These days everyone is a photographer and camera technology has improved so much. But for those really important events like (Family Portraits, Children's Portraits, High School Seniors and Weddings to name a few) you really want to hire a professional photographer. As a member of the Professional Photographers of America, I spend many hours learning from the master photographers in lighting, exposure and composition. Also retouching an image is an important part of photography today and were many amateur photographers are not experienced. See the difference!