you’ve probably got a friend with a nice camera… so why pay a professional to take family photos or record special events?

(disclaimer – this is not yet another long list of all the costs and expenses that career photographers have to cover by charging you for their work… while all that is true, there is already an overabundance of such lists that have been published and shared over the past few years. every legitimate business carries similar costs. moving on…)

i have a friend with a nice camera too… and she took this image at a wedding we both recently photographed:

it’s lovely isn’t it, the bride looks radiant and the setting is really stunning with that waterfall cascading over the rocks. any new bride would be excited to see this image as part of her wedding day.

i took a similar shot at the same time – also with a nice camera:

but wait – if we were both standing in the same spot, both with our nice cameras, and photographed the same couple at the same moment, why do the images not look just the same?

well, not only did i shoot in camera raw, which gave me a higher dynamic range with no loss of data to work with than in-camera jpg; but also through years of studying and experience i have acquired additional skills in composition, posing, exposure, lighting, equipment choice, settings selection, and post-production techniques which enable me to produce this polished and artistic final image.

this is not a comparison between a poor snapshot and a professional piece; no one truly believes that a bad photo is better than what a professional can deliver. but many people do believe there is no difference between a talented hobby photographer with a nice camera, and a career professional. (and i am sure that the price difference is the primary reason that belief persists.)

yes, career photographers do cost more than hobby shooters – because their own costs are much higher and in addition they must draw a livable wage from their earnings as well. but as the old saying goes: the labourer is worthy of his hire. 🙂

thanks go to victoria for granting permission to use her photograph in this demonstration 🙂