by Tim Gander

Head Space

Corporate portraits, one of the under-sung heroes of corporate communications. An evil necessity (for those who don’t enjoy having to sit for one), but the only way your potential clients get to see the people who make your business tick.

But in the planning of a portrait session, I think one of the most over-looked aspects of the whole process is the question of where is best for the photographer to set up. What considerations need to be factored into the planning to make it all run as smoothly as possible?

Best Place for Portraits?

Location, location, location, as the property gurus like to say, but it’s also true when finding a spot in your office in which to set up for headshots.

The first, and possibly most crucial element required is space. The more the merrier. The greater the area I have to work in, the more options I have to create a consistent look across the set of portraits.

Occasionally a client will tell me they have an empty room I can work in. There might be a 30ft faux mahogany table and 20 heavy swivel chairs in there, but as far as they’re concerned, it’s an empty room.

So now I recommend a minimum empty floor space of at least 3m (10ft) square. Bigger is better, but I can work with that.

How High?

Ceiling height also has a role to play. Many modern offices have relatively low-slung ceilings, and these can make certain lighting set-ups difficult or impossible.

For example, my preferred arrangement is to have my main studio light pointing down over the sitter’s head, just in front of their face. A low ceiling makes this difficult/impossible, especially if the ‘house style’ is to have subjects standing for their shots. It’s easier if I can sit them, but even then some ceilings are too low. This particular arrangement also requires a bit more floor space, so double whammy if I’m in a small space with a low ceiling.

Occasionally I get super lucky and find myself in a room which has a plain wall. It might not sound much, but if I don’t have to account for the space a backdrop takes up, this can save valuable space in a small room.

Background Effect

Speaking of backdrops, if a client wants a particular look to the backdrop, I then have to think about how I light it separately from the subject. Once again this takes up more space as I have to work a flash in between the back of the subject and the background. Given enough space and the right lighting set-up, I can turn a white wall into anything from pure white to pure black, or light it with a coloured gel, but all these options need space.

Stray Light

Other sources of lighting in the room can also affect how much space is required, or they can influence the final outcome.

As I’m generally working with flash for headshots, I don’t need bags of daylight or ceiling lights. I just need to be able to see well enough and for the camera to be able to focus accurately, so some light is good, too much can be bad.

What I mean by too much is when sunlight is screaming in through a side window and splashing onto the subject or backdrop. Or when ceiling lights are beaming down onto the subject’s head, which can cause ugly colour casts. These casts are often difficult to correct in post-production, so I do my best to avoid them when taking the photos.

A Little Test

There are many factors which influence how I set up my gear for a portrait session. It can even be that the same set up in the same space on a different day can yield slightly different results, but change the room from one session to the next and it becomes a real challenge to get one batch of headshots consistent with a previous set.

To round off the article, I’ve dug out a small selection of different spaces and set-ups I’ve used over the last few years – I always try to take a reference shot for when a client calls me in again. I wonder if you can work out which set-up was used for the portrait at the end?

 

A three-head studio portrait set-up in a hotel ballroom.
Hilton Bath ballroom is one of the biggest spaces I've ever had!
Single-head portrait lighting set-up in an empty office in Bristol.
A simple set-up, but one of my favourites. And so much space!
Two-head photo studio in a corridor.
I think this might be the smallest space I've ever had.
Two studio heads used for a portrait set-up in an empty area of office space.
Plenty of space, though spill from large windows was a challenge.
Head and shoulders portrait of a man in a dark blazer, open neck white shirt and glasses looks directly into the camera without smiling.
Can you work out which of the previous photos shows the set-up for this portrait?

Of course the best way to ensure I have the space I need for your next corporate portrait session is to get in touch and arrange a conversation. So drop me a line, let’s see if we can work out your best location, location, location.

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 by Tim Gander

Has Video Grown Up?

This is the first in a short series of articles discussing the various pros, cons and considerations for businesses and organisations to get the most out of video. I’m going to start with a bit of background.

In the Beginning

In the beginning there were words, and words were good. Actually, images pre-date words by some considerable margin, but since Egyptian hieroglyphs are pictures which represent language, maybe it’s a moot point. I digress.

The point is, still images remain the most portable and often most potent and powerful method of disseminating information. There’s no denying though that video has exploded in popularity over the past decade.

Where Are We Now?

