Do I Really Need a Professional Photographer for my Jacksonville Senior Photos?

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June 4, 2022

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Why you should go pro with your Jacksonville Senior Photos…

When it’s so easy to take out your phone and take a good photo, you might be wondering whether it’s really necessary to hire a professional photographer for your senior photo session.

Most smartphones have some impressive cameras and they’re great for capturing your everyday moments with friends and family. However, your phone won’t quite hit the mark for your senior portraits – here’s why.

Your Photographer Has Experience. There are a number of elements that make for a good photo and a photographer knows how to bring them together. What’s more, they can help guide you during your senior shoot, which can be helpful if you’ve never posed for important photos before.
They Know How to Use a Location to Their Advantage. The location of your senior shoot matters, as does the lighting. When you work with a professional photographer, you benefit from someone who knows how to use their surroundings to create beautiful images. Over and above that, your photographer can provide you with the best location options based on your vision for your shoot.
They Have the Equipment. Your smartphone’s camera might be impressive, but it will never match up to professional cameras, lenses, and accessories. When you hire a professional senior photographer, you are also hiring their equipment. Plus, professional equipment is necessary for different scenarios, including bad weather and indoor shots.
Editing is a Part of the Package. It’s one thing to add a filter to a photo and another to edit it in a way that highlights all your best features at once. A professional photographer can edit your images in ways that are natural but eye-catching.
They Bring an Artistic Eye. When you work with a professional senior photographer, their job is to bring your vision to life. However, you can also benefit from their artistic eye – you might end up using ideas you never even thought of.

They are SMALL! Have you printed any of those iphone photos yet? I discovered when printing some this past year, they are small! They are really not meant to be larger than a 4×6, and I learned that lesson the hard way! While whatever camera you have in your hand lends value, don’t trust moments like this to a cell phone! I promise, in the end, you will only regret the photos you don’t have!

It’s all about the LIGHT! Good photos need Good light… and not just sunlight! How light is used can make or break photos… and that’s where a pro will shine, and iphones will flop. I love taking back-lighting photos, and I try all the time with my iphone {hey, I use it on vacation too}! And ya’ll they are TERRIBLE! The phone is being the brain {instead of me} and can’t tell the difference between your beautiful face, and a wall, and wont let me dial in the actual settings that would make the exposure CORRECT!

In the end, this is a big milestone, one that deserves professional photos, and not just the yearbook photo. Your senior photo session is an investment and an experience you won’t soon forget! After having my own senior last year, and dropping her off at school, I can easily say this time holds even more value to me! I can’t imagine if I had skipped over capturing her at this stage, before she left, to go start on her new adventures. It’s like I had one kid in September, and an adult in May. As a parent, we go through so much in this 18 year journey, commemorating it with a celebration of who they are, and where they are going is amazing!

Are you ready to celebrate your senior? This year is HUGE and they deserve ALL the celebrations! I can’t wait to meet them, and give them the BEST senior experience! Want to see a full session, click here!

  1. Kelly, you’ve really addressed a common probably that parents encounter with senior pictures. Should we hire a pro? Is it really worth the money? And of course, for all the reasons you’ve mentioned, YES!!! Had to laugh about the small pictures. I found that out a few years when I bought a “good” point and shoot for vacation and even photographers raved about how good it was, could shoot RAW, etc. WRONG!!! Pro equipment, as expected, blows that out of the water every time. Unfortunately, I’ve had clients come back to me just devastated because they wasted time and money on someone who wasn’t qualified.

  2. Brandi says:

    I couldn’t agree with you more! Senior year and graduation is such a huge milestone, it’s definitely worth it to make sure they are done right!
    The photos in this post are absolutely stunning as well!

  3. These are all great points! Hiring a pro is important when you want to make sure to capture the special moments. Phone cameras and point and shoots are great ways to have fun but there’s nothing better than going pro to make sure you get your shot!

  4. Jodi Major says:

    This is a question that many parents of high school seniors run into. Do I really need a pro for our senior pictures?! Such a great response to this question

  5. Andrea says:

    What a great question! Seniors need to hear all of the thinking and rational behind the pros and cons. You have done just that and given them all the best advice on professional senior photography benefits.

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