My photographer, Dorese, is currently on maternity leave because she just had a beautiful baby boy. Because of this, I found myself needing/looking for another photographer until the new year. Luckily Dorese recommended some photographers, so I didn’t have to go out hunting. But I still needed to do my due diligence to ensure we were compatible. While I just had my first shoot with my new photographer, Megan, here are the 5 questions I asked before we scheduled a shoot.
WHAT’S YOUR RATE?
This is one of the most important questions to ask your new photographer. Most photographers have their rates for certain packages or events on their websites. But if you’re looking for something specific (i.e., blogger/influencer sessions), there may be a different pricing structure for what you need. When you ask for the rate, you’re determining if their rate works with your budget. If you have a more limited budget, sometimes the photographer will work with you. But I believe photographers deserve to get paid what they ask – especially since the photographers I use are women and women photographers generally make less than their male counterparts.
Additional things I ask when it comes to pricing is other fees that might be included but you forget to ask until after the fact – How many photos come with the price? Is editing extra? How much for extra photos? Studio costs – who pays for them?
WHAT’S THE METHOD FOR CHOOSING LOCATIONS?
Depending on the photographer, they might prefer to select the location or have you collaborate on the location selection. While I typically have places I’ve wanted to shoot, I like to defer to the photographer because they know all the great places to shoot. Even places that I haven’t heard of or been to. Also, knowing this upfront lets you know how to prep and plan for each session you schedule.
WHAT’S YOUR INCLEMENT WEATHER PLAN?
I like to shoot outdoors because it provides scenery you can’t get in the studio. So, I need to ask what the plan is if the weather doesn’t work for the scheduled outdoor shoot. Living here, the weather changes so quickly that even if the forecast doesn’t call for rain or snow, you might see it before you leave the house. For example, Megan and I scheduled to shoot at 6:30p on a Thursday. I left my house at 6:15, and the clouds started rolling in even though I checked my weather app 3 times, it never showed rain. Luckily for us, the rain held until after we finished shooting. But if it did rain before we started shooting, I already knew that plan, and we would’ve adjusted accordingly.
HOW DO I SELECT THE PHOTOS FROM MY SESSION/HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO GET THE PHOTOS?
I like to include bloopers from our sessions because I love giving a sliver of the silliness behind the scenes. Because of this, I always let my photographer know because, from experience, they will delete your photos if you don’t tell them. 😬 Also, knowing how they prefer the photo selection process to occur – whether immediately after the session or the next day – it’s important to know how that factors in the length of time it takes to edit the photos.
WHAT’S YOUR EDITING STYLE?
This is another important question to ask. You usually know ahead of time based on their portfolio or Instagram account, how they edit, and if you think it’ll match the style, you like with your photos. I like my photos to be edited naturally, so the photos you see are pretty close to what it looks like when it was taken. So, there are rarely any filters on my photos which is super important in the blogger/influencer space. If you prefer to edit your photos, ask what the procedure is to obtain the photos you want or if you should bring your SD card.
WHAT QUESTIONS WOULD YOU ASK YOUR NEW PHOTOGRAPHER?
