How to tell the difference between a Photographer and a "Photographer".

So it has occurred to me that with all of the digital cameras out there and photo editing software, many people now are calling themselves photographers. There is a large difference between catching a good picture of grandma at her birthday and being a professional photographer.

Taking all of this into consideration, I have decided to list questions you should be asking a potential photographer you are looking to hire. These questions are designed to differentiate between a "photographer" and a professional.

Some of you may be wondering why I would be giving away this "cheat sheet". My answer...... because I am a bride just as much as a photographer. I understand how important it is to have great pictures of your wedding day and your deserve them, whether I am the one to capture them or not.

So without further delay, I give to you.... the "Cheat Sheet".

The Questions:

1- What color space is your camera set at? - Why does this matter? I'll tell you why! There are two color space options for all digital SLR cameras. Those two options are Adobe RGB and sRGB. So what is the difference between them and which one is better? Well, Take a look at this diagram and make the decision yourself.....

The black outline is all of the colors that Adobe RGB recognizes and the white outline is all of the colors that sRGB recognizes. Which setting would you prefer? I would personally want the setting that covers more color, which is Adobe RGB. However, the default setting on all digital SLR cameras from the factory is sRGB. So if your photographer is truly a photographer, they would have gone in and manual changed this setting and therefore, be able to answer this question.

2 - What file format do you shoot it? - Why does it matter? It matters plenty! First we have to know what file formats photos can be created in. The most common are JPEG (which is what most point and shoot digital cameras shoot) and RAW. So what's the difference and what is better?

Well, a JPEG file is a compressed file. How do they compress it? Well, when your camera takes a picture in JPEG format, the camera decides what information is important and what is not. This information includes color ranges for example. So there could be a two blues that are a shade apart in the photograph, rule of JPEG file format says to make those two shades both the same color to save file space. JPEG file format causes your camera to throw out information that it deems "useless".

RAW format is exactly what it sounds like, raw! It is the digital form of a negative from the days of film. RAW files also mean larger files because unlike JPEG, RAW files are complete. The camera does not remove information from the photograph. The advantage to this comes into play when the files are read by an interpreter such as Adobe Camera Raw or Adobe Lightroom. The photo editor has more control over changes in the photograph. Also, all of the color differences in photographs are picked up that you Adobe RGB setting recognized.

So which is better.... RAW file format. This also needs to be set by the camera operator. The default setting on most digital SLR cameras is JPEG.



Are there other questions you could ask to be sure your photographer is the real deal? OF COURSE! But these two questions will help you weed out the difference between the pros and someone who got lucky with a picture of grandma at a family party.

There are plenty of other things I could discuss with you on how to look at a photograph and know what features were original to the photograph and what was a Photoshop add on or correction, but that would take a long time! It also takes a trained eye to recognize it.

Most Importantly:
"P" mode means "Program", not "Professional". What do I mean by this? - Program mode on ANY camera is allowing the camera to make decisions for itself. It is not as smart as a person, nor does it know what you are trying to photograph. Different camera settings render different results. A photograph taken at F-22 has a different outcome than the same photo taken at F-5.6. What does that mean in lamen's terms? The objects in focus will differ. Bottom line, Program mode is pretty much the camera taking the pictures with someone to push the button. A photographer takes the picture, not the camera.

So please, make sure that you hire a photographer you are confident in. If you are interested in reading more on digital SLR cameras and photography techniques, this is the website I always refer to.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm 

Enjoy and happy reading!