Photo by The Wild Bloom Studio

As a client one of my favorite things to do when I get my finished family photos back from the photographer is to share them with everyone. I love them SO much that I just want to put them everywhere. I start thinking about what images I want to print and where I want to hang them, and of course, I always share some of them on social media. As a photographer, one of the best feelings (this is why we do our job feelings), is when we see people sharing the photos that we took.

photo by The Wild Bloom Studio

I can not even begin to explain as a photographer how awesome it is to see people sharing the images you took and using them as their profile pictures. It’s such a warm feeling to scroll through your feed and see these images you took, remembering the day you took them and the moments spent while you were capturing them. It really is a special feeling. That happiness starts to dissolve when I notice that I wasn’t mentioned anywhere. The biggest compliment you can give a photographer is to share the photos that they took AND to give them credit for the photos. Not to mention, it’s kind of the right thing to do.

photo by Gary Sexton Photography 2018

When we use a quote by someone else we include who originally said the words, it’s actually illegal not to. It’s also important to give credit to the photographer who took a photo that we’re now sharing. Some photographers may put it in their contract that you can only share their images if they’re watermarked with their logos, some might just ask that you “tag” them or mention their business name when sharing, and some photographers may not ask for you to do anything. Regardless of what was put in the contract, ALWAYS credit your photographer. You can do this by mentioning their business name and/or tagging them and linking directly to their page. Sometimes a photographer will post a sneak peak on their business social media accounts. When this happens it’s best to utilize the “share” button, you then create your own post using the content that links directly back to the photographer’s page.

photo by The Wild Bloom Studio

What about those fun filters that come with social media? Did you know that most photographers spend hours hand editing your images? Photographers are artists and have a signature look. If you take a photo that they’ve edited and apply a filter to it, you’re altering their look. Save those fun filters for the photos you snap with your phone or even photos you took with your own camera. You also want to be cautious about cropping images taken by a photographer. Some photography contracts include that you can not alter or even crop the images in anyway.

photo by Meghan Paris Photography 2017

When you share your images and credit your photographer you’re not only doing the right thing, but you’re giving them a huge compliment and they’re most likely over there doing a happy dance on the other end! It’s like a nice big warm hug (and you’re likely to become a favorite client).