PHOTO PRO TIPS

Coming up with a your creative fee for commercial photography can feel a little bit like voodoo magic. But, unlike stuffed dolls or shrimp gumbo which have material and labor costs built in, creativity is a service that’s value goes beyond time and cogs. By learning some things the hard way, I’ve come up with a few techniques that help me figure how much to charge. (more…)

It’s nice to get some perspective once in a while. The US Depart of Labor released new statistics about Photographers. It’s a great read to give you an idea of the market we’re in.

Here are some key points cited from the article: (more…)

I’ve been a Windows user for a long time now. At first, it was a cost issue. Mac’s are so much more expensive than PCs (you gotta pay for all that marketing ). Then it just became habit. I prefer the Window’s interface over Apple’s. I like the right-click, ALT keying through menus, and having an application background. I used a Mac for a year at a part time job and I practically got carpel tunnel syndrome from clicking everything. Plus that thing would crash all the time.

Anyway, I recently upgraded my PC from 4GB to 8GB of RAM. What I didn’t realize when I did this was that I would need to run a 64 bit OS in order to take advantage of the extra 4GB of RAM. I was running XP Pro and was holding off on the Vista upgrade because I heard of so many issues. This seemed like a good excuse to make the leap.

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I don’t mean to brag, but Oregon is probably the best place to do a location photo shoot. I would say even better than California, unless you’re shooting models in bikinis and board shorts (the beaches are a little chilly here). I originally moved here for personal reasons; mostly looking a change of pace from the East Coast. But after living here for a couple years, I realized how fortunate I was to find a photographer’s dreamland.

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One of the most challenging parts of being a commercial photographer is the estimate. It such an essential skill that has taken me years to get figured out (and I still make improvements every time I do one). One of my biggest stumbling blocks was the Usage Language. Usage is how you assign your creative fee. The more usage, the more it costs. But there are so many ways to describe the same types of usage. And so many different photographers and reps use different variations of Usage Language that I imagine it’s it’s hard for a buyer/client to compare one estimate from another. I think I’ve lost a couple jobs because of this discrepancy.

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Lately, there’s been a lot of blog chatter about the finer points of selling microstock and how it’s a good idea. Well I, for one, want to start some chatter about how much of a bad idea it is.

Here’s a quote from a recent post at Photoprenuer.com.

“Take a Little Extra with Microstock
If the idea of spending your spare time drinking Champagne and eating salmon or chicken doesn’t thrill, then microstock could be a good alternative.

We talk about microstock a lot here because it’s an easy way to make your first image sale. Remember though that to get the multiple downloads and permanent customer base that top microstock photographers rely on, you need to shoot commercial images that sell, not offer your top artistic shots and hope someone will buy them because they’re nice.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that you can shoot microstock whenever you want. While top-earning microstock photographers shoot full-time, you can generate some useful extra income by shooting at the weekends and editing and uploading in the evenings.”

The whole mentality that you should sell your photos for less than a fair value simply because your a part time shooter is seriously flawed. Microstock is an awful business model. By selling your photos on sites like this, not only are you devaluing photography prices in general, but you are losing money every time you sell a photograph for way under what it cost you to make it.

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