Last week I started a series about Custom Photography with Part 1: What is Custom Photography. This week, I’d like to talk a bit more in depth about why clients choose custom photography.

Custom photography is more of a luxury than your entry level cookie cutter chain experience.  Custom photography truly is not for everyone, it requires a level of commitment, investment in time  and money, forethought and planning on the part of the subject/client and requires a larger time commitment for the photographer as well.

Clients who enjoy taking a more active role in the creation of their families’ memories have the desire to have portrait art that is truly personalized.  These more discerning clients have been known to budget and allot time for a custom photography session.  Many clients opt for it to be a once a year special experience, some opt to have custom photography sessions done to record their child’s stages in life.  Having said this, it is clear that custom photography is not in everyone’s budget,  it is something that most families save for to splurge on from time to time to memorialize their children as they really are  (not posed and primped in the cookie cutter studio setting).

There is a great deal of time involved in creating high end custom photography sessions for a client.  The luxury of great service, better choices and a superb end product.  The result of all this are heirloom quality images.  The time invested at the session is only a small portion of time involved in this process (more on this in part 3).

Custom photography has been likened to purchasing a fine vehicle.  To get to point B from A let’s face it, even a bus ride would suffice.  If you want to luxuriate in a finely appointed vehicle, customizing your own experience by listening to smooth jazz while sitting in a climate controlled setting adjusted purely for your comfort in a body hugging leather interior, perhaps that Lexus you so desire is your cup of tea.  Custom photography is much the same cup of tea.  It is the Lexus of the photography world.  It is where the intangibles make the experience truly wonderful and the images themselves make the investment of money and time truly worthwhile.

Custom photography can be broken down into even more levels.  There are on location, studio, mixed studio/on location, specialty location and destination type photographers.  The beauty of custom photography is in the choices and in the luxury of thoses options.  The customized service level you are sure to experience will be amazing.  The knowledge that your final images are the result of someone caring about those moments so much that they take extra time ensuring that the artwork you receive is good enough to stand by with their name on it.  That level of quality and commitment  is all but lost in the age of “mass produced,” “mass marketed,” corporate “everyone is a number”.  Custom photography is based on being unique to you.  How great an experience would be,  to be able to sit back and allow a photographer to do this highly custom work for images that you will most likely cherish for a lifetime?

Keep in mind more than anything that the Lexus will never appreciate in value the way your portraits will.  The portrait art you become invested in from your custom photographer will no doubt increase in value and become more priceless as the years pass.

Next, Part 3: Why Does Custom Photography Cost More? This is where I will go into depth regarding the cost and value of custom photography.

XOXO,

Melisa

Excerpts from Marianne Drenthe of Marmalade Photography www.professionalchildphotographer.com/

With hopes to better inform my clients and readers about what custom photography is, I have decided to launch a three part series about this subject. I will address the “what”, the “why”, and the biggest one – the “cost”. I will explore, explain, and hopefully educate you in the process. I’ve waited a long time to approach this subject, because frankly it isn’t easily explained in a matter of a few sentences. I have little blurbs here and there on my site and blog about custom photography, however I feel its time to finally create a resource that not only my clients will hopefully enjoy and learn from, but also for other photographers.

What is Custom Photography?

Art. But custom photography is not just art, it’s an heirloom which you will cherish for a lifetime and pass down to your kids, and them to their kids, and so on. Custom photography is created with this purpose in mind. Custom photography is a collaborative effort between photographer and client, in which the photographer is able to capture and bring to life those once-in-a-life-time fleeting moments that pass in an instant, and are forever frozen as a beautiful image that you can hang on your wall. THAT is art. Heirloom art. It should make you smile, laugh, and even cry. It should bring you back to that moment and make your heart sing. The photographic art you choose to place on your wall is ultimately the result of the vision of the photographer. This vision, coupled with what you wear to your session, the environment, the lighting, even the mood the subjects are in at the time of photographing creates the work that you will want to proudly display on your walls forevermore.

A lot of people assume this is a wedding portrait when they see this. Although she is wearing white and they are dressed up in wedding-like attire, it is actually from a 5 year anniversary portrait session. From this particular lifestyle session, I have lots of favorites, but there’s just something about this image that makes me squeal with delight when I see it. Maybe its the “almost kiss”, the sun peeking through, their hands, the tenderness…and of course all the bonus stuff – their attire, the setting, and they are gorgeous people. But what is most important about this? The client LOVED it, and it made their hearts sing! It represents exactly how they were feeling at that moment and drips with their love for each other.

So you’re ready for custom photography? Your first step in the process is more about determining who you are, who your family is and then seeking a photographer that reflects your style. For instance let’s say your family is very urban, colorful, funky little fashionistas! You start determining what style you like, browse through photography website portfolios and determine if any of the styles exhibited there would be a good fit with your life and family style. You have already determined that you should probably seek out a edgy type photographer and then begin narrowing the field down a bit.

Finally after a bit of internet research, you have narrowed it down to two photographers who do what seems like solid work, the sort of edgy, urban look you desire.  It is now time to ask yourself: Do you like photographer A’s style over photographer B’s style? Is it because the people in the images of A’s style are having a great time and it seems very caught up in the moment vs. B photographer more posed, looking in the camera images? If this is a case, you probably like LIFESTYLE photography or perhaps even take it a step further and define your desired style as a PHOTOJOURNALISTIC photography style. The photographer you probably should choose is photographer A because their style is very similar to the style you desire.

What custom photography ultimately is all about is choice and experience. Custom photography is about finding someone who will photograph your family, give you devoted 1:1 attention without worry of who is next ‘in line’ or the feeling of a crowded portrait studio.

• A custom photographer will typically show you a fairly extensive gallery culled to only show the good images that meet the photographers’ creative sensibilities.
• Often the images are fully edited images-color corrected with blemishes and stray hairs removed, with artistic and black and white options as well.
• Custom photographers are also known as boutique studios, offering a range of products and unparalleled service. Think Lexus vs. Hyundai, think Nordstrom vs. WalMart.

A custom photography experience should have you, the client and your experience in mind.

Next, Part 2: Why Choose Custom Photography. This is where I will go into depth about the subject and the value that’s attached to it.

XOXO,

Melisa

Excerpts from Marianne Drenthe of Marmalade Photography www.professionalchildphotographer.com/