It's a fact, everyone and their grandmother has a smartphone these days and the cameras are getting better and more affordable. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t love using my phone to capture everyday moments of my friends, family, cars, and shenanigans. I find that taking photos with my phone is a convenient way to help me remember the events in my every day life.
With this easy access to a camera at your finger tips, why hire a professional? In this post I’ll share with you why I value hiring a professional, as well as how I believe that I bring value to my clients.
SO WHAT ARE YOU PAYING FOR?
When you hire a professional photographer, you aren't just hiring someone with an expensive camera. You are hiring someone who knows how to make you, or whatever the subject is, look awesome. They use an artistic eye, they have an ability to put the subject at ease, and the technical skill to give you an image that everyone will notice. Artistic vision and the ability to “see” the image helps a photographer craft memorable images vs snapshots.
As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for” and paying for a professional photographer will bring you custom crafted images you’ll be proud to display and share for years to come.
Think of it this way – the next time you pay to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50. But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a professional to actually do the job.
TIME, EXPERTISE AND QUALITY
I could drag this post on for pages and give you countless reasons why you should hire a professional but it comes down to three crucial points - time, expertise and quality.
I am an on-location photographer, meaning that I go to my clients wherever they are. My session locations are all different, and to cater for varying environments I have invested thousands and thousands of dollars in professional equipment that allows me to navigate all types of conditions and scenarios - dimly lit spaces, really bright or harshly lit areas, etc.. And with better equipment comes better quality images.
What a lot of people don't see is just how much time goes into a shoot. There is a common misconception that photographers have all the time in the world at their disposal then just turn up, take a bunch of photos, go home and run them through a filter then send the bill.In reality what seems like a simple one hour photo shoot can typically involve around 4-5 hours from start to finish. This begins with an hour or so of planning, liaising with clients to outline their brief, planning shots, location, environment, lighting, and preparing the right equipment for the job. I need to get to and from the location, usually a couple of times to get familiar with the setting. Most local travel is absorbed in the cost of the shoot.
Once the photos are done you need the know how to handle them. On top of the time involved to import/export/back up the images, part of my value as a professional is my editing abilities. Yes, I know how to use Photoshop and utilise it for my clients’ final artwork, but I am talking about culling the best images to present to my clients. I would be doing them a disservice if I handed them a pile of images and told them to figure it out. A professional should use their years of experience to narrow down a reasonable number of images for their clients to make selections. Editing takes a lot of time and expertise, which is part of what I believe my clients deserve.
I believe there to be extreme value in being on the receiving end of an artist’s vision. We are all unique and have something different to bring to the table, and a professional photographer's job is to bring their vision and artistry to the photo shoot. It is important for me to collaborate with each of my clients, especially if they have their own vision, but ultimately it is up to me to bring my artistry to reality for each of my subjects. True professionals have trained their artistic eye to see and capture images creatively — to frame images with thoughtfulness and intentional consideration of composition, line, color, design, contrast, lighting, etc. They know when to press the shutter and choose that moment resulting in something very special that beautifully represents you and your loved ones.
All of the above reasons go back to quality. One analogy that works well here is cooking. Anyone can look through a cookbook, buy some ingredients, spend a bit of time in the kitchen, and end up with a meal that tastes pretty good. Professional chefs take the same ingredients and produce culinary creations that delight your taste buds and challenge your notions of consuming food. It’s not a matter of having the ingredients, but knowing just what to do with them in a way that no cookbook or YouTube video can explain. Experience counts with cooking, and it also matters with photography.
If you own a business and need a little more convincing, check out this great article: https://thehhub.com/2019/08/19/10-reasons-why-you-need-photography-for-your-business/