Selecting the Best Images From Your Photo Session

Here is another comment that I get all the time from clients: "How am I going to choose from all of these photos?" I used to see this as a complement, because that meant that I took so many great photos that they couldn't choose. But I've since learned from this. For some, it's really easy to say: That one. That one is my favorite. But, for others, having to sort through a lot of images can be stressful and difficult. When I first started out, I would provide huge online galleries to my clients with nearly all of the photos from their session. My reasoning was that it's their gallery. What if they absolutely loved an image that I didn't? I didn't want to force my clients to have only my favorite images. But along my photographer's journey, I have learned two important things pertaining to this topic. Lesson one, only provide clients with my very best work. Lesson two, reduce a lot of client anxiety by grooming (i.e. thinning-out) their online galleries.

Lesson One: Only Provide the Best Photos

One of the advantages of only providing my best photos is that I am allowing my work to do my advertising for me. Others will see the photos both online and in my client's homes, which will then help me generate more business and keep this train chugging. Additionally, when I would provided lower quality images, it always seemed like that one slightly-out-of-focus image would be the one my client wanted printed HUGE. I would spend a lot of time working to do what I could to make that image better. But, really, what can you do to improve a slightly out of focus photo? Not much, that's what. Ironically, it often seemed that the very next frame from the slightly blurry one would be a perfectly clean, crisp image with the exact same or at least an extremely similar pose. I would sometimes offer the crisp, clean option to my client and ask if they didn't like this one just as much. Every time, they would come back to me and say "Oh yeah, let's go with the non-blurry one." Got it, Universe. Lesson learned. By removing blurry images, I'm helping my clients. Moving on.

Note: the client shown above didn't choose blurry photos, she's just gorgeous and I wanted to use her pretty face on something :)

Lesson Two: Thinning Galleries Helps You

Lesson number two includes improving the lives of my clients. By removing identical or similar shots, my clients will be able to see and compare the variety of shots from their session. Going through 30 or so images is so much easier than going through 300. It will save my clients time. It will save me time. It will allow me to complete sessions faster and move on to other sessions. This means more happy clients and more time for me.

Here is an actual letter from a client. Maybe you've even felt the same way. One of my good friends and clients emailed me this after the session, but before she saw her photos:

"We look forward to seeing the photos. My [family] wants to see all of them but I can't handle trying to choose from a million pictures. The only other time I have actually paid a professional photographer for a photo shoot with [my family] and I, ended with me not ever ordering any photos because she literally posted 450 pictures. We spent about three weeks trying to go through them and come to some agreements but it just became overwhelming. I then asked her to select a smaller amount for me to choose from but she ended up getting divorced and closing up shop soon after and I haven't taken the time to track her down." 

Have you ever been in this boat? This is the exact situation I want to prevent. My goal is to have happy, returning customers. For this family, I narrowed their gallery down to 50 or so images. I even told them which photos were my favorites. They ended up being very pleased with the photos and the selection size. Mission accomplished. I hope to see them in front of my lens again soon (and you, too!).

Choosing Your Images

Okay, on to the nitty gritty. So now you've had your session and received your online gallery of, say, 30 - 50 images (a screenshot from a gallery can be seen below). Now what? How do you choose which photos to put on your wall? If you are like me, I'm always trying to make things harder than they need to be. A quick tip? There are probably multiple images from the session that will fit your vision. You just need to find one (or a few). My galleries make it simple to choose and even mark your favorites. If you are having trouble with this, just let me know and I can walk you through it. 



While going through your images, ask yourself these questions:

1. ) Does everyone look good in this photo?
2. ) Does this photo make me smile when I look at it?
3. ) If I have to crop this photo to print it in a certain dimension or size, will important areas be cropped out of the photo? (Note: Your photos come in ratios of 4x6)
4. ) Will a vertical or horizontal photo look better in the space reserved on my wall for this photo?
5. ) Instead of one horizontal photo, would two side-by-side vertical photos work better (or vice-versa)?
6. ) How large am I printing this? Rule of thumb: printing/framing/canvasing in large sizes, rather than small sizes, will always look better on a wall.

I've Got an App for That

Here's something I'm actually really excited about. I can now show you exactly what your images are going to look like on your wall! I'm going to tell you all about it in its very own blog post. For this special post, I need you to send me an image of your walls. Do you have a wall that you want to get photos on, but your not quite sure where to start? Start here! Send an email to info@maeboltonphoto.com for instructions!

That's all I've got on selecting photos. I wish you all the luck in your photo selecting endeavors. Don't forget to send me your wall images! If you ever need my help, please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks for reading! Do you have other tips for selecting your photos? I'd love to hear from you! Comment on this post or shoot me an email at info@maeboltonphoto.com