I don’t want to state the obvious, but let’s just recap that the power and popularity of video has its foundations in the convergence of Web 2.0 with digital cameras, followed by the rise of social media and easier access to the creative tools to bring us to where we are.

What has changed in more recent years is the refining of of the equipment and the editing software, bringing the craft within reach of anyone who understands images (namely photographers).

How Did We Get Here?

In 2008 the first full-frame digital SLR capable of video capture launched. It was “a game changer” but only in the right (experienced) hands. I wasn’t ready to offer video at that stage.

The tipping point has come with the emergence of mirrorless cameras, where the combination of stills and video capability in a single camera might be said to have come of age. It still requires more than just flipping a switch from Stills to Video, but that’s the nature of the medium, not the technology.

Where Do We Go Now?

All of the above leads to a situation where high quality video is now more accessible to a wider range of businesses than ever before. That isn’t to pretend it’s cheap or easy, but where it would previously have been impractical and excessively expensive to commission video for an SME’s communications, it can now be achieved with a far more attainable investment.

I mention it’s not cheap, but if you consider I can deliver a sequence up to 60 seconds long for a little over £1,000.00, that’s pretty astonishing. Of course overall cost depends on various factors which I’ll cover in a future article, but a few years ago that kind of budget would have left you with something you wouldn’t want associated with your brand. To have a video shot professionally and with any level of polish would have set you back £10,000.00 + and then you’d have the expense of getting it out there, most likely through paid-for advertising channels (more £££££££!).

Angled close-up photo of a mirrorless camera mounted on a video tripod with a follow-focus device attached.
Crossover stills/video cameras are highly capable machines now

Where Do Photographers Fit In This New Paradigm?

There are still differences between the service someone like me offers, and that of a full production company. However, like many photographers, my service is in addition to, not instead of, the Hollywood treatment. It’s a service which is positioned to give SME’s a step up into the world of video. The finer differences between this and the full production house service are an aspect I’ll discuss in another article later in this series.

I’m concentrating on in-house interviews, client testimonials and B roll (think flavour-of-the-event, office/business overview and retail events). Clips for YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram reels etc are an increasingly large part of my practice, often alongside stills work (not always practical or possible, but always worth asking about).

You can see some of my video work here.

That’s A Wrap!

If you’re not sure whether video has matured enough for your needs, I hope this article puts things in context. In simple terms, video is here, it’s more available than ever and it can be incredibly powerful.

Whether it’s right for your business is a question I tackle next time. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss it!

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 by Tim Gander

Buckle Up! It’s going to get rough (again)

The previous 15 years has been a tough time for many, myself included, so what will this coming recession mean and what can I do to help your business?

The short answer to either of those questions could be ‘not a lot’, but I think there are ways we can coordinate our approach and help each other. Here’s a broad outline of my plans as we head into choppy waters.

In the wake of the pandemic, I set up a Startups Exclusive package. Aimed at those starting up new businesses, perhaps as a result of being made redundant or deciding on a career change after being furloughed, this is my most competitive package and is a gesture to help individuals or teams of up to three to get their branding images in the bag. It is limited to genuine startups though, so please don’t try to book this if you’re an established business 🙂

Since the fallout of the pandemic is still with us, compounded by Putin’s nasty little war, it seems fair to keep this package going for the foreseeable future.

The other way I can help your business communicate with your audience is through video work.

Now I’m not going to pretend video is cheap. Cheap video is cheap, but that doesn’t work for most professional businesses. Even the YouTube and Instagram influencer crowd has had to up their game, but good quality video, the kind you’d want representing your brand, has become far more accessible than it used to be.

With sensible pre-production planning, a day’s video shoot can often be edited a number of ways to suit different platforms and target specific audiences. It requires close collaboration and good communication to get the most out of a video session, but the results achievable with relatively modest outlay can be far better polished than anything a solo photographer could offer just a few years ago.

Check out the Video link on my website for examples of my work

To help clients save valuable marketing budget, I’m very open with clients about what I can do for them in terms of video. Before there’s any commitment between us, I’m happy to discuss an outline brief with you. If your project requires a crew or production company, I’ll tell you I’m not the solution you need. You’ll either have to increase your budget and find the right supplier, or trim your expectations to match your available budget.

If what you want is office B roll (a flavour of your team, culture and working environment, for example), that I can do. I can undertake interview projects, short promo videos – it basically comes down to what you require and what resources will be needed to achieve that.

