The business side of photography
Commercial photographers are sometimes asked if two (or more) customers split the cost of the photography licensing fee, can they both use the pictures?
For example, when a photographer is hired by a hotel to produce pictures of some newly decorated rooms, can the interior designer also use the pictures if the designer splits the cost of the photography with the hotel?
The answer is “no”.
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The fee for commercial photography is based on two things: production value (creative fee) and usage (licensing fee). Remember that production expenses are in addition to this.
One point of the previous post was to show how production value affects the creative fee. High-end camera gear, lots of lighting equipment and lots of time spent creating a picture will result in a very good photo and also a more expensive photo.
The second factor determining the overall fee is photo usage. This usage is a combination of four things: how many pictures will be used, how the photos will be used (media), where the images will be used (location) and when the pictures will be used (time).
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Hotel Client: What?! You want $1,500 just for some pictures of our chef?!
Photographer: What do you think the job is worth?
Client: Maybe $250.
Photographer: Okay, for $250, I’ll come by your hotel sometime in the next couple of weeks whenever I have some spare time. When I’m there, hand me your cell phone and I’ll take a few pictures with it. You pay me $250 and the job is done. How does that sound?
Do you have a spare $800,000?
If yes, then HTT Technologies has a nice automobile just for you.
HTT (High-Tech Toys), in Quebec, has designed its 750-hp Pléthore LC750 supercar for a very exclusive audience. HTT has been quoted as saying that its target customer is the billionaire auto enthusiast. (By the way, the 390-km/hr Pléthore LC750 is cheap when compared to the 415-km/hr Bugatti Veyron Super Sport which is $2.5M).
If the price tag isn’t exclusive enough, the company says it will build only 99 cars. Exclusive design, exclusive price, exclusive production.
Sure, HTT could’ve designed a nice, average car. But that wouldn’t get all the free publicity that an $800,000 supercar gets. Plus, HTT has said that selling an average car would require a huge sales volume to earn back its investment.
Apparently, at $800,000 each, the company needs to sell only a handful of cars to break even on its initial investment. The company has said that it hopes to sell about six or seven cars per year.
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From time to time, potential customers and photo students will ask, “What’s the day rate for a corporate photographer in Toronto?”, “What does the average Toronto commercial photographer charge?” or “What’s the standard hourly fee for business photography?”
The answer to all of those questions is the same: no such fee exists. There is no day rate, no half-day rate and no hourly fee.
It would be like calling a restaurant to ask, “What’s the going rate for a dinner?”
Does anyone ever ask a dentist, “What’s your hourly charge?”
Can you ask a shoe store clerk, “What’s the standard price for a pair of shoes?”
Professional photographers base their fee on how the pictures will be used, what’s involved in producing those pictures and the photographer’s talent, experience and overhead costs.
Since every job is different, there’s no one-size-fits-all price, no going rate, no standard hourly fee.
An article on the Poynter journalism site asks why Sunday newspaper front pages are so boring. Sunday fronts no longer seem special but look the same as any weekday edition.
The author suggests that newspapers are no longer taking (design) chances. Newspapers are trying to appeal to everyone and in that process, quality design gets lost. Sunday front pages are now packed with anything and everything in the attempt to attract interest from anyone and everyone.
Why is newspaper quality going downhill? There are no surprises here.
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Earlier today, the Western Canada Lottery Corporation released this handout photo of a $40 million winner:
Maybe I’m being too critical but someone at the Lottery Corporation doesn’t know how to fill out a cheque properly.
Sure, it’s just a ceremonial cheque being used as a photo prop (which is much better than using the actual little cheque). But why not take an extra minute and do it right?
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