dynamic commercial photography and design studio

15 Things You Need To Ask Before Hiring A Photographer

by Daniel Moncur-Sime, 21-06-2008

Is Your Photographer’s Image Lacking In Substance?

Before you hire a car you need to know that it will get you to your destination and back again, smoothly, without breaking down and in comfort. So I’m thinking you would definitely want to apply the same principles to any business service supplier and their service, including something as intangible and opinionated as art, design and photography.

So to ensure a great working relationship from the outset make sure you ask them the following questions:

1. What are their skills?

Here are three great examples of important skills:

• Are they able to work with children?
  – Children and animals are often referred to the hardest subjects to work with. This gives a good indication of patience, perseverance, dedication to the cause and excellent communication.
  
  
• Do they understand lighting?
  – Indoors, outdoors, mixed, colours, light temperature and changing environments. Photographers paint with light. Anyone one can set a camera to automatic and press the shutter release button. The real skill is understanding the play of light and how to utilise it to be as creative as possible.
  
  
• Do they have any digital darkroom skills?
  - In today’s world of digital photography and arts, post-production is a key skill. The photographer should be able to talk about this with proficiency. This will make you realise they have the ability to dramatically improve the quality of your photos, which, in turn gives a massive boost to the impression made in your customers mind.

2. What is their experience?

• If they haven’t worked with models before the shoot could be a waste of time and money for you. This small example is easily applied anything else, and if they only have limited or no experience in that field then honesty should be apparent.
  
  When I started my creative business I didn’t have a great amount of experience but I always learnt quickly in my own personal time and then applied the new skills to the new environment.
  
  
• Don’t forget to ask for examples, whether it’s similar products, environments, styles, special effects or what ever you want.

3. Can they provide testimonials and references from their client base?

• Any good professional worth investing in will have a base of clients that are happy to say how satisfied they are.
  
  
• A wide variety shows a good base of difference skills and experience, so very relevant to the above two questions.
  
  
• This will give you a good gauge of how safe your investment is to obtain what you want.

4. Can they give you benefits of their service?

• At the end of the day, you want to know ‘What can this photographer do for me?’ I can list many benefits that I bring, showing you a professional business understanding that is about knowing you and giving complete customer satisfaction.

5. Do they have their own studio?

• If you need to shoot your new products, yourself for a corporate portrait, a scene set-up, then it is best to go to someone who has their own premises. Hiring is always possible but can be problematic if the shoot overruns. Always check the working space will be suitable for your needs.

6. Can they travel?

• If you need to do an on location shoot any good artist will be able to meet you at the location ready and prepared to begin.

7. If you don’t a creative brief can the they write one?

• Having a brief gives a clear direction through the project, no mater how small. It will help immeasurably for successful project completion and remove misunderstandings later and keep both parties on the same track.
  
  
• A good creative professional will be able to put your needs down on paper which then you can discuss to finalise. You feel secure with an understanding of what you want.

8. How long will the shoot take?

• This is important and relates to the photographers experience and your costs. Any professional should be able to give a good indication of timescales based on the creative brief, outlined in the submitted proposal.
  
  
• However if you have missed things out from the original brief and add them into the shoot on the day, expect it to take more time. However if they mistake how long it will take you shouldn't expect to pay more for the time. If I overrun on a project because I misjudged the time I always keep to the original cost stated in the proposal.

9. If you don’t have time to get a creative team together can they put one together?

• Creative people should know many people within their industry to cover bases they can’t. Anyone running a business should be organised enough to gather associates together to create a complete team.

10. What image file formats can they provide your graphic designer?

• There are a multitude of different image file formats, used in all sorts of different places. Having an understanding of these and giving what your design team needs will enable a more efficient and faster work flow for you – bottom line is a reduction of costs.

11. What if you don’t like the photos from the shoot?

• Customer satisfaction is key to any long term business relationship – the photographer should re-shoot at no extra cost to get it right. Of course, check their portfolio beforehand to make sure you like their style and they have the skills to produce the photos to your specifications.

12. You need retouching and special effects done – how does that work?

• Every photographer should be aware of basic retouching skills. I term these part of the digital darkroom skill set. If it’s done by another creative person in another creative company then that’s two sets of instructions, taking double the time to issue, double the time to talk about and double the time to check the photos. This means it could effectively cost you double in time and money. Not to mention photographers can be precious people who generally dislike their work being altered.
  
  Personally, I save my clients this hassle and time by offering all retouching and post-production in house – what ever your needs.

13. What copyrights will they be supplying?

• You really want to know what limitations of use you have on your own images. There are five copyrights that a creative person or creative company can supply with their original art work:
  
  
  1. Reproduction Right; The right to copy, duplicate, transcribe, or imitate the work in fixed form.
  2. Modification Right (also known as the derivative works right); The right to modify the work to create a new work. A new work that is based on a pre-existing work is known as a "derivative work."
  3. Distribution Right; The right to distribute copies of the work to the public by sale, rental, lease, or lending.
  4. Public Performance Right; The right to recite, play, dance, act, or show the work at public place or to transmit it to the public. In the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, showing the work's images in sequence is considered "performance."
  5. Public Display Right; The right to show a copy of the work directly or by means of a film, slide, television image or internet web page at a public place or to transmit it to the public. In the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, showing the work's images out of sequence is considered "display."
     
     
• Furthermore, there are time and geographical limitations that can be imposed on any copyrights so make sure you check that you can use the imagery you have a paid a photographer to create.
  
  For the most part, once a project has been completed and paid for, I transfer all the above copyrights as non-exclusive copyrights, but not the ownership of the images. The images come with no use, time or geographical restrictions. There are never any hidden stings for my clients – they have paid for my time to create an image and they can then use those images as they wish to. Fully satisfied getting so much from me the cost is far less than the value.

14. How much is the photography shoot going to cost you?

• This is usually the first and last thoughts on anyone’s mind and key to knowing when working to budgets. A guide price can always be given in two simple ways; either a simple day rate, or cost per photo submitted.
  
  
• Get the cost breakdown in writing. For every new photography project commission I always submit a proposal with a complete cost breakdown, unless it is a repeat of a project done previously for that client and the process, brief and output have been established.

15. Can they write a proposal of what they are going to do for you?

• Always get a detailed proposal. This proposal covers what you want, what I can do for you, who’s involved in my creative team, how long it will take, and how much it will cost and what you will gain.

Well, these are the major fifteen things I have learnt from my experience from dealing with large and small companies and small to large creative teams.

No matter what your position, it is good to know the basics before you agree to any creative work as it will save you time, effort, confusion, and money. At the end you’ll know what you’ll be getting and when it arrives you’ll be so much more satisfied knowing that it has been successfully delivered.

If you want to know more or have any questions relating to your photography projects and needs then wouldn't you mind calling me directly on +44 (0) 1432 341 800.
Speak to you soon.



Daniel Moncur-Sime
Photographer, designer and entrepreneur

Written by Daniel Moncur-Sime, for your business success. To contact me at your convenience, email me dan@studio33red.com or call 01432 341800.

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Attribution Statement: This article was written by Daniel Moncur-Sime, entrepreneur and expert photographer, first published at www.studio33red.com. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to the Red Alert e-zine and claim FREE money making e-books go to www.studio33red.com.