s in a hurry. Baby has snot coming out of his nose, but I don’t have time to wipe it, dad’s getting annoyed. I feel pressured, rushed and frantic. I know we need to shoot another family shot in a different spot, because it looks like a tree is growing out of mom’s head, but in dad’s opinion, we have a family picture, so we’re good to go. You’re pictures are terrible. Please let me do my job. I’ve told boys on shoots: “If you’d just smile, the shoot would only take an hour. But since you’re being difficult, I have to reshoot everything and it just turned into a 90 minute shoot!”
Discounts:
I have had some awesome clients who, despite my learning curve, have loved my work and have referred lots of friends and family to me. I am now offering an additional 10% off your next shoot for every new referral you send my way. You send me 3 referrals? I’ll take 30% off your next photo shoot.
I have also done trades. I’ve traded a boutique for cute infant props in exchange for pictures. Contact me if you’re interested in working out a trade. If you want to toggle together an engagements/ bridals/wedding package, contact me directly.
When is the best time of day for your shoot?
Early mornings and evenings are the best times for photo shoots. Depending on the time of year of course. If the sun is high in the sky, it makes for harsh shadows, squinty eyes and not so good pictures. Overcast days are awesome. If we have a session booked, but the weather is against us, then we can either reschedule or fight through it. During seasons where the sun goes to sleep earlier than normal, I try to clock the light to have a better idea of when we want to shoot.
Gift Certificates.
Of course I do gift certificates! What a fun gift :) You can either pay for a specific shoot up front, and I can specify the shoot on the gift certificate, or you can just buy a generic $___ amount. Then your loved one can put it towards whatever shoot they’d like :)
**SPECIAL**
I am currently offering 2 FREE weddings! Find the details under the "Free Weddings and Bridals" Tab
Weddings
All prices for weddings are temporary, (along with other categories)
*Please Note: I am currently building a wedding portfolio
Current Prices are set at: $75 an hour, with a minimum of 3 hours, and a maximum of 8.
*Please Note: I am currently building a wedding portfolio
Current Prices are set at: $75 an hour, with a minimum of 3 hours, and a maximum of 8.
At the time of booking, a retainer of $110 is due to reserve the date, time and location of your special day. The $110 retainer is non-refundable, and is put towards your final package price. The remainder of the balance is due the day of your wedding. Please understand that your session is not reserved until the deposit has been received.
Weddings will include:
-An hour Consultation required prior to wedding… I need details :)
-Priority shots will be discussed at consultation
-On location anywhere inside Utah County or Salt Lake County. (If you would like to request a wedding outside these areas, contact me directly)
-Photo retouching, editing and post-processing of images
-High resolution CD will include a select number of custom edited images that are completely print and enlargement ready. Your CD will also have all the high resolution images that I shot that day, candid, posed and grouped. Though not all your images will be fully-custom edited, they will have received the basic editing and they will also be print ready.
-Custom print options available, and can be discussed at consultation
-An hour Consultation required prior to wedding… I need details :)
-Priority shots will be discussed at consultation
-On location anywhere inside Utah County or Salt Lake County. (If you would like to request a wedding outside these areas, contact me directly)
-Photo retouching, editing and post-processing of images
-High resolution CD will include a select number of custom edited images that are completely print and enlargement ready. Your CD will also have all the high resolution images that I shot that day, candid, posed and grouped. Though not all your images will be fully-custom edited, they will have received the basic editing and they will also be print ready.
-Custom print options available, and can be discussed at consultation
Locations/ vs In-Studio
I have scouted Utah County and parts of Salt Lake County for great photo shoot locations. My husband and I like to spend our weekends driving along old country back roads searching for new promising locations. I have locations from Pleasant Grove, to the Canyons, to Orem. I know of great locations in downtown Salt Lake, great for Urban shoots. I’ve always wanted to shoot a senior or a bride up on Park City Main St. If you have locations in mind, lets go for it! If you have your heart set on a location that costs money, like Thanksgiving Point or Sundance, then you will need to make sure the fee charged by that location is covered. When going out on a shoot, I have had clients ride with me, and we jump around to spots that work well for us. Some clients like to drive in a separate car and follow me. Either one works great! Riding together is always fun because we have the chance to get to know each other better
For now, my “studio” is my bedroom with a backdrop and my bed, along with big windows that let in lots of light. In studio can be more flexible on the timing aspect of the shoot. I hope to one day have a solid set up for taking pictures. I have also set up shop for newborn shoots and maternity shoots indoors, at both my house, and the client’s house. Sometimes this is great, and sometimes this is hard depending on the lighting. All of the images below are examples of pictures taken either in my bedroom, or at the clients home.
