business photography

Marginally cheaper by the dozen

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You can tell that it’s getting close to the end of the year as companies rush to get work done or hurry to spend any remaining budget. In the past two weeks, I received nine inquiries for business portraits and each job had to be delivered and invoiced before December 31. The requests ranged from two to thirty business headshots.

One potential customer asked why I don’t offer a bigger volume discount for multiple business portraits. They wondered why the cost to shoot 30 business headshots didn’t drop to under $50 each.

Here’s why:
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Time and Space

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Professional photo shoots can be more complex than a customer might think. After several equipment cases have been brought into their office and many lights set up, a client will often remark, “Wow, all this just for one picture?!” or “I didn’t realize this would be like a Hollywood movie!”

Some photography can be done with minimal equipment in minimal space. But other assignments can require a fair amount of lighting which usually requires more space and more time.

When a client says, “It’s just a couple of pictures and it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes,” photographers always start to smile.
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The Cheap Risk

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When you get a haircut, do you choose the cheapest hairstylist? Probably not. Why? The risk that the lowest priced haircut might make you look bad.

When you shop for clothes, do you buy the cheapest? Probably not. Why? The risk that the lowest priced clothes might not be as well made or they might make you look bad.

When deciding on a restaurant, do you choose the cheapest? Probably not. Why? The risk that the lowest priced food might make you feel bad.

So why do some customers choose the cheapest photographer when similar risks apply? Cheap pictures might not be as well made and they might make you look bad.
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More than just cost

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It seems that the mantra of most businesses is “cut costs”. Many companies are not just concerned about controlling their costs but also about reducing costs to the absolute minimum. These companies want to spend less but still, somehow, earn more.

Most companies view a professional photographer as an expense. So they immediately think that photography is a cost like any other and it has to be minimized. This is the barrier that a commercial or corporate photographer has to get around. There are two ways to do this:

1) Be the cheapest photographer in town.

2) Stop being seen as an expense but rather as an investment.

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Worth its weight in money

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Everyone has heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. According to a real estate study, a (professional) picture is worth at least a thousand dollars.

A 2010 Wall Street Journal article cited a study done by a Seattle brokerage house which showed that professional photography increases the sale price of a home by anywhere from $934 to $116,000.

The reason for this is simple:

Better quality photography => more attention => more customers => more money.
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Thoughts about business portraits

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Over the past two months, I photographed a total of 49 business portraits for a few small to mid-sized Toronto companies.

What never ceases to amaze me is how different each person looks. If you walk along a street and casually glance around at other people, you may think that everyone looks about the same. But, as with snowflakes, no two people are alike.

Face shape, eyes, ears, nose, smile, hair, skin colour and skin texture are quite different from one person to the next. This is very noticeable when photographing people up-close and later when editing and retouching the pictures.

Speaking of retouching, it’s always better to use a makeup artist and hair stylist before the picture is taken rather than relying on retouching afterward.
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Smaller is bigger

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From my own anecdotal viewpoint, it seems that smaller companies often have bigger budgets for corporate photography than do larger companies. For examples:

• Last month, the world’s second largest car manufacturer asked about covering its Toronto press conference. It was apparently budgeting $250 for two hours of shooting, a couple hours of editing, and a disc of images to be used internally and for media handouts.

By comparison, a small publisher in Toronto, with a handful of employees, budgeted $650 to cover its 30-minute press conference with one picture for media handout and a handful of other photos for internal use.

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