How To Buy Photographic Services-II

How To Buy Photographic Services-II

by William Lulow

As I have written many times, buying photographic services can be a bit complicated these days. Digital photography and equipment has made taking photographs quite a bit simpler than ever, but, when you need images for brochures, catalogs, advertisements or even personal use, “simpler” can often mean “of lesser quality.”

Many people think “Why should I pay current market rates for photographs when I can just do it myself or have a friend do it?” Well, you always have to ask yourself if you really CAN do it yourself. And, your friend or a student doesn’t really have the right expertise or, in many cases the right equipment. Knowing how to use a camera is not enough these days. You also have to know about LIGHTING, which, in most cases, is more important than the camera you use.

Suppose you need a portrait for your website. You can save yourself some money by having a friend take the picture with an iPhone. But, you can’t really control the lighting with an iPhone. You can’t really control the quality with an iPhone. And, you even need some bit of expertise with your computer to get the image from the iPhone into a usable file.

Some people think “Why should I pay current market rates for photographs when any old image is good enough?” Well, ask yourself, is “good enough” going to do it for your website? If you are selling handbags for example, will an iPhone image really sell your product the best? If you’re selling ANYTHING, will an “okay” image do it for you? There is a reason that advertising agencies pay top dollar for “expert” images. 

You’ve spent good money and time on a decent website, why would you settle for an okay image just to save a few dollars? Remember that good portraits, for example, entail much more than just snapping a shutter and recording an image. Portraits that really communicate a message about someone, or what they’re selling is a much more complicated procedure. It’s much more than a simple “capture” of someone’s likeness.

When you try to cut corners on certain expenses, it usually translates to lost revenue down the road. You often have to spend more to correct a bad photograph than you would have spent getting the best one from the beginning. There are certain things for which it pays to spend money! Photography is one of them. After all, you’re spending money on YOUR image!

With all this said, photographic services are best bought by the day. Most photographers have a “day rate.” It’s the fee they charge for their time and expertise for an eight-hour work day. There are additional charges for such things as: transportation, digital processing, prints, assistants, makeup artists, hair stylists, special backgrounds, etc. But if you have quite a few shots to do, a good, professional photographer will be able to tell you how long it will take him or her to shoot all the images. I have often photographed twenty or more executives during the course of a normal workday. This translates into huge savings for the company as opposed to them sending me one person at a time. The most expensive part of a photographic project is the expert’s time! Besides the photographer’s expertise and reputation, it normally takes the most time to do the first shot. If all other shots can be done with the same basic setup, you wind up saving money. Every time a new lighting setup has to be made, it takes extra time to set it up. And, that’s what costs money.

So, the best way to buy commercial photography is to have all your people or products set up and ready to go before you hire the photographer. It will help you determine both which items you need to shoot as well as help the photographer decide on how much time it will take.