FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Sessions
How to book a portrait session?
How to book a newborn session?
When will I receive my photos?
What does my session include?
What's a mini session?
Do you photograph Seniors?
Extended Family Sessions
Do you travel?
Sessions
How to book a portrait session?
Head to the menu here on my website and click on the family page - fill out the form at the bottom and I will get back to you with a guide of information all about your session and a link to my calendar to get you scheduled! Once you find a date, you will be prompted to pay a $50 deposit to secure it and will receive an official invoice. The remaining total will be due on the day of your session.
How to book a newborn session?
Head to the menu here on my website and click on the newborn page - click on the book now button, fill out the form and I will get back to you with a guide of information all about your session and a link to my calendar to enter your approximate due date. You will then be promoted to pay a $50 deposit to secure the spot and will receive an official invoice. The remaining total will be due on the day of your session.
As we have no way of knowing exactly when baby will arrive, we will be in touch as the date gets closer. Once you have the baby and get home and settled, go ahead and reach out to me. We will pick a weekday morning in the first 1-3 weeks after birth for me to come out to your home and do your session!
When will I receive my photos?
Depending on the busyness of the season, you will receive your photos back in 1-3 weeks from your session date. Editing your images takes a lot of careful, time consuming work and I want to make sure I am giving you the best end product possible. Fall (into Christmas and the New Year) can be extremely busy. Please keep this in mind while booking.
What does my session include?
Every session and wedding will receive a forever online gallery of all the high quality edited images (it will never expire). The gallery is connected to a professional printing lab if you'd like to print your images there - printing rights are always included so you can print elsewhere also. Weddings include a USB of the images as well. USBs are available upon request for all other sessions for an additional $50.
Regular sessions receive 100-200 final images.
Mini Session receive around 50 final images.
Weddings receive anywhere from 600-1000 images.
What's a mini session?
Mini sessions are ONLY offered on specific dates that are preplanned on a date and location that I pick. Sessions are 30 minutes or less and are scheduled back to back. The price of these vary depending on the season and session details. Announcements for these are posted FIRST to my email list and second on social media. Sign up to be part of the email list on the contact page here on my website!
Do you photograph Seniors?
As the focus of my work is on families and weddings, I have cut back on the number of senior sessions I allow in a year, much depends on the demands of the season. I do still love to do them when I can, so please reach out under the family section if you are interested and I will let you know my availability.
Extended Family Sessions
I most definitely photograph extended family groups! They are some of my favorite sessions! There will be an additional fee depending on the number of people in your family. I will include photos for each individual family, each couple, siblings together, cousins together, the whole group, etc.
Do you travel?
As my client base has grown and my life has changed over the years, I have cut back more and more on the amount of travel I am willing to do in order to leave more time for work and rest. I will on occasion (completely depending on the time of year and circumstances) accept a wedding that is further out. For most regular portrait sessions, I try to stay local (greater central Ohio area). Still feel free to reach out and ask though, I would love to see what I can do for you!
Photography
How long have you been a photographer?
What gear do you use?
Editing Process
Editing and Presets
Starting Out/Camera Suggestions
Photography
How long have you been a photographer?
I started doing photography as a hobby in middle and high school, mostly starting around 2009. I graduated high school in 2012 and began making money with my work around that point. In May of 2016 I went full time with my business and haven't stopped since! I've photographed nearly 150 weddings and couldn't even begin to add up the number of portrait sessions I have had the privilege of doing!
What gear do you use?
Camera body:
I currently use a Canon 5D Mark IV and before upgrading, had used the Canon 5D Mark III for most of my professional career. I love them both so much!
Lenses:
Currently, I only use prime lenses. Most often, I am shooting with my Canon 50mm 1.2 or my Sigma 35mm 1.4. I also love my Canon 24mm 1.4 for wide shots and my Canon 100mm Macro for those baby toes and wedding rings. My Canon 85mm 1.8 is used much less, but is wonderful for wedding work!
Editing Process
Every job I do is imported onto my hard drive, sorted through Photo Mechanic and edited in Lightroom. It is then exported, saved on the hard drive again, uploaded to Pixieset and sent to the client.
Photo Mechanic is a wonderful and fairly inexpensive program that extremely reduces the time it takes to cull through a set of images and pick favorites for the client, social media, etc.
All other editing is 100% done through Lightroom. I do currently use presets, though it took me a long time to want to begin to use them. I would highly recommend learning how to edit extremely well for yourself first (read more of my thoughts in the next section).
I highly recommend Mastin Labs presets - their ability to imitate the look of film is phenomenal. I chose to use their presets because the look of film is timeless, unaltered by trends and just beautiful. Though it took me years to nail it down, I've learned I always want to present my clients with the real to life, original, creamy and colorful look that Mastin Labs helps to achieve. I am committed to forgoing trends and sticking with what will never get old.
Editing and Presets
As I said above, I do currently use purchased presets, though it took me 5-6 years of business before I even touched one. I would HIGHLY recommend learning how to edit extremely well for yourself first, creating your own basic presets before buying any. Presets are a wonderful guide to help keep your images consistent and I feel this should be the MAIN reason you purchase them. Not because you aren't sure how to get the look you want EXCEPT by using a preset.
Presets only do so much good if you aren't first very well educated (and practiced!) on what does what to an image. Imagine if you were able to look at an image and without touching anything, know exactly what it needs. The time that would save! The confidence and clarity it would give!
You could see greens in an image and tell whether they are too yellow or too blue.
You could notice the skin tones of your clients and let THAT be your guiding factor on what to adjust next!
You'll know that contrast isn't a quick fix and that paying attention WHILE shooting is the most important part!
Then, once you've really learned that, a preset will be more like an old friend to rely on when you're in need and less like a momma is to her newborn baby. Give it a try! Hardwork is good, YouTube is free and no impressive skills happen over night!
Starting Out/Camera Suggestions
I started shooting on a small Canon point and shoot camera. I saved up with my own money and bought it in middle school. It was comparable to almost any $200-$300 (ish) camera out there today.
I then purchased one of the first Canon Rebel cameras to come out. They have a whole series of cameras with interchangeable lenses. I would highly recommend starting here if you are wanting to get a little more serious with your work. I really began making money with this camera, shot multiple weddings and began the foundation of my knowledge and business by playing with this small simple camera. Don't let the level of your gear define you.
I'm not really a "read the manual" type of person. So get out there and shoot! But I would highly recommend doing some researching online about shooting in manual mode and watch a few YouTube videos to help guide you along if you are feeling stuck and confused!