After a solid year and a half dedicated to learning, growing, evolving, working hard, feeling discouraged and enjoying myself in the world of photography, I knew that I still wanted to be the kind of photographer that could offer nice pictures at a price that wasn’t going to bleed a person dry. I knew I wasn’t the only one out there who wanted great pictures but couldn’t afford them.
What does your photographer have to offer?
Consider how much your photographer charges, and what they offer within that price.
When choosing your photographer…
What to consider
What you’re missing
And what you want
What you’re missing
And what you want
I love pictures more than anything. Before I dove into the world of photography, I always tried to find the cheapest way possible to get my pictures done. You only wanted to charge me $50 for an extended family shoot of 11 people? You’ll take pictures of my family, including my 3 young kids, for only $30? Why not!
I’ll tell you why not. I was always disappointed with my pictures. My kids weren’t looking at the camera, we were off centered, awkward, you name it. Unless you know what to expect from your photographer, and you are okay with the potential for getting not so good pictures, you’re going to get what you pay for.
I always tried to do pictures the cheapest way possible. Why should you charge me a hundred dollars to snap some pictures and throw them on a disk? What do you think I’m made of?!
Once I started to dabble in photography, I began to learn real quick just how much went into producing nice pictures.
It’s true what they say. Just because you have a nice camera, that DOES NOT mean you’re a photographer. It goes both ways. I could hand my 10 year old a nice camera, and he’s going to take horrible pictures. But I could hand a professional my smart phone, and come out with a pretty great picture. Things are going to look right, the subject will be posed appropriately.
It’s true what they say. Just because you have a nice camera, that DOES NOT mean you’re a photographer. It goes both ways. I could hand my 10 year old a nice camera, and he’s going to take horrible pictures. But I could hand a professional my smart phone, and come out with a pretty great picture. Things are going to look right, the subject will be posed appropriately.
When I had my special day at the Temple with my sweetheart, I, for the first time in my life, hired someone who knew how to use their camera. The photographer charged me $150, which was an absolute fortune for me at the time. I didn’t care. I had learned my lesson by this point. I forked over the $150, but they were the best pictures I’d ever had done in my entire life. Every single one of them got printed, and they decorate every space imaginable around my home.
I. Love. Them.
When I learned just how much went into photography, my attitude changed even more.
-I was paying hundreds of dollars for photo classes, and photoshop classes.
-My low end DSLR camera, one lens, and a cheap camera bag cost over a thousand dollars, when I was totally broke to start out with. My wonderful husband actually got me my camera as an anniversary present.
-I was spending hours researching how to pose people. Individuals, brides, couples, families, newborns. Posing has been one of the hardest things for me to get the hang of. I get out there on a shoot and my mind goes totally blank! It’s not as easy as you might think.
-I had the hardest time learning how to work with my light. I had a basic camera, nothing fancy. It didn’t let in as much light as I needed, and my pictures were terrible.
-I spent hours learning photoshop. It took almost a year before I learned how to not over-edit a photo and really get the hang of it. So much time and hard work went into learning photoshop.
-My low end DSLR camera, one lens, and a cheap camera bag cost over a thousand dollars, when I was totally broke to start out with. My wonderful husband actually got me my camera as an anniversary present.
-I was spending hours researching how to pose people. Individuals, brides, couples, families, newborns. Posing has been one of the hardest things for me to get the hang of. I get out there on a shoot and my mind goes totally blank! It’s not as easy as you might think.
-I had the hardest time learning how to work with my light. I had a basic camera, nothing fancy. It didn’t let in as much light as I needed, and my pictures were terrible.
