Why are Professional Photographers So Expensive? Exclosives with @KayMint Photography

 Exclusive with KAYMINT -The Photographer

I think this article should be very well received by the photography Industry,I wanted to make some things clear and get some questions answered,So i tried  to invited one professional Photographer on the Rise #KayMintPhotography.

Question:"In this digital age where everyone has cameras, scanners, and home "photo printers, How do professional photographers charge 10gh for an 8x10 when they cost just 3gh in some local shops?"

After about 2 Minutes of Golden Silence he finally said "Simply put, the customer is not just paying for the actual photograph; they're paying for time and expertise.its not just the taking of the picture,my skills and creativity also counts.

For instance:The average one-hour portrait session..First, let's look at the actual work involved:


Travel to the session

*Setup, preparation, talking to the client, etc.
*Shoot the photos
*Travel from the session
*Load images onto a computer
*Back up the files on an external drive
*2 - 4 hours of Adobe® Photoshop® time, including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, and backing up edited photographs. Proof photos are also ordered.
*2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment, and ship.
*Possibly meet clients to review photos and place order. Meeting and travel time average 2 hours.

You can see how a one-hour session easily turns into an eight-hour day or more from start to finish. So when you see a personal photographer charging a GH.200 session fee for a one-hour photo shoot, the client is NOT paying them GH200 per hour.

The expertise and cost of doing business

Shooting professional photography is a skill acquired through years of experience. Even though a DSLR now costs under $1,000, taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.

Most personal photographers take years to go from buying their first camera to making money with photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera, there is a mountain of other equipment and software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website, etc. And don’t forget backdrops, props, rent, utilities, insurance, etc!

In addition to the financial investment, photographers actually have to have people skills to make subjects comfortable in front of the camera. Posing people to look their best is a skill by itself. You could argue that posing is a more important skill than actually knowing how to use the camera. A poorly exposed photo can be saved, but a badly posed photo cannot.

The local photo studio

Local studios do have their place. For a very cheap price you can run in, shoot some quick photos, and be done with it. But you get what you pay for.Consider the time and effort that a personal photographer puts into photographs, compared to a local studio sessions last just a few minutes, while a personal photographer takes the time to get to know the people, makes them comfortable, makes them laugh. If a baby is crying at a local photo store, they often don’t have the time (or the patience) to wait because everyone is in a hurry.

The truth is that many local photo studios lose money. In fact, Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios in 2007 because of the financial drain. What the local studio bank on is a client coming in for quick, cheap photos…and while there, spending gh200 on other items. They are there to get you in the door.

The real deal

Professional, personal photographers are just that—professionals. No different than a mechanic, dentist, doctor, or electrician. But a personal photographer often becomes a friend, someone who documents a family for generations with professional, personal photographs of cherished memories.

Maybe we need to help clients look at it this way: A pair of scissors costs 3gh at the local studio. Still, most people will gladly pay a lot more to hire a professional hair dresser to cut their hair.

The added attention and quality that a personal photographer gives is worth every penny.

Conclusion

I hope that those who have taken the time to read this interview will have a better understanding of why professional photographs, created by a Personal Photographer are so expensive.




For the Public:
How much will you pay for these creative still photo ?

                        Facebook:MzzJanet Kwaku Mint GunnerisaGooner