Event Photo Pricing

[kosmonooit]

Just as well we live in the digital age, imagine all the wasted negatives from the no-takers,

[steve61]

I earn a living from photography and was insulted by a well known event photography company that offered me R800 to shoot the 94.7.

I use my cameras, lenses, batteries, flash etc for the entire field so that is 9-hours work .... and to top it all they own the photographs .... no thanks!!!

I have refused to pay for photographs mailed to me in the past as they are not only badly composed,but also terrible from a technical point of view. Most event companies pay peanuts and get monkeys and unfortunately it is reflected in the final product.

However, I will vouch for OakPics.... no I do not know the owner!!

[fabs]

I have done event photography, my take is most people want something for free, after all i just push the button........

 

I would have the following on me just to take your photos:

2 camera bodies canon 7d R20K each

2 low light lenses normally 24-70 mm f2.8 R25K and a 24mm f1.4 R20K

2 speedlights (flashes) R6K each

remote triggers R5K

1 light stand, 4 x 16 gig memory cards, spare batteries camera bag, diffusers for flashes R7K

 

Over R100K worth of kit to take your photo. I made more money selling at R100 a photo than R50 or R20 a photo, but no where enough to feed my family.

 

Bottom line is to cart all that kit out into the bush, getting it dirty, lying in the mud to take "action pics", spending a day taking photos and 3 days editing was not worth the hassle. Just work out what your time is worth to you

 

Hi Dillon.

Thanks for this info.

You are obviously one of the professionals.

The R45 is probably and average out figure for all the photographers.

 

You also find those that sit on a bridge with a remote trigger in their hands,

and just click away when the crowd passes in front of them.

 

I don't know what the solution is, but have seen that on most of my photos,

this is what the approach has been.

[scott the hobbit]

k, you lot have made me feel bad....and cheap....just bought my photos (@R45 each)

[dillon]

@fabs everyone want quality photos (me included), the solution is not that easy, we all have a camera nowadays and everyone is a "pro tog", so the perception of high cost will always be there.

I buy the quality photos when I see them, regardless of cost, sadly I don't see many.

 

Remember the tog will be under pressure to get a photo of everyone, so they will sit in one spot and rapid fire, cant afford to let the one get away, it might be the one that sells.

[fabs]

@Dillon.

 

I understand your rapid fire logic. (from a business sense)

 

As a customer though, I need to feel I was photographed by a sniper, rather than a machinegunner

 

I too pay the price when the photo is right

[GLuvsMtb]

A great solution would be to incorporate this into event fees.

 

They're currently selling pics at R45 each - that's ludicrous, but I reckon they're probably selling less than 10% of their pics.

 

This means:

- consistent, reliable income for photographers

- all riders get pics

- organizer gets brownie points for being innovative.

 

Downsides:

- Photographers not as motivated to take decent pics if they've already been paid (the pics won't need to sell themselves)

- extra expense for organizer cuts into profits or extra expense is passed on to riders in the entry fee.

Enter the next dof Hubber moaning about high event fees asking for all goodie bag items to be stripped out. I guess you cant please everyone hey?

[steve61]

I ordered some photographs from The Fast One MTB and was surprised with the amount of editing I had to do on the three images. Basics were wrong; like getting the pic level,and lighting (oh when will photographers realise a cyclists face is in shadow 90% of the time .... only on one event did I see a reflector board being used.... don't even get me started on framing, composition or sharpness. Why won't event photo companies use professional photographers .... oh, how silly of me, it's because they're too greedy!!!

[DJR]

I ordered some photographs from The Fast One MTB and was surprised with the amount of editing I had to do on the three images. Basics were wrong; like getting the pic level,and lighting (oh when will photographers realise a cyclists face is in shadow 90% of the time .... only on one event did I see a reflector board being used.... don't even get me started on framing, composition or sharpness. Why won't event photo companies use professional photographers .... oh, how silly of me, it's because they're too greedy!!!

 

.....and that is why I rarely buy race photographs. When I do find good ones though, I jump at it, even at a lot more than R45 per picture. That way I have bought some wonderful images that will last when my memory starts to fail.......

[HappyMartin]

A

I ordered some photographs from The Fast One MTB and was surprised with the amount of editing I had to do on the three images. Basics were wrong; like getting the pic level,and lighting (oh when will photographers realise a cyclists face is in shadow 90% of the time .... only on one event did I see a reflector board being used.... don't even get me started on framing, composition or sharpness. Why won't event photo companies use professional photographers .... oh, how silly of me, it's because they're too greedy!!!

 

A reflector board has to be precisely placed to catch the existing light and reflect it back into the shadows. As the sun moves so will the reflector board have to be moved. All the cyclists would have to come through in roughly the same piece of road for the reflector to work. Then there is the problem of keeping the reflector stable and tied down in the wind. They are light and blow about easily. The smaller the board the more accurately it must be placed.

 

A better solution would be a flash. Problem there is flash struggles to keep up with the camera firing rate and you burn through them shooting so rapidly. 7K flash last a few events at that rate. You could use some clever processing in Lightroom but then you would be stuck behind a computer for weeks.

 

At R45 an image you get what you get.

[NotSoBigBen]

I ordered some photographs from The Fast One MTB and was surprised with the amount of editing I had to do on the three images. Basics were wrong; like getting the pic level,and lighting (oh when will photographers realise a cyclists face is in shadow 90% of the time .... only on one event did I see a reflector board being used.... don't even get me started on framing, composition or sharpness. Why won't event photo companies use professional photographers .... oh, how silly of me, it's because they're too greedy!!!

 

I reckon you should go out at the next event and take lots of photos and show us how it should have been done?

[steve61]

I reckon you should go out at the next event and take lots of photos and show us how it should have been done?

Hopefully I'll be riding....

Happy Martin .... I assume it was tied down and it was on a piece of single track where we all came through in single file - a race near Muldersdrift about 5 years ago.

[steve61]

Did anyone notice the professional team doing photography at the Dunblane event....

[Danger Dassie]

Been working this industry close to 15 years, 10 odd fulltime freelance. It's a topic that's been done to death, and many have covered all the points quite well in their posts already.

Someone will always know better though and try to dictate their opinion to you even though they've never actually worked the business of photography.

 

There's two distinct differences though,

 

The snaps of each and every participant who require an image. To do this, your creativity will suffer and thus the 'cover WOW' shot expected.

 

The more tailored, better lit and composed shots, but there's no guarantee of capturing everyone.

 

Yet technology is helping to bridge this gap, but it's still a balancing act. There's a good pool of photographers who get this right;

 

C- Sharp (Lee-Anne)

XtreMedia (Zoon, Jacques etc) although they are more media focussed than participant

Oakpics

Fotograf

Jetline-Action Photo of late.

[kosmonooit]

Maybe the way forward to use those wildlife remote self-triggering camera that can be strapped against trees or fence posts - no need for expensive kit & human operators

 

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/10/article-1364868-0D8BB926000005DC-466_634x365.jpg

[DJR]

Maybe the way forward to use those wildlife remote self-triggering camera that can be strapped against trees or fence posts - no need for expensive kit & human operators

 

2 or 2 years ago Sportograf did the photography for the W2W and came up with some very very good images. I recall several cameras sans photographers along the way and assumed that they were motion activated.