Tip #5 in our series “How to Understand & Work with Your Photographer” is: Don’t Edit a Photographer’s Images! Professional photography, not belonging to you, should never be edited by anyone but the photographer.

Would you like someone to alter your work after you poured your heart and soul into it, after you’ve spent years crafting your skills? No, of course not! Well, neither would we, nor any other professional photographer we know.

Our Broad Run, VA and Northern Virginia clients would hopefully ask us for edits before attempting them for themselves! We get to know our clients, what they want for their final product, and we strive very hard to give it to them. Retouching is done to any image which a client orders, whether it’s a huge 40×60 wall portrait or a small gift size print. Before anything is sent to print or any product is ordered, a client is asked to view a proof and then sign an approval page. So if there is anything a client wants done to an image before a product is ordered, they have every opportunity to let us know that!

We won’t be offended if asked to “fix” something on an image. Even Michelangelo was asked to make changes to his masterpiece ceiling in the Sistine Chapel! And if such a master would do so, we certainly can too! Our work and final product as a studio photographer are our photographic works of art.

A lot of time, energy, and skill goes into every photograph including the final touches. If you want to see edits done to a picture, it is without a doubt best to ask the photographer. They would be more offended by you making the edits on your own without permission than being asked for some potential edits. And the truth is, it would be rather insulting to any professional photographer for others to change their work. After all, the photographer put the time and effort into those images; it’s only right they she/he be asked by the client to make any edits.

There is a great Reddit forum discussion on this topic you might want to read. You’ll notice almost every response says “check with your photographer” after a user asks if it’s acceptable to do some additional edits to their photos. We completely agree! In this forum discussion, the edits the user is asking about are common practice but should be only done by the photographer creating and producing the portraits – not by the subject of the photos.

Keep in mind that once you begin editing someone else’s work, it isn’t their work any longer. You just removed their creative ownership. We can assure you that as professionals, your photographer will do a far better job of editing than you will. Just ask!
Ever After is a mother and daughter professional photography team in the Broad Run Farms, VA and Sterling, VA area. Our clients extend across Virginia and we are always happy to answer any questions!

Other tips in this series:
Tip #1, Understanding the Process
Tip #2, Don’t ask for more photos than the ones we present to you
Tip #3, Don’t Expect Free Photography
Tip #4, Don’t Crop Out the Watermark
 

Family Photographer, Professional Photography

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located near Broad Run Farms, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.

Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,

Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

Professional Photographer

Our Northern Virginia area families, including those in Broad Run Farms, VA, often ask us how they should choose artwork for their homes. Many have visited numerous design and photography websites hoping for inspiration, so we thought we’d offer some tips!

1. Buy and display only what you love. Investors buy art for its potential to rise in value. Collectors, however, buy and display art for the love of the piece, and so should you. Art is personal and you should invest and display art – such as fine art portraiture – that touches your soul in some way. Fine art family portraiture should capture emotion and it should be worthy of your investment.

2. Be open to different mediums. Artwork means many different things, many different mediums. Whether it’s sculpture, oil, or fine art photography, select what works for you, for your home’s design, and for what stirs emotion.

3. Venture out if looking for new art. Great art is often displayed in any number of places from galleries to restaurants to coffee shops. There’s plenty of art available for sale online as well. You can also commission work from a local artist, including a family photographer! There are some stunning pieces available from your local photographer, and beautiful family portraits as artwork will mean more to you than any other kind of art because it’s artwork of those you love and cherish.

4. Pick the right size. Artwork should fit well into its space. It shouldn’t be too large nor too small. You’re striving for balance. If you’re creating a photo gallery wall, create a mock up using paper prior to putting nails into the wall. You can create interest by using a variety of sizes. Here at Ever After, we have specialized design software that allows us to perfectly size your wall art for your home, so nothing is every too large or too small.

5. What’s the focal point? If your artwork will be the focal point, keep that in mind when looking for artwork. If you are considering using fine art family photography to display in a certain spot (I’m sure you know that we feel that’s a wonderful idea!), work with your photographer prior to your portrait session. They can help set up the sessions to create the best portrait for your space, including setting, colors, size, etc.

6. What’s the color? Artwork should ideally coordinate and compliment a room’s colors and design. When selecting artwork for a particular spot, consider the surrounding decor including wall color, furniture, curtains and accessories. Make sure the artwork’s colors coordinate with the room. Even if you want the colors to pop, you need balance.

7. What’s the subject? In most cases, the content of the image should work with its surroundings in the room. The artwork should harmonize with a room, not clash with it. You wouldn’t put a nude oil painting in a children’s playroom, would you?! While an extreme example, you get the idea!

8. Traditional, contemporary or does it matter? You don’t necessarily have to select a traditional piece of art for a traditional room. Sometimes the right contemporary can make a bold statement, and sometimes a traditional piece will look perfect in a contemporary space!

9. Hang it right. People often err by placing artwork too high on a wall when it should be at an approximate eye level. Most art galleries place the center of the painting about 60” from the floor. Try it.

10. Lights! For the greatest emphasis and impact, light your artwork! Great lighting will make it a beautiful and stunning focal point.

