They take a ton of photos, then they’ve got a load of pics precious to the customer. It’s like the customers giving the photographer an emotive gun to put to his head.

Unless the customer is utterly loaded they end up with a disappointingly small number of pics for about £200 and a few dozen pics end up deleted because nobody is gonna spend a couple of months mortgage on buying the lot.

Seems a needless waste and leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

I think what’s required is up front negotiation before the emotive pics even exist but the wife’s not organised enough for that.

I’m not blaming anyone except myself, just felt the need to let of steam.

imagine how cross they are at people like you – you should have known the prices before turning up and using their time, expertise and maybe facilities to get some good shots and now you bleat about the cost ?

(I’ve done it too, but at least I knew I was going to be shafted
… and I blame my wife 😀 )

A couple of years back we won a family session with a portrait photographer in the local paper. However, on the day he forgot that it was a freebie.

He almost shit with disappointment when we handed over the letter that he had sent to us.

Nice enough pictures, but not worth a couple of hundred quid.

You… had a photo shoot and are shocked that you now have to pay for half a day’s work? Did you not know prices beforehand? What am I missing here?

Do you mean that you might as well have all the photos for free because they’ve been taken? The thing is, a good amount of time-consuming post-processing will go into every ‘production’ shot, and I doubt any photographer will want you flashing around inferior examples of their work which is just raw data out of the camera, potentially devaluing their brand.

Yeah, I fully accept I’m the dick in all this.

I’m glad that portrait photographers earn a living, hell I wish everyone could earn a great living, but it is a bit scammy, a lot of the photographers do the you’ve won a free session, woooo, ok fair enough, but then charge a colossal amount for the photos, my old dear got done for £300 for 10 admittedly pretty good digital photos. It’s like the internet, only £1.99 for broadband, £18, line rental. Or the pricing of budget airline tickets.

“imagine how cross they are at people like you – you should have known the prices before turning up and using their time, expertise and maybe facilities to get some good shots and now you bleat about the cost ?
(I’ve done it too, but at least I knew I was going to be shafted
… and I blame my wife )”

He’s going to end up loving me, I fear. 🙁

I think a lot of photographers have outdated business models. They have a cheapish fee for the shoot, then try and make money by selling prints afterwards. Except no one wants to buy prints any more.

Better to agree a fee beforehand, including a specified number of photos, as high resolution digital files. Then you can share them online, or make any prints you want yourself.

They take a ton of photos, then they’ve got a load of pics precious to the customer. It’s like the customers giving the photographer an emotive gun to put to his head.

what makes them precious? Memories? “Oh wow honey, you remember when we posed for a photo 5 minutes ago? That was a special time”

Give me a poorly composed spur of the moment shot that captures some real memories any day. (Plus you don’t have to moan about paying the photographer as he/she’s not trying to scrape a living!)

“I’m glad that portrait photographers earn a living, hell I wish everyone could earn a great living, but it is a bit scammy, a lot of the photographers do the you’ve won a free session, woooo, ok fair enough, but then charge a colossal amount for the photos, my old dear got done for £300 for 10 admittedly pretty good digital photos. It’s like the internet, only £1.99 for broadband, £18, line rental. Or the pricing of budget airline tickets.”

Yeah, in this case a family member bought us the session as a present for £60. But what that’s really done is to commit me at least to a further £140 to get 6 jpegs. …and probably a row with the wife who perceives anything less than £700 for the jpegs of the lot as somehow betraying our kids.

Again I’m sure if we’d done the deal upfront we’d have got every decent shot he got for £150 but I didn’t think of it.

I have a DSLR and a reasonable lense. I can’t help but think that a decent book on composition and a half day taking a lot of images would give equally good results.

“what makes them precious? Memories? “Oh wow honey, you remember when we posed for a photo 5 minutes ago? That was a special time”
Give me a poorly composed spur of the moment shot that captures some real memories any day. (Plus you don’t have to moan about paying the photographer as he/she’s not trying to scrape a living!)”

Agree. (but the Wife doesn’t.)

I have a DSLR and a reasonable lense. I can’t help but think that a decent book on composition and a half day taking a lot of images would give equally good results.

I agree, do it.

outofbreath

I have a DSLR and a reasonable lense. I can’t help but think that a decent book on composition and a half day taking a lot of images would give equally good results.

Please post your pics and the professional’s pics for us to compare when you do.

“I think a lot of photographers have outdated business models. They have a cheapish fee for the shoot, then try and make money by selling prints afterwards. Except no one wants to buy prints any more.
Better to agree a fee beforehand, including a specified number of photos, as high resolution digital files. Then you can share them online, or make any prints you want yourself”

This.

We did it for our wedding, worked a treat.

If it was so easy, everyone would be turning out quality images.
They’re not.

I have a DSLR and a reasonable lense. I can’t help but think that a decent book on composition and a half day taking a lot of images would give equally good results

what is a lense?

Please post your pics and the professional’s pics for us to compare when you do.

That wouldn’t tell you anything. A photo brings back memories. Being reminded you paid a fortune for a photo of your wife wearing too much makeup isn’t a good memory.

ISTM it’s your wife who is the problem, not the professional photographer 😈

I think a lot of photographers have outdated business models. They have a cheapish fee for the shoot, then try and make money by selling prints afterwards. Except no one wants to buy prints any more.

Better to agree a fee beforehand, including a specified number of photos, as high resolution digital files. Then you can share them online, or make any prints you want yourself.

