The view from the other side of the lens — hiring a professional commercial photographer
The View from the Customer’s Side of the Lens
or
Seven Important Things to Consider When You Need a Real Photographer for your Business
by
Mark Weisser
I recently searched for a commercial photographer for some photos I needed for my website and brochures. And since I am in Houston, I wanted someone local.
When I used the word “real” in the subtitle, I didn’t mean to diminish the photographers who specialize in portraiture or weddings, it’s just that there are different sets of skills needed for commercial work that makes it important to understand what makes a great commercial photographer.
I wanted someone who specialized in commercial and business photography.
I will let you know now that I selected Sylvester Garza of <!–[if supportFields]> CONTACT _Con-40CEB74116 \c \s \l <![endif]–>Sylvester Garza<!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> Photography from the many here in Houston. His experience and website, www.sylvestergarza.com led to my phone call and ultimately the photo shoot.
I distilled my selection process down to seven steps I considered to be essential when hiring a commercial photographer and thought this might be something you would want to know.
1. Know what you need. This will help you select the best photographer for the job. Think about whether it’s going to be a studio setting or outdoors, a building, people on the job, etc. and be ready to explain that as you begin to select the photographer. Discuss their experience based on your needs.
2. This leads to the selection process. First of all, ask around. Ask people you know who they would recommend. Google and Yahoo are great resources. If a photographer has no website to showcase their work, I would have to wonder why not. Then using the phone or email, contact the prospects and after explaining your needs, ask them for samples of their work along the lines you are looking for.
3. Based on that, narrow your selection to the top two or three. Then get very specific about getting a proposal from each one. Outline as precisely as you can what you expect. Again, studio or outdoors? One location or more? What your time frame is. Visit the site for the photo shoot with the photographers and tell them what you want to see. After that, let them know that you would like a written proposal that outlines those points, what the price is and costs, if any, that would come from changes on your part.
4. At this point, discuss usage rights. This is an often overlooked point in this process. Who will own the rights to the images when the job is complete? Unless specifically stated otherwise, those rights to the images belong to the photographer, not to you. Decide if it matters to you and discuss the issue with the photographer. You may expect to pay a bit more if you retain those rights.
5. Speaking of rights, here is another issue that needs to be looked at — model releases. For images of your products, they aren’t needed, of course, but if your photo has someone from your company (or anyone else) in the image, whether in the background or as a main feature, you need to be sure you have their permission, in writing, to use their likeness. And that is a standard document called a model release. Use them to prevent legal headaches down the road.
6. Image quality. Now that virtually all professional photographers use digital cameras, this can be a variable that you need to discuss with your photographer. The current standard seems to be about a 4,000 pixel file per image. Know what your final image size will need to be and discuss this so that you don’t end up with fuzzy photos for your finished work.
7. Now that you are nearing your final selection, your proposals are in front of you and you have met each candidate. So how do you choose the best one? Some easy criteria are things like; did they call me back on time? What kind of people skills do they have? Can they handle unexpected events or changes in plans? Call the references you asked for (you did ask, didn’t you?) and see what they had to say. Did you get the impression that they will get your project done on time and on budget? And that they will be in contact with you with any questions or changes? The lowest bid isn’t always your best choice.
If you got through all seven of these, you should be in for a great experience with your project. Since it worked so well for me let me just repeat the name of my photographer, <!–[if supportFields]> CONTACT _Con-40CEB74116 \c \s \l <![endif]–>Sylvester Garza<!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–>. He is in Houston, but, like many, can travel as needed by his clients. See his work at www.sylvestergarza.com
<!–[if supportFields]> CONTACT _Con-40CEB74137 \c \s \l <![endif]–>Mark Weisser<!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> owns his business as a writer, business consultant and can even help you buy your next car. See what he does at www.markweisser.com
