POLICIES & PROCEDURES

Please read carefully.  I know it's not fun, but I prefer to weed out those who wouldn't respect my time and treat me fairly as a creative professional.  Thank you!

By soliciting my services, you agree to the following:

BOOKING & PAYMENT

  • A non-refundable* retainer of $40 is required to reserve a photography session (return clients and trusted referrals excepted at my discretion).  Retainers will be applied toward your final total.  

    • *Retainer may be refunded for valid cancellations. See Cancellations/Rescheduling below for more details.
    • Pay online with credit card or bank transfer (I accept Paypal and Venmo. If you have another means, ask me if I'll accept it)
    • Retouching jobs  of 5 or more photos may require a deposit (for new customers).

  • Payment is required before final products are delivered.  For photography sessions, this means before access is granted to full-res files in the online album. For retouching, this means before you receive full-res, non-watermarked images.

  • Payment for completed services (a wrapped photo session or retouched proofs) is non-refundable.  
    For example, deciding that you no longer want to use a headshot I've taken (or retouched) doesn't change the fact I did the work you requested.

  • Clients must sign a Liability and Release form, to be handed over before the session can begin.

    • In brief, Liability form relates to any injuries or accidents that may occur during the session.  Release form states that A) session photos cannot be used for any purpose other than self-promotion (as actors, models, etc), and B) that MTL Photo owns the copyright on all images and reserves the right to employ said images for the purpose of advertising and promotion. 


CANCELLATIONS/RESCHEDULING

  • MTL Photo reserves the right to reschedule any session due to photographer illness or personal emergency.  If client and photographer cannot agree on a satisfactory reschedule date, client's retainer will be refunded in full without penalty.

  • Clients reserve the right to reschedule any session without penalty provided they give at least 18 hours notice to MTL Photo.  Your retainer will simply be held until we shoot, and then applied toward the session fee as normal.
    My reschedule window is very lenient; as an actor myself I understand that important things can come up with very short notice.

  • Cancellations require a 4 day notice to avoid forfeiture of retainer fee. 
    Once you've booked a session, I am unable to book another client at that time, and plan to give you my undivided attention. Please respect my time and take responsibility for your schedule.

RETOUCHING NOTES

  • Send me photos via email, WeTransfer, dropbox, etc. 
  • When emailing, please try to *attach* the photo to the email instead of embedding it.  
  • Keep an eye on the file size of your photos. They should be 1 megabyte at the very least to insure sufficient quality for online casting, and usually 3-10 megabytes if you'd like to print them 8x10.  
  • I will perform my standard retouching procedure and send you proofs, but please let me know via email if you have specific notes or requests about any photos.
    • Some retouching services may incur additional fees.  Customer will always be informed of these fees before work is performed and may cancel the order at that time if he/she chooses.
  • I'll upload watermarked proofs to a Google Photos album so you can check them out, give me notes if necessary.  
    • You can easily share this album with your representation or anyone else you like.
    • Delivery of files via burned compact disc is $25, to be picked up from my residence at my convenience.
  • Once you have given final approval on your proofs, I will begin exporting and uploading your full-resolution files.  Once I've begun this process, any requests to modify completed photos may incur further charges at my discretion.  Please make sure you examine your proofs closely before giving final approval.
    • CROPPING - If requested, I offer 1 custom crop for each photo, per your general specifications or my best judgement.  Keep in mind that cropping is part of the upload process for online casting sites (likewise for headshot printers) and the ability to crop your own photos on computers and smartphones alike is now widespread.  If you're not tech-savvy and you ask real nice, I will make an exception. 
    • COLOR/LIGHT VARIANCE - In the digital age, photos can appear differently on different screens. I preview all photos on 3 different screens (desktop, laptop, and smartphone) and make sure they all look good before I create your proofs.  As your retoucher, feel free to ask me to brighten/darken/"warm up"/"cool down"  a photo, but also keep in mind it may be the screen you're using.
    • PRINTING - I am not responsible for the outcome of printing your headshots.  If it looks good on my screens and you give approval, anything that happens beyond that is out of my control.  At that point it is the printer's responsibility to produce a proper result.