Ultimately, where this helps businesses is they can now access a quality of video they simply couldn’t raise budget for previously, and video has definitely become more important in corporate communications than ever it was previously.

Underpinning the services I offer, I’ve always believed that communication, coordination and flexibility are the best routes to success. I’ve been freelance for almost 25 years now, and in that time I’ve seen clients flourish and I’ve seen clients fail.

Thankfully far more have flourished than have failed, but I can honestly say that the failures were always the ones least open to communication with me, least willing to take advice on how best to make a project work and a realistic view of the resources required. I was simply a tool for the task, rather than a collaborator in their project.

It will have been a wider, embedded corporate culture which lead to this failure for sure, but if you’re open to communicating, being realistic about what it costs to achieve your goals and can be flexible to adapt to changing needs, we can help each other.

The one thing to keep in mind is that I want you and your business to succeed, even through the toughest times. If we can achieve that, just think what we can achieve in calmer waters!

If any of this chimes with you, why not drop me a line? It’d be great to hear from you.

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 by Tim Gander

On Reflection

Glasses. Don’t you love ’em? They’re never where you need them. You spend ages hunting for them only to discover they’re already on top of your head. Yet even though contact lens technology has leapt forward, they don’t work for everyone and so we still need our specs a lot of the time.

I didn’t need to wear glasses at all until I hit 45, then BAM! my near vision went. I couldn’t work out why I was struggling to see the images on the back of my camera. I thought I needed a longer neck strap, then longer arms. Then I realised, I needed an eye test.

Now I can work fine with glasses. Ok, it’s a bit of a pain, but on the whole I’ve got used to them. The bigger issue tends to be when a portrait sitter wears glasses; how do we avoid reflections from the lenses? Well here are some helpful tips if you’re a glasses wearer.

To wear, or not to wear? Is it even a question?

The first question (so yes, it is a question) is whether you should wear glasses at all when having your portrait taken. My answer is always, if you’re known for wearing glasses, if you wear them the majority of the time, then wear them for the shoot.

Someone who habitually wears glasses can look uncomfortable without them. I’m always happy to do with-and-without, but vanity shouldn’t be the deciding factor (that’s for you to decide) and neither should the risk of reflections (a technical issue for me to work through).

Low-key portrait of a young female architectural assistant wearing glasses, looking directly into camera, not smile.
Controlled lighting helps eliminate reflections.
A professional woman sits at her office desk, pen in hand, looking to camera and smiling.
Reflections shouldn't be allowed to distract from a portrait.
A professional female wearing glasses, wearing a red top and smiling off-camera.
The off-camera look requires equal care.
A bald gentleman wearing glasses, dark jacket and open-necked shirt smiles gently to camera.
Frameless glasses can help, but they're not essential to avoiding reflections.

What can be done to avoid reflections?

Mainly it’s a lighting issue. Uncontrolled daylight can make it impossible to avoid some reflection in the glasses, but for portraits I almost always use portable studio flash as my sole lighting source. This gives me more control over the final look, as well as over reflections.

Then I choose lighting modifiers which minimise the risk of reflections. The position of my lights is also a major factor, but there are also things you, as the glasses-wearing sitter, can do to help.

Probably the most important factor is the quality of your glasses. Spectacles with good quality coated lenses are best. You may remember gasping at the cost when your optician quoted for non-reflective coatings, but they are designed to transmit as much light as possible to your eyes which means you can see things more clearly. Happily they also mean less light bounces off the surface of the lenses and *hey presto* less reflection back to the camera.

Now the most expensive coatings in the world are useless if your lenses are double-coated in fingerprints, chip grease and cat hair, so make sure they’re scrupulously clean right to the edges. Once cleaned, you’ll probably see a lot better too! Use a good quality cloth and cleaner fluid if they’re really manky, but go gently – you don’t want to damage them. Your optician should be able to advise on the best cleaning methods.

Anything else?

Yes, head position will also be a factor in the same way the position of the lights will help exclude reflections. This is something I guide people on once they’re in front of me, so there isn’t any general advice I can offer beyond “listen to the photographer and do as they ask”. I’m happy to boss you about (gently of course) if it means a great end result.

The only other thing which can be an issue for glasses wearers is when the frame cuts across the eyes. This is normally avoided by ensuring your spectacles are properly seated on your nose, not slipping forward. This is less a reflection issue, but it can help with the positioning of your face in relation to the lights, so it’s also important.

