hiring a photographer

Pots, pans and pictures

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Everyone owns some pots and pans yet restaurants don’t view this as competition. Restaurants know that people will still dine out. Eating at a restaurant is about more than just the food.

Everyone owns a camera and some professional photographers view this as competition. Why? Hiring a professional photographer should be about more than just the pictures.

A commercial photographer has to offer something more than what a camera’s “Auto” setting can do. Otherwise, they will have no choice but to compete on price, (always a losing situation), and their photo career may be nothing more than a flash in the pan.

 

How not to run a photo business

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Many photographers struggle with their pricing. This is normal. The best way for a photographer to establish their business is to understand how their business operates and, for that matter, how any (photography) business operates.

The photographer learns to price according to their location, their business plans and their market positioning. This takes time and effort and, yes, mistakes will be made along the way.

And then there are photographers who like to take shortcuts.

I got a phone call today from someone claiming to be an office manager. She said they needed some business portraits. She asked how much I charged, how the pictures would be shot, whether I use softboxes or umbrellas, what type of backgrounds are best, how the photos are selected, what amount of retouching I would do, and how the pictures would be delivered. After I answered all her questions, she suddenly hung up.
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Failing a class

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It’s not even necessary to read the news story. The picture says it all.

In a Grade 2 class photo, all the students are grouped together in the centre. Except one. A student in a wheelchair is off to the side. The child’s father said he cried when he saw the photo.

The picture is not just thoughtless, it’s also bad photography. It shows how not to do a group photo. It shows what happens when a photographer doesn’t know what they’re doing. It shows what happens when a photographer or school portrait company, in this case, Lifetouch, is too busy being fast and cheap.

Lifetouch says, “Our school photographers take their role in preserving memories seriously” and “Our school photographers are committed to making each child feel special and valued.” It seems the company failed this class.
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Budgeting for an investment

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Earlier today, I received a call from a company asking for a quote to produce seven business portraits. After I sent my quote ($1,640 plus tax), the person said they had received quotes from three other photographers.

All four photographers, including myself, had quoted prices around $1,500. Unfortunately, the person continued, the company’s budget was “well under $500.”

 

Everyone has a camera built into their cell phone. Push a button and the picture appears instantly. Photography is seemingly free. This is the downside to digital cameras.
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Business Licence

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Earlier today, someone requested a quote for a few pictures to be used on their clothing store’s web site. So I sent a quote for a few pictures to be used on their web site. The person replied that it was “silly” that the quoted price didn’t include all rights, for all the pictures taken, for all eternity.

Photographers are running a business. The purpose of every business is to make money. Photographers make money either by selling pictures or licensing pictures.

Many photographers would be happy to sell all rights to their pictures. But the price would range from thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars and maybe even much higher. Really.
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More is more

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In almost all occupations, the person with more experience and/or more expertise gets paid more. No surprise there, right?

But the big surprise for many people is that this also applies to photographers.

Photographers with more experience and/or expertise cost more than those without the same level of experience or expertise.

If one photographer charges $95 for a business portrait and another charges $600, there’s probably a reason why. If one photographer quotes $450 for some corporate photography and another quotes $1600, again, there’s probably a reason why.

The customer has to decide how important an experienced photographer is to their project. If a customer doesn’t care about the outcome of their project or the pictures aren’t that important, then hiring the cheapest photographer is the best option.

But when a customer needs to trust the photographer to produce pictures with a high level of quality and service because the photos are important to their project, then hiring an experienced photographer is the only option.

It’s not what you pay but what you get that’s important.

 

Dump and run photography

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When a photographer shoots an event, copies all the digital files to a CD, DVD or USB stick, and then hands you that disc or USB stick, it’s called a “dump and run” (aka a shoot and burn).

If this happens, it means the photographer has left the job unfinished and expects you, the customer, to complete the work for yourself. For whatever reason, this photographer is either unwilling or unable to do the necessary editing and post-processing.

If a photographer offers a “dump and run” then you should do the same; dump the photographer and run away. You shouldn’t be expected to finish the photographer’s work.

Would you go to Tim Hortons if they sold only packets of coffee and cups of water and expected you to make the coffee? What if your doctor handed you your test results and expected you to interpret them on your own?

A dump-and-run photographer is one who dumps their responsibility and runs away from their work. Why do business with such a photographer?

 

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