Is good really good enough?
Take a look at these samples to get an idea of what a creative professional can produce for you. These show what came off the camera, and what the final product looked like, and as you'll see there can be a major difference. The professional will know ahead of time what the final product can look like.
For most of our customers, this is the first and only time they've every been professionally photographed. Senior portraits are a celebration of all your hard work, all your dedication, the fact that you've actually achieved what only 2/3 of those who attempt it actually complete. (Yes, only 69% of those who start high school actually graduate four years later)
They're your opportunity to capture the very essence of who you are as you transition to the adult world.
Creating quality, professional portraits is way more than pointing the camera and pushing the button....
It begins with knowing how to create something great to point the camera at. And then it takes the ability to see the scene as it is, and more importantly how it can become. That comes from experience and training, and we've been at it for over 30 years.
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It's about picking great settings
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It's about understanding the light
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It's about understanding body position and angles
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It's about knowing how to actually capture your style and personality
These things we know!
Let our images cause people to exclaim "WOW - THAT"S SO YOU"
But only half the work is done when capturing the image initially
The other half is done back in the studio, with a skilled artist properly providing all the finishing touches, from simple facial retouching that still leaves the subject looking natural, to an artistic interpretation of the photograph using the many tools available in today's digital world.
That's what separates a real professional from all those other people who own a camera and loosley use that same term to describe themselves. Or worse yet, from your neighbor or uncle who owns a fancy camera.
In today's world of advanced digital cameras, it's very easy to assume that's where all the magic is; that it's the key to being able to create great senior portraits. There are literally hundreds of people with this attitude who describe themselves as "photographers".
But owning a cool guitar doesn't make you a rock star, a power saw you got at the local hardware store doesn't make you a master carpenter, a sharp pair of scissors doesn't make you a hair stylist, or a sharp scalpel doesn't make you a skilled surgeon. If a friend offered to take your appendix out for free, would you let them? Probably not. Because you want to know that the person operating that piece of equipment knows exactly what they're doing.
A friend with a camera simply isn't going to know how to work with all these elements to create something wonderful of you. We see lots of people mimicing the way a professional works, even photographing in some of the same places, but usually, we just shake our heads in wonder as we see how the pictures are being created. Terrible lighting, squinty faces, unnatural body positions that will leave a person looking less than their best.
And then, they lack the expertise and knowledge to do the other half of the jog - the creative work in the computer. We have the experience!