Liz of Tipping Point Photography took our family photos in October 2011. We initially chose Liz based on her online portfolio, a good review from a friend who also used her and her price (which was a small fraction of the cost of our wedding photographer, who also does family portraits). Our hope was to get 5-10 good to excellent photos that we could use for our holiday card and for holiday presents for our son's grandparents.
We met Liz at a location of our choosing, which she had familiarized herself with before meeting up with us. We spent about an hour with Liz taking photos of my husband and me, son (1 year) and dog. Although we felt there were a few moments where she missed possibly great shots (because she was changing settings on her camera or lacked the ability to get our toddler's attention), we remained hopeful about the final product.
And we got what we wanted. Liz provided us with at least 100 photos, of which there were plenty of great options to use for our holiday card and gifts. We set our expectations ahead of time (you pay for what you get) and were pleased with the results.
However, I'd like to fairly address a comment left by Adam S. He was a little put off by Liz's legal release requirements. I'll admit my initial reaction was similar to his. However, Liz is actually right (and prefers to communicate a lot of things that other photographers already have in their contracts). I also think it's the way a lot of photographers will eventually go, i.e., being more and more vocal about what you can and can't do with their photographs (because, the issue of "stolen identities" when it comes to photographs is actually a huge issue in the online world). Here's the thing, whether they tell you or not, photographers still OWN the photographs they take of your family (read the fine print of any contract you sign) and would charge you an arm and a leg to hand over all rights on that front ... and that ownership gives the photographer the right to use photographs (yes, of your family) on their websites, business cards, to enter them into contests, etc. I think Liz is well within her right to ask we don't do those things on our own and give her credit (i.e., use a watermarked version) when we do post the photos online. Again, not all photographers are as forward about it, but they technically believe in the same things ... and I do believe that as more and more online photos are stolen and this becomes a bigger issue, more and more photographers will begin to take similar steps to protect what's rightfully theirs. read more
