If you’re about to hire a photographer, remember that you usually get what you pay for. Choosing the lowest price often means compromising on quality.
When you hire a photographer, you’re investing in both the photographs and the person creating them. A photographer’s experience, technical skill, and ability to work with people have a direct impact on the final images. Great photos don’t happen by accident.
If one professional is saying they will do the work for $100 per hour and another is quoting you $200 per hour, your instinct shouldn’t immediately jump to the one offering the lowest price.
As an example, maybe the higher-priced solution has the learnings from a 20 year career vs. a 5 year career, to help you avoid more known pitfalls that you don’t even see coming. Or, they have helped 20 clients succeed in similar situations, vs. 2 clients succeed . . .
Fast and Cheap Strikes Again
Today I received an email from another Toronto company that was unhappy with the business portraits another photographer had delivered. They had paid $1,000 for 70 headshots. That’s about $14 per person.
The photographer finished the entire session in about two hours, according to this company. That works out to roughly 100 seconds per person.
The company was initially impressed by the low price and quick turnaround. Their enthusiasm disappeared when they saw the finished images. The bargain approach produced bargain results. To make matters worse, the photographer insisted on full payment before leaving the customer’s office.
The company sent me several images. The faces were much too dark, and the white background was blindingly bright. The main light was positioned so low, it cast odd shadows up the face. The photos were unusable. And, these were the “corrected” images the photographer delivered after the client complained about the first set of delivered photos.
I told the customer I could attempt to salvage the images with retouching at $40 per photo ($2,800 for all 70). But I couldn’t guarantee the results because the originals really required extensive correction. I also offered to reshoot everyone for $5,600 ($80 per person).
The company wasn’t sure what it would do next. They said they would seek a refund, even if it meant taking legal action against the photographer. (Added: apparently the photographer agreed to a free reshoot.)
Long-Term Value vs Short-Term Savings
The lesson is simple: hire the best photographer for your needs, not just the cheapest one. The goal is to create images that represent your business well, not simply to pay the lowest invoice.
The satisfaction of saving money fades quickly when you’re left with poor-quality photographs. Strong images continue to deliver value long after the invoice has been paid.
They will never get good photographs… it’s the problem in the mindset of the staff… the one who commission the photographer.
Ken, you are correct. It’s usually impossible to convert a $1,000 customer into a $5,000 customer. This is why a photographer makes a big mistake by pursuing low-paying customers and thinking that these customers will someday start paying more.
The company mentioned in this post said it has arranged for a free reshoot from the original photographer. So obviously this company doesn’t want to spend any more money. If you do the arithmetic, this photographer will end up doing 70 X 2 = 140 business headshots for $1,000 which works out to $7 per person.