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Opportune Moments Again

by admin on August 27, 2013 in Company News, Other Topics | Tagged bees, colour, flower, opportune

This section again I want to visit. Like the last talking about opportunity in photography to snatch that special moment and obtain that different shot. Like in my last post regarding the rainbow, I as many of you I’m no doubt have come across a moment where with a bit of forethought could make the most of an opportunity. With this shot I was actually on a day off being a corporate photographer but had a fairly good camera over my shoulder when I noticed this fantastic flower on a plant and having nothing behind it than a blue sky really made it stand out in its full colour glory.

I adjusted the camera settings to RAW from Jpg that it was previously set on and changed the aperture to about 5.6 so all went fuzzy behind my desired focal point. Quick camera and photo lesson here folks. I decided to change to RAW because if I hold this as a stock photo I want a file format that I can work with at a later stage. As I framed the shot up taking some time due to the flower being still and there being no need to rush this one and I was in a relaxed frame of mind excuse the ‘pun’. That special moment I have been banging on about happened that I was not going to be aware of is that a friendly bee decided to join in the shot as well. Buzzing about and finally came to a point where I just fired of five or six frames to snap it hovering over an opening to the colorful flower.

If I had said to my self at the moment ‘would be really good if an insect arrived and became part of this shot’ that I would have been waiting for hours or it would of never happened. And the person I was with anyway wanted to go to the pub!

Enjoy!

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Professional Photographic Fees Part 3

by admin on June 19, 2013 in Company News, Other Topics | Tagged fees, photographic prices

So we return on the subject of the relationship of fees and profit within the field of professional photography. In my last post I referred to the time allocated that many clients do not see happen. The time post production of images from their shoot does take. Often after a shoot at an event the client wants to see images uploaded to a viewing gallery for the guests that attended. Here the corporate photographer may have too much to do in the time frame, so is forced to seek outside help from a colleague who can do some of the processing. This comes at a cost.

Now we have talked about the event and the processing to obtain the final product. But also there is another factor to address. The equipment a photographer has with them at a shoot is no ordinary camera equipment. Professional digital cameras and lenses cost anything from £1,200-£6,000. A good event photographer will always bring various lenses and back up camera just in case the primary fails.

But I hear you say,” why do you have to have the most expensive top of the range gear. There are many cameras that could do the job that are cheaper”?

The reason here is that the specifications and quality that the professional range has is far superior to the every day high street obtainable ones. Also the work they have to do with the amount of frames taken in its life span is excessive. They do take a great deal of punishment with knocks and bumps and have to be tough enough to handle it. Do you ever stand in the cold at -15 or try to obtain a shot while in a thunderstorm with the rain dripping off your head. No. I do!

On top of that there will be spare batteries, cards, flash guns and even a portable laptop travelling around all day with the photographer. On an average the photographer may be carrying £18,000 worth of equipment at a shoot. To consider also that they need to have some of the most advanced computer software, studio facilities, lighting. All this has to be updated and maintained. Like running a car, as things wear out or servicing is needed the bill comes with it on collection.

There is also the responsibility of insurances. The equipment insurance is one avenue to address but also professionals have to be covered for public liability and professional indemnity. Often working in a venue like a hotel, managers will ask for proof that you a covered while working on site. Additional costs to the corporate photographer in London are the constant update to their web site and having an advertising campaign that promotes their work to gain clients to employ them.

So in conclusion, the fees that professional photographers feel they are worth. The answer is quite simple. They spend a lot of time and money in developing their business into a solid and reliable service. And have done this because they are passionate about photography and your particular requirement.

A quote by author and poet John Ruskin, I think sums this up:

“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.”

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Professional Photographic Fees Part Two

by admin on June 7, 2013 in Company News, Other Topics

This is part two of photographic fees blog to explain and justify the costs of employing a professional photographer. From previous blog continued:

There are a number of reasons why there are so many cheap photographers out there. Here are some of the most common ones:

The lack of knowledge of the market. Some amateur photographers enter the market, confident of their photographic skills; naively start trading without knowing the fundamental elements required to be a photographer. Most professional wedding photographers are running a business as do corporate and commercial ones alike. And with any type of business there are many costs involved in running it. However, due to their lack of experience and knowledge of the industry, amateur photographers do not realise how much they need to invest to start a successful photography business. The mindset is that as long as they cover their material costs they will be fine. As a result their prices are a lot less than a professional who has done it as a full-time job for years.

