Behind The Photos
You’re flipping through your family photos, and you see that one perfect photo that gets you thinking:
“Why has this photo been hiding in the family album all this time? It should be framed!” We at Island Life HH Photography have been studying and learning the science behind how the human mind processes images and what makes our brains label those images as “perfect”. There is a lot more to it than just a perfect photo.
Anyone can go out and purchase a professional grade camera and take good quality photos. Just because the photo is taken with a professional camera doesn’t make it a professional photo. Have you ever had a photo taken with a professional camera and still not liked it? This is probably because the person who took that photo missed a few key points that bring that professional quality to the photo. Most people who purchase their professional cameras don’t have the time to put into learning how to use them properly. Shooting with your camera on automatic versus manual can make a huge difference. Sure shooting in automatic is much easier and simpler, but you also get much simpler photos that lack that quality that you pay the big bucks for! Taking the time to learn how to shoot manually is worth it and improves the quality of the photo tremendously. Our photographer at Island Life HH Photography has gone to many classes and workshops to learn how to bring these settings to your family photos so you can always have that “perfect” family photo.
Not only do the settings of the camera matter, but the lighting matters as well. Professional lighting can be achieved through the right settings of the camera, but sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes, you have to use off-camera lighting to achieve a certain look. Our staff here is specially trained to obtain perfect lighting no matter the setting, as we are used to working in environmental situations where light is constantly changing.
The most important part of a family photo that makes the brain light up with excitement are the faces in the photo. We can give you the most technically perfect photo but if everyone looks miserable in it, would you want to hang it on your wall? No. Fake smiles don’t work for us here either. You’re on an island! During your vacation! We are digging for real smiles, even laughter! When you flip through your photos and you come across a photo where everyone in it looks truly happy and everyone is having a genuinely good time, that’s the photo you want on your wall! We want to remember those good times and we want to preserve those moments where people are at their happiest. We want our photos, 20 years later, to take you back in time to that moment and make you feel what you felt while you were on Hilton Head that summer, 20 years ago with your family. We don’t settle for family portraits. We want to create a time capsule of sorts for you and your family.
Lastly, if we give you the most technically sound photo, with genuine smiles, and perfect lighting but we give it you on a canvas where the photo is distorted and the color is way off and everything is off center, that makes all the work we put into capturing that amazing photo worthless. That is why we use professional printing services. You can get your photos printed at superstores or drug stores, but with staff who has no experience at printing photos and product that is made simply to save you money, the quality of your photo will not be evident on these products. Our printing services are through a Professional Photo Lab where the staff is trained specifically to print photos on high-quality products. All they do all day long is print photos. The lab technicians genuinely care about the services they provide. They want your photos to look amazing, just like you do! It may be a little bit more expensive than taking them to the drug store, but the quality is well worth it especially for something you will hold on to forever!
If you think about it, a family photo is something you will have forever. You never get rid of family photos. They outlast your car, your clothes, your couch, even your dog! If you’re going to invest your money into anything, why wouldn’t you invest it in your family photos? Getting the family together is a big deal nowadays. With technology becoming more advanced, families are becoming more separated. People are more likely to face time you than actually spend time with you. When you actually do get everyone together, isn’t it worth it to capture that moment and save it forever? Don’t capture that moment with cheap services or cheap products. Value that moment, and value the professionals that help bring that moment to life and preserve it for you.