What A Perfect Photography Client Looks Like

We know that the photos we create here at Carrie Lynne Photography hold a special place in the lives of our clients, and feel that it’s our responsibility to make sure that as few obstacles as possible stand in the way of capturing perfect moments for everyone who books a session with us.

We’ve gotten pretty good at this over the years, but what do you do if the obstacle standing between you capturing the best possible photos for your client is…your client?

When you’re a professional photographer running your own business independently, it can be easy to find yourself spending more time than you’d prefer solving common problems again and again.

Thankfully, with a little help and preparation from a client, minimizing these common problems is super easy and can maximize the opportunities to capture the best photos during a shoot.

Whether you’ve already booked your session or are still doing your due diligence, keeping this list of ways to be the perfect photography client in mind can go a long way toward making sure you get the absolute best possible photos out of your session.

The Best Photography Clients Do This

#1: Communicate Well in Advance

When you book your shoot, the more information you can provide our team, the better. The simple fact of the matter is that the more information we have about what specifically you’re looking to get out of your photography experience, the better we can work to meet your needs and ensure your satisfaction.

Just letting us know what you’re looking to get out of the shoot, what the photos will be used for, and a specific date or two that would work well for you goes a surprisingly long way. When the day of the shoot come around, we’ll be totally on the same page and ready to spend every minute of our session as productively as possible.

#2: Show Up On Time

This one is pretty simple, but absolutely bears repeating: please show up for your session on time! We do our best to accommodate late arrivals, but sometimes we have multiple sessions booked on one day and are unable to make up for lost time.

The more time we have during a session, the more options you’ll have at the end of the day, so being punctual and prepared at the established time is a really easy way to get the most out of your shoot.

#3: Have Outfit Changes Ready to Go

This one ties into punctuality and preparedness as well: if you’ll be taking photos in multiple outfits, having those organized and ready to go goes a long way.

Changing outfits in the middle of a session can take a surprisingly large amount of time away from taking photos, especially without proper organization beforehand.. You don’t necessarily need to be a quick change wizard, but eliminating unnecessary time spent here can maximize the usefulness of your session.

#4: Have a Positive Attitude

This one might be the most important of all: having a positive, upbeat attitude during your shoot can absolutely transform the quality of your photos more than perhaps anything else on this list.

For many, having professional photos taken can be a stress-inducing experience — it’s easy to feel uncomfortable in front of the camera and worry about whether or not you’ll be happy with the results.

However, just going with the flow, responding well to coaching by your photographer, and overall having fun during your shoot will ensure you’re radiating positivity and happiness in your final photos. Just keep an open mind and enjoy the experience!

#5: Ask For What You Need

Ideally, you’ll have communicated with our team super effectively before the shoot date, but once the shoot has started, having the assertiveness to make any requests you might have can preemptively solve a lot of problems.

If there’s a specific background you’d prefer, or a specific pose you’d like to try, just let us know! We’re happy to accommodate reasonable requests and do what it takes to get you the photos you’re hoping for.

#6: Pay On Time

Finally, after your shoot is completed and you’ve got some truly amazing photos to treasure, timely payment is sincerely appreciated.

We’re an independent business that relies on prompt payment from our clients to pay bills and continue to grow. Not having to chase down payments for shoots we’ve completed frees us up to book new sessions and help our other clients get amazing photos as well!

Ultimately, if you can keep these best practices in mind, you’ll be ensuring as little as possible stands in the way of you and the best possible photos we can capture. Even better, you’ll also be saving both of us a bit of potential stress, which we sincerely appreciate!

Ready to book your session? Drop us a line and we’ll be happy to help get you ready to take some gorgeous photos.

Why Capturing Professional Quality Child Photography Pictures Is So Important

Now more than ever, we live in an era of constant documentation, communication, and media creation. Seemingly from the moment your new bundle of joy enters the world to the moment they ship off to college, every member of your family, no matter how old, is equipped with an increasingly powerful pocket-sized camera and ready to snap and share photos at resolutions and speeds that were impossible even a few years ago.