If you’ve visited other photography websites, but really like and prefer what you see on our website, we’re happy to photograph your family to create your own beautiful artwork. We work with clients near to (and far from) the Broad Run Farms, VA area. Wall art of your family is always the best investment. These are the people you love, and decorating your home with portraits of family will give you years of enjoyment. You will never regret investing in wall art of those you cherish!

Family Photographer, Photography Websites

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter professional photography team located near Broad Run Farms, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.
 
Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.
 
Best,
 
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!
 
Professional Photographer

Folks who’ve never paid for professional photography sometimes aren’t quite sure where to begin or how much they should pay. Sometimes they’ll go straight to the cheapest photographer they find, but when the photos come in, they’re immensely disappointed. We’ve been working for years in the Broad Run Farms, VA and Leesburg, VA areas and surrounding communities and have a lot of experience. We can tell you that we’re not surprised cheap “professional” photos usually result in a poor final product. And, we aren’t saying this out of self interest or self promotion; we want our clients to be extremely happy with their portrait session and with the final products they purchase, whether it’s a large piece of wall art or an album or prints. So how much should you invest in family portraits?

As with many other services, you get what you pay for. With a professional photographer, you will be paying for their skill set, their years of training, specialized equipment and technology, and, lastly, you’re paying for experience (that alone can be worth a lot!)

There are many instances in life when you can get a good thing without necessarily having to pay a lot. Sometimes a $10 bottle of wine is just as good as a $20 bottle. But, sometimes it isn’t! Photography is usually the latter: Paying less simply because you can could mean disappointment and wasted time and money.

An article last year on the Angie’s List blog, provided tips on how to select a photographer and the role pricing can play. “Expertise is the main factor that dictates the price a professional photographer charges. With more experience, a professional photographer typically charges more,” according to the article.
 

 
Can you find a photographer with little experience who takes great pictures? Yes, you can. However, experience can make an enormous difference outside of technical knowledge – like how to handle and direct children during a portrait session, where and how to stage a session and how to handle multiple, sometimes uncooperative, clients (we all know teens don’t love being in front of any camera but their own!), and so on. Years of experience, technical expertise, and experience are what you get and pay for when you hire a highly-skilled, reputable photographer like Ever After!

So to answer the initial question of “How much should you invest in your family portraits?”: It does depend on your budget, of course, as well as your expectations for the final product. Are you content with a few prints that you will stick in a drawer and very rarely look at? Or do you want a beautiful family portrait finished and ready to hang, one that will be treasured for generations to come?

We’re happy to discuss your questions, your budget, and what we have to offer with our professional photography! Reach out to us if you live anywhere in the Northern Virginia area, especially Broad Run Farms, VA and Leesburg, VA.
 

Family Photographer, Professional Photography

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter professional photography team located near Broad Run Farms, VA and Leesburg, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.
 
Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.
 
Best,
 
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!
 
Professional Photographer

What makes you happy in life? Your loved ones? Your experiences? Your house or your cars? Your Rolex? You’ve probably at some point considered the role of that which is tangible versus intangible in your life. We bet you’ve probably not considered photography as being either one! Both, however, lie at the essence of what defines professional photography – or any photography, for that matter. It is a somewhat philosophical question but to photographers, it is one that matters. Tangible and intangible lie at the essence of portrait photography.

Some of the most profound things in our lives are also the most intangible – like love, respect, affection, grief, and joy. And yet, intangibles often depend on tangibles to exist or to be conveyed – like our children, our spouses or partners, our pets, even our careers or a beautiful garden. To feel those intangible emotions we need a tangible, don’t we? So, back to the question: Is photography a tangible or an intangible part of our lives?

A portrait itself is tangible. You can see it. You can touch it. You order it to be framed or otherwise finished so you can display it. The reasons for wanting or ordering a portrait are likely driven by the intangible: Love, honor, memory, respect, etc. Thus, a portrait is tangible, but it’s completely driven by the intangible.

A portrait, very importantly, should also evoke the intangible. When you look at your parents’ wedding portrait from 40 years ago, what do you feel? Doesn’t joy well up in you to see their happiness? Don’t those emotions sometimes bring up tears?

To professional photographers like us, that link between the tangible and intangible aspects of portrait photography matters tremendously. It’s an honor for us to create a portrait as the tangible evidence of our clients’ love for their families. This is why we put so much thought and time into our work. Creating a careless portrait would be unimaginable to us because we know that when when someone looks at their children’s portraits now and years from now, they will feel a flood of emotions.

So when a client or potential client asks us if they should order portraits for display or settle for a DVD of their pictures, without hesitation we always recommend finished portraits for display. The reason for this, again, goes back to that link between tangible and intangible.

You decided to do professional portraits because you deeply love your family. Why would you not display your portraits? Why put a DVD of them into a drawer where they won’t make you smile, where they won’t remind you of your family’s love, and where they will become something purely intangible to you?

As family photographers to the Broad Run Farms, VA and surrounding areas of Northern Virginia, we always say that portrait photography is one of the most enjoyable gifts you can give yourself and your family as a tangible way of capturing your lives today in this moment, for you to enjoy now and for future generations to cherish.
 

Family Photographer, Professional Photography

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter professional photography team located near Broad Run Farms, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.
 
Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.
 
Best,
 
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!
 
Professional Photographer