#TipTuesday: Why Photographers Won't Give Clients All of the Pictures They Take

You’ve had your maternity photography session and you know your photographer took no less than 500 pictures, so why can’t you have them all?

You decided to schedule your professional maternity and newborn sessions. After all, these are once-in-a-lifetime moments and you want to be able to relive them as your little one gets older. During your session, you noticed the photographer’s click of the camera was constant, and yet you only received the specified number of images you selected in your package, and naturally you wonder why that is. Since this is a very common question I get from my clients, I thought it would be a good idea to explain, as straight-forwardly as possible, why professional photographers don’t release all of the images shot during your session.

You Don’t Want All of the Photos From Your Session

The majority of the pictures taken during your session are a part of the process to finding the perfect shot. If someone blinks, or yawns, or there’s a stray fly in the shot, then that image can’t be used. Your photographer has to sift through many of the same images before the perfect one emerges. As much as you may love a certain pose or scene from your session, your photographer’s goal is to give you a variety to choose from and they only want you to choose from the very best they have to offer.

Raw Photos are Not the Finished Product

Think about this - if you were getting a house built, would you want to keep the blueprints and all the extra bricks, wood and nails that didn’t make it onto the final place you call home? If you were having a dress made, would you expect to keep the original design sketch and all of the extra fabric that wasn’t used? Photos are often taken with specific lighting so that photographers can create the image the final image their imagining in post-processing (editing). The process of creating the final gallery of images that clients receive is lengthy and detailed to ensure that both the client and the photographer are in love with the end result.

Providing Unedited Images Can Be An Intellectual Property Issue

If your photographer gives you unedited images, it opens the door for someone else to make edits or add filters and then put the photos out into the world as a finished product. It would be like a writer giving someone their unfinished manuscript and then that person goes and makes edits and changes the storyline, changing the end-result the writer had in mind without their consent. Here’s a little-known fact: it’s actually illegal for someone else to edit a photographer’s work without their permission. All photos taken by a photographer are their intellectual property and unless they’ve given their consent, they shouldn’t be tampered with or even published.

Prospective Clients Can Get the Wrong Impression

Photographers book their business through their portfolio. When people are looking to hire a photographer, they make their decision based on pricing and availability, of course, but the initial desire to work with a photographer is based on their previous work. Because of that, photographers only want to put out images that represent their skills and the brand that they’ve worked hard to cultivate. If prospective clients see unedited photos, they won’t get an accurate representation of the photographer’s work and may choose not to hire them.

It’s About Quality Over Quantity

Of course you want all of the images that your photographer took. After all, your session is a memorable time and you want to be able to soak up and relive every single second. But consider the quality of photos you’d be getting if your photographer gave you every shot they took. Would you want a bunch of dimly-lit, un-retouched photographs that could’ve been taken with a camera phone, or would you want 5 beautifully touched up, edited, and individually-curated photos? A professional photographer will take the time and attention to detail necessary to provide you with a gallery that is nothing short of perfection, and that is how you get your money’s worth.

These photos are tangible representations of your memories - your growing baby bump, your baby’s first few weeks of life, your celebration of your son or daughter’s first birthday - and they are precious. If you have any questions or concerns about the final photos you’ll receive, make sure you talk to your photographer about them. I promise, we are not keeping any secrets or trying to withhold your precious memories. We’re here to help you capture life’s magical moments so that you can relive them for years and years to come. Reach out to me today and let’s talk about scheduling your maternity and newborn sessions.