portraits

How much should you pay for business headshots?

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If you’re thinking of getting a business portrait done, you’ve probably found out that, in Toronto, the price ranges from about $50 to over $1,000. Why is there such a wide price range?

The price of running shoes ranges from $20 to over $300. Men’s haircuts in Toronto range from $8 to about $450. A Toronto hamburger costs anywhere from $1 to $100.

The magic phrase is: you get what you pay for.

When it comes to professional photography, a higher price means that you get more and you get better: better advice, more attention to detail, better editing, better technical quality, better artistic quality and more experience. All these combine to give you a more reliable and more effective outcome.
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Value is a two-way street

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Over the past month, I lost photo jobs to:

1) A photographer who quoted $1,200 for a two-day shoot, in two cities 100km apart, consisting of 22 business portraits, 11 environmental portraits and up to 66 finished images delivered.

2) Someone who quoted $1,500 to photograph a four-day business conference.

3) The “best professional headshot photographer in Toronto” who, according to the customer, quoted $3,000 for 120 business headshots. That’s $25 per headshot.

(When you have a quote turned down, try to ask the customer what the other photographer quoted. Sometimes the customer will refuse to divulge what they’re paying but tell them that you’d like to know where your price stands.)

Was I disappointed not to get these jobs? Yes.

Am I upset? No.

I am wondering how these photographers make any money.
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May The Photos Be With You

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In Canada, the month of May is National Hamburger Month, National Salad Month, National Vinegar Month and National Motorcycle Awareness Month. More than a dozen other causes also use May as their national awareness month.

Perhaps most important ;-) is that May is National Photography Month in Canada and several other countries, too. May is also Vision Health Month and National Smile Month (in the UK). Coincidence?

The purpose of National Photography Month is to encourage people to think about photography and how important it is to them. Can you imagine your life without photography?

There are a few things you can do to boost your photo awareness this month (and every other month, too):
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In the Twinkle of an Eye

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They may be the tiniest details in a portrait but they’re possibly the most important. Yet many photographers don’t understand catchlights.

You may not need catchlights in every portrait. The most famous portrait, the Mona Lisa, doesn’t have catchlights:

Unlike the Mona Lisa, many of Leonardo da Vinci’s other portraits have catchlights.

But catchlights are very important in a business portrait. Catchlights bring attention to the eyes which are the most important facial feature for conveying emotion.
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Business Headshots at Conferences

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Are you planning a business conference, workshop or other corporate event? Would you like to add more value?

Arrange to have a business portrait studio at your next event. People could get a new business headshot while they’re at your event.

This is not to be confused with those photo booths you might see at parties and other social events. A business portrait studio has no silly props, no crazy backgrounds. It’s a no-nonsense, business photo studio with photographer, assistant(s) and, perhaps, makeup artist.
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Recognizing Younger Customers

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Maybe it’s my imagination but it seems that the average age of my business customers is going down.

From the late 1980s through the 1990s, most of my business clients were in their 40s to 60s. In the late 1990s to mid-2000s, the average customer was in their 30s to 50s. For the past six or seven years, it seems my average customer was in their mid-20s to mid-40s.

This is not to be confused with the fact that the overall workforce is slowly getting older (US numbers here). And hopefully this is not about me getting old.

My customers include a wide variety of businesses from technology to healthcare to car manufacturing, from ad agencies to public relations companies, from universities to municipal governments, from small local companies to large multi-nationals. In general, the people I work with or those whom I photograph are mysteriously getting younger.
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Photography value and quality

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When hiring a business portrait photographer or other corporate photographer, you might be tempted to shop by price. You may think that the lowest price means the best value.

With some tangible products, the lowest price can be the best value. But this doesn’t apply with services like photography and especially not when quality matters.

What’s the difference between value and quality?

Value: Usefulness or importance.

Quality: How good or bad something is. A degree of excellence.

Ideally a photograph has both high value and high quality but that’s not always the case. For example, a poorly exposed, out-of-focus family photo can be very valuable to you.
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