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05/14/2012 01:56:45 PM · #1 |
so on my Facebook page and friend of mine posted a link to a photographer friend she has. so as always i clicked through out of curiosity and i must admit the quality is very sub par.
i mean really sub par. blurry images, the white balance is all over the place, the poses aren't really creative...
for whatever reason this person appears to do quite a bit of work.
now i'm not saying i can do better, but i know when a photo looks like crap. At a time in my life when im fretting over being able to provide quality images and i see this, it makes me wonder.
are most people blind to good quality or do i just have extremely high expectations?
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05/14/2012 02:02:47 PM · #2 |
| As in any profession (especially creative professions), quality is judged by the experience (or lack, thereof) of the consumer. On the positive side, this means even mediocre professionals can eek out a living. There are zillions of examples of this on the web, yours is just one of them. |
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05/14/2012 02:04:40 PM · #3 |
| Discerning palates will not put up with crap, but the vast majority of people wanting "professional" images don't distinguish between cell phone captures and professional quality. I've stuck to my guns with my prices and so far, after an initial "I can't afford you", they come back to me. Once a client has seen your product, if they want quality and look around, they will see why you charge what you charge. If "quality" is important to them, they will hire you. If "price" is more important, they won't. |
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05/14/2012 02:10:34 PM · #4 |
Average people when they see most things you can't do with a point-and-shoot camera are impressed. I'm routinely in the bottom here, yet when friends (and friends of friends) see some of my shots they ask me how i did things or where i learned to do that, can i teach them how to do it, etc.
So yeah, your average person will likely see someone with a SLR camera, flash gun on top, collapsable lighting kit and a folding reflector panel and think they're well worth spending $2500 on for the wedding, or a few hundred for family photos....
My sister-in-law just did that exact thing for a family photo shoot with the Whole family - i was unimpressed with the photographer's results overall. a few good ones but most look to be over-processed in PP to the point that some of them look cartoony, or "apply smudge tool to face". I know i could do equally as well overall, if not better in some regards, but i don't want to subject people to 'value photography' for a price. Free for friends but nothing milestone-y - you get what you pay for... and if you don't like it you can go hire someone after the fact.
So yeah, rambling a bit, but on point: most people are unsure what really good quality is in the age of digital photography and megapixels. |
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05/14/2012 02:10:58 PM · #5 |
| I think quality is pretty subjective, which can sort of be demonstrated by votes on DPC that are all over the place. Even winning pics get some votes in the basement. I've about given up on my own judgement as to what is good or bad because it so rarely agrees with the majority. I don't take great photos, but of the photos I take, I'm pretty sure I cull out some that would have scored better than those I picked (if that makes any sense). I think sometimes poor work is accepted because of exceptional networking and people skills. When people like their photographer, they want to like the photos. The takeaway is this: Take great pics and develop great people skills and you should go far as a photographer (although those people skills won't help much on DPC where the identity of the photographer is unknown until after voting). :) |
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05/14/2012 02:14:34 PM · #6 |
| There is a girl at my school who is a part of the "sub-par" image club... She gets a lot of people coming to her though because she is so outgoing and pretty much everyone likes her (especially the guys). I personally don't see what everyone sees in her but regardless she gets a lot of people wanting her to do the shoots. My school though, offered me the job for sports photographer over her for the quality difference... So quality does speak louder than you may think. |
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05/14/2012 02:31:41 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by tanguera:
Discerning palates will not put up with crap, but the vast majority of people wanting "professional" images don't distinguish between cell phone captures and professional quality. I've stuck to my guns with my prices and so far, after an initial "I can't afford you", they come back to me. Once a client has seen your product, if they want quality and look around, they will see why you charge what you charge. If "quality" is important to them, they will hire you. If "price" is more important, they won't. |
my neighbor recently had family portraits done (with a different photog who was a friend of hers), the price was about $125, between that and the fact that they provided all the images on a cd i immediately knew that they weren't gong to be good. i bit my tongue and squashed my wife's idea later of hiring the person, once i saw the product could see why they only charged what they did.
at that time i wonder if they were blinded by friendship or actually happy with the results. |
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05/14/2012 03:16:24 PM · #8 |
Compared to YOUR work, they are subpar and suck ass.
Compared to another Christmas card photo from JC Penney taken by a high schooler who wants to finish them as quickly as possible so they can get back to texting about the dance next weekend - they were probably a vast improvement. |
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05/14/2012 03:18:31 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by knikki:
Compared to YOUR work, they are subpar and suck ass.
Compared to another Christmas card photo from JC Penney taken by a high schooler who wants to finish them as quickly as possible so they can get back to texting about the dance next weekend - they were probably a vast improvement. |
i dont know, JC Penny quality is much better than these... |
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05/14/2012 03:42:47 PM · #10 |
tanguera + eleventy billion.
After doing the research for my own wedding, I came across far more of the soccer mom has a new OMG DIGI CAM! and will shoot your wedding for a super cute price then heavy hitters. I settled on one particular vendor, because their page had me sold even from the front page collage. Naturally, they are priced accordingly though. I know it will be worth it. |
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05/14/2012 04:50:05 PM · #11 |
perhaps the general public is not accustomed or willing to look for an "artist" for wedding photography or basic portrait photography.
People will most times settle for glorified passport photo attendants- which would be fine, if the lighting and the focus was right.
For our wedding, we had a friend who was an amateur. I think I was sold on her when she described herself as "taking a lot of candids, black and white shots"
we were super happy with the job she did. |
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05/14/2012 06:29:18 PM · #12 |
i know what you're sayin, but please don't ever let the work of others bring down your personal level of acceptable quality.
Some online stuff is awful. I know anyone here can knock the socks of a good amount of the junk out there.
Still, beauty is definitely in the eyes of the beholder. I've seen a certain image apparently been writ about which sold for over a mil... and it was, for me, a 20 dollar print on a good day.
Then again theres that once in a while masterful work being sold for 5 bucks.
If you're using a scale that maps skill and money, you're doing it wrong =p |
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