Why Your Photos Don't Have to Match

One of the things I encourage clients to do before a session is save photos they love.

Pinterest boards, Instagram posts, screenshots, magazine editorials—I’m all for it. They can be incredibly helpful when you're trying to figure out what you like.

But there’s an important distinction between being inspired by a photograph and trying to recreate it.

If you go into your session expecting to get the exact photo you saved, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to be disappointed.

And that’s not necessarily because your photographer did something wrong.

A photograph is the result of a very specific combination of things: the person in it, the way they move, the clothing they're wearing, the location, the time of day, the available light, the photographer's style, the camera angle, and probably about twenty little decisions you don't notice when you're looking at the finished image.

Change one or two of those things, and you have a different photograph.

That's where inspiration becomes much more useful.

Instead of asking, “Can we make mine look exactly like this?” try asking yourself:

What do I actually like about this image?

Maybe it's the way the light falls across her face.

Maybe it's the color palette.

Maybe you like how close the photographer got to her.

Maybe it's the movement in the dress, the simplicity of the background, the way the subject is looking away from the camera, or just the overall feeling of the image.

Those are things your photographer can take and interpret in a way that works for you.

And this is also why I think it's really important to look at your photographer's portfolio before you book them.

Your photographer's portfolio is probably the best indication you have of what your finished images might feel like.

If you love a photographer's work because their images are quiet, natural, and softly lit, don't book them expecting them to suddenly produce a dramatically lit, highly posed editorial session because you found a few examples of that style on Pinterest.

And vice versa.

A photographer's portfolio isn't just a collection of their favorite pictures. It's a pretty good representation of how they see people, how they use light, how they compose an image, and what they naturally gravitate toward when they're behind the camera.

So bring the inspiration.

Show me the pictures you love.

Tell me what caught your eye.

But then give your photographer a little room to interpret that idea.

Because your goal probably isn't to have a photograph that looks exactly like someone else's anyway.

You want a photograph that made you think, “That's the feeling I wanted.”

Just with you in it.