The problem with that is it’s still not doing their images and thus brand any favours.

The processing for a 300×300 facebook profile pic is different to a 1080×1920 desktop,is different to a small print, is different to an A3 print, is different to printing on canvas.

You can’t just take .jpg’s out the camera and hit print. Similarly even the best photographer in the world can’t process the raw files into a format that will look good irrespective of the medium it’s printed onto. OK, so they’ve probably got all their presets saved in lightroom/ACDSee and can make it look like it’s coming straight from the camera to a printer with little work, but that’s like saying an LBS should service your bike at less than cost because they’ve already got the tools.

That wouldn’t tell you anything. A photo brings back memories. Being reminded you paid a fortune for a photo of your wife wearing too much makeup isn’t a good memory.

Equally a photo can just look good and be of a subject matter you/I like. That’s why the magazine is full of them (usually of bikes in the countryside, not your wife).

Equally a photo can just look good and be of a subject matter you/I like. That’s why the magazine is full of them (usually of bikes in the countryside, not your wife).

I wouldn’t put one of those on the wall either 😉

“That wouldn’t tell you anything”

This.

I strongly suspect JimJam would much rather have an amateur picture of a landscape taken by me than a professional picture *of* me.

“ISTM it’s your wife who is the problem, not the professional photographer”

Yup, the whole business model seems to be set up with that in mind.

Christmas is coming and I think I’ve thought of the perfect gift for you to give your wife

Yup. Get her a hot girlfriend.

“Yup. Get her a hot girlfriend.”

Should I take intimate photos of them together myself or get a professional to do it?

Being reminded you paid a fortune for a photo of your wife wearing too much makeup isn’t a good memory.

Exactly this, and also lol 😆

5thElefant

Please post your pics and the professional’s pics for us to compare when you do.

That wouldn’t tell you anything. [/quote]

Yes it would. The OP basically implied that he could deliver results as good as a professional photographer because he owned an SLR and a lens. Flick through a book, half a days practice, bish bash bosh – professional photographer. How many other professions do you think you could swap for photographer there without it being completely absurd?

A photo brings back memories.

That’s not the point. You can make object comparisons. Professional photographers are, by and large better than us at taking pictures. Given the same subject matter, they will produce better results.

The issue being that they don’t get the same subject matter. I suppose it depends how precious time spent in a photography studio is.

“what makes them precious? Memories? “Oh wow honey, you remember when we posed for a photo 5 minutes ago? That was a special time”

Aaah yeah. Remember that time 5 minutes ago . . .? good times man. good times.

That’s not the point. You can make object comparisons. Professional photographers are, by and large better than us at taking pictures. Given the same subject matter, they will produce better results.

You’re forgetting about Photoshop. Any Tom, Dick or Harriette can take a photo on their megapixel camera, throw the RAW file through Photoshop and bosh! They’ve got a photo that’s comparable to a pro. They don’t need to understand either the environment or the equipment, Photshop will do it all for them.

I did actually. Doh 😳

That’s not the point. You can make object comparisons. Professional photographers are, by and large better than us at taking pictures. Given the same subject matter, they will produce better results.

Only in specific cases. I’m not a professional typist but it makes any odds.

Professional photography mostly existed because of technical and cost barriers that have long since gone.

They’ve got a photo that’s comparable to a pro.

Dream on….

Dream on….

I never said positive comparison. 😉

You’re forgetting about Photoshop. Any Tom, Dick or Harriette can take a photo on their megapixel camera, throw the RAW file through Photoshop and bosh! They’ve got a photo that’s comparable to a pro. They don’t need to understand either the environment or the equipment, Photshop will do it all for them.

And Poe’s law has been achieved.

Better to agree a fee beforehand, including a specified number of photos, as high resolution digital files. Then you can share them online, or make any prints you want yourself”

This.

We did it for our wedding, worked a treat. The model works though because for a wedding you might agree on:
Their time for the day
An album x pages long containing y images
10x 6×8 prints for family
1x A3 print to hang in the hallway.

So they can price that up. And people will pay it in advance because they only have (hopefully) 1 wedding.

Portraits are different because you might not like the images once they’re taken, but you still have your baby/dog/wife so can go elsewhere and have more taken. So the photographer has to sell you a couple of hours of his time as that’s all people will commit to, then sell them the images on top if they like them (which it’s the ‘togs any good they should do).

5thElefant

Only in specific cases.

No, in every case. Unless you happen to be watching the Gadget show or some guff.

I’m not a professional typist but it makes any odds.

Absolutely no idea what this means.

Professional photography mostly existed because of technical and cost barriers that have long since gone.

Could you direct me to a website or magazine (inevitable porn comment incomining) that’s populated entirely by amateur phone pics and compare with one which uses the work of professionals?

I took this photo in my back garden… put it through photoshop and…..

….voila!

Only in specific cases. I’m not a professional typist but it makes any odds.
Professional photography mostly existed because of technical and cost barriers that have long since gone.

I don’t know about that..

Professional photography mostly existed because of technical and cost barriers that have long since gone.

Rubbish, a film SLR cost a fraction of what a DSLR does now.

In fact without DIY post processing, my £20 film SLR produces the better images (because someone at the printers is doing the post processing).

Anyone need any heart bypasses doing? I’m not a surgeon, but I’ve got a scalpel from the craft shop, a GCSE in needlecraft and I’ve watched Casualty. Bosh.