While technology allows us to do most things faster, smarter and more efficiently, I believe it sometimes makes us place unrealistic expectations on services rendered by other human beings.
The amateur photographer in me used to cringe when I got asked, "When will my pictures ready?" until I realized that I ultimately had control over whether or not my clients even asked that question. I decided to start educating my client on what they should expect from me would be far more productive and a seamless experience for the both of us.
My typical turn around for a portrait session is 5-7 business days and weddings 3-6 weeks.
It’s important to note that every photographer has a different editing process, so every photographer’s turnaround time will therefore be different. Sometimes photographers outsource their editing, which allows them to give faster turnaround times, and sometimes photographers don't edit at all or require an additional fee.
They are very personal to each photographer’s workload, family life, and editing style. Just remember at the end of the day, we are all human beings just doing the best we can to get you your images quickly, while also ensuring a high quality finished product. I have very high standards when it comes to the images I give my clients, and I wouldn’t want to edit faster to cut quality or rush through my workflow, thus delivering a less than ideal finished product.
So what happens after I finish your portrait session?
Once your session is completed, I come home and eject the memory card from my camera. I then upload your images onto my hard drive to make sure they’re saved in multiple locations.
Once I’ve imported all of the photos from our session, it’s time for me to go through them and make sure that I’m choosing the best ones to send for YOU to choose your favorites for me to edit. This is where some photographers differ, too. Some just choose for you.
I use the Adobe editing programs called Lightroom and Photoshop. I flag the photos that I want to use and begin planning how I’m going to edit each individual image. If we took a photo and there was an obnoxious sign or power line in the background, I’m going to take it out. This is just who I am and how I choose to edit my galleries.
On average, portrait sessions takes me 4-6 hours to edit and weddings 8-12 hours. Sometimes this is broken up into a couple days or weeks, depending on my schedule, while other times it’s finished in one evening. It all depends on what I have going on during that time frame.
I typically edit one session per day about five days per week. There are so many other hats I wear as a business owner (responding to clients, sending out questionnaires, invoices, calendaring, etc) and as a mom of five, so this is what I can handle right now. Therefore, my turnaround time is three to five business days because I have 2-3 sessions ahead of yours on my queue that I need to edit first. Sometimes I am a rock star and can get it done in a couple days – sometimes, I have a sick kid, get sick myself, or have a tough week where my kids need more of me. Therefore, three to five business days is my personal turnaround time because it works for me and my family.
What type of turn around time do you look for from a photographer that you are looking to book?