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Don't be a tightarse OP you could buy a photo or a 12 pack of bog roll, the choice is yours.
it's alright i think if you are going to put it in a frame or get a big canvas printed up to put on your wall or something like that
Oooh, even better, get mugs and keyrings made and give them to the relatives at christmas
Bloody hell I've done loads of type of photo gigs but I'm glad I never tried to make money out of you lot 😀
At equestrian events we used to charge £10.00 - £15.00 or a 9x6 Print in a slip in frame.
Some times we made no money sometimes we made a bit, taking into account travel, staff insurance, kit you have to sell A LOT of prints to make any real money to be honest.
I did start to look into biking events once but looking at the OP glad I did not bother. 🙂
Thing is, persuading someone to spend any money at all is the hard bit. But if someone's willing to pay £4 they'll probably pay the extra £2.
Prices in UK are far better than those in Europe. Looking at twice, three times as much at Alpine events, and they're not always that amazing photos.
As a very amateur photographer I know how devalued the business is now. Had an approach for stock air show shots to use by the company that ran it for flyers, and as an amateur I looked up typical prices (around £100 at least for the usage they wanted), and thought to get started I'd price at a fraction of that, more around £25 with door open to negotiating lower. Never heard back and then they stole the photos. Despite my efforts other than taking them to court, no money. Okay it was nice seeing photos in print but it was theft.
Since then I get approaches on Flickr for using my photos, "sorry, we can't afford to pay but you get your photo in print", yeah, screw that. That's how much businesses are prepared to pay, i.e. nothing. Average consumer wants to pay nothing really also.
So I appreciate the charges as a photographer, but I'm conflicted as a consumer that event photos with thousands shot of meh quality are charged so much.
>jimjam
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I think I'll start offering a £3:99 retouch service. Send me the watermarked pic of you bimbling a sportive or doing a walk of shame on a little hill and I'll remove the watermark and make you look fabulous for your mousemat/key fob/desk calendar
I've bought a few, for a really good shot it's a bargain imo, I've got pictures I'll probably be showing the grandkids. Then again, my favourite riding shot is a selfie still I pulled from a gopro video, it's my desktop 😆
Roots and Rain is a bloody brilliant resource- I'd have bought a lot more pics but I don't have the patience to go through a thousand unsorted pics. I don't resent spending £6 or whatever though.
I think I'll start offering a £3:99 retouch service. Send me the watermarked pic of you bimbling a sportive or doing a walk of shame on a little hill and I'll remove the watermark and make you look fabulous for your mousemat/key fob/desk calendar
Could you just photoshop me onto a bike?
Approach it from the angle of de-constructing the base costs for producing the pic >>
Time spent at an event with the number of photos taken and edited (easy with digital but post prod takes some time) + cost of travel to said event + depreciation on equipment + website running costs + card transaction fees then divided by the subset of riders who purchase the pics, I'd guess 1 in 10 is prob a generous ratio, add in the usual taxes and business running costs, nat insurance, pension, bit of fat to cover having some time off from the business to have some hols in the year and so on. All of a sudden the price starts to look cheap.
Not a pro, but do teach Photography so have some vague idea.
More than happy to pay up to a tenner for a decent res download as a memento of an event or a day's riding at somewhere like BPW, Antur or Chicksands.
As has been said, bit of a bargain considering time, gear, hosting, etc.
I personally wouldn't pay it.
Photos taken from the outside looking in don't intrest me. I can't relate to them.
I absolutely love having a decent picture from an event, and will happily pay quite a lot for a good 'un.
I've also been known to buy pictures of other people for them, as the practice of linking a water-marked picture on Facebook annoys me. Event photographers have to make some kind of living: if you like the picture enough to show your mates, just pay the price of an inner-tube for it already....
Photos taken from the outside looking in don't intrest me. I can't relate to them.
I've read this 3 or 4 times now and I still have no idea what your on about?
Incidentally, for any of the photographers reading:
I would pay quite a large amount for imaginative and amazeballs photoshop work with a race photo.
If jimjam's awesome piccy up there ^^^^^ was me, if he could get rid of the spectators and add some pterodactyls, or dark thunder-clouds and lightning and a massive dust-cloud to indicate my speed and awesomeness, I'd cheerfully cough up GBP40 for a hi-res digital file.
If anyone is up for this, email me: I've got a nice-ish one from last year to play with....
😀
Photos taken from the outside looking in don't intrest me. I can't relate to them.
I've read this 3 or 4 times now and I still have no idea what your on about?
