Canon or Nikon? Coke or Pepsi? Mac or Dell? Have the photographer choose which photos to show the client or let the client choose from the majority?
The first 3 are no brainers for me. Canon, Coke and Mac – at the risk of sounding like a juvenile – DUH.
However, the last one? Not so cut and dry. I recently learned during my trip to Imaging USA in Nashville that there is a psychological term for what I do when I go on a shoot – I’m an overshooter. There. I said it. Sure, I feel better!
Because of this fact, I produce MANY MANY different photos for clients. At times to their annoyance and frustration. I know this folks and am working on it, but in the meantime I wrestle with who gets to narrow down the photos? Me or my client?
At the moment, the way I work is that after a photo shoot, if time permits, I immediately upload ALL the photos and hand my precious Mac over to my client to drive the process! They literally sit in front of my laptop and quickly tab through each raw photo clicking the number 5 if they like the pic or the letter “X” if they never want to see it again. This narrows their scope and helps us both in the long run because I’m therefore not editing photos they never wanted in the first place. This method speeds up the overall process.
It never ceases to amaze me how often clients choose shots I would never have thought of and the bottom line is: it was never about me anyway right? This being said, here is a peak at my photo shoot of my dear friend Cara, her adorable son Jackson and the dashing black dog Otis:
She chose 19 of her favorites – I had 33 and the above represents some of my final choices. In this particular case, the primary objective was to create a photo representative of her business Black Dog Social Media. A couple of these did not make HER list and that is OK! Don’t forget that art is ALWAYS ALWAYS subjective.
Any suggestions from photo buffs out there I’m listening with an open mind I promise!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Thank you Shannon for a great photo session. I had so many to go through that it was overwhelming at first but I did go through and just favorite 20 that I thought stood out. But as I did so, I wondered what you, the photog artist thought as its hard to evaluate oneself. Also you know what pics you could do what effects to (looking at proofs is so far from final outcome sometimes) . I like the idea that i go through them once and then go through again with you,as its your vision as the artist, to me anyway!