What Are You Actually Paying for When You Hire a Photographer?

Wedding photography can be expensive. I know. Because my husband and I decided to invest in photography for our wedding. We purchased a medium $$ package which included pre-wedding session, wedding ceremony, reception, digital images on a CD and the final album. It was our memory of the lifetime, so without much hesitation, we signed the contract. But did I really understand all the work that a photographer had to put in to transform my once-in-a-lifetime wedding into a beautiful momentous album?

The answer was "No." In my mind, I was paying someone's time to walk around with us before and during the wedding to busily click on the camera shutter button. Once the ceremony was over, all he needed to do was to download the files, drag and drop those digital images to a template in Photoshop and my wedding album was created.

If it was all that simple for the photographer!

After becoming a mom, I started directing my passion into raising and educating my kids. I don't even remember when we started this tradition, but every year, I would herd my people together to go out for an annual family photoshoot. Sadly almost every time, I felt ill prepared because I didn't plan the time and location nor the outfits. Truth to be told, for some years, we actually had to postpone the shoot until we were able to coordinate everyone's outfits. It was so frustrating! I wanted to capture those beautiful family photos I saw on the web so badly and often times the final images didn't match what I had envisioned.

Fastforward to today, working as the family photographer, I can tell you why it is worth finding a good professional photographer to ease that frustration and burden off your shoulder, and what you are actually paying for when you hire one.

1. When you decide to hire a photographer, you already start planning early and are able to schedule a good time that works for everyone that is involved.

2. You are paying for the photographer's time to travel on the day to a location early, scout the area for best spots, set up and then capture your family photos for a good 1-2 hours.

3. During the shoot, you are paying for the photographer's creative eyes to compose a good photograph shot from a very different angle that you probably never thought of attempting. He or she also knows how to look for ideal spots that have good lighting/shade to make sure everyone's face is evenly lit and flattering. Additionally, your photographer can offer posing tips to avoid an arm awkwardly hanging on the side or legs standing stiffly straight. Finally, you can feel relieved that the person behind the camera has plenty of knowledge and experience with the camera to make sure your images are not out focus or incorrectly exposed. You can actually focus on enjoying the family shoot!

4. And please don't forget, you are also paying for the post processing work for the images! This is probably the most time consuming part of the whole process. Your photographer can spend 3+ hours editing the photos to create that dreamy look, or the eye catching colors you are looking for. This invisible labor is often overlooked and undervalued, yet, the most important in order to create that gorgeous final images!

5. Prior to the delivery of the final images or products, the photographer will take time to communicate back and forth with you to answer questions and make sure you are able to select your favorite images from the shoot for the final delivery.

Here you go. I hope this helps answer some of your questions about hiring a photographer and shed some light on the valuable benefits your photographer bring to the process.

Below are a couple of favorites from our 2017 family photoshoot. We put the kids to work this time. They helped holding up the reflector board while they were not in the picture, and they enjoyed it!