Jennifer Jacula Photography

(This post could alternately be titled “Photographers: amateur mistakes to avoid” – so I will italicize some additional comments for my peers.)

Not all photographers are created equal. And, like in any other industry, there are individuals presenting themselves as professionals when in reality, they are not delivering a standard of work that could be considered professional.

So how can you, the client, tell the difference? Well, here are some things to look for …

1.) The wrinkled sheet backdrop. As simple as it sounds, someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing will literally throw up a wrinkled sheet, plunk your child/family on it, and snap away. Good backdrops and studio lighting aren’t cheap, but anyone charging money for their photography should be able to afford serious studio equipment.

(Until you have proper studio equipment – strobes, seamless paper and muslin backdrops, heavy-duty backdrop and light stands, it’s best to shoot outdoors or using what’s already at a location, than it is to make the dreaded wrinkled sheet backdrop mistake.)

2.) Selective coloring. You might know this as “the thing where the photo is in black and white, but part of it is in color.” Selective coloring was briefly popular in the 80’s. As a result, any photo receiving this treatment will automatically look dated. Popular selective coloring subjects include flowers, jewellery, hats, clothing on a baby or young child, and occasionally, the eyes of the subject.  And worse, 99% of the time, it’s very poorly done.

(Please, please, please don’t perpetuate selective coloring. It doesn’t look good. EVER. Establish your style based on beautiful color photos and crisp black and whites; gimmicky editing doesn’t improve a photo.)

3.) Detail in the whites. Perhaps easiest to spot in wedding photos, where the bride is usually swathed in white. You should be able to easily see the details of her dress – the lace, the pleats and gathers, the beading, etc. She shouldn’t look like a white blob.

(Meter for the dress. You can always correct the exposure on faces in post-processing, but if you blow the whites, they will not be recoverable.)

Here’s an example of how the whites should look – you can see every detail of the bride’s dress as well as the groom’s shirt.

4.) Detail in the blacks. Similar to above, a photographer who knows what they’re doing will be able to produce work that maintains detail in the black objects in the photo, even when presented with such challenges as a group of men in black suits. You should be able to see the lapels, seams, pockets and the places where the fabric bunches up slightly, like at the elbows.

(Fill flash will be your friend in many situations; along with learning how to meter, learning how to use fill flash is one of the most important techniques in photography.)

Here’s an example of a photo of a group of men, where despite imperfect lighting conditions, the detail in the black suits was preserved.

Here’s a good example, from Dylana and Shawne’s wedding, of a photo where the detail in both the black (his suit) and the white (her dress) were preserved.

5.) Muddy looking “black and white” and “sepia” photos. A black and white photo should be that – crisp blacks and bright whites, not a muddy blob of grey with little detail. Likewise with the sepia (brownish) photos – there should clear deliniation of the tones, with some nearing black and others nearing white.

(Invest your money in professional software – Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom – and invest the time to learn how to use them. I also recommend investing in a good set of actions to make your conversions easier. A calibration device – I like the Pantone Huey – will also be a huge help in producing work with accurate color.)

Here are examples of correct black and white and sepia conversions (left hand side) and bad conversions (right hand side).

6.) White vignette. A vignette is most easily described this way: imagine a 4×6 photo. Now, draw an oval inside the photo, reaching all four sides. The vignette will effect the area OUTSIDE of your oval. Now, if the outside of the oval has been turned white, rethink your choice of photographer. This is another effect that was briefly popular in the 80’s, but which should be banned from the current, and all future, decades.

7.) Black vignette. Same as above, but black instead of white.

(A vignette should be used to enhance a photo. A black or white vignette draws the attention away from the subject.)

Here are examples of white and black vignettes, with a correct vignette below.

8.) Fake blur. When the person taking the photo either doesn’t know what they’re doing, or doesn’t have good equipment (most often, both will apply), they will sometimes attempt to blur the background later when they attempt to fix their mistakes in photoshop. You’ll be able to spot the difference – with real “blur” (known to photographers as bokeh), the subject will be crisp, with the details of the foreground and background fading away.

(Opening up your aperture, and placing your subject a good distance from the background, will produce bokeh. When it comes to lenses, you get what you pay for – more expensive lenses will generally produce prettier bokeh, in addition to providing you with a wider range of apertures to choose from.)

Here’s an example of real blur (bokeh). The subject, Alex, is crisp and in focus, the foreground (grainary boards) and background (trees in distance):

And here’s an example of fake blur. It’s usually easy to spot because the area around the subjects are in focus, but areas farther away have obviously been digitally blurred.

9.) GST. Sounds simple, right? But you’d be surprised. Anyone running a business should be collecting and remitting GST to the government. So, if you’re not being charged GST, your “photographer” may not be serious about running a successful business.

(It’s easy and free to sign up for a GST number, and if your business makes more than $30,000 a year, it’s mandatory. I remit mine quarterly, but you can choose other remittance options. Click here for more information.)

10.) Website. Your photographer should have a professional-looking website. That means no spelling mistakes, plenty of portfolio material and information about their business. Bonus points for an on-line shopping cart. A poorly laid out website should be a huge red flag to any consumer.

(Most photographers are pretty tech-savvy, but if web design isn’t your thing, you can buy awesome templates from Blu Domain. David Jay also released a website program recently, Showit Web, that is supposed to be pretty good.)

And last, but definitely not least, the number one thing that will tell you whether or not the photographer is someone worth your time, money and trust …

11.) Pricing. A true professional is worth investing your money in. If someone is charging you $100 and giving you a disc of high-resolution files for no extra charge, you’ll get what you pay for. Low fee=low quality.

(Don’t try to compete with Walmart. You can’t, and you’ll hurt yourself and the professional photography industry by undercutting your pricing.)

Good luck out there!

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Tags: Alberta, buyer beware, choosing a photographer, Vermilion

This entry was posted by Jennifer on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 11:18 pm and is filed under taking care of business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.