We’ve broken down the different pricing structures and methods of delivery, now I’m going to talk about styles. This is probably the first thing that may come to mind when you’re choosing a photographer, but you may not realize there’s a particular type and that photographers usually specialize in one type.
What I mean by that is you can’t go to a photographer who happens to take brighter images and ask them to edit yours darker, because how they take the image in the camera heavily impacts how they edit it. Going beyond that, certain styles like bright and airy photography will avoid certain physical elements in background to ensure a consistent style. So, it is very important to only inquire with photographers whose style you like to keep yourself from being disappointed your images after the session.
There’s two types of styles we’re going to discuss, what I’m calling editing styles and then shooting styles.
Editing styles fall into two major camps right now, and then there are some subcategories in those.
Bright and Airy we already mentioned. These are bright images, the greens are really soft; these photographers really like pastels, they avoid all things dark. In this “bright” camp, you’ll also find styles like True to Life, Film, Bright and Moody (a mix between the bright and airy and the next style).
Dark and Moody. Name pretty much covers it, these images are much darker, dramatic, colors are usually muted to an extant. Other styles that near this are Earthy, and some style I’ve seen pop up here and there where everything has a red tint, I don’t know if it even has a name.
The above is my quick attempt at turning one of my images Dark and Moody, and Light and Airy–my style is closer to the light and Airy so that look is easier for me to achieve.
The second aspect to their style is what I’m calling “shooting” style. Really just two categories: traditional/posed or photojournalistic.
Now here’s the thing, a lot of people will say “I don’t want to be pose.”
YES you do.
90% of my clients say during their first session “tell me what to do, I don’t know what to do” “we’re so awkward” etc.
But what about those candid photos?
Any photo you see, apart from truly candid events where a photographer is capturing what’s going on around them, is orchestrated by the photographer in some capacity. Where the client stands, which direction they face—all instructed by the photographer.
So instead of thinking “I don’t want posed photos”, think about whether you prefer traditional portraits (mostly smiling for the camera) or images with more movement/emotions.
