Frequently Asked Questions

General Photo Shoots

When should I book? It is recommended to call & secure a date 1 – 2 MONTH IN ADVANCE as slots go quickly. Same week or next day booking is allowed if slots are available.

When should I book a maternity shoot? Maternity Photography Sessions fill up quickly, and it is always best to contact us as soon as possible for an appointment. Maternity photography is best captured around 32 to 36 weeks, when your belly is full and round, but can be scheduled all the way up until your due date. This timing can be different for everyone, so we encourage you to give us a call to discuss.

Do you shoot newborn photos? Unfortunately I do not shoot newborns but i do start with the 1 year birthday sessions.

Do you offer maternity gowns? I do not provide gowns or clothing for any photo shoots but a variety of different color wraps are available for maternity sessions. 

How do I book? You can submit a request here on our website with date/time and type of photo shoot. You can call or text 704-451-3878, You can also send us an email directly at jonathan@designsbyjk.com

What is the turnaround? Your online gallery is usually available within 24- 72 hours after your photo shoot but often times you may receive it sooner. Edits usually take another 5-7 business days to complete once images numbers are received. If edit request are received more than a month after your gallery is sent then they will be processed on a first come first serve basis. Rush retouching is available for an additional fee.

Images retouched or not? All images revealed to the client will be retouched. Select packages include advance editing that includes but not limited to: skin smoothing, teeth whiting, hair flyaway removal, blemish removal, body shaping.

Where is the studio? The studio address is 4109 Stuart Andrew Blvd Suite F Charlotte NC 28217 

Can I cancel/reschedule my appointment? While some appointments booked online are allowed a 72 rescheduling window it’s best to follow our policy here. 

Wedding

What is your pricing? We can absolutely understand wanting to find pricing information without having to ask. Our detailed rates and collections aren’t listed for public viewing on our site for a variety of reasons. First, rates and collections vary by location. Some weddings outside of the Charlotte NC area require travel, which would not be included in a local wedding rate. Destination weddings are different as well. We also create custom collections for many clients, which is something that we can absolutely do for you! If you’d like to obtain detailed rate information for your wedding, simply fill out this form and we will send you all of the information that you need! We promise to respond ASAP, and we look forward to chatting further!

What is covered during the wedding consultation? You deserve to feel informed and confident going into your wedding day so your free consultation is for me to assist you in making decisions to get exactly what products and services that you are looking for. I will go over timeline and planning to make sure everything goes smoothly and so I can get a feel for how large the wedding will be, length of the day etc. so that I can be properly prepared to cover your day. I also want you to have a concrete idea of what you are getting. I will show you examples of albums, prints, canvases that you can touch and feel the quality. I will also go over your budget for photography to see which package best suits your needs or customize a package just for you.

Local wedding rates begin at $2,000. Elopements begin at $550.

Do you work with a second photographer? Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. Allow me to explain! I spent the last almost twenty years shooting weddings as a solo photographer, and have since added several extraordinarily talented associate photographers to the studio. They are wonderful documentary photographers, and great assets to the wedding day coverage when the day requires a second vantage point! Wedding day coverage always has an assistant who does light photography, but some packages have a second photographer as well. Elopements and engagements are all solo-photographer coverage by myself.

Do you also provide video services? We do not. I’m a photographer, and I choose to specialize in photography to give you the very best of this specific art form. I do know many extraordinary cinematographers at all budget levels and would be thrilled to help match you to the best company so that you can have a team that focuses on videography the way we focus on photography!

How many photos will we receive? We typically deliver 200-300 images from an engagement session and around 1000-2500 images for a wedding depending on the length and size of the wedding. While we often shoot more photos than this, my goal is to give you as many beautiful options to choose from when telling the story of your wedding day and not overwhelm you with sub-optimal images.

Do have any limits on coverage time? Our wedding packages start at 8 hours of coverage but we also offer many other packages that include 10-12 hours of coverage. You can also add additional hours so we can be there as long as you need me.

Do you travel for weddings? Love doesn’t have a geographical limit and neither do we. We will travel to any location in the world to document your big day. Travel and accommodations beyond NC can either be billed as a reimbursable expense or, if you prefer, the expenses can be paid by you directly.

How do we book you for our wedding day? A signed contract along with a 30% retainer is required to officially hold your date and the final payment is due by the day of the wedding. We understand that planning a wedding can be overwhelming so we can arrange a payment method that best suits your needs.

Do you have insurance? Yes. You should be excited and joyous on your wedding day, not worrying about what-ifs. We can provide your venue with my insurance information upon request.

What’s your turnaround time? We know you’re excited to see your your pictures and revisit the best day ever! We also want to make sure we have enough time to do our best work for you. The majority of our time is spent editing, and when it’s wedding season, we can get pretty busy. You’ll have a First Look at your wedding pics on your shareable online gallery within 15 days (about 300-500 photos), and all your pics within 4 weeks of your wedding day. You can download those right away in high resolution with no watermark.

Have you shot at my venue before? We have shot at hundreds of venues, so there is a good chance that we have. However, if we have not, we will get to the venue early on the day of and be sure to perform a thorough walk-through to scout out the best photography locations. We also do extensive online research prior to your big day!

Do you touch up all the images in our image download? Yes we do. 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. Many photographers will not post produce any images, or will only post produce “select” images from your wedding. This means that you may have pictures that are too dark, have strange skin tones or other common photography flaws.

What is the difference between advanced and custom; and why are there additional costs for these retouches? 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 us for a quote for custom post-production.

When should we do our engagement session? We encourage you to do your engagement session as soon as possible. The latest we suggest is at least 6-8 weeks prior to the wedding date due to the time necessary to post produce each image and complete your product order(s).

Do we get the copyright of the images? Copyright is something that I get asked about often. Many photographers include a “copyright release” in their contracts, which generally just means the same as a release to have your images printed by yourself, or any lab you choose. That’s not the same as obtaining copyright! Copyright simply means that I am the creator of the images, and I “own” the copyright. Selling or obtaining “the copyright” is not possible, but you will have the ability to print and share your images as much as you’d like!

Do you need to attend our rehearsal? Rehearsal dinner coverage is available if you’d like to add it to your collection; otherwise I don’t attend the rehearsals. We will talk about the timing of your day and the flow of the event, and one of the things is the ceremony. I’d love to hear about the timing of the ceremony itself, but please rest assured that not attending the rehearsal doesn’t impact your coverage in any way!