He bought the pictures from his colonoscopy. 😉
like this BigDummy?
http://twistedsifter.com/2015/05/can-someone-photoshop-the-eiffel-tower-under-my-finger/
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Almost any picture can be improved by adding more pterodactyls.
😉
I don't buy many images these days, but after Roc Ardennes I bought a set of about 12 for 20 euros. High res, decent images. They even came with a map to show where each one was taken. As this is such good value, loads of people buy them and so they make decent money...
I haven't bought a cycling image but I'd certainly pay for something like that enduro one, with or without pterodactlys. I think there are two issues with cycling ones, firstly a lot of the xc ones don't exactly look spectacular so once you've seen one photo of you slogging along some flat singletrack you've seen them all, I'd be much more keen to buy if the photo was on an a-line making it look difficult! Secondly so many get uploaded onto facebook to look at for free which reduces the percieved value.
Running event yesterday. £19.95 for one image; seemed a little pricey...
£10 for 3 pics from the QE Enduro. Only time anyone has ever made me look decent on a bike, so I paid him a tenner. Wish I'd had my tongue in my gob though.
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If it's their job/business I think paying a bit is ok.
If they're a hobbyist, like me, they should be free. I let parents download the rugby ones I take for nothing.
I buy pics at £6ish and TBH I don't really care all that much how 'good' they are - they're not for other people, they're for me and act as a memory jog - when I look through old pics, the pic is enough to remind me of the days/event/whatever and I don't particularly need it to be good for that.
Of course, if they do have pterodactyls or make me somehow look gnarcore then I'm not going to complain about that.
I quite like this one though - CX radness 🙂
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one of my favourites
[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8529/8589132546_002854ed0f_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8529/8589132546_002854ed0f_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/e5ZxSb ]Stonefly, Mt Buller (Stage 1 Bike Buller)[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikewsmith/ ]Mike Smith[/url], on Flickr
I think £poorly-octopus is a good price for a pic. IIRC it was about £10 for one from Antur and £2.99 from BPW.
I'd happily pay £10 for a decent pic of me somewhere I'd never get a photo of me riding normally..it all adds to the day I think
Interesting range of views skimming this thread.
I tend to view Event's photographers as being in a similar category to most of the people taking part in a race; enthusiasts doing what they love for personal enjoyment rather than financial gain. I don't think the vast majority expect to turn a profit for their weekend's work, TBH if they did then they'd be snapping Weddings instead.
Are the prices fair? Who knows I tend to look at the shots, decide that I might like the pic' but I'm not really that bothered and just leave it. I'm sure if I was further up the results I might fancy a picture and the prices I tend to see would be acceptable to me then.
I don't think they're taking the piss at all, it's a completely discretionary purchase at the end of the day...
I have some excellent race photos,considering how much photoshopping they needed to make me look good,I think they are worth every penny.
My brother paid £40 for a couple of photos and a video of him crossing the line at a marathon, and didn't think it too expensive...
I think the point though was more "maybe you'd make more money by selling more, for less". I suspect round here, if you started selling photos for £3 Ian Linton would put a horse's head in your bed though.
if you started selling photos for £3 Ian Linton would put a horse's head in your bed though
that's what pisses me off about photographers, its none of any ones business what you charge.
Surely Ian Linton wouldn't be fussed if others sold pictures at £3 as his are usually far superior pictures and well worth the money in my opinion.
Some of the conditions the photogs sit out in all day and the kit they risk wrecking means I'm usually happy to pay a few pounds for a decent picture. For the photogs who take multiple pictures of each rider perhaps a 'volume discount' could be a nice touch.
At the end of the day, at events you're £30-£60 entry, tank of fuel for travel, accommodation, multiple thousand pounds bike. If there's a picture which captures your good side and reminds you of a good weekend I don't think £6 is unreasonable.
cookeaaInteresting range of views skimming this thread.
I tend to view Event's photographers as being in a similar category to most of the people taking part in a race; enthusiasts doing what they love for personal enjoyment rather than financial gain. I don't think the vast majority expect to turn a profit for their weekend's work, TBH if they did then they'd be snapping Weddings instead.
Yes, but just like the competitors there will be some who are there just for a laugh, and others who take things rather more seriously. Whilst it's true that there's not much money to be made, that doesn't mean quality shouldn't be rewarded. The old "you love it, so why should I pay you a decent wage" excuse is one that a lot of people who've been to art college or do anything creative will have heard a lot, and quickly learned as an indicator that someone is a **** and best avoided.
poah - Memberif you started selling photos for £3 Ian Linton would put a horse's head in your bed though
that's what pisses me off about photographers, its none of any ones business what you charge.