Low quality of work. You then have photographers who have been in the industry for a number of years but still charge very little. Less than the newcomers because their quality of photography and service are so poor that nobody sees any value in their work.

Many armature and newcomers are still trying to build a portfolio of work. If they charged as much as a professional though being extremely talented they would not get a foot in the door and therefore never gain experience.

So why is wedding photography so expensive. Not only the photos themselves, albums and other products offered photography is not a solely commodity business. It’s a mixture of many. Firstly photography is an art. A skill and a service. Then a photographer has to be a good sales person.

For a wedding photographer it’s not just a case of turning up and taking a few well composed shots and then handing you a disc. There is a lot more involvement in creating the perfect memory of your wedding day. One of the most important things is the labour. An average wedding can be 6 to 8 hrs in length. Photographers most often arrive well before hand to capture small detail before the event. During the actual event they will be on their feet throughout the entire period, capturing those special moments and will have taken between 800 -12000 frames from the day. That is physically demanding.

A great deal of people are not aware that a photographers job does not end when the event ends. It is not uncommon for people to think that it’s a simple job of downloading images and putting to disc or uploading to a web site. In fact images from cameras need to have what is called ‘post production’. This is to sort to categories, delete shots that are not wanted and to spend time enhancing with sharpness and contrast and levels to produce the final image. This process on a large job with many images can take a good few hours per day, over say three or four days. So if you were to spend time at an event say 8 hrs also time spent with the preparation perhaps 3 hrs and then over a three day period 4 hrs a day. This photographic session is now turning into 23 hrs and then its not finished there because of archiving and other services that may need attention. So the rate assumed at 250 per hour is now decreased to 70 per hour. This is still good money to earn but its not all profit as you will read in Part Three coming soon

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Professional Photographic Fees Part One

by admin on June 4, 2013 in Company News, Other Topics

The subject of professional photographic fees needs to be discussed and looked at in more detail. I have clients, not ones that I have previously worked for, but new enquiries when discussing their requirements to be amazed at what is a fair and accurate cost or fee to accomplish what they want from a photographic session. There is a sense of what you should be charging is relative to only what someone in a job should be earning per hour be it six ,eight even12 pounds per hour and not look at the bigger picture that professional photographers have to have and address to do the job to a high standard.

It is true that no one moans or is surprised when a washing machine or household appliance repair person being self employed or working for a company charge a call out fee just to attend and diagnose a fault at ninety pounds and then more cost to actually repair the issue. The call out usually give you the first hour of labour. This is also at their convenience on what part of the day they want to arrive while you wait in. How many operators like this can you say to I want a specific time for you to arrive. No, they give you a day when they can come; you have to wait possibly more than half a day for them to call. And still you pay the heavy call out fees without fuss.

In my experience my clients or perspective callers don’t say could you possible mosey over when you feel fit and etc. No the call is more positive with firm times and direction. The event is then and at a time and I want you to be there until and this has to happen and I want images back by this time etc etc. The whole employ is of a different nature and has the costs that come with it. An article written by a wedding photographer Jay Hoque outlines why the fees that are charged by professionals are justified and what we have to be and do in this profession. It is written with great accuracy and I want to share some of the information with you to explain why the fees are what they should be.

Why Wedding Photography is not as expensive as you think.

“Why is wedding photography so expensive”

“They’re only there for a few hours! It’s a rip off to charge that much for a few photo’s!”

These are some of the questions and comments you might hear from people who have just received the quote from a wedding photographer. When a wedding quote for £2000 for an 8 hour wedding shoot is presented, the immediate assumption is that he/she is earning £250 per hour. But if you take a closer look at what goes on behind the scenes and see what really goes on then you will realise that wedding photographer make nowhere near that kind of money.

Contrary to what people believe. The disheartening fact is that most wedding photographers are not actually as expensive as they seem.

“You are kidding me right?” I hear you say. Well instead of asking why the expensive photographer is so expensive, ask yourself this,

“Why is the cheap photographer so cheap?”

What corners are they cutting?

Are they insured?

Are they using the right equipment?

How much experience do they have?

There are a number of reasons why there are so many cheap photographers out there. Here are some of the most common ones:

TBC in part two soon.

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