What to consider when hiring a professional newborn and family photographer

When hiring any type of professional there is a fair amount of research that goes into it… My favorite is to ask my close friends if they have a professional that they recommend, and then I follow that up by reviewing google reviews and checking out their website and online presence.

The same can be true when hiring a professional photographer! It’s important to know that they are licensed, insured, and experienced.

Portfolio and Photography Experience

When checking out a photographer, it’s important to look at the style of photography on their website, social media, and in their portfolio. You definitely want to ensure that you like the style of their work, and that you would want to display it in your home. It’s important that you see a consistent editing style and body of work so that you know what product you will receive. It’s also valuable to know what their experience is with photography. It’s ok for someone to be new to business…but I think it’s valuable to know where in ones photography journey they are, so you can have accurate expectations of your experience. (There’s nothing wrong with a new photographer, but I believe being transparent with ones clients is key.)

Background working with newborns and children

If you are hiring a photographer to work with children and newborn babies, I highly recommend you inquire about the photographers experience working with kids and babies. When your photographer has lots of experience working with kids you can rest assured that the photo session experience will include patience and fun on their part. When a photographer isn’t experienced in working with kids, or has expectations that don’t match up with their developmental stage, it can lead to a poor experience for kids and adults alike. If you can’t find information about their child related experience on their website or from their reviews but are hiring them for a family, child, or newborn photo session, I recommend you ask them about their experience when you inquire about their services.

Transparency in Pricing

I had a personal experience once where I was not aware of the full pricing for a service, and was left with a negative feeling afterwords when the price was much higher than I expected. This is why I believe that it’s important to share my full pricing details with clients before they make a decision to book their session. We review the session fee and package collection prices all during your inquiry call to ensure that we are a good fit, and that you know what to expect with your purchase.

Delivery and Usage Rights

So….what does this even mean? Well, delivery is how you will receive your photos…will they be delivered to you as print products, an online gallery for viewing and ordering photos, as digital files to download from the internet? It’s important to ask how you will receive your beautiful family photos after they are taken, and when to expect to receive them as well.

Usage rights has to do with what you can do with your photos. It’s fairly standard within in family and children’s photography that you as the client can use your images for personal use only…this does mean that you can share them online (don’t forget to hype up your photographer with a photo credit and link to their website), and print them to display in your home if you purchased digital files. If you are asked to use a photo for newspaper or tv it’s always recommended that the organization reach out to your photographer for usage rights.

How the Photographer Protects your investment

We all know that of course technology failures can happen…but it’s important to know what your photographer does to minimize the risk of image loss during and after your session. I have this detailed on a blog post HERE (link to post) because it’s very important to me as a professional that I minimize the risk of image loss as much as possible. Feel free to ask your photographer what they do before you hire them if this is a personal concern.

Transparency in pricing, experience, and expectations is a value that I hold dearly in my business, and I hope that this can help you when looking for a professional family photographer or newborn photographer to document your precious memories.

Would you Iike to check out some posts about different ways to use your photos? Here are a few posts you may find interesting….