Holy shoot!
Why is professional photography such an investment?
This is a very good question that we often hear from prospective clients. It's why we thought that writing about this topic will help give people more insight into the skills and reasoning behind the prices. There are many reasons why ‘any’ professional photography genres are costly, but in this blog, we’ll particularly talk about how newborn and portrait photography are different from other types of photography such as weddings. We’re not going to talk about physical products such as wall art, but the actual images themselves and their editing.
One of the first things to recognise about newborn photography is how it differentiates from other types of photography like family photography, or weddings as two examples. Make no mistake that family photographers and wedding photographers also deserve recognition for their price points, because they still go through the process of editing after the images have been taken, not to mention the talent, knowledge and experience of the photographer.
Newborn photography differs from other types of photography because fundamentally, newborn photography studios invest in creating beautiful stages and choreography that you just don't see in other genres. This, of course, varies from studio to studio. Here at Sky Portraits, we have an in-house designer who designs, sews and creates unique stages that are exclusive to us. You won’t find our choreographic sets in any other studio. You also need a studio manager/assistant that knows how to handle your baby. Swaddling is a skill as is making sure that the baby is calm and happy throughout the session.
The same can be said about portrait photography. When you shoot a portrait for example, the photographer is using a number of different lighting setups. There is significant skill in understanding the fundamentals of how light works and the endless arrangements that make up many creative designs. Getting creative by using gels is tricky business, but the results are always breathtaking!
Another skill is to understand how to pose people; how to make them feel comfortable and relaxed. There are literally hundreds of poses that are specific to making people look phenomenal. You want to look your best, and that takes some human sculpting techniques.
Weddings, however, rely more on ad hoc creativity. Yes, while you do snap groups of people at a wedding, it's very different from having to provide specific choreography, posing and studio lighting. Wedding photographers are talented with a lot of knowledge, no doubt about that. However, the skills to do a newborn shoot or creative portraits are completely different and priced accordingly. From time to time, I hear some people say that they had two photographers for their wedding and they were there for more than six hours!
Whilst wedding photographers may be absent for hours to take the images, a newborn photoshoot can easily stretch to three hours, just to be able to obtain 20 to 30 amazing images; not 1500 of them. We always aim to create a masterpiece rather than documenting the occasion.
Professional photography, whether it’s newborn, portrait, family or wedding, is about creating an heirloom, something that is beautifully preserved for decades to come and something that can be handed down through generations. Whether we’re talking newborn, portrait, family or wedding photography, something every genre has in common is editing. This aspect is one of the biggest pieces of the photographic pie.
The average time to edit varies depending on the type of shoot. With newborn photography, there are many things to consider when you edit, such as a baby's flaky skin, blotchiness, jaundice, milk pimples, eyelid birthmarks, yellow eyes, and the list goes on. The biggest killer for a newborn editor is dry flaky skin. The time taken to edit one newborn shot could take up to an hour and a half, as shown in the example pics below. This shot took our editor approximately 1.5 hours to complete.
In case you can’t see the foot in the before and after, here is a close up.
All our editing is done in house. Our editor spends time doing everything meticulously with the correct skill set needed to convey beautiful lighting and composition that leads to the final masterpiece. Editing is not about pressing a button and sitting back for 5 minutes.
One of the best examples in talking about editing is thinking about a canvas and paints. Someone can hand you an empty canvas, a couple of brushes and a set of paints. You now have the tools to create a masterpiece, but what are the chances of you actually doing that? Getting a free app that allows you to edit on your phone, or even if you had a professional platform that allows you to do full editing like Photoshop, doesn't mean that you know how to use it. The skill set for editing is almost a bottomless pit.
CREATIVE PORTRAIT EXAMPLES:
To summarise, there are many aspects as to why professional photography is an investment. A studio requires specialised skills and expertise, expensive equipment, unique choreography, time, artistry, not to mention limited availability. This means that given the skill set and time required to create the final result from a shoot, we typically don’t do more than 10 shoots a week. One good thing worth noting is that there's no shortage of people wanting professional images that they will treasure for life. Think about this: at the end of the day, when life has run its course, the one thing you’ll be left with after you’re no longer able to travel or do the things you once loved doing - will be memories. Make them count.
Larissa (Studio Manager)