What are the advantages of hiring a professional?
A professional photographer will be timely and the results will be great. A professional has just the right equipment and film for photographing. Having been an experienced person, the photographer will be at ease when taking the photo shoot. A professional uses a colour laboratory that is in the business of meeting high professional standards of print quality. And, a professional is used to working with individuals and groups to make the formal photography go smoothly.

What is the first question I should ask the photographer?
Once you have established that the photographer is available for your date and location, you will want to ask, "If we select your studio, will you be the photographer covering our photo shoot?" Some studios have several photographers and you may be speaking to a salesperson. The sample albums may have been done by photographers who do not even work for the studio anymore. If this is the case, you should make arrangements to meet with and see the work of the particular photographer who will be doing your photo shoot.

What causes red-eye and how do I minimize it?
Red-eye is caused by light from your flash bouncing off of your subject's retina. So, how do you minimize it? There are several approaches: Minimize the subject's pupil size, thus reducing the amount of light that reaches the retina to be reflected back. The so-called red-eye reduction modes in many flashes and cameras today try to do precisely this by hitting the subject with a "pre-flash" of bright light designed to make the pupils constrict. Increase the angle from which the flash light is hitting the subject. Diffuse the light hitting the subject. The typical way to do this is to use an external bounce flash and bounce the flash light off the ceiling. This has the effect of illuminating the entire scene, rather than hitting the subject with a burst of intense light.