What is a PROOFing Gallery and What is Included with My Session...?

Those a great questions!

Your "PROOFING GALLERY" is a trial gallery, meaning your images are raw, straight out of camera, and un-edited. They won't have our signature look & finish applied, or have undergone and post-processing such as white balance, tone curve & colour adjustments, cropping, blemish removal etc. They are straight out of camera, shown exactly how they were photographed, and will be seen in your viewing gallery with a watermark overtop, likely the word PROOF.

Here is an example of what a RAW, unedited photo looks like (LEFT), and to the RIGHT you'll see the finished, final product that we deliver:

There are few things to note in the RAW proof image you'll see in your PROOFING &B Viewing Gallery

1. The image is not yet cropped.
2. There have been no exposure (light), colour, contrast or tone curve adjustments.
3. There has been no skin smoothing or blemish removal.
4. The word PROOF covers the majority of the image.

Here's a closer look at the RAW, straight from camera file:

You might be wondering why we would put the word PROOF so large across the image, in short it is to protect us, our work & brand from being mis-used, screen captured and put out publicly. And yes, we know - its irritating to look at your images with this splashed across it. You may be wondering why we don't allow downloading of the proofs - in short, they aren't finished. You could liken it to eating a cake before its fully baked, or even closer - buying a piece of art before the artist has completed it. We are artists - and the work you are "proofing" and viewing to select your favourites is unfinished, incomplete and not how we imagined it looking when we shot it. However, by delivering your gallery to you in the RAW form - it allows us to edit and deliver your images much faster to you, and only edit the images you truly love and want to display in your home.

The Final, Delivered Product...

With the final product/s you purchase, we have added a lot of things to it during the post processing 

1. The image has now been cropped. 
2. Exposure (light), colour, contrast, tone curve adjustments have all been made to bring a little more light to different areas
3. Skin smoothing and blemish removal have been done.
4. The word PROOF is gone, as the image is now fully edited & complete by our artistic standards.

Here's a closer look at the FINAL, DELIVERED PRODUCT:

Now...What is Included with My Session Fee...?

One of the things we love most about our sessions is that our clients have access to amazing images! Quality, award-winning photo sessions - at a price you can afford. Our sessions do not include all your digital products, but rather a limited number. That may surprise you - after all, you've seen some "mini" sessions out there that include almost all the files, and then some! However - we make our living doing what we love. In order to continue making a living doing what we love, we simply cannot offer "mini" session pricing and all the items it includes as it doesn't pay the bills. So...what is included with my session and where does the money go that we paid you...

A fair question...so here's what your session fee covers:

• Throughout the booking process and following your session, we have taken time out of our day to correspond with you via email or phone (answered your questions, sent you location suggestions, date & time ideas etc.) - sometimes that is up to 7 hours of emailing.  
• We are covered under our Professional Photographers of Canada insurance - and once you booked your session with us, you are to!
• The gear. We show up to your session ready! We bring anywhere between $4000.00 - $10,000.00 worth of gear to your session - yes that is a lot. We really want you to have fantastic images. Like - really. On occasion, items have dropped, broken, been left or swept away by the ocean, and when it happens - the gear is by no means free to replace. So your session fee helps cover us in the event that during your session - something goes awry. 
• It also pays the wage 1-2 working professionals. Photography is our only job. Its how we pay the bills, mortgage, feed ourselves, our kids & the cats!
• Our education, knowledge, expertise & professional approach to your session. When you show up to your session, you have expectations. You expect we know what we're doing, and will pose, coach and assist you during your session - and we do. We have trained, studied & are constantly working on bettering ourselves and craft.
• Finally, it includes a PROOFING & viewing Gallery. This gallery is made so that you can view the proofs, then send us your selections to edit. The proofing gallery is not downloadable, as the images are RAW. Once you've sent us your selections to edit, we will get them finished for you and send you the invoice before delivering them.