What To Avoid Doing When You Hire A Photographer: Written BY A Photographer
So you decided to tie the knot with your dearly beloved and you need someone to capture the moment, maybe your band is playing their first real gig at a big venue and you want good pictures for social media, or maybe you’re a model trying to build a solid portfolio to give to interested agencies. Whatever your reason may be, you want to hire a photographer for the job, but you’ve never done that before. Here are some things you should avoid, written by a photographer that has dealt with it all.
Not tagging the photographer.
A lot of business that we get is through word of mouth and social media. We need that tag more than anything because that helps us generate more business to our pages. Sure, you’ve got to make sure you tell everyone in your photo caption that you’re “sunshine mixed with a little hurricane” (Thanks Brad Paisley) but if you neglect to tag your photographer, we get really frustrated. You won’t lose any clout on Instagram for crediting us, I promise.
Cancelling the last minute.
Yes, we all have busy lives and emergencies DO happen, but if you’re a frequent canceller, you might find it hard to book with that person you really want to shoot with when you’re actually ready! You have to remember whether it’s paid or pro bono, someone is taking the time to photograph you and have worked you in around an already tight schedule, please be considerate of their time! Some photographers may even have you pay what’s called a retainer fee to hold your booking with them, so if you cancel, you’re throwing away your money too.
Not communicating with the photographer.
We’re here to help create your vision, but we can’t do that if you don’t tell us what that vision is. Communication before shooting is crucial so there are no misunderstandings the day of the shoot.
Asking for the RAW/unedited photos.
There’s a reason we don’t give these out in most circumstances — it’s unfinished work. After a day of shooting, there’s a good deal of editing that goes into each photo to make it look as we’d like it. With photo editing, we do a lot of work in post; skin retouching and blemish editing, lighting adjustments, and a million other things to get the desired looks we’re after. You hired me to be your photographer based on my particular style, right? So let ME do the work. Plus, if you’re asking for a RAW file, you have to have software like Adobe to open it, which not everyone has which… makes that RAW file useless to you.
Complaining the price is too high.
Just like most things, you are paying for a service, and any photographer can name their price. A photographer will name that price based on things like what they believe their time is worth; how long it’ll take them to edit, locations, travel time and the duration of the session. We can be a little flexible when it comes to payment, but like many things, you get what you pay for and what you’re paying for is worth every penny. Also no, we don’t accept “exposure” as payment.
Posting filters over our work.
This may be my biggest pet peeve. Imagine, someone takes hours to edit your photos, working to make you look the best you can, only for you to then put that hazy purple Instagram filter over it. Yeah, you know the one. If you do this, but tag us, it makes us and our work look bad, plus it’s just incredibly disrespectful to the photog. Communicate with your photographer, if there’s something you want specifically done with the photos we can make it happen! But please, if you throw an Instagram tilt-shift effect on one of my photos, I’m gonna hurl.
These are just a few tips to help you be careful and be respectful when hiring a photographer — we’re people too!
If you liked this article, give me a clap! And because I’m one of those darn photographers, you can check out my site here at www.hmasemedia.com.
