Ways to Spot a “Fauxtographer” and What to Look Out for…

Fauxtographer (n.) — That overpaid guy/gal with a camera who produced a product that looks like it came from a disposable camera from a drug store or Wal-Mart.

For many of life’s needs we seek the services of a professional; be it a doctor, an attorney, an architect, or a seamstress… for a need that requires the skill of a specialized professional, we seek a professional. Unfortunately, many of these professions are unregulated, and photography is one of them. Whether your need is to capture precious family moments or a fabulous event, it’s likely you only have one chance to make it perfect – which means that if you’ve hired a “fauxtographer,” you could really be taking your chances.

Now more than ever, the industry is saturated with such people who believe that one pricey purchase makes them a professional, and any major “big box” store today sells an expensive enough camera body to fool the average person enough to not notice that the person handling it can’t change its settings.  The average family or consumer is not given a list of what camera usually comes along with the experience… but even in an unregulated industry there are ways for you to protect your investment – and your images – from the consequences of an easy mistake.

At Michael Ali Photography we want to equip people with the awareness of the signs to look out for to make sure that your photographer is a pro-fessional and not a faux-tographer…

1. Their prices are almost too good to be true. Sometimes a professional will give special pricing for local residents or do “pro-bono” photography for their hometown, but such altruism is the exception to the rule (yes, that’s us). Most don’t realize that photography, like so many other professions, requires years of training and experience in addition to thousands of dollars in equipment, only to see less than 30 cents per dollar after costs. That doesn’t even factor in post-editing, retouching, etc… so if his/her prices are too good to be true, chances are that you have found a Fauxtographer! It takes a LOT more than a DSLR camera from Costco to legitimately call oneself a professional, but if the pitch is perfect, it’s easy to be fooled.
2. He/She uses the build in flash, and stock lens. A true photographer will use high quality lens, flashes, light modifiers and other tools to create the best representation of their vision for your photo needs. A fauxtographer will use the stock flash and create harsh shadows and bad light on your photos, and the stock lens that came with the camera won’t help. Even outdoors, a fauxtographer will not know the difference of ambient light vs. natural light to make the best composition. A true photographer will always have at least 1-2 extra lenses at minimum for the shoot. If you see a photographer that is using a pop up flash from their camera body, this is a warning sign to steer away from them!
3. A Fauxtographer will give and post every shot that they take. A true photographer will only give you the best images. Even the worlds biggest advertisers and photographers know that it takes countless shots to get the perfect set that represents you or the artistic vision. A good photographer will know which images to toss out, a fauxtographer will give you every shot, even the ones in which you’re blinking or have a booger hanging out of your nose!
4. A Fauxtographer does not have a backup system for the photos. For most photography assignments, the photographer is working with a life event – no do-overs.  A Photographer knows the importance of having backups, and you can rest assured that when you reach out to them that they will have the photos for years to come. A Fauxtographer will just empty out their memory card after they are done and call it a day… chances are, they’re only working with one or two memory cards anyway.
5. There is no business contract between you and the photographer. A contact protects both you and the photographer. This insures that the photographer will do their best to provide you with the best images and quality of work and for both of you to make sure that no one does anything to violate the copyright of the photography. Refer to point #8.
6. Business and liability insurance. Accidents happen, and no matter what type of photography you need, you’ve learned the same in your own circumstance. A professional photographer will have both business and liability insurance to be prepared for these matters. From slips and falls to broken equipment a photographer is always ready for the best and worst – and the best photographers will even have their own stipulations to avoid such situations. A fauxtographer will not even know what to do if something went wrong during the session or process thereafter, and you’ll probably have a small claims case on your hands.
7. Quality of printing. A true photographer know the quality of a great printer and knows that their preferred printer will give the best photographic quality of prints, where a Fauxtographer will take your photos to a local drug store or Wal-Mart to print them out.  The difference? A photographer, after post-editing, uses special software to order prints that use millions of colors and an ink/paper combination you’ll be handing down to your grandkids.  The fauxtographer’s prints will be a combination of 4 blended colors to achieve the image, and the final product better be vacuum-sealed if you want it to last.
8. Our own addition to the list – Knowledge of copyright law! Photographers today are more than ever charged with knowing copyright law, and that very much affects what gets delivered to you in the process. If you hear “oh, it’s ok, I own the CD” or “don’t worry about it, it’s ok, it works,” you could also be putting your own self at legal trouble.  Let’s say you order DVDs of your daughter’s quinciniera or sweet sixteen party photos, and she wants her favorite song put to a slideshow… that’s no problem, but if your photographer isn’t also purchasing song licenses for each DVD to be distributed, you’re the one who could pay dearly.

We could go on, but even blogs have their guidelines 🙂  We do offer free advice, so don’t hesitate to call or fill out an inquiry.  We’d rather see a real photographer provide you professional services than let another photographer ruin another anniversary party, whether we get the job or not.  Oh yes, and that’s the last thing… a real pro won’t shy away from ANY of these questions!