I think you'll find that most people who are self employed professionals take a dim view of being undercut by cowboys/enthusiastic amateurs etc etc, not just photographers.
jemima - MemberSurely Ian Linton wouldn't be fussed if others sold pictures at £3 as his are usually far superior pictures and well worth the money in my opinion.
I think so- I probably have more of his than anyone else's- but there'll always be people who think it's a bargain to pay half as much for a job a tenth as good. And in a small market that's trouble for the people who do a good job.
I think you'll find that most people who are self employed professionals take a dim view of being undercut by cowboys/enthusiastic amateurs etc etc, not just photographers.
and? my feelings are the same. when I was a self employed photographer I couldn't careless what other people were charging. Never understood why others would get so worked up about it what with it being a free market.
The old "you love it, so why should I pay you a decent wage" excuse is one that a lot of people who've been to art college or do anything creative will have heard a lot, and quickly learned as an indicator that someone is a **** and best avoided.
which is why it’s best to avoid selling to the general public, they generally want everything for nothing, at least with B2B you are less likely to offend more likely to be paid a proper rate and more likely to avoid idiots (though not always)
I think you'll find that most people who are self employed professionals take a dim view of being undercut by cowboys/enthusiastic amateurs etc etc, not just photographers.
the tools are readily available and lets face it event photography isn’t exactly difficult, which is why so many dabble in it. the fiscal rewards reflect the market (tight fisted public) and the skill level. cant really take a ‘dim view’ on somebody taking their DSLR are shooting an event if they produce decent enough results. if that erodes your business offer better quality or change your business.
Just looked at how much they are charging for the Whistler Bike Park photos.
$25 CAD, so quite a bit. £6 is less than half that.
If I had known he was there and styled up the jump a bit, I might have gone for it.
As it is, the only think you can see is my tongue 🙂
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Pretty sure all those photographers have a better grasp of their market than the consumers saying "It should be cheaper!"
They work at volume with a low hit rate for sales. £6 is cheap compared to most I've seen, and if you wanted to hire a photographer for anything, at a fair rate it'll work out a lot more than that per good image.
If its a decent picture of you doing something you enjoy why wouldn't you pay £6 for it.
I paid £10 for a high res image of me at the GT7 - it was a good picture.
Anyone who thinks that this is ruthless profiteering is welcome to either set up business as an event photographer or not buy the picture in the first place
If it was too expensive, people wouldn't buy them and the photographers would spend all day in a muddy field for nothing.
Is this a joke, six quid?
I thought it was going to be £50 or something of that magnitude.
I suppose you could spend it on a pint of lager and packet of pork scratchings instead.
This place makes me laugh sometimes.
£6-£10 for a high-res download is fine by me, it is a nice keepsake and doesn't cost much more than a few energy products or a Maccy-Ds on the way home..
I assume all of you moaning about the cost don't regularly get caught for school photos at £15-£20 a time for a digital file??
Cost and value. The photographs I have from whislter are priceless in my opinion.
Why don't you lot stop being so nasty? I think it is a fair question.
I think we'd all pay £50 for a really top photo of us looking well rad. But what about when we do events regularly and the photos are so-so?
I put a huge amount of time and effort into writing a blog (plug: [url= http://29gears.blogspot.co.uk ]29gears.blogspot.co.uk[/url]) and it's always nice to have some photos to accompany the words. I do it for fun, for people's entertainment, to help promote the events and the sport, and fair play most photographers will give me free low-res photos for it, knowing they get a little extra exposure and that if they do occasionally catch me in just the right light I'll buy one at the going rate. But some don't - they still want £30 for a couple of tiny shit photos. Which is their right, but it makes no sense to me. Why aren't they willing to haggle on the shots that aren't so great?
£6 is a bargain, and I am not a photographer. I own a few race photos, because I did a lot of races. I would pay up to £15 without quibble, maybe more.
A firm called Sportograf did the No Fuss event photos for a while and their business method was pretty good- £20 for every jpeg they took of you during the event. Most would only buy one photo at a tenner but more would buy lots of photos for £20. They had around three photographers though.
I was at Antur Stiniog on Saturday, bought 2 photos of me at £8.95 each, if they'd been cheaper or offered bulk discount I probably would have bought the other photos of me too.
I don't feel it was too expensive, they're decent photos which make me look like I can actually ride a bike!