But that’s it really; the right lighting, decent quality lenses, keeping them clean and head/face position. It’s a bit of a team effort, but on reflection, I think it’s worth it.

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 by Tim Gander

Emergency Blog

Do you know what? I have written and re-written this article about half a dozen times, trying to say so many things about how I hope everyone is ok and about what my coping strategy is.

The problem is, since we’re all in the same boat, anything I write looks like opportunist marketing, so I’ll just say this:

  • Stay safe, obviously.
  • If I can help with anything, let me know. Even if it’s just to pick my brains.
  • I am determined to be here for my clients all through this and well beyond.

In the meantime, if you’re stuck at home and need a diversion, check out takagander and consider buying a print (if there is anything you like). This will help keep me sane while everything else is in shutdown.

And if you do buy a print, use TAKEA20 at checkout to get £20.00 off any canvas print, or £20 off any fine art print (or multiple prints) when you spend £150.00 or more. Hurry though, the offer expires on March 20th. There, I just marketed again! Ugh.

Black and white photo of a grass crop bending in the wind against a sunny sky with some clouds.
From the Salisbury Plain landscape series, available at takeagander.co.uk

A final few words for now:

It’s going to be tough to plan new photography for your business when we don’t have a timescale for this situation, but do speak to me now because we can all hit the ground running whenever the brakes come off. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Take care,

Tim

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 by Tim Gander

Space – Time Continuum

A recent experience reminded me once again of the importance of two particular aspects of a corporate portrait photography session, namely space and time. In fact as these two elements are inextricably linked, we can refer to them as a continuum.

Setting aside the fourth dimension for a moment, on this particular occasion I was shown into a vast board room, which would have been perfect except it was mostly filled with immobile boardroom furniture; massive table and countless chairs. At the same time I was told I could only have the room for half an hour, which is approximately how long it would have taken me to set up the lighting kit even if there had been space to do so.

This would have left no time for any photography to happen, let lone the two hours I was booked for. A continuum conundrum, no less.

Thankfully we were able to find an alternative room which, though smaller, had much more clear floor space. It was also available for two hours, which was just about enough – not perfect, as I was booked for three (and could happily have filled them with the shots listed as required), but better than zero minutes by quite a considerable percentage.

Of course when you’re setting up a photo session, coordinating the schedules of everyone involved is often a headache, but it’s worth thinking of the room and the time required as if they were two more people in the schedule. If a room or the time in that room are unavailable, it’s a no-goer.

A portable photographic studio in a hotel ballroom.
A mobile photo studio does require space.

The time required will depend on how many people are to be photographed and the brief to which I’ll be working (more varieties of poses etc will obviously require more time) and at least 30 minute’s set-up and break-down time should be factored either side of the session.

How much space is needed will depend on whether it’s close head shots or full-length portraits required (full-length requires a great deal more space), but as a rule of thumb for headshots, you need to allow approximately 2.5 – 3m width x 3m length (length being the distance between where I’ll stand and the next wall or immobile obstacle).

This is approximate, but it is a realistic guide. You can easily add another couple of metres to the length for full-length portraits.

The photo on this article shows an example of where I’ve had more space than I knew what to do with (it was in fact one half of a hotel ballroom!), but seeing the set-up gives you some notion of how that space is used.

So remember, when you’re booking all the executives and colleagues for that all-important photo session, don’t forget to plan the room and ring-fence the time. Without those two elements, the space – time continuum breaks down and everything else becomes academic.

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 by Tim Gander

Work Experience Advice

Perhaps the best piece of advice I can offer any student of photography when seeking work experience is let the application itself be part of the experience. I should preface by saying that I rarely offer work experience placements for a multitude of reasons I won’t go into here, but follow a few simple rules and your application will stand a better chance of finding success.

 

  • Get the photographer’s name right and use it. Just saying “Hi” suggests you’re sending a round-robin email.
  • Don’t send a round-robin email and NEVER use the CC or even BCC functions to send out mass communications.
  • If you cut and paste an email text, make sure you tailor it to each individual recipient.
  • Do your research. Look at the photographer’s website to establish whether they’re working in the specific field you’re interested in.
  • Talk about the kind of photography career you’re interested in, but more in terms of the business than the style. Saying you like to photograph people isn’t the same as saying you want to shoot pictures for businesses (what I call corporate communications photography).
  • When looking at a photographer’s site, look at the kind of work they’re doing and establish from that whether they’re studio-based, work only on location or a mixture of the two. Students often ask to join me in my studio, but it’s possible to work out from my website that I don’t have one.
  • Make sure your contact details are correct, including mobile number and email address.
  • Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar and get someone else to check it for you – this should be someone who is really good at checking these things, so ask a teacher, lecturer or other competent person.
  • Be sure to include your ability to travel – do you have your own transport?

