Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to the frequently asked questions page!  I get asked so many of the same questions all of the time about our business, image delivery, the process, our gear, and more that I thought it would be extra beneficial for all of you out there looking to reserve a special date with us.  If I haven’t answered something, please email directly at hello@carolinejarvis.com.

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Where are you located? Do you travel?
I am located out of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but I am always up for an adventure and ready to pack my bags and travel wherever my passport allows.

What is your photographic style?
I consider my style to be a timeless and artistic blend. I love capturing the candid moments that unfold naturally throughout the day – but I also enjoy the more posed photographs that require a small bit of planning and creative thought. I’m a mix between fine art photographer and photojournalist, between creative entrepreneur and hopeless romantic.

What are your rates for Weddings?
We offer wedding collections to fit any wedding or event perfectly.  We offer hourly coverage for smaller more intimate events and also have packages for weddings desiring photography coverage anywhere from 4-10 hours of coverage with complimentary engagement sessions and album design. If you are interested in learning more about our services pertaining to wedding collections and pricing, simply click here. I’d be happy to help you find the perfect collection for your wedding day.

I love your work! How do I reserve you to photograph my wedding?
Once I receive a signed copy of your wedding contract and the $1000 non-refundable retainer – the date is saved! Please note that email inquiries do not guarantee any client to a particular date. It is not unusual for me to receive four to five inquiries for most dates during wedding season, and therefore the date remains open until a contract is signed.  For smaller, more intimate weddings that hire us for 1-3 hours of coverage, you retainer payment will be 50% of your total package price to fully secure your the date.

What are the benefits of having a second photographer?
Having a second photographer gives you another artistic eye to capture your special day. I can never be in two places at once, but when there is another photographer – it gives me the ability to do just that. With two photographers, I can send the second photographer off to capture the groom and groomsmen getting ready – while I stay to photograph the bride. It aids in the storytelling process by giving you a second artistic eye to interpret your day and document the precious moments that you will cherish for a lifetime.

Do we get to choose our second photographer?
I have a strong group of photographers that second shoot for me on a regular basis! Every photographer has a very unique shooting style and I have found quite a few fantastic professionals who work well with my style and whose images serve as a great compliment my own. It is for this reason that I exclusively select and reserve the second photographer.

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How much time should we set aside on our wedding day for portraits?
I recommend anywhere from 25-35 minutes of time to take pictures of the two of you! This does not include the time needed for formal portraits of the family and bridal party.  Once you book your wedding date with us, I will then send over a typical day timeline to better help you plan properly for each part of the day.

If you love the look of the wedding portraits on my blog, be sure to give me as much time as possible to capture the two of you on your special day! I tell all of my couples that by blocking out 30 minutes with your photographer will give you both a beautiful collection of photographs and a chance to spend time together, just the two of you – apart from the hustle and bustle of your wedding day.

Do you have a back-up camera & lenses? Do you have liability insurance?

These are two of the most important questions that you need to ask each and every photographer that you consider for your wedding day! I have not only a backup camera body but a wide assortment of different lenses ranging from wide angles to telephotos, primes to zoom lenses.  Please click here if you would like to see what is in our bags!

I also have full equipment and liability insurance! *Many venues require other vendors to carry their own insurance! If your venue requests a copy of my insurance documents, I ask that you please give me 30 days notice, the contact information of your Wedding Coordinator, and I will take care of submitting everything on time!

What happens if there is an emergency situation and you are unable to photograph my wedding?
In the highly unlikely event that I am unable to photograph your wedding, I will do everything in my power to secure a replacement. As a member of numerous photography organizations, along with my strong personal connections in the Outer Banks Area, I have a plethora of professional photographers at my fingertips incase something horrible or unforeseen should happen.

Do you shoot more than one event on my wedding day?
When a couple reserves me for their wedding date, they are my only clients that day! I give my weddings the utmost priority and I do not book additional portrait sessions or other events on the same day as a couple’s wedding. For that entire day – my energy, heart and focus is theirs.

My venue is very dark.  How do you handle these situations? Can I see some examples?
I have shot in the darkest of dark chapels and reception halls so no need to worry!  If the situation allows, we will set up additional lighting to ensure we get lighter and focused images.  Some chapels do not allow flash photography; and for that reason, we shoot with canons top of the line cameras with suburb low-light performance and lenses with low apertures.

I have downtime between events on my wedding day.  Will I be charged for that down time?
For a variety of reasons, we have to charge for the time in between events. The fact is, we’re never truly resting during the day, whether we’re backing up images, setting up for the second venue, traveling to the second location, taking venue shots, or making up for lost photo time because of wedding day delays. In many cases, we use that “downtime” to take you and your significant other out for a photo session or more family portraits.

Why do we need to charge for additional coverage on the wedding day?
We’ve dedicated the entire day to your wedding, so we won’t be racing off to catch other plans that evening. However, we need to charge for additional coverage primarily because there are costs of having the team stay for additional hours. The shooters and lighting assistants all require additional compensation. Furthermore, the additional photos taken will need to be post produced which adds to our overall costs.

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Do you shoot in RAW or JPEG?
We shoot only in RAW.

Do you shoot with a Full Frame or Crop Frame Sensor?
I shoot with the Full Frame Canon 5d Mark iii Camera.  Full frame cameras you will produce overall higher image quality and better low light performance.

