The business of photography and retouching
The Western Canada Lottery Corporation today 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.
It’s just a ceremonial cheque being used as a photo prop, but why not take an extra minute and do it right?
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In a 1989 interview, Steve Jobs was asked, “Where do great products come from?”
His response included:
I think really great products come from melding two points of view – the technology point of view and the customer point of view. You need both. You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them.
(…)
It sounds logical to ask customers what they want and then give it to them. But they rarely wind up getting what they really want that way.
Commercial and corporate photographers need to think the same way. Successful business photography comes from knowing what the client really needs and then building a good photo from there.
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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?
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 Toronto Star today featured a business story about local artisans who sell their products to a global audience using only their websites. The newspaper’s print headline included “Photos key to online selling.”
The business owners pointed out that, “having excellent photographs helps…” and “you can’t sell without a decent picture.”
This should be obvious. Yet many businesses, large and small, fail when it comes to website photography.
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Some companies have reacted to the current recession by circling the wagons, laying-off staff and raising prices. It’s about protecting themselves and putting the company’s self-interests first.
If customers aren’t buying, then raising prices to compensate for low sales volume only closes the door even more. Raising the price of a product or service can often boost sales, but not during a recession.
Close doors or open new paths?
Let’s say you own a restaurant and people aren’t coming into your place as often as before. Folks are either going to a lower-priced fast food outlet or they’re eating at home more often. What can you do?
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Which is more important to your business: saving money or making money?
While everyone loves “free”, that usually isn’t even on the menu. For businesses that are considering hiring a photographer, here are a few suggestions that will help save money.
First, congratulations! Hiring a photographer to help with your business, corporate or commercial photography needs means that you know the value of having a professional photographer create original images for your web site, public relations or other marketing needs.
But what if your budget doesn’t quite match your plans?
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