In leading tech publications, multinational corporations go to war over megapixel count, each trying to convince you that their smartphone camera is as perfect as smartphone cameras can possibly get. Some of these smartphone shooters have even started to mimic the aesthetics of hundred- or even thousand-dollar DSLR cameras, providing even first-time photographers with background blur and high dynamic range. Meanwhile, increasingly high-quality cameras are even being integrated into sunglasses and other wearable technologies.

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In short, it seems like it’s never been a better time to have photos taken of your family. As each of you grow and change over the years, the availability of multiple high-resolution cameras available to capture memories at a moment’s notice seems more and more like a safe assurance.

So, in a world where cameras are more available than ever before, why hire a professional photographer at all? Even further, why hire a professional photographer to snag pictures of your little one, whose incredible cuteness is sure to be documented extensively by a veritable paparazzi of fawning family members?

It’s a perfectly valid question. Here at Carrie Lynne Photography, since the dawn of the point-and-shoot, it’s one we’ve been asked more times than we can count.

And over the years, despite incredibly impressive advances in the field of child photography, our answer hasn’t really changed too much: we’re not in the business of simply capturing photos, we’re in the business of creating memories that last forever.

For us, “forever memories” mean a lot more than raw megapixel count or exposure settings: it’s about capturing our clients and their loved ones in a way that they can hold onto endlessly. We know that these photos are about more than “just another photo of the family”: these are the special moments that get cherished, hung on family room walls, sent to relatives near and far,  and pleasantly remembered for years and years.

Put another way, these photos become heirlooms. And creating an heirloom is about more than a set of tools, no matter how powerful.

Yes, smartphone cameras are more powerful than ever. And yes, the seemingly exponential rate of their improvement shows little signs of slowing down. It’s all but an inevitability that within a few years, everyday consumers will have access to cameras built into their smartphones that are at least able to emulate the aesthetics of professional child photography setups that are worth thousands of dollars today. In fact, for owners of the most recent iPhone and Google Pixel devices, this is already starting to become a possibility, as professional lighting presets and DSLR-esque background blur are already available to consumers.

The fact that these powerful tools exist, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that the results that they produce will be worth sharing with your folks, much less at the standard of “forever memories”.

When I say this, I’m speaking from experience: every year since I was little, my own family has tried to capture a professional-grade family photo as an heirloom around Christmastime. In recent years, we’ve tried to capture these photos ourselves, both with selfie cameras and the assistance of grandparents given a brief crash course on how to operate a DLSR. The results have been, well, less than impressive.

Ultimately, the eye of a trained professional who has spent years helping families create outstanding family photographs is itself an asset. When you take the time and the expense to enlist the help of a family photographer, you’re not just gaining access to high quality equipment, but also to the skills and talents of a hardworking professional who has devoted their life to creating beautiful family moments that can be cherished for ages.

And especially for families with little ones who seem to grow up faster and faster all the time, capturing these professional photos is so, so important.

It’s so easy to get lost in our hectic day-to-day schedules and not take time to cherish the individual moments that make up the fabric of our lives. Seemingly before we know it, we’ve looked up and everything is a little different: months or years have passed, our kids are suddenly so much older than they once were, and we can’t help but wonder where the time has gone.

Those moments aren’t truly lost: they’ll be with us forever in our hearts and minds. But the opportunity to have something tangible to recall them by, to see the face of a loved one as they were in a specific moment in time, smiling brightly and captured in pristinely high detail, is a gift whose value cannot be understated.

Every year, looking back on the photographic memories I’ve created with my family is a distinct pleasure and a huge privilege. It’s an experience I truly wish every family had the opportunity to share with their own loved ones. They really do last a lifetime.

So yes — take those selfies and those candid shots. Surround your growing kids with smartphone cameras and cloud storage solutions. But also find the time to make forever memories with the help of a consummate professional whose keen eye can help create priceless forever memories that you and your family will remember for the rest of your lives.

 

Looking for a professional photographer to create precious memories of you and your family? Carrie Lynne Photography has been creating gorgeous photos of families and children of all ages for years. Visit our website to view packages and pricing and book a session in our Cincinnati studio or at your favorite outdoor location.