Before booking a photographer please understand that there are many things to consider. Beyond the obvious…you like their work. Ask questions like…what kind of equipment are they using, how are their images printed, what products do they offer, what kind and how many props do they have, how quickly can they turn their product around as well as others.
We at Paul Wendl Photography only use the best of the best. All of our camera gear is professional grade and not prosumer equipment. There is a huge difference in shooting with professional quality cameras, lenes and flashes. We own all of those little wraps, cocoons, vintage baseball gear, etc.
I’ve noticed a lot of websites post their best images in black and white. It does look good, however, black and white covers almost every mistake possible. I’ve had many customers indicate their liking of black and white. When they see their images often times order a lot of color and few black and white. I love black and white as well as several other flavors of black and white like one I call chocolate. Images shot properly…by this I mean correct white balance, proper exposure and dynamic lighting will produce magnificant color images. Here is an example below of a great color image.. but not as great in black and white:
There are times that Studio lighting is just as amazing as natural light. Studio lighting done correctly with paper backgrounds give you a very clean look as seen below.
Natural lighting is also a huge service being offered. I love shooting natural lighting and incorporate it into every stage of my work.
Natural light examples:
In addition to taking and selling images. We offer one of a kind pieces of art. Including hand made storybooks (these have ridged pages and are hand made at a book maker), reclaimed window frames with your photos custom printed and mounted inside, hand made distressed shadow boxes as well as many other unique items.
Inside view
There are many more examples of my work located on my blog as well as my website.
A little about my philosophy:
Using us as your family photographer allows many different looks including natural indoor lighting, outdoor, studio and on location in your home or many other places. We are experts at shooting all ages from newborns to brides. My firm belief is the magic captured in the camera comes from the relationship built through the artist and his subject. This is the fundamental quality that makes us unique. Of course, there are many other things to consider like lighting, composition, etc. but if you can’t build a relationship with your subject all you have is an impersonation of the subject. The best compliments I receive are “that sure is Jack or Susie or Sam”…capturing the real you! Behind the scenes is a lifetime of practice with lighting, cameras etc. That all comes natural after time. My first focus is relationship building with the subject because I know from experience that everything else has been perfected over time.
On to the technical areas that make us different.
We hand print all of our portraits from wallets to 40 inches wide. Traditional photo labs have all switched to printing with RGB technology. To break that down, they are using Red, Blue and Green lasers to expose traditional photo papers.
Alternatively, we print with 200 year fade resistant professional Epson printers and ink with a total of 8 colors. Our prints have a much wider color gamut and our monotones (black and white, chocolate, etc.) are truly amazing and do not have any color casting like labs as we use three shades of black to produce our black and white images. Given labs use only three colors to produce black and white often times produce color casting (the images look a little magenta, blue, purple etc.) We have hand selected our paper and canvas which is not even available from traditional labs which produce images that truly look and feel like a piece of art. Using a lab would actually be significantly cheaper, but the quality is not the same.
