October 20, 2009 - Cleveland, Ohio - Having the ability to have quality product photos when you need them and not having them cost prohibitive is maybe more important now than ever. This truly can be a question of cost -vs- quality.
No one is spending money before they have to. Today it just makes sense. Today it's a matter of survival. That makes things like product photography, now more often than not, a choice, a decision. Do you use the same old photos or do you get new ones to update your marketing? If you decide on new photos can you have them done as fast as you need them or will this cause a delay in your marketing program? Then there is the question of having to pay rush charges because you need them in a hurry. Then there is just having Bill do new photos. He has a nice camera and I mean how tough can it be? He can do them right away and it won't cost anything.
Service means doing things that are more than expected. As a commercial photographer I know as well as anyone that with budgets and less staff things happen faster now than they used to. They have to. I guess more companies needing things faster could be a good thing for me. I make more for rush jobs, or I could. I could choose to not take advantage and do things for a client that they need yesterday and not charge extra. I'm more interested in gaining a long term client than a short term profit. I don't charge extra for rush jobs.
The other fast thing that is required is getting the images where they need to be when they need to be there. I don't email images. That's a receipt for trouble. You get a damaged image and as far as you know that's what I provided. I have invested in my own server that allows me to provide my clients with password protected FTP service for downloading their images, anywhere in the world. I also gives me the ability to make the images available from my server often in hours at no additional cost to my clients.
Many professional commercial photographers rates are based on either a half day or a full day. What if you don't need that many photos? What if what you need really only will take an hour or two to photograph? I could never quite understand charging a client for my time spent doing nothing for them so I don't. If I can get it done in an hour or two that's what you pay for.
Experience has also taught me that less than perfect products or product that has been damaged in delivery to me causes delay. That's fine if your not on a short deadline but if you are. My solutions to this challenge is, if possible, I pick up the products for the photo shoot so I can examine them or I set up a location studio and do the shoot at my clients facility where the convenience and access to "another one" is seconds away.
I hope you will allow me the opportunity to prove what I can do for you.
Douglas
Cleveland Commercial Photography | DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. | DOUGLAS Commercial Photography™
Advertising Image Services™ | DOUGLAS Art Prints®
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