A very satisifed client who happend to be a writer took the time to write this up for me and I'm very happy to share it here. I have also included some before/after shots below. -Christie

A few thoughts on hiring a professional photographer:

by Ceri McCandless

 

My son is a high-school senior this year. I have a nice digital camera that I enjoy using. I get a kick out of roaming around and taking photos and part of my job as a newspaper reporter is also to take photos. However, I am not a professional photographer. So when it came time to have senior portraits made, I could have pulled out my camera and tried to do them myself. It would have saved me a few dollars, but these are photos that mark a huge milestone for my son and our family. These are important photos and I wanted them to be the best quality and the best representation of this part of my child's life.

That's why I went with a professional photographer, specifically Ultralicious Photography. There is a huge difference in my skill level and that of someone who has spent years learning her trade and investing in the best possible equipment. A professional knows the tricks for finding the best location, setting up the perfect shot, creating the best lighting and capturing the best features of her subjects. I can crop a photo and maybe adjust the color or lighting with photo software, but a professional can take a great photograph and make it absolutely perfect with the use of such software.

Professional photographers also develop other skills that are necessary when photographing weddings and other events, or even family portraits. Scroll through your own collection of snapshots and personal family photos and you are bound to notice shots where the tops of people's heads are missing, red-eye abounds and there is a mystery elbow protruding into the photo. Part of being a professional is developing an eye for what makes up the best possible photograph, but also for what will ruin a photograph-- and often those are the things we amateurs don't notice until it's too late.

Ultralicious Photography captured my son at 17, at the exact space between childhood and becoming a man. I see the tilt of his jaw, the intensity of his gaze, but also the sweet, playful smile that I see all the time but am hardly ever able to get in a photo. These are portraits I will treasure for the rest of my life. Hiring a professional photographer was an investment in irreplaceable memories, far more valuable than the money I might have saved by trying to do them myself.