CHOOSING THE RIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER.

Simple question, how do I choose the right commercial photographer?

Difficult answer!

Let’s work through it.

You have seen my previous Blog posts about “Commercial Photography” right? No…OK, we will wait a moment while you catch up. Click here to have a read.

….calming music……

Ok!… so you caught up on the post about commercial photography, now let’s work through the next step.

You have an event, an advertising campaign, or maybe you want to document a construction fit-out project. You understand that to capture this “project”, in the best possible way you are going to need a professional photographer.

The Best Photographer for the job.

Like most industries not all photographers are equal, at least in the areas they are specialists in.

It can be a daunting task to begin looking for a partner who will do the best by you and produce the slick, professional photographic images you require to fulfill your goal. The first way to narrow this down is to research those photographers that work with a focus in the area you want covered. When I say research, Google is your first friend here.

Google the subject matter followed by “photographer” and even the area, state or city you want the project shot in. That said, I live in Brisbane, Australia but I shoot for clients around the country because I specialise in Industrial Photography, so keep that in mind.

Once you have the search results you can start to narrow down the contenders by viewing the most important area, the portfolio. This is going to be the biggest key to finding your match but not the only one.

Not Just a Great Portfolio!

The best photographic portfolio does not mean you are getting the best person for the job. If that photographer is difficult to work with, unsafe or has questionable morals then you could be setting yourself up for failure.

Testimonials are a great next step, if they have them, but again don’t take them for face value. Let’s be clear, nobody presents a bad testimonial but if they have a name and company against the testimonial, it would be a reasonable bet it is sound. It is risky to post a testimonial from a company with a name against it that wasn’t real, it’s not hard to check it.

Photography experience is the next step. Not just experience carrying a camera and pushing a button, but working within the environments like the one you need them to work in.

You should be able to find this information in the website overview or “About” page. For example, if you are looking for an Industrial Photographer, you might want to see how long they have been working in these environments. What kind of training or certification and licenses do they have. Have they shot for any other stand out clients that work in the same industry as you do?

Let’s talk Photography.

One of the last steps for your decision process would be to pick up the phone or better yet, organize a face-to-face meeting to talk photography.

When you have that meeting or conversation, pay attention to the way the photographer talks about your environment, this will be a giveaway as to how much they understand what they are shooting. It is my belief that you can’t make great images of a subject and environment unless you know it well.

The conversation must be comfortable. You as the client must feel at ease with the way the photographer speaks to you and takes on board your requests and brief.

I Found the Best Photographer for the job.

The Best Photographer for the job may also be beyond your budget and that is OK. What you must be careful of is undermining the quality of outcome based on the price you want to pay, as opposed to the price you can and should pay.

The reason great photographers get paid well is because they have the skill, the experience and understanding of your subject matter better than the other photographers. Keep that in mind.

Now that I have found the best photographer for my project what now? Be clear on expectations from both parties. How urgent do you need the images? What am I going to receive as final images? How many images? What extras will I need to budget for like out-of-pockets etc?

On the flip side, be clear with your photographer as to how urgent you want them to deliver will be equal to how urgent you will pay them for the project. No photographer wants to be pushed to deliver images in a couple of days only to be pushed to 30 days after the end of the month before getting paid…that is simply ridiculous!

Hopefully this has helped a little. Please feel free to contact me if you would like assistance on a project, or equally if you would like help finding a photographer that might suit your needs, I would be happy to help.

Dave Wicks::
“The Industrial Photographer”

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