Professional photo shoots can be more complex than clients expect. After seeing multiple equipment cases wheeled into their office and a slew of lights set up, it’s not uncommon for clients to say, “Wow, all this for just one picture?” or “I didn’t think this was a Hollywood movie!”
Some photography can be done with minimal gear in small spaces. But other projects may demand extensive lighting setups which require more time and space.
When a client insists, “It’s just a couple of pictures, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes,” photographers often smile in knowing recognition.
Minutes to Hours
I was recently hired to do a group picture of 60 people during the morning coffee break at a Toronto conference. The event organizer said they would need me for only a few minutes.
I arrived at the convention centre two hours early to scout a suitable location and set up lights. The conference was running behind schedule, so the coffee break was delayed by 45 minutes. As soon as the doors opened, some attendees rushed for the restrooms, while others headed straight for the coffee. Event organizers spent 15 minutes trying to herd everyone to the photo area.
The actual photos took less than two minutes. But in total, the shoot required 3.5 hours onsite, 2 hours of editing, and 2 hours of driving. What was supposed to be a “few minutes” ended up consuming a full business day.
Just Two Minutes
Another client requested “a number” of photos from an executive business meeting. I would have only two minutes at the start to photograph 16 people, including the company’s Canadian president, U.S. executives, Canadian executives, and the Canadian Prime Minister.
The client wanted individual portraits, group shots, and “action” shots of people engaged in conversation. All of this was to be captured in two minutes, in a dark room with no flash allowed, with some people seated around a large table and others still mingling off to the sides.
I managed to take a number of shots, but wasn’t able to capture everything they wanted. As we were leaving, the company’s communications director admitted he was surprised how quickly two minutes passed. He told me not to worry about his original list of photos and to just give him whatever I had.
This “two-minute” job actually took 3 hours onsite and another 3 hours of driving.
More Time
Clients need to allocate sufficient time for a professional photo shoot. A “few pictures” can take hours of preparation before any actual photography begins. More time is always better than less.
It’s simply impossible to produce high-quality photography in just a few minutes. While it’s technically feasible to snap 20 business portraits in one minute, it’s certainly not something anyone would want. For example, when a Canadian medical software company asked me to do 35 business headshots in “just 15 minutes of your time,” I turned them down.
More Space
Clients should also budget enough space for their photo shoot. Depending on the type of shot, a photographer may need to be positioned 5, 10, 20, or more, feet away from the subject. A group photo which needs a ten-foot-wide background requires, you guessed it, a space that’s more than ten feet wide. More space is always better than less.
While it’s possible to photograph almost anything in any time and space, the more (time and space) a company invests in professional photography, the better the results and the better the return on their investment.
