Frequently Asked Questions

Are all photographed by you personally?

Yes, I photograph everything personally. Also, every image is shown person that has been photographed by me. Many other photographers (especially large studios) use the bait and switch tactic of showing the work of their best photographers and then sending their lower quality photographers to a photo shoot

Do you bring an assistant?

No, I feel that bringing a second photographer does not compliment my photojournalistic style of photography. Bringing another photographer would make that more difficult, if not impossible.

How long after the photo shoot  will I get my pictures back?

It all depends on how many photos I shoot. During one shoot I photograph up to 600 or more photos. It can take up to a month.

Do you have a limit to the amount of pictures you take?

No, I do not have a limit to the number of pictures I take. I generally shoot between 600 and 1000 images. Those 600+ images are edited down to the most meaningful 300-450 images that you receive on your image CD/DVD and proof album.

Do you shoot in black and white?

Because I am using digital photography, I shoot in both in color, sepia, and black/white. However, during the editing process I can convert images to black and white at no extra cost. If you would like all of your images converted to black and white and added to your CD/DVD set, just let me know.

Can we purchase the negatives/full resolution files from you?

Every package I offer includes all of the high resolution digital image files. This will allow you to make reprints and enlargements at your own discretion, using any printer or printing service you would like.

 

Digital vs. Film

Low Light Advantages

Digital photography has numerous advantages over film photography in situations where it is necessary to shoot in low light. An example of this type of situation often occurs during the wedding ceremony. Often, a wedding ceremony is held in an indoor location with very dim lighting. The use of a flash would either be disturbing to the ceremony, or simply not allowed by the officiant.

What all of this means is that a photojournalist is able utilize available lighting more often than was possible before. This is essential for photojournalistic work, because the use of available light without the use of a flash (artificial light) captures the true ambiance of the actual moment. It often allows the photojournalist to tell the story in a more realistic fashion than even the most expensive flash setup is capable of.

Color Balance Flexibility

Important fact: throughout the day your eyes see many different "colors" of light which are known as light temperatures. For example, normal household lights (tungsten) produce a light that looks more yellow-reddish. In addition, depending on the sun's position in the sky, daylight can vary significantly from early morning, to noon, to late in the day. Although our brains compensate to some degree for these different lighting situations, the color differences become far more obvious (and distracting) when an image is recorded in film, print, or digital form. Digital and film photography both have ways of dealing with this problem.

Digital photography, with the use of the newly developed raw image file formats, has simplified the process and allowed the photographer to control the results. Digital Raw formats allow the photographer to shoot in any lighting situation, and fairly easily adjust the color balance of each image individually. I find this method produces better quality results than "outsourcing" most of the work after the photography.

Control

With digital photography, knowledgeable photographers gain a degree of control over their entire photographic workflow that was not possible before computer programs like Adobe Photoshop. The photographer is able to maximize available light situations, carefully and individually adjust color balance, maximize an image's sharpness, add or reduce contrast when needed, etc... Digital image manipulation can be a powerful way to maximize the potential of photographed images. All of this control allows photographers proficient in Photoshop to achieve more consistent, higher quality results, with a wider range of possibilities than with a strictly film workflow.

warning: although control over the image process can be a huge benefit when in the hands of an experienced photographer / Photoshop user, all of this control can be a disadvantage to a less knowledgeable photographer. There are plenty of photographers who use digital photography without sufficient knowledge of image optimization (color correction, sharpness, composition, contrast) and in turn it produces lower quality results than if they had used film and sent it off to be processed and printed. In the hands of a knowledgeable photographer/Photoshop user control is a great advantage, but in the hands of a novice/beginner, too much control can be a disaster, so choose your photographer carefully.

Amount of Photography

One of digital photography's primary advantages over film in a photojournalistic situation concerns the amount of photography that can be done without increasing material cost. To keep costs down, film photographers often have to limit the amount that they photograph (consciously or subconsciously), because each image shot adds up the cost of film, processing, and printing. When photographing with digital, a photographer is limited only to the amount of storage they have with them (which in my case is 8+gigabytes). Furthermore, shooting more does not represent a significant increase in cost to the photographer, because he/she can choose to delete (without printing or editing) as many images as is necessary during the editing stage.

Digital photography allows me to take 2 to 4 times as many photos during an entire day than I normally would have with film. I often shoot 600-1000 images during a photo shoot and delete nearly half of the images during the editing stage. This allows me to capture more spontaneous moments. I will often take 10+ shots of a specific scenario, and edit them down to 1 or 2 of the best. The end result is that the final images, presented to the bride and groom, are more careful selection of the best images from that day.

This increased amount of photography and editing can also be one of the reasons that the cost of digital photography packages is often higher. I personally spend two to four hours editing every hours worth of photography.