Setting up a photography session and taking photos is fun. And challenging. And stressful. And rewarding. Most folks think that photographers are only paid to take photos.
**Obnoxious buzzer sound** WRONG!
Photographers are paid for their time making - not taking - your photos.
Once I finish shooting a session, I drive home - could be a 20 minute drive or a 3 hour drive. I immediately bring the camera or cameras into the house and leave all the props in the car because I'm lazy and like to drive around with a ginormous bean bag obscuring my view, thanks for asking.
I drop the camera(s) at the backdoor and immediately make a beeline for the husband and the dog. Normally I love on the dog first, only because he makes it a point to greet me at the door :)
After my face is sufficiently slobbered upon, I head on over to the husband who has been patiently waiting his turn; i.e. studying or watching football.
Once all the sugars are passed around to my family, it's time to get down to business.
The Skelton Photographie Workflow:
1. I start up Shiba (my three year old barely functioning laptop that I continually pray over daily) and this process normally takes about 5 minutes from cutting it on to actually being able to do anything.
2. Next I insert a memory card. About 10 minutes for Shiba to recognize that a memory card has been plugged in. Success! Auto run kicks in and finally I'm allowed to view my photos. As a general rule, I never delete photos from the Windows viewer, I do that later (we'll get there, I promise).
3. Then I open up the Photography folder saved on my desktop and open up Photoshop Elements 8 - Husband I need an upgrade - this is your hint!!
4. Once Photoshop is opened, I import all of the files from the days session. This can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes, depending on how many photos are on the memory card.
5. Photos are uploaded: oh happy glorious day! Once the photos are uploaded, it's time to organize. On any given Saturday, I can take anywhere from one session to 10 sessions, so I like to break them up and organize them by family; so each album is aptly titled "Client's Last Name." If it's a wedding, I'll title the folder, "Smith/Jones Wedding." - Hi I'm Captain Simple and Plain Obvious!
6. Once photos are simply organized in Photoshop Elements, it's time to finally start the editing process. If I'm editing a wedding, I'll make it a point to edit some details photos first then a handful of the bride and groom to post their preview on Facebook. If it's just a family session, I'll start at photo 1 until I reach the end of the line.
*************************ACTUALLY EDITING PHOTOS************************
Editing photos is different for each photo. Sometimes, I only do a quick "Action" Edit; one click of a button and done. Other photos require some adjusting of color curves, copying layers, adjusting hue and saturation and lightness and darkness and a plethora of other terms that I won't bore you with.
Editing a single photo can take a brief 2 minutes or a stretched out 30 minutes. Yes, 30 minutes on one photo.
*********************************************************************************
7. Once the photo is edited, I save it as a JPEG on my desktop in a folder named "Client Last Name" (same as above). If I want to put that photo on Facebook, I go back to PSE and open the edited image, add my logo and resize the image and save it in a folder on the desktop aptly named: "Facebook Photos"
8. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. ETC....So I do this as many more times as needed until one session is finished. Once I've edited the images, I open up the Client's Folder and click Burn.
9. Disc is burned! Insert into case and insert in bubble mailer to ensure safe delivery.
10. Open up photography folder on the desktop and print off client print release form.
Stuff form into bubble mailer along with the disc and a few business cards.
That was only one session. So again, REPEAT. AGAIN. AND AGAIN.
The point of this post is to let y'all see the time and effort that goes into editing your photos. I don't just lazily and hastily click a button. I analyze and examine and then determine the best fit for the photo. I know that MANY of my past clients have been amazed with my turnover time.
Normally, it's about a week. A week from me making the photos to you receiving them. And that fast turn around time isn't because I'm lazy or because your photos are low-quality, but because you paid me for a service and I honestly believe that having photos delivered in a timely manner is part of that service.
I know photographers that take 6 months to give a client their wedding photos. 6 months! What are you doing?! I know with my own wedding, I received my photos in about a months time and was beyond impressed with how fast I got them.
If you are looking at a photographer's page and see that client's keep posting, "When will my photos be ready?" you may want to reconsider. I have a full-time 7:30-4:30 Monday-Friday job; and still get photos out in a timely manner. While other photographers only do photography and take months to give clients their photos.
I've seen this quote on another photographers page, "Quality takes time." To me, that quote means, "I'm going to be a little lazy and make you think I'm working on your photos and making them high quality, but in actuality, I'm just making excuses for not having your photos ready."
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