hiring a photographer

Cheap Is Not A Bargain

If you wear eyeglasses, this is how your business portrait should look. No reflections on the lenses, no greenish blotches from the anti-glare coating on the lenses, no lens refraction on the sides of the face, minimal shadows caused by the frames, both eyes fully visible, the whites of the eyes are white, good colour in both irises, and nice catchlights in both eyes.

Many professional photographers know how to achieve results like this and it isn’t difficult. If your business headshot with eyeglasses doesn’t look like this then your photographer failed.

A company this week asked to have its business headshots retouched. The photos were shot by a cheap photographer.
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Perfect Business Headshot is worth $1,000

Nineteen-year-old US tennis player Serena Williams holds her Jack Russell terrier named ‘Jackie’ after a morning practice session in 2001.

This is another view-from-my-office photo.

Would you pay $1,000 for a business headshot?

The Wall Street Journal published an article about the value of professionally done business headshots for people seeking a career boost. (This alternative link doesn’t have the photos included in the original article but that’s actually a good thing. The glaring irony of the original article about the value of headshots is that the headshot examples are rather plain or poorly done.)

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What makes a photographer good?

A portrayal of an amateur photographer at work, circa 1907. “Kodack” was spelled wrong intentionally. (George W. Spencer / US Library of Congress)

What makes a photographer good?

Getting pictures in focus? Having proper exposure? Good colour balance? Accurate flash exposure?

It’s none of those things because cameras have auto-focus, auto-exposure, auto colour balance and auto flash exposure.

Producing technically perfect photos does not make a photographer good. So what’s left?

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Barbers and Photographers

Customers shop in the canned food aisle at a Dominion grocery store in Dorval, Quebec, circa 1950s-1960s. (Chris Lund / National Film Board of Canada / Library and Archives Canada)

If you’re new in town and need to buy groceries, you can go to any supermarket because they all sell the same products and same brands. Most supermarkets even have the same store layout. So people usually shop at whatever grocery store is closest to them.
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Guess The Job

Guessing a job based on its description is a game used for helping people learn English or just for fun.

Can you guess this job based on this real description:

• Repetitive and frequent standing, seeing, sitting, walking, and driving up to eight hours per day.

• Holding five pounds in one hand for five minutes.

• Repetitive hand and arm movements needed to type and write.

• Occasional bending, stooping, squatting, lifting, twisting and carrying are necessary to perform job functions.
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Photography Speedometer

Does a camera have a speedometer?

I received a request a few days ago to photograph a Toronto conference later this month. The event organizer said they expected the photographer to deliver a minimum of 125 pictures per hour. Huh?
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