The Perfect Session in Two Simple Steps
You’ll never guess what my favorite kind of session is. The most expensive I charge for? No. The most creative freedom? Nope. The least amount of time editing? Not even close.
My favorite sessions are the ones I get to capture special moments for my clients!
Haha, but in all seriousness, having clients who follow my style guide and answer my questionnaire thoroughly always help make their sessions go that much smoother.
Don’t get it wrong, yes, it’s crucial the clients go over these two thoroughly, but it’s the photographer responsibility to deliver a questionnaire worthy of their clients time and effort and a style guide they’ve curated to best suite their shooting and editing style. When I first started charging for my sessions, I didn’t send out a questionnaire or have my own style guide made. But after doing some research and putting in some time on my laptop, I had a questionnaire for every type of session I’m interested in offering and a style guide that I’m proud of.
The importance of a style guide is understated. For those of us, new to the community, a style guide is a digital booklet (most times in the form of a PDF file) a hired photographer will share with their scheduled clients in hopes their clients will use it as the name suggests: a guide. You don’t have to buy the same shirt or belt the models have, but using the images and suggestions as inspiration for your outfit and accessories assist in making your shoot run beautifully. A photographer can make a style guide quickly and easily using free tools at their fingertips.
For example, I used a free Canva template to curate my guide. I spent about three hours making it, using my own images and following my businesses logos colors to create a cohesive feel in my brand. In my style guide it gives examples of color palettes to follow depending on what season your session is. If you choose to follow the spring color palette in winter, your images will still be quality, but you might not be in love with them. The distinction is very subtle, but is the difference between “These are beautiful” and “These are my favorite pictures of my family we’ve ever gotten done”.
The questionnaire is almost more important than the style guide. Being a photographer, having a questionnaire that gets as much detail about the intention of the session and details of your subjects and their visions, of course, without having them write a novel, is helpful. Asking questions like “When looking back on these photos in 20 years, how do you want to feel?”
As a photographer, the thought of trying to put together 3-10 questionnaires is daunting, but researching questions and evening asking other fellow photographers to give you some insight on what questions to ask. There are plenty of Facebook groups that have wonderful fellow photographers in them willing to share their knowledge and even some resources as well. Just putting in the time and effort is required.
The answers to the questions you get should help you get a good feeling for how they envision their session going, along with insights on what types of images they’re looking to receive. For example, one of my questions is “Are we looking for mostly colorful images or a healthy mix of B&W?” This question will help me know if I should be shooting some (or roughly half) to be delivered as black and white images, which can impact composition of my images drastically.
So, I’m sure we all can agree questionnaires and style guides are important to the flow and quality of a photography session! Creating these could take roughly a day between the two of them, but will help your clients feel valued and cared for during and after your session!
Chase Your Dreams
Chelsea
