How to Chose a Photographer

Great photography is art. When you go to select a photographer to do your head shots for social media (because "yes" you need a nice head shot), you naturally want to look your best. I have great shots taken and I've had photos done where I wanted to hide the image in the garbage can. Here is what can make a perfectly attractive human being look perfectly unattractive (great looks or not): bad lighting, horrible angles, poor exposure, and just pictures snapped at the worst possible moment. Technically speaking that photo of me taken by Gail from Quintessence Photographic Art in Rescue, Ca. took a lot of effort on Gail's part. She was hanging out the window to get the glare off, taping down curtains, and using all sorts of techniques that I as a non-photographer know nothing about. Later when we did other photos in the series, she went to great effort to get the lighting right. She had her assistant at one point shining the light on me a certain way and turning it up and down. It doesn't stop there either. Then she plays with the photos when she does retouching. If she wanted she could even shed pounds off me (that's not necessary here), but the point is she could. Of course, this doesn't count the effort I put into my own appearance ... phew! That's a lot of work. But here's the value. The photo looks amazing, and it's the kind of image I want to project as a publisher with an edge. I didn't want some corporate suit shot, because that isn't the kind of business I run. I like to have fun. I like to publish interesting and edgy books. Some boring, mundane head shot wasn't going to project the right image. And as is the case in real life, first impressions on social media count ... but that's a whole other blog.