Sweet Baby "J" and Choosing Your Photographer: Northern Virginia Newborn Photographer, Fairfax Newborn Photographer

This post is going to be a little long just because I wanted to explain more about the photography side of my business. And since I happen to be blogging a recent newborn session, I thought it would be a good time to discuss picking a great photographer and some misnomers associated with that decision.

1. Choose a photographer that is running a legitimate business. How do you know that? Most business you can do a search on the state corporation commission web site and find out who is licensed and who is not. Why is this important? Because if something doesn’t go as planned you have no recourse. Also, it’s just comforting to know that everything is legit.

2. Are the photographs you see from them technically correct? Do they over-expose their images or conversely under-expose their images? Are their images sharp and in focus? Now sometimes I see photographers that over or under expose their images for an artistic affect and in some instances it’s merited, but as a general rule, the photos they produce should be technically spot on.

3. Look at the portfolio of the photographer. Are the subjects comfortable looking and relaxed. For newborns, do they look like they are safe and not put in precarious positions.

4. Look at the feedback given to the photographer. For myself I have a facebook page and plenty of raves I need to put together in one place. Ask for references.

5. The last and final point is price. Often times in this very competitive business there is a temptation to assume that the higher priced you are, the better you are. That is simply not true. Buyer beware. Just because the prices are high doesn’t mean the quality is better than the more affordable photographer you just found. Often times a photographer new to the area, like myself, keeps his or her pricing low or moderate to build up sufficient clientele or gain notoriety. As well known wedding photographer Teri Bloom, so aptly put it: “I find some photographers start to get an attitude about themselves. Very often, their pricing is more about their ego than about the quality of their work. Buyer beware, pricing doesn’t have a thing to do with talent or experience!”

I hope you found this post helpful and if anything, it will open your mind to the possibilities of custom photography. Think about this; often times that $2000 purse you've always wanted is made in the same 3rd world factory as the $20 Target knock off. So quality and pricing are not necessarily synonymous.