Can I Get All the Digitals?

"Can I get all the digitals?" is a question photographers can asked a lot. And the answer is a firm NO. It's not because your photographer doesn't like you, it's because you don't actually want all of the files. You might think you do, but trust us, you don't.

These two gems (please not the sarcasm) is of me and my boys in a sunflower field. It was a few degrees less than the middle of Hell the day we went, and we were all in foul moods. My boys weren't listening, I couldn't get us all in the frame with the lens I brought, the boys didn't want to be there, and about a million other reasons. My camera settings weren't ideal, but I guessed and handed the camera to my husband to snap a few photos of me with the kiddos.

I am the absolute worst at getting my photo taken. My eyes are closed at the worst possible times and I always manage to give myself a double chin. I need coaxing during photos on how to not look like a mountain troll. This is not something my husband is good at doing either.

Then there's the fact that my kid were acting like....children and did not want to participate. The three year old decided he was going to run away. So big brother, S, decided to chase after him. Nothing positive has ever come from this strategy and this was no exception. So now we have a three year old running through a sunflower field with a very large older brother in hot pursuit. This was a sure sign that everyone's evening was going to be ruined and I was done parenting for the day.

So out of the 100ish photos that we took that day, only a handful were actually decent. We were also only in the field for about five minutes before all Hell broke lose though.

If I were to edit all 100 photos and make them look presentable, I'd need to charge much, much more for sessions. And honestly, that's not something I'm interested in doing right now. So I like to cull the photos and pick out the best composed photos and do what I call a soft edit on them. That's basically a quick edit to adjust exposure and color correction. Then the client will go into the private digital proofing gallery and select their photos. Each contract outlines the number of photos that will be provided in the session. I will then do more detailed editing (skin corrections, glasses glare, additional color correcting, etc.)

This results in the best delivered photos for the client.

I have clients select their favorite photos for this reason, not every parent loves a photo of their child wearing a sunflower as a hat. I loved it though. It captures his saucy personality perfectly.

I selected this photo of my three year old to do a more detailed edit on. It is not the best photo of him. In fact, it's actually not very good at all. Focus was missed. But I do love the way the colors popped and the sun and the rainbow strips on his shirt were the focus. So even though it isn't the best photo I've ever taken of him, I still really liked it. I liked it well enough to print one copy for his baby book. I didn't like it enough to send to grandparents though.

But each client has their own preferences for photos. If you're struggling picking your favorites, I can offer suggestions, but ultimately, I want you to love the photos.