Mar 18th, 2010
by Garry Walter.
Corporate photography is a subset of the wider discipline of commercial photography. However, corporate photography in itself is an extensive field, which requires a lot of different skills.
The difference between corporate photography and other forms of commercial photography are several. For instance, in other forms of photography, the photographer gets the opportunity to redo his work by requesting for retakes or by making use of different angles, but in corporate photography there is no such freedom. Hence it is important to hire the services of a capable corporate photographer.
The photographer, who you are planning to engage, must also have the capability to think on his feet as at corporate events everything happens fast and unexpectedly. Someone who is conscious and shows urgency besides having an overall sense of what is going on around him can work remarkably as a corporate photographer.
An important activity included in a corporate photographer’s job profile is taking headshots of the high-ranking business executives at an event. These headshots might be required for the company’s archives or for distribution in the media. Hence the photographer must have a remarkably good hand at taking such pictures.
The discipline of corporate photography is so different that engaging a photographer on word of mouth alone can go terribly wrong. Clicking a corporate event requires an entirely different set of skills that a gifted wedding photographer, for instance, is not expected to have. Marriages usually have a well defined series of customary rites, so a photographer can ease himself and keep a tab on the ceremonies by following the series of events. On the other hand, in corporate photography, situations arise when one least anticipates them, and the photographer must remain prepared for them. Therefore, an experienced corporate photographer is the right guy for the job
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Mar 10th, 2010
by Willy Wong.
If you focus on event photography you can make quite a bit of money. It is a varied and widely sought after field of photography.
What to do
Cover only events where it is hard for people to take the pics themselves and where they will want to keep their memories frozen in film.
One idea is to go to kids sports events. Get permission from the coach to click pics for the parents watching and then start clicking away. If you turn up with a massive telephoto lens like the ones used for pro coverage of events, you will be taken seriously. Make sure you get all the kids doing great action shots and then hand out flyers to all the kids’ parents watching with your web address. If you can write down the parents email address so you can email them the URL of you site then upload the pics to your web site that day and email everyone. If you have a simple shopping cart set up you can make money in a few hours as people pop in to see the pics and buy them for $20 or more a pop.
You can do a similar thing with weddings. Take all the regular pictures as part of the wedding coverage but then get your URL printed on the wedding invites and all the other wedding materials and also get an email list of all the wedding guests, offer the couple a nice 20% discount for doing this and then take lots of extra pics at the wedding of the guests doing all the things they do. Upload all the pics to your site and send the emails. You will then make a lot more money than the 20% discount it cost you because then 30 or 40 people will be also purchasing your pics at $20 or more a shot straight from your site. You can also charge a higher price for high resolution pics.
The key is to just find a corner of the market where you can take the pics and then sell them easily online.
Dog shows, fashion shows, horse shows, car shows, livestock competitions, rock shows, – the list goes on. Keep your eye out in the events section of your local paper to see what is happening. Always ask for permission to shoot pics and if you need to offer the people 10% of the income if feel you need to so you can get easy access.
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Feb 3rd, 2010
by Ron Wong.
For years people will be displaying photos of their wedding, since it is that kind of occasion. Your clients – the bride and groom to be – will want the best and will want the quality guaranteed. If you choose to be a wedding photographer you can make a lot of money by doing so. With the money comes the risk which you must manage well.
If this is going to be your first wedding shoot you will want to make sure your contract is written up properly and a disclaimer included in it. If you don’t have a disclaimer you could be sued afterwards. There are a few reason you should not be held accountable for and they are failure of equipment, miss placed pictures after they were sent away, and photos that do not develop properly. Otherwise you could get sued for breach of contract.
Now with that said you should also include how many pictures are to be taken and how long you will be photographing for and what hourly rate will be. Include how much the cost of development is and the cost of the album. Make sure you discuss with your clients what their requirements are. There could be a particular family member that they want photographed separately, or a certain group of people they do not get to see very often.
Your clients will probably request certain photographs so make sure you make a list. Here are a few common ones, pre-ceremony, wedding ceremony, post-ceremony and reception. Discuss with the clients about which shots they want and who’s going to be in the pictures. Pay attention to what your clients are saying because each one will be different.
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