Its a spectacular phase of your life. And you want to have a photoshoot that creates the best images of yourself or your wedding or any other important day. You want to own beautiful captures that reflects the essence of who you are, or creates beautiful memories of your wedding day. How do you hire an amazing professional photographer in the huge pool of existing photographers in your area who would understand your needs and capture that essence for you?
 |
| Model : Amruta Yelmar, Photographer : Sheetal Petkar, Makeup & Hair : Bhuvini Shah |
A photographer is an artist and not a commodity. If you just select your photographer on the basis of pricing, the cheaper photographer would save you money, but the expensive photographer will give you more in terms of the experience, value and service through their packages. They can provide you with products/service that the cheaper photographer would not be able to afford. The amount of time they would spend in planning your shoot would be more, giving you a lovely experience, high quality products and prints.
Ofcourse on the contrary, you might find a cheaper photographer who is a great artist who isn’t comfortable charging his real worth or you may find an expensive photographer who would give you out a mediocre result. That would be just leaving it to chance. It would be like hiring a photographer and praying they be good. How can you be sure that you are picking the right photographer for you? Can you risk compromising missing out on capturing the moments that exist in a split of a second that would mean so much for a lifetime?
Always setup a face to face meeting with your photographer beforehand. Here are 8 points you should know and check for in a photographer to see if he/she is a perfect fit for you.
1) Ask them why do they do what they do?
What drives them to pick up their camera and click pictures? Passion is essential for every art. If they are not doing for the love of it and just for the sole reason of making a living, chances are they won't be interested in what the images mean to you and that will reflect in your images.
2) Portfolio!
Always check their portfolio thoroughly. Do the images he/she created, steal your breath away? Do they make you want to keep seeing more of their work even if it belongs to somebody else? Does the idea of being photographed by them thrill you, excite you?
In today’s world, just good isn’t good enough. Don't settle for mediocrity..You deserve more than that.
 |
| Model : Pratibha Shah, Photographer : Sheetal Petkar, Makeup & Hair : Sheetal Petkar |
3) Remember the camera doesn't click the picture, the photographer does!
Just because someone owns a superexpensive DSLR doesn’t make them a great photographer. It doesn't guarantee you having stunning images of yourself. There are many more aspects to photography than just the camera. A good photographer can capture a beautiful image with any camera. You, the subject, are the more important aspect than the camera itself. The camera is just a medium of achieving the best picture that you ever have of yourself. The end result should be breathtaking and ofcourse they should be printable in big sizes. That is all that should matter at the end of your shoot!
4) How important are you and your needs/requirements for the photographer?
Do they listen to you or keep blabbering away/ask you nothing at all and state the price directly? During your conversation/meeting with them is there a vision taking form for your shoot? When you hire someone and you pay them, you need to get the service and the quality of images that justify the price.
 |
| Model : Kashmira Shah, Photographer : Sheetal Petkar, Makeup & Hair : Sheetal Petkar |
5) Do you like the photographer as a person?
How comfortable and relaxed do they make you feel? Do you feel better about yourself or nothing at all to worse about yourself in their presence? You being comfortable for the shoot is very important. If you are relaxed, comfortable and can trust the photographer it reflects how comfortable and peaceful you look in your photographs.
6) The concept of photogenic is a myth!
Every single person existing on this mother Earth can look beautiful in their photographs. People who are called “photogenic” are the ones who are comfortable in front of any camera and instinctively stand/pose or simply just smile in a way that shows their beauty. That does not mean the rest of the lot cannot be photographed well. Its a photographer’s job to make you comfortable, guide you, pose you, direct you. If you believe you are not photogenic, no matter what your body type, color, age, gender, teeth structure, length of your neck, broad face or 10 million other reasons you give as to why you don’t look good in photographs, the fact is - You just haven’t been clicked by a good photographer!
 |
| Model : Hema Petkar, Photographer : Sheetal Petkar, Makeup & Hair : Sheetal Petkar |
7) What products/services and value does the photographer offer you in their packages?
Ask yourself this question. What do you want to do with your images from the shoot? Hang huge prints on the wall, have coffee table books or albums, have a slideshow video on youtube..How is the quality of the products they offer? Is what they offer
8) Does your suited package, quality, service fit in your budget?
If yes, it is a match made in heaven! If not, is the product,service and images thrill and tempt you to experience it? It might pinch you for a while but 20 years later when you look back at your images, would you look back and say “I’m so glad I did this”? If not, move on to the next. You will find your best match.
 |
| Add caption |
Happy Photographer hunting! ;)
