Does your photographer?

  • Study new photography techniques at least 5 hours a week?
  • Teach photography classes?
  • Scout out a venue before the event to determine best time of day to shoot, locations and lighting?
  • Invest in the finest photography equipment available and then spend the required time to optimize that gear to the best results?
  • Shoot over 20,000 pictures a year?
  • Come to location shoots with professional strobes and light modifiers?
  • Have photographic timing and composition skills? 
  • Give you an incredible photographic session experience: fun, challenging, exciting?
  • Even ask you what your best side is?
  • In the post processing editing process, does your photographer:
  • Make sure white balance and colors are on point?
  • Do face sculpting including double chin lessening?
  • Paint face with highlights, mid-tones and shadows to create the best you possible?
  • Selective adjust width of one or more eye to balance them out?
  • Selectively sharpen specific items that are important to you like: jewelry, shoes, lipstick, hair, clothing?
  • Spend time on each edited photo to make it “magazine worthy?”
  • Crop the photo to maximize composition?
  • Do portrait retouching including:Full Makeup (lipstick in a full range of colors and textures, false eyelashes, eyeshadow, blusher, mascara, eyeliner, rouge)? Skin smoothing and blemishing removal? Eye clarity, whitening and sharpening? Teeth whitening and sharpening?
  • Create beautiful artistic effects that can make your picture look interesting, dramatic, different, like a painting?
  • Does your photographer consider all shades of black and white when considering black and white?
  • Optimize exported JPEG for intended purpose including social networking sites and printing/enlargements?
  • Backup your photos to 3 separate sources including cloud storage and off-site backups?
  • Get up at 4:30 am because he/she is so excited to do another sunrise photo shoot at the beach?

    If you have found a photographer that does these things, you have found a true GEM.