Frequently Asked Questions
General
How do I get started with scheduling?
You can fill out the contact form on the contact page listed at the bottom of the page or on the about page.
What times are you available for sessions?
I offer times in the early morning or late afternoon. I’m a morning person and am open to sunrise shoots - this is honestly a great option, as places such as Henley gate wouldn’t be as crowded! As for sunset shoots, I would recommend booking between 4-7:30 PM!
Do you do other kinds of photography besides graduation?
I’m open to editorial, portraits, and headshots. These photoshoots would be charged a different rate. Feel free to contact me to learn more!
Pre-session
How do I prepare for my photoshoot?
Try to sleep well the night before and give yourself enough time to get ready! It’s better to be prepared than rush at the last minute. Take the transportation time into consideration and try to get there early! It’ll give you a chance to familiarize yourself with the place.
What should I wear?
A lot of colleges’ cap and gown is black whereas the stole varies from gold, blue, red, green, and white! In my opinion, these pop of colors would go really great with a neutral outfit (think white, light beige, etc.). I would recommend avoiding any imagery or patterned clothes, as this may divert attention away from the grad gear - but it’s up to you! At the end of the day, you should wear what you’re most comfortable and confident in!
I also recommend taking the stole out of its plastic packaging at least a few days before the shoot and letting it loosen up because it will have folded lines if you take it out last minute.
As for footwear, I recommend wearing comfortable shoes and then bringing nice dress shoes (heels, wedges, dress shoes) to change into at the location, since we would be walking across campus! If you’re comfortable walking in heels or dress shoes, that’s also good too - whatever works best for you!
In-session
Will I get to see the photos during the shoot?
Of course, I’m always open to showing you some of the images. I won’t be showing you all of the photos as this will take up time that could be spent on the photoshoot.
Will you pose me?
Yes — I’ll have reference pictures on hand and can also demonstrate the poses for you! If you have any poses you’d like to do, just let me know the day of or even beforehand, so I can prepare for the images!
As for group shots, depending on how large the group is — I’ll pull up some reference pictures and give you verbal instructions instead of demonstrating them individually.
How long will we spend at each location?
It really depends on where we will be shooting, but for the most part — we will spend about 15-30 minutes at each location! It also comes down to how busy each location is. When it’s grad season, places like Henley Gate will be super crowded. I will try my best to schedule the busiest locations first, so we can get it out of the way!
With groups, we will most likely spent a bit more time at each spot (20-35 minutes). Once again, it also depends on how busy each location is + how many locations you’d like to fit into the photo session. With two locations, we could spend more time there whereas with three locations, we would be on the go!
Can you take a headshot for me during my grad shoot?
Of course — if you let me know beforehand, we can definitely get it done!
Post-session
When will I get my photos back?
As of now, I’m predicting a 2 week turnaround. If I get busier, this will increase to 3-4 weeks.
Other photographs may offer faster turnaround times because they do photography full-time. I’m a part-time photographer and have an additional full-time job in addition to this!
How will I get the photos?
I use Google Drive to send over the photo gallery. You can easily download your photos off of there.
How many photos will I get?
It really depends on how efficient we are when we take photos. UCSB’s campus is quite large, so we can realistically only do 2-3 locations in 1 hour.
At the very minimum, I’ll send out 45 photos for individual sessions. This is the minimum — there have been times where clients have received 80+ photos because the campus wasn’t crowded! I will not cap the amount of photos I give out.
Can I choose the photos that get edited?
No — a large part of being a photographer is curating a gallery of photos for you. There are hundreds of photos that will be taken, which will take up too much time for us to go back and forth on. It takes hours to go through the gallery, so it’s better than I take care of it.
Trust me, I’ll choose the best photos of you — my clients are generally happy with this approach.
You can expect pictures from all the spots we visited and of most of the poses. As for the group sessions, there will a mix of group photos and individual ones.
Can you edit all of the photos?
No — there are a lot of photos that you probably don’t want in the first place. Photos of you blinking, random people in the background, and even the test photos that I take — I’ll be leaving these out.
Can you edit my photos a certain way?
No — please take a look at the photos on this website! My photos have a fairly consistent style, which is often soft and natural.
Do you send out unedited or raw photos?
No — I don’t believe in sending out the unfinished product.
First off, the unedited photos will be underexposed. I do this to preserve the detail in the photo and adjust it during editing.
I also shoot in RAW format which means that these files are really large. A typical shoot will take up to 20 GB of storage.
That being said, I’m open to clients editing their photos after they are sent out. You’re more than welcome to make any adjustments to the photos!