I could go on, but hitting these main points should get your toe in the door at least.

A young blonde female and her brunette boyfriend holding cameras and smiling at the camera.
Keen with a camera? Try work experience.

Although I can’t often offer work experience, a competent application will at least get a response from me. Usually I’ll make an offer to have a phone conversation about what the applicant wants to do in the industry, the opportunities and where else to get advice, but I’m astonished how often my email reply goes unanswered. Which of course makes it harder for the next student to get a response from me.

Work experience can be invaluable, it’s how I started out as a press photographer, but the industry structures for training, nurturing and furthering a career have either changed or disappeared since I set out on my journey. Students today will need to find their own tracks into their chosen career, but get these basics right and you never know, you could find yourself ahead of the game and on your way to doing probably the best job in the world.

in Advice / Industry Comment 2 comments
 by Tim Gander

Latest on Routes

Screen grab of the archive thumbnail images from the Faces of Routes exhibition.

The brilliant people who sat for the Faces of Routes photo session.

Great news! Frome’s best and only youth drop-in centre, Routes, has been saved for at least another year following a concerted campaign to raise awareness and funds.

Local businesses have run various fund-raising schemes and events and these, along with my Faces of Routes project and exhibition, have raised over £60,000 in donations with a few more bits and pieces still coming in, plus the outcome of a National Lottery application which was started before the appeal was made.

Routes manager Sarah Stobbart assures me the bulk of the money was raised as a result of the exhibition, with a very large chunk being donated by an individual who saw the pictures during a visit to Cafe La Strada in the town centre. I don’t know much detail about who, but I believe the sum was £30,000, which is brilliant and I’m thrilled to know that the service has gained valuable breathing space.

Of course this isn’t the end of the story, but with such a lot of good will and awareness raised this will make future funding applications that little bit easier. I still believe Routes should be properly funded by responsible organisations such as local government, but perhaps this stay of execution will allow these avenues to be explored further.

Sarah got in touch to say, “I truly think that the portraits, the use of them and the associated press has contributed massively to the fundraising campaign for Routes being successful – you’ve no idea how glad I am that you got in touch to begin with!”

In the meantime it’s fantastic to know that youngsters from Frome and the surrounding villages have somewhere they can seek help, guidance and a listening ear. I’ll be keeping an eye on things and will update here whenever there is significant news.

To all my blog readers who donated, a very heartfelt thank you. This has been the best personal project I’ve ever undertaken and without so much support it could have been a very futile gesture.

Thank you.

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 by Tim Gander

Routes to Exhibition

Happy New Year! Ok, so 2016 might not have been your favourite year, but the bright side for me was lots of great work with wonderful clients and some personal highlights I won’t go into here.

To make sure my 2017 kicked off with a January-blues-beating personal project, I’ve launched into one which is exciting in a number of ways; I was able get it under way quickly, it’s local, it has a finite duration, has a tangible purpose and perhaps best of all it looks like it’s going to culminate in a local exhibition.

It all started when, just before Christmas, I had been trying to formulate ideas for a personal project I could launch in the New Year. I wanted something which would not only please me, but also have some kind of impact either on those involved, or on its audience.

Then I saw a tweet from Routes, the youth drop-in centre in Frome. I’d always been vaguely aware of their work with young, often vulnerable people in the town, but didn’t have much detail beyond that.

Routes tweeted that their funding is coming to an end in March 2017, after which they would have to find a new source of revenue or close. While I can’t afford the £80,000 + per year to keep them running, I felt I could help them publicise their plight so I got in touch with the centre manager Sarah Stobbart, an absolute ball of energy and a real doer.

The idea was simple; I would take portraits of those who who either use or had used Routes and the pictures could be used for press releases and grant funding applications. Sarah added the idea of holding an exhibition of the portraits somewhere in the town, and so the ball got rolling.

