When you are choosing a photographer one of the most important things to look for is… Are their images consistently in focus?
How do you tell if an image is in focus or out of focus?
It is actually very simple once you know what to look for.
Look at the sample image I provided above. Any normal person would think the image on the left is great, right? It’s a cute image, you don’t see anything wrong with it do you? Actually, it is out of focus and blurry. If this image were to be printed large it would be very noticeable. Specifically look at the eyebrows and eyelashes. They look more like dark blobs instead of hairs.
So, what exactly is the difference between an in focus image and an out of focus image?
Now, compare the image on the left side to the image on the right side. Do you see the difference? You can actually count each individual eyelash. You can see the details of the eyebrows. They actually look like hairs and not blurry blobs, don’t they? You should be able to see and define the details of an image. If you can count each individual eyelash, the image is IN FOCUS.
Why is this so important?
You hire and pay a professional, to do a professional job. If the photographer is delivering images that are out of focus, they are not delivering quality. Part of hiring a professional for their services is to receive quality. After all they are the professional. Imagine the printed images, hanging them large on your wall. How do you think the image on the left would look hanging large on your wall? How do you think the image on the right would look hanging large on your wall? Which one would you prefer to hang?
Now that you know what your images SHOULD look like. Would you be happy paying a professional to deliver images that look like the image on the left? I didn’t think so…
