For Customers

Cheap Stock Pictures Strike Again

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Yet again, another large organization decided to save a few dollars on its marketing by buying cheap stock pictures. And yet again, it has backfired into the daily papers and TV newscasts. And again, another organization is scrambling to explain its shortsightedness and to minimize the ridicule.

In three months, Ontario will have a provincial election. The provincial NDP party has started its campaign with a 48-page booklet telling voters that it will put Ontario citizens first, create and protect Ontario jobs, make sure public money supports local business, help Ontarians put more money in their pockets and above all, “Buy Ontario” and “help small businesses.”

So how did the NDP decide to show that it means what it says? By ignoring Ontario photographers and buying cheap pictures from US stock photo agencies. (Hint to NDP: cheap stock pictures are instantly recognizable for what they are. Studies have shown that readers hate them.)
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Best Photographer Excuses

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When things go wrong, what are some excuses a photographer can use?

My computer crashed.

The lab didn’t print it right.

This is how all photographers dress.

The sun moved.

You can fix it in Photoshop.

No one told me it would start on time.

The picture is fine, the building is crooked.

It’s art. It’s supposed to be out of focus.

It’s not underexposed, it’s “moody.”

It’s called “negative space.”

It’s supposed to look like that. That’s my style.

The bride’s dress was too white.

It was subject failure.
(This was Kodak’s excuse when a Kodak camera or Kodak printer failed to produce a good picture).

I’m a photographer not a magician.

I’m a photographer not a plastic surgeon.

 

Misleading Intentions

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A new online stock agency called ImageBrief recently launched in Australia. What’s different about this stock agency is that a photo buyer posts a description of the picture(s) they want along with the price they’re willing to pay. Interested photographers can then post any of their stock pictures which meet the buyer’s description. The photo buyer chooses the “winning” picture(s) and pays the photographer. The stock agency gets a commission.

So far, so good.

Look at some of the photo buyers:

• A coffee shop/bakery was looking for a picture to market its store. Rather than hiring a photographer to produce authentic photography of the store’s own products, the shop bought a stock photo which featured another company’s coffee and someone else’s baked goods.

Is this misleading advertising by the coffee shop?

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A timely message

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Many people outside of the photo industry (and even some in the industry) are under the misconception that photography today is much cheaper than it was, say, ten to fifteen years ago. But the truth is that it’s far more expensive today, despite the miracle of reusable memory cards.

Cameras and lenses certainly get better as technology improves. But they’re much more expensive than in years gone by. Even if the purchase cost of an item goes down as technology advances, the product life cycle gets shorter which means more frequent updating. Computers and software also require frequent replacing.

Most folks are also surprised to learn that post-production can take as long, or longer, than the actual photography. Post-production includes, but isn’t limited to, image selection, raw format conversion, captioning, correcting for verticals, removing blemishes, cropping, resizing, and both global and local adjustments for colour, white balance, saturation, brightness, contrast and sharpness.

For many commercial assignments, a rule of thumb is two hours of post-production for each hour of photography.

Photography is not cheaper today. It’s just a lot better.

 

At Your Service

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Contrary to what some may think, professional photography is not a commodity business. Looking for the right photographer is not like shopping for a TV set where you decide on the make and model of TV and then search around to find the lowest price.

When a company is looking to hire a commercial photographer, it can expect to get a variety of photo quotes. For a common assignment like a business portrait, the prices may vary by a few hundred dollars. For a large project, photography quotes can vary by many thousands of dollars.

The difference in pricing reflects the photographers’ different experience, talents, production methods and overhead expenses.
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The Importance Of Press Releases

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A Columbia Journalism Review article by former New York Times reporter John Sullivan, titled True Enough, the second age of PR, talks about how public relations has become the dominant source of information for the media:

Some experts have argued that in the digital age, new forms of reporting will eventually fill the void left by traditional newsrooms. But few would argue that such a point has arrived, or is close to arriving.

“There is the overwhelming sense that the void that is created by the collapse of traditional journalism is not being filled by new media, but by public relations,” said John Nichols, a Nation correspondent and McChesney’s co-author.

Nichols said reporters usually make some calls and check facts. But the ability of government or private public relations to generate stories grows as reporters have less time to seek out stories on their own. That gives outside groups more power to set the agenda.

A previous post on this blog touched on this same topic.

For reporters, this should be a big concern. Although at many newspapers, this doesn’t appear to be an issue. More press releases means less work for a reporter and less expense for a publisher.

For businesses, this should be a happy wake-up call.
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Remarkable Marketing

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Andy Sernovitz, a marketing guy, wrote:

Advertising is the cost of being boring.

If your customers won’t talk about your stuff, you have to pay newspapers and TV shows to do it for you.

Robert Stephens,  founder of the Geek Squad, made a similar statement:

. . . advertising is a tax you pay for being unremarkable.

Have you ever seen an ad for Google or Facebook? When was the last time you saw a Starbucks TV commercial? How often does a pro sports league like the NBA advertise its product?
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