03+04/01/2017 Portrait for case study for Routes young person's help centre in Frome, Somerset. Portrait: Stu Mansell.
Stu
06/01/2017 Portrait for case study for Routes young person's help centre in Frome, Somerset. Portrait: Luke Bolster.
Luke
06/01/2017 Portrait for case study for Routes young person's help centre in Frome, Somerset. Portrait: Jazz Lewthwaite.
Jazz

I started shooting on January 3rd because there’s no time like the present, and with all those willing to participate we now have 13 youngsters, Sarah and her colleague Silky shot for the project.

The local press have picked up the story and one local paper is looking to publish the portraits with case studies as a series, while a local cafe/art space has agreed to host the exhibition for free for two months.

At some point I’ll create a portfolio gallery of the final images on my website, but I’ve included a couple of examples here to give you a taster of the work.

The main purpose of all this is to get funding for Routes to continue their work, so I’ll leave you with this plea from Sarah:

“If you would like to show your support and help to keep this vital service operating for young people in Frome, there are a number of ways you can help our appeal. By Texting MEND41 an amount from £1 to £10 to 70070 Or by a cheque made payable to YMCA Mendip to ‘Routes’ Drop-In Centre, 1A Palmer Street, Frome, BA11 1DS. Donate online by clicking on the BT Mydonate button at http://tinyurl.com/j9jukt9 and select Routes as your chosen project. By holding a fundraising event to help raise funds and awareness! Or become a ‘Friend’ of Routes!- Contact Sarah Stobbart (Routes Project Manager) on 01749 679553 Ext 5020 or e-mail sstobbart@mendipymca.org.uk”

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 by Tim Gander

A Word (or 717) on Photography Fees

It’s a chicken and egg sort of scenario; you need a photographer for your next project, be that headshots, a PR campaign or website refresh, but you don’t know what the cost will be. If you look around on photographers’ websites you might get an idea from their fees pages (most photographers don’t publish guideline fees, which can be unhelpful), but even then, you don’t know what the budget should be.

In the meantime, the CEO or company accountant will want to set a budget for you to go and spend without exceeding it, but they won’t necessarily know what’s involved or what a photographer is likely to charge.

The other problem is you might not know how much time will be required to get what you need. It’s likely it isn’t your job to know, because you probably don’t book photography regularly enough to get a feel for what can be achieved in a given time period. Well, let me simplify and shorten the process of working out what you should be looking to spend.

high view of conference attendies mingling, shaking hands and drinking teas and coffees

Bear in mind events, conferences and large gatherings tend to generate more images which can affect fees

Start with the brief. I set out here what’s required in a brief and it’s important to make sure you have some idea of how many photos are required and what they are to be of. Take into account that mixing headshots, product shots, more feature-friendly portraits and other disciplines will extend the amount of time required because each will need a different set-up. Lighting, lenses and location will often change from one scenario to the next.

Now look at what uses the images will be put to. List them all from social media to local press/public relations (PR), trade PR, national PR, through company website, brochure, pitch documents and general corporate communications and also say if they’re going to be used in advertising. This is really important because any photographer worth their salt will set fees to reflect the levels of use you require (my standard fees cover all uses from social media, through press/public relations to company website use, but paid-for advertising is negotiated separately).

If it’s an event with set timings, look at the time period for which coverage is required. Having a start and finish time will help define the time the photographer needs to spend on site.

Consider any special requirements; props, backdrops, locations, transport and so on.

All of this can be talked through with a photographer, but the more information you have from the start, the easier it’ll be for a photographer to put an estimate together. Every so often I’ll get an email asking how much I’ll charge for “some photos,” which really isn’t enough information to work on.

Once you have a reasonable idea of what’s required, you can start to find photographers who cover the kind of work you need to get done. Use relevant search terms (discipline and location i.e. “corporate photographer Bristol”) in a search engine to find what you need. Check out online portfolios for the quality, style and content which most closely matches your brief, then call or email the most likely-looking candidates.

Of course I can’t speak for other photographers, but armed with this level of information I can help a client choose which of my fee packages will best suit their needs. It might be we have to negotiate on elements which don’t fit the standard fees, or it might be a reduced fee will cover everything. On the whole I find my fee structure helps the client get what they need with the minimum of admin and to-ing and fro-ing over details.

Even with a fairly detailed brief, I like to follow up an enquiry with a phone call just to clarify any points I need more information on and also to introduce myself personally to the client. It’s good to know who you’re going to be working with, and that cuts both ways.

This might seem like a bit of an effort, but it’s well worth it to get the best from the photographer before, during and after the event. Next week I’ll expand on how photographers set their fees and where I fit in the market. I bet you can’t wait!

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