PHOTOGRAPHERS -- Here's How to Rip off Your Clients!
Posted: Friday, February 15, 2008
by Dan Eitreim
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While surfing the Web today, I ran across a blog post with the title... I Hate Photoshop! It really could have said -- How My Photographer Is Ripping Me off!
Her hating Photoshop made for an interesting title so I decided to go ahead and read the post.
The article was written, it turns out, by a bride who had hired a photographer for her wedding. She'd used him for four or five hours (her words, she wasn't exactly sure how long.)
So, she wound up with all the negatives.
She had no retouching software, so she'd kept the negatives for quite a while. She didn't say how long. Finally she got a copy of Photoshop, and was now "retouching" over 500 black-and-white images. It turns out the photographer had shot half of the images in black and white and half in color. So I guess she had another 500 left to retouch after the black-and-white images were finished.
Gee... I have to wonder how good this photographer really is if the bride had to retouch all 500 of them! Fortunately for her, she got the Photoshop software as a Christmas gift, so the $600 + price tag isn't why she hated the software! She never said anything about the steep learning curve, or the costs for printer ink photo paper and so on... The reason she "hates" Photoshop is because of the boredom involved in retouching 500 photos!
But, at least in her mind, she wasn't "scammed" by some photographer! No, she wasn't scammed by a photographer who had actually paid the $600 for the software, rode the steep learning curve to figure out how to use it, took the time to retouch all 500 photos, edit out the bad ones, and paid for the cost to print them, and took the time to compile them into an album. (We won't bother to even mention the cost of the equipment, training, and all the other miscellaneous details that go into creating a wedding photo session in the first place.)
Photographers who actually want to charge a fair price for their work, consider it their inventory -- and not give it away for free -- are a real scam! (Yes, I'm being facetious.)
Consider this, how many brides never actually get a wedding album, because they are trying to save a couple bucks and "print them themselves"? But never seem to get around to actually doing it? How many brides DO get an album -- but it's a lousy one, simply because they don't have the $600 piece of software needed to retouch the photos? Or, don't want to take the time or have the knowledge to actually do all the work?
We, as professional photographers, know or least we should know the amount of work and effort involved in creating a beautiful wedding album -- or the hardcover books that are popular these days. We know that brides will very rarely, if ever put in the work involved to do the job right. We know they'll end up with either no album or a substandard one at best.
Who really is getting ripped off? When you take the easy way out and give them the negatives or a CD, or whatever, you truly are ripping them off. You know they'll never be able to see the album the way it should be seen or enjoy it away should be enjoyed. You've cheated them. And what's worse, they'll never even know!
You've cheated yourself too, by the way! Their friends and relatives are never going to see your work the way it should be seen. Your reputation and future bookings are in the hands of an amateur who "hates Photoshop".
Is that what you want? I don't. Stand your ground, and charge for your work. Everyone will be better off because of it.
Feel free to reprint or republish this article as long as it remains intact and unchanged. Including the author bio box.
Dan Eitreim is the founder of PartTimePhotography.com, a web-site and newsletter devoted to teaching YOU how to sell YOUR OWN photography. He says that he can teach ANYONE how to start earning a Part Time photo income in as little as 2 weeks. Go to: http://www.PartTimePhotography.com or http://www.FreelancePromo.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Dan, Excellent article. People are always looking for shortcuts and end up short-changing themselves in the process.
I don't agree, paying for a shoot an the pictures developed is a scam. Sorry to say that. First of all the picture has to be taken professionall in the first place, so complicated re-touching later on isn't necesary just a style option. This option should be paid extra, as it is extra work for the photographer. But for the 50 relatives, asking for the wedding pictures, the plain photo CD without bells and whistles should be avaialbe, free of charge.
Excellent article Dan... Even 3 years later it's very relevant.
As for the comment left from the Groom in GA... Pictures don't HAVE to be taken professionally. You can hand the camera to Uncle Harry and let him have a go at it. As far as retouching being a "style option", you've obviously never had a bride that broke out in hives and not wanting them seen in her pics... OR a wayward child straying from mom whose head just barely gets in the PERFECT shot of the bride and groom... OR EVEN, lipstick on the groom's collar that just HAS to be removed from all shots because he doesn't have an extra shirt and it only smeared when they tried to get it off. Besides, the "paying for the shoot" money is for the photographer's time and artistry. If you think that there isn't artistry in shooting a wedding... then like I said... call Uncle Harry... He'll do it for free.
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