Some photographers charge more, other photographers charge less, and some photographers undercharge and effectively work for nothing. But I’ve never heard of a photographer who overcharges or gouges customers.
A fellow corporate photographer recently wondered what he should tell potential clients who point out that another photographer charges much less than he does. Perhaps this might help:
Photographers are not economic magicians. When a photographer charges less, it means the customer is getting less. There’s no way around it. Maybe it’s less quality, maybe less service, maybe less experience. But it’s always less. The customer has to decide if they’re willing to settle for less.
If the pictures are not important then it might be okay to take a chance with low-priced photography. But smart companies know to always avoid risk because cheap can sometimes be too expensive.
My photography business doesn’t settle for less, (which is why I buy only premium cameras, lenses, computers, software, etc.), and I refuse to offer less because my customers are important.
I want my customers to succeed in their business marketing and I want my pictures to play a part in that success. I don’t cut corners and give customers less because that would only undermine their business goals.
Although the above may sound like public relations spin, for many professional photographers it is very true. They really do want to work with their customers and help them achieve some level of success with their business photography.
Experience costs more and delivers more
There’s nothing magical about a photography business. It runs on the same economic principle as every other business: customer pays more and gets more, or, customer pays less and gets less.
The difference between a $150 business headshot and a $500 portrait might be intangible. But the more expensive portrait can include some very important features:
• Better image styling, better technique, a more refined eye for editing, proper captioning (very important for press releases), multiple delivery formats, a knowledge of prepress requirements, and an understanding of what plays best in the press.
• A more experienced (and more expensive) photographer knows that:
– a business portrait has to be cropped differently if it’s going to be used small.
– a picture of a large group requires different editing than a single portrait.
– group pictures are ineffective when used small and should be replaced by a single portrait or a much smaller group.
– certain clothing colours should always be avoided.
– human interest far outweighs actual content in a photo.
– certain picture compositions can prevent your media handout photos from being wrongly cropped by newspaper editors.
– all pictures should have balance.
– you can influence viewers by properly weighting the image composition.
Cheap is too expensive
There’s an old proverb that says, “Poor people cannot afford cheap things.”
The same concept applies to business. If a company cannot afford the time and money to re-shoot a corporate photography project gone wrong, then cheap photography may be too expensive.
The benefit of saving a few dollars lasts a short time. The mistake of not spending enough lasts much longer.
