Q: Who are the photographers?
A: We are Shawn Clark & Jenifer Day, a husband & wife photographic team. We bring you over 10 years of photographic expertise and creative professionalism. Check out our "About" page for more details.
Q: What equipment do you use?
A: All of our camera gear is Canon. We use EOS camera bodies and L-series lenses. We also use Profoto and Speedotron lighting equipment, Apple computers, X-Rite color management hardware and software, and the latest Adobe software, among others.
Q: What does your fee include?
A: When we give our clients an estimate, we want to make it clear that the price includes the following: photographing the event(s), editing the images afterwards, gas/travel, equipment, insurance, archiving the images (meaning we NEVER delete images!) and posting the images on our website for client access.
Q: Can I print the Facebook/web-sized photos?
A: No. We absolutely do not recommend this. Facebook/web-sized means the image(s) are outputted into a size and resolution that is optimal for viewing on the web, Facebook, emails, smart phones, and tablets. In other words, best viewed on a screen, never for printing. The quality is not high enough to make for a good print. Facebook/web-size and Print size are two different things.
Q: Well, why not just make them higher resolution?
A: Because this would result in a larger file size and therefore take a longer time to download on one’s computer/mobile/tablet, and no one likes it when things take forever to load. Furthermore, we would have to raise our prices substantially to pay for the additional web space to store the more than 50,000 images currently online.
Q: When I purchase a Facebook download (or a print) does the watermark show up on it too?
A: No. There are no markings on the image(s) when purchased.
Q: Do you retouch the images?
A: When appropriate we will subtly retouch and enhance some images. We also offer some artistic enhancements and we can also convert the images to Black & White and/or Sepia for a vintage feel, or do a cross-process effect. There are many possibilities so we can pretty creative here! If you would like additional retouching we can provide you with a proposal for these services.
Q: Why can't we see/receive our images right after the shoot?
A: Because we strongly believe in quality. We would like to clarify that our workday does not stop at the end of a photo shooting session – it actually continues on an average of two hours for every hour we shoot. First, we go through all the images and take out the images that are not of the highest technical quality, duplicates, or perhaps in the case of portraits ones where the person blinked, for example. Next, we go through the images again and pick the ones that we feel are the strongest and craft the best digital image by adjusting the exposure, crop, color, and creative effects (if appropriate) of the RAW capture. The final images are then properly sized for either social networks or high quality prints. If we shot in just JPEG and not RAW, then yes we could have the images viewable quicker; however, we would be unable to make the images look as best as they can be! Because we shoot in RAW and not JPEG, we are able to keep all of the image file intact and edit it (via Adobe Lightroom) into the best quality, which does take extra time; however it is a very worthwhile and necessary trade-off!
Q: RAW? You’re a photographer, not a chef.
A: Okay people don’t really phrase it exactly that way ;)
But we do get asked about RAW vs. JPEG. Allow us to go on a slight technical tangent: We shoot digital and we always capture in RAW and never JPEG. This means we shoot at the best quality possible. RAW file format is part of the digital camera’s technology that allows the most information of an image to be recorded. Meaning each image will be rich in color with minimal noise and sharp detail once it is processed into a JPEG for printing. Shooting in RAW, processing them and then converting it to a JPEG is what retains the best image quality. Shooting the images in JPEG in the beginning does NOT allow for this. Basically a JPEG is an image that has already been cooked, and RAW is what its name implies: a raw image that is always ready for adjustments and enhancements. Another bonus about shooting in RAW is: photography software technology is always changing and improving, image-editing methods are always being updated. With RAW, it is always possible to go back to the original file and update the editing and make the image look better than it did years ago. With JPEG this would not be possible. A good way to think of RAW vs. JPEG is like Film negative VS. A Polaroid.
If you would like further details about the technical processes, programs, and procedures we use, don’t hesitate to ask, we love to talk shop and help our clients better understand photography especially with technology always improving.