-I spent hours learning photoshop. It took almost a year before I learned how to not over-edit a photo and really get the hang of it. So much time and hard work went into learning photoshop.
At this point, I wanted to call the poor girl that charged me $50 to take pictures of my 11-person family. I wanted to tell her I was sorry for expecting so much from her, and based on what I was learning, she actually did a way better job than I gave her credit for. I didn’t realize how hard it all really was.
Lesson learned.
I spent the first year of my photography learning the basics. I offered free photo shoots to anyone and everyone, making it very clear that I was doing it for the practice. I started booking 3 photo shoots a week. That’s an insane amount of shoots, but it didn’t seem like that much until it was time to process and edit the pictures. I was in over my head.
People rarely seemed to love their pictures. Given, I was new and inexperienced. But I had worked hard on every single picture, learning and growing. And it all felt like it was for nothing. It was then that I went to the beautiful girl that charged me $150 on my special day, and I told her how much I loved my pictures. I had just taken my disk from her, and went on my way. I never gave her efforts a second thought. I loved my pictures more than anything, but she didn’t know that. Maybe she didn’t need to know. But I love photography because I love giving people pictures that they will love. That’s when it’s rewarding. And when you don’t feel like your work is appreciated, then it’s no longer fun to be a photographer. I sent her this long mushy email about how talented she was and how much I loved my pictures (2 years later...)
She was worth more than $150 in my opinion, but I was thanking my lucky stars that she only charged me what she did, because there was no way I could afford anything more. It’s not that I wasn’t willing to pay someone all the money in the world to take beautiful pictures, it’s just that I simply didn’t have that kind of money. But don’t I deserve to have nice pictures of my family and my children as well?
I didn’t know how to charge people for my time and effort. People had the same attitude I had in the beginning. They assumed it wasn’t hard at all to snap some wonderful pictures, slap ‘em on a disk and be on their way. I wanted to do everyone a favor. I knew I still made mistakes with my photos, and I didn’t feel like I could charge people for bad pictures. After all, how could I, in good conscience, accept any money for pictures I myself would never EVER pay for?
I was a mess. Like I said, I spent that entire year and a half working as hard as I possibly could to be the best I could, and was doing it all for nothing. Maybe I’d charge $25, or $40. Or I’d do a 3 hour shoot for free, on top of all the editing, just to “practice.” But people still wanted their pictures to be perfect, and they wanted them fast. I overbooked myself, and couldn’t get disks out fast enough. I was working super hard for nothing. $25 was nothing at the end of the day.
I am now, finally in a place, after being hounded by loved ones and fellow photographers near and far, where I’m finally convinced it’s reasonable to charge for my time, talents and efforts when taking pictures. It’s a hard bridge to cross.
I want to give you pictures that you will love, but I want to be affordable. I want you to look at my portfolio, and if you like my style, if you like what you see, then I want you to consider how hard I work on your pictures, from beginning to end. I recognize that I still have room to grow as a photographer and I have no business charging $500 for a high school senior photo shoot, but I want to give you nice pictures, while making it worth my time as well. I think that’s a fair compromise :)
Take the time to consider these things:
Look at your photographer’s portfolio before you make a decision. I wish I had seen what my amateur photographers were capable of before I used them. I would have known what I was going to get, instead of being disappointed. If you don’t like their style, or you don’t like how they edit, don’t use them.
Consider how much your photographer charges, and what they offer within that price.
I know of photographers who only offer one hour max on an infant photo shoot, and they charge $200, which might not be too terrible… but then you have to purchase your disk separately. In that one hour allotted to you and your newborn, your baby was fussy, you didn’t get great pictures (even though your photographer might be capable of producing great pictures) and times up when the bell rings. $200 dollars later, you aren’t very happy with your pictures. Do you even want to buy the disk? Pay attention to what your price includes. Time, location, pictures, disk, talent, etc.
I want you to be happy with your pictures. The photo shoot isn’t over until I know I’ve got some shots I can be happy with. I am including your disk, with edited images, in the overall price.
I want to produce pictures you will love. I want to be within your reach, and I want you to love your pictures!
I look forward to growing in my photography. I have much still to learn. I appreciate your understanding, your support and your business :)
-Vanessa
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