I know, I’ve checked the discount bin. But I want this one.”

I personally identify most with the restaurant sketch. This kind of thing really does happen much more often than you would expect. As with everything in life, you generally get what you pay for. Why clients think that creatives are more likely to just drop their price for no reason than any other commercial business really is beyond me.

I’m a photographer. Its my job. I’m good at it. Its how I pay my mortgage.

“When to Use Assignment Photography is designed to help corporate communications departments, corporate marketers, advertising and public relations agencies, Web design firms, and other photography clients assess when to use corporate assignment photography rather than stock or other options.”

You can download the 50 page e-book in PDF format here – (Download). Its well worth a read.

Its the same in the world of professional photography.

Shooting the pictures is just one step in the process of getting the image from the digital camera and into print. Here is the post-production workflow that I carry out on ALL of the shoots I do. Note that this doesn’t include things like high-end retouching, CMYK conversion, compositing etc. This is just the standard list of things which must be done with the digital image files after the shoot is complete.

1. Take the memory cards and copy the image files onto the computer.
2. Make another copy of those files in a different location as a backup before starting work.
3. Batch caption the entire shoot with generic information to enable the pictures to be found again at a later date.
4. Work through the entire shoot, editing down to the final selection for further processing.
5. Once the final selects have been made, add additional detail to the captions for individual images where necessary.
6. Take each selected image and make adjustments to cropping, sharpening, exposure, white balance, colour etc.
7. Check each image at 100% magnification for digital dust spots and remove them.
8. Backup the finished images.
9. Take the final, adjusted, captioned images and convert them from the camera’s RAW format into either a TIF or a JPEG of the correct size, for delivery to the client.
10. Deliver the finished images to the client via FTP, email, web gallery or DVD.
11. Upload the finished images to offsite storage system.
12. Reformat memory cards ready for re-use.

As you can see, there is plenty of work to be done by the photographer once the shoot is complete. This work comes under the heading of “post production”. Some photographers will split it up into items like “digital capture”, “file processing”, “digital delivery” etc.. The work requires a level of skill and experience to do well and also requires expensive computer equipment and software. All of this time and equipment must be paid for and the cost of this will either be quoted separately as a “post production fee” or will be taken into account at the quoting stage and rolled into an all-in price.

Some clients will insist that this work is not necessary and that they will not pay for it. Well, the work is only necessary if you want to receive a professional service and a professional end-product. If you just want the photographer to dump all his RAW images files on a DVD for you to deal with then no, I suppose its not necessary. But, trust me, that’s a bad idea unless you REALLY know what you’re doing.

From their introduction :

“What is copyright? How do I protect my work? What do I do if someone asks to use my photographs? What can I do if someone uses them without asking? Why should I even care?

All these questions and more are answered here in a simple and straightforward manner and with the focus on UK law.” 

and a sample from the FAQ section :

“Does copyright apply on the web?

Yes, absolutely. The web is no different from any other publishing medium.

Virtually anything you can see will have been created by someone and they will automatically own the copyright. They do not need to make a copyright statement, copyright is implicit. So you should start from the assumption that everything is copyright unless and until you can establish otherwise.”

Look at it this way – everyone else is already thinking the same thing, but most companies will decide to cut back on their budget for commissioning photography, either by hiring cheaper photographers, or by trying to do it themselves with the office camera.

The first option seems attractive – find someone cheaper. There’s a massive oversupply of photographers in the market these days and you will always be able to find someone cheaper than the last quote. But how cheap do you go before quality suffers?

And that’s the reason why the second option – DIY photography by the person with the office digicam – is also a bad idea. Quality is paramount, and here’s why…

If all your competitors are cutting back on photography budgets, then that’s precisely the time when you can make your photography, and therefore your marketing and promotional materials, stand out from the crowd of mediocre (or just plain bad) attempts that everyone else is making.

Take press releases as an example. I shoot a lot of photography intended for release to local and national newspapers and magazines as a press handout. Publications are inundated with press handouts and, at a time when those publications themselves are struggling financially, a good press handout is going to find its way onto a page – its free content. Publications love free content. But even the most hard up newspaper is going to look at the press handouts they have available and publish the one with the best, most interesting, most eyecatching picture. You win – your release gets published, and your competitor who tried to DIY the pictures, got their release filed in the bin. Or at the very least, published smaller and without a picture.

The same holds true for corporate publications, annual reports, brochures and web sites. If you’re trying to get noticed in a sea of other competitors, fighting for the same eyeballs, make your stuff look better than all the others and the eyeballs are yours. High quality photography and production of your material will get you noticed, which is half the battle.

How many times have you seen an advert, PR photo, brochure or website and thought to yourself that it just didn’t look very good? A bit boring? Badly executed? Even blurry and underexposed? Well, other people are probably thinking exactly the same.

So, if a pictures says a thousand words, what do you want those words to say about your company?

I would agree with every one of these points and I think this is just as relevant as a list for clients to keep in mind when commissioning as it is for photographers when working.

An excerpt:

“Honestly speaking, it is the photographers who make our websites beautiful. Sure, our designs make a difference but it is often the quality of the photos that really make the site pop off the screen. Sadly, however, it is not just your amazing photos that dictate how successful your career is. It is also important to look nice, talk politely and so on. If you remember this other (boring business) stuff I am sure you will go far.”

Read the rest here :

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/tips-for-photographers-for-working-with-web-designers/

I’m not sure I fully understand the whole connections/invites/inmail/introduction etc. system but I’m going to give it a go…

Anyway my profile is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/simonridgwayphoto so take a look, and if you want to link up, let me know.

If only these companies knew how many meetings I’d sat in on where the first question after a story (or product) is pitched was “what does it look like” and then depending on what “it” looks like the story is either made or not. Get a clue people, the better the photography, the more coverage you will receive in magazines. In general this translates to spending more on photography.

Read the rest here.

There’s a distinct lack of options when it comes to Mac accounting packages. I used to use Quickbooks back when I was a PC user but they don’t make a Mac version that works in the UK. Huh? Plus I don’t like the way the company works. MYOB is another option but its not pretty and I didn’t really get on with it. Also, neither of these packages know what the HMRC Flat Rate System is for VAT.

I started looking for a way to do my accounts on both my main studio machine and my Powerbook. This led me to look at online options and eventually came across Kashflow. I can’t believe I’d never seen it before. Its almost perfect.

It works through any web browser, is a UK based company that understands VAT and crucially the Flat Rate System of VAT, and is very easy to use. Obviously it costs money – you pay a monthly fee for the system but you don’t have to worry about upgrade costs, backups, multiple computer licences etc.

It handles client records, sales invoices, VAT returns, overdue payments and produces lots of different reports to help you keep track of your money.

Take a look at it at kashflow.co.uk.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I get a small affiliate payment from this link, but this is the only service I’ve ever liked enough to sign up for the affiliate program).

Highly recommended.