Some say they don’t want to make any money from this photo just a few bucks. Others say they don’t want any pay at all just a photo credit to get their name out there or to see it in a paper with their photo credit.

Quick tell me the name of the photographer who took the last shot you saw in your local paper that made you say WOW!! What a shot! Can’t remember his name? Nobody will remember yours either.

What photographers charge for a single photo or an actual photo shoot, is an ongoing battle. Consumers feel that we, as photographers, charge way too much for a single print. Or that we charge way too much for this “simple” photo shoot. Well, after reading this, hopefully consumers (and whoever else reads this) will have a better understanding of why we charge so much… or should.

Photography, is art. No matter how you look at it, in the end, it is art. When taking a picture (lets stick with landscapes for now) of a beautiful mountain range with snow on the peaks and a gentle stream flowing towards you, there are multiple factors that have to be brought into consideration.

• Light: Light is THE major factor. Without it, there would be no photo. But it’s not that simple. When taking a photograph you can’t just look at the scene and take a simple picture. You have to factor in where the sun is, what time of day it is, how much light do you as the artist want to show in the photo. Will the sunlight overpower the entire scene, or will certain parts be blown out. There are a few techniques that you can use to avoid those “dangers.” But I wont cover those this time.
• Composition: Composition is what gives the photograph character. It’s what makes it interesting. You can make a fairly simple photograph interesting, if you have great composition.
• Rule of Thirds: The all mighty Rule of Thirds. This “rule” is pretty popular in the artistic world. It is a rule that lots of artist swear by and tell everyone they have to follow this, “sacred rule.” Well, I’m here to tell you, you don’t have to follow it. Rules are made to be broken. You can have a great photograph and not follow the rule of thirds.
• Time: Time is important in a couple scenarios. If you take the first example with the mountains and the stream, you’ll probably want to show the movement of the water. To show the movement of the water, you need to “slow down” time. You take a long exposure (while keeping in mind the light) to smooth out the water, which then shows the movement of the water. Or, if you want to take a timed exposure of traffic, stars, people in Grand Central Station, etc..

Those are just a few things that need to be brought into consideration when taking photographs, of landscapes. Portraits are an entirely different subject… for the most part. With portraits, getting the light just right is critical. Knowing how to pose the subjects so they don’t look completely awkward. You have to make sure you get the focus exact. If you have bad focus, the entire shot is… well shot.

Then, after the photographer is done with the photo shoot… he/she gets to download all the images into the computer, to start editing them. If done 100% correct at the shoot, editing shouldn’t take more than 5 min, max. But, no one is perfect, so it’s pretty hard to get a perfect photo the first time around. So there will be some editing that needs to be done. Ranging from just tweaking a couple things here and there, or getting more involved by changing out the backgrounds, a little plastic surgery, or fixing those wonderful blemishes.

I personally, have spent an hour on just one photo. What that has to say about me, I’m not sure… but let’s stay away from that for now. Haha! But, there has also been a few times (not as often as I’d like) where I only have to spend a couple minutes on a photo.

Example:

Note: The edits shown were not caused by the model. All errors were on my part, as the photographer.

So, with all that said, let me ask you one simple question. Would you ask Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci, or Marc Chagall to practically give away their work? No, of course not. Why? Because their work, is a work of art.

So what makes those artists any different then photographers? (Besides being famous and known world wide for their work) If both them and us, as photographers, are artists… why should we be expected to sell our work for so cheap?

And, if you are a photographer who is basically giving away your work… stop it. Why? That’s another post later on down the road when I feel like complaining about something.

Thanks for reading my extremely long and boring post.

Jeremy

Tags: Artists, Photographers, Pricing, Why do photographers charge so much?

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 2:53 AM and is filed under Business Crap, Random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.