How many images do you typically deliver for an engagement session? For a wedding day?
We typically deliver anywhere from 75-125 images per 2-hour engagement shoot and for weddings we typically deliver 50-100 images per hour. Keep in mind these numbers may increase or decrease depending on the flow of the day and the number of events/activities needing to be captured.

How long before image turnaround time?
We limit the number of sessions and weddings we take on each year so that we can keep a great turnaround time for your images but most importantly to truly get to know each and everyone we get the opportunity to work with!  For weddings, this means you will receive all of your edited images on your online, password protected, gallery within 6-8 weeks and a blog post and sneak peeks even sooner.  For portraits, we’ll have your beautiful images delivered to you with your online gallery as well within 3 weeks.  We take our time with editing each image delivered but we also make sure to have them to you while you are still excited and ready to print and share!

How do I receive my final images?
All weddings and portrait sessions include a beautiful online, password protected, gallery to easily view, download, and share your images through social media and with friends and family. This is how everyone receives both their final images in both original image size and web size, which will be hosted for 12 months after it is created. 

Digital downloads might seem strange at first if you are not familiar but trust me when I say it is a lot more convenient for you, the safety of your image files, and so simple for friends and family to immediately review the images and download with a click of a button. 
The process is simple. I create a private, password protected gallery online of all of the images, I then share the link and password with you, and then you can see all of you images instantaneously. You can share the link and password with friends and family and they can download images for free as well.

Can we purchase prints directly through our online gallery?
Yes! The best part about the online galleries is the option of printing directly from the site.  No more receiving your images on a CD, scratching the CD and trying to upload them all to a printing company online and fiddling with the image sizing and resolution.  This is as easy as it comes and the photographs are printed at the nation’s premier print lab and look absolutely stunning!  There is a incredible difference in the quality of your prints if you were to print through, say, a local pharmacy, Costco, or Walmart instead of the lab through the online gallery or another professional printing lab.  We want your images to look flawless.  The best news is that prints through your online gallery are competitively priced, so you’ll be well taken care of and it’s easy!  For images you want prints of, you’ll see the Buy Photo tab at the top of each photo in the gallery. Simply choose the size, add them to your cart, and check out.  The prints and products will be delivered to your door in less than one week!

Do you offer products such as canvas prints, coffee table books, and albums?
Of course! I work with the best vendors in the industry to bring my clients products that show off their beautiful photographs.

Do you touch up every photograph delivered?
Yes!  Every image we deliver is post produced with our unique signature style of post production. This involves color correction, exposure adjustment, selective black and white processing, clarity adjustments, tone-mapping, and other corrections.  Our basic touch up process is what is provided for each photograph but additional custom edited is an additional fee.  Please read the question below for clarification.

What is the difference between advanced and custom editing; and why is there an additional fee for custom retouch?
Advanced post production includes touch ups such as removal of blemishes, removal of bags under eyes, removal of fly-away hairs, etc. On the other hand, custom post production is anything that requires extensive, custom work in Photoshop such as removing entire objects from the scene, changing the size and shape of body parts or other objects in the scene, adding objects to a scene and other custom work. We charge hourly for the custom post production as the time required ranges depending on the complexity of the project. Please contact me directly (hello@carolinejarvis.com) for a quote for custom post production.

Do I have permission to print the photos? Can I use them online?
With each of my weddings + portrait sessions, I release the photographs for personal use after final payment. This allows you to print the images at any photo lab of your choice for friends & family and use the images online. You may not however – sell, edit, or advertise the images in any way. This includes submitting images to wedding blogs or publications – I love publishing my couples, but I ask that you contact me first before submitting to ensure that I have not already submitted the images for publication! I also ask that if you post your images online (such as on Facebook) – that you state clearly, “By Caroline Jarvis Photography” below or beside the image.

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Engagement Sessions – what are they? Why should we schedule one?
Engagement sessions are a perfect way for us to meet, if we haven’t already, and truly get to know each other and get you comfortable in front of the lens and capturing gorgeous moments to share with friends, families, and loved ones to get them ready and even more excited before the big day! Engagement sessions give me a chance, as the photographer, to capture your love story in a more natural environment. You get to see me in action, ask any questions that come to mind, & have a gorgeous evening with your future love.

Where should we schedule our engagement session? What time of day is best?
One of the great things about engagement sessions, is the ability to be flexible on location! I recommend choosing locations that are important or significant to you! Maybe a first date location, a beach you love to visit, your favorite summer picnic spot – selecting a location that fits your personality is a great way to capture you both in a candid and natural way! The best time of day for engagement sessions are during “golden hour” – which stretches during the first two hours after sunrise and in the last two hours before sunset. This time of day is sacred to photographers for it’s soft natural light and soft color tones!

Do you travel to meet clients?
Absolutely!  Buxton (my pup and manager) can plan a day trip to meet for coffee, lunch, a beach walk, dinner, or drinks anywhere on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  For any client meetings outside of Hatteras Island, for example, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Manteo, Corolla, Duck or Carova will require a $50 non-refundable fee.  But the great news is, that if you book, the $50 will go towards whatever wedding or portrait package you purchase.

We live out of town, were very busy and we won’t be able to meet.  Are there any other options?
We would love to meet with you prior to our engagement shoot or wedding; however, if you’re too busy or too far away, we can handle everything remotely. Just let us know what information you need and we will do our best to accommodate your request. For example, if you would like to see more of our work, we can gladly show you complete events online. If you would like to talk about packages and get a sense of the photographer’s personality, telephone calls and Skype appointments can be arranged.

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