|
|
| Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Will you travel outside of Toledo Ohio to shoot a wedding, event, etc.?
A. Yes, I will travel outside of the Toledo Ohio area (so long as it is in the U.S.A) for your event. I will however, require as much advance notice as possible, and additional travel and lodging fees may apply for out-of-area and out-of-state clients.
Return to Top
Q. Do you have a Photography Studio?
A. No, at this time I do not have a studio. All Photoshoots are done on location. Sometimes at a client's home or another location the client has chosen. For instance, I've had some clients choose to have their photographs taken at a scenic park, art museum, or a location with their favorite landmark or historical site in the background.
Return to Top
Q. Do you photograph family pets?
A. Yes, I will take photos of family pets. There is however an increase of my rates depending on the amount of the pets I will be required to work with. For example, If you only have one dog, you will not be charged as much as someone who wants to have all three of their dogs photgraphed together.
Return to Top
Q. Why do you charge less than most photographers?
A. My rates are less than most photographers for a few reasons. I am working on building a larger portfolio. And even though photography has always been an active hobby of mine, I've only been doing this as an actual business for a few years so I am still building up my business; obtaining new equipment, increasing my client list, and planning out the details for my future studio . Another reason for my low prices is that I am sensitive to the financial issues and hardships many are having due to the state of today's economy. Life happens so quickly, being able to have their precious memories captured with quality photographs and pass those memories down for generations is important to some folks. I am hoping with my offering such affordable rates, I will be helping folks who desire having their sentimental moments and precious memories captured in photographs during these hard economic times.
Return to Top
Q. I saw somewhere on your site that you sell prints and downloads of some of your work. What type of prints and downloads do you sell?
A. Mostly I sell high quality prints (framed, mounted, or unframed) and downloads (which you can print yourself or use for your computer desktop/wallpaper). I also sell calendars of my nature & wildlife photographs, cemetery photographs, and digital art I create. Sometimes I even sell photographs of buildings, landmarks, cars, misc. objects, or whatever else may catch my eye. Downloads are available here LuLu.com/DazzDeLaMorte. I also sell some of my work for editorial, marketing, business use, etc. (royalty free with the option of extended licensing) which is available for download from My Studio at Cutcaster .
Return to Top
Q. Why Are Professionals So Expensive?
A. For people who ask and/or complain about why professionals charge what they do for photos, here is a good explanation:
Simply put, you're not just paying for the actual photograph, you're paying for time and expertise. First, let's look at the actual time involved. If you don't read this entire page, at least read this first part.
For a two hour photo session:
-
1 - 3 hours communicating with the client: providing information, asking & answering questions pertaining to the photo session
-
at least half an hour (or more) of travel to and from the session
-
30 minutes (or more) of prep/set up, and talking to the client at/durring the shoot
-
two hours of shooting
-
30 minutes (or more) to load the photos onto a computer (2 - 4 Gb of data)
-
30 minutes (or more) to back up the files on an external drive
-
8 hours (or more) of Photoshop time : noise reduction, cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a high resolution copy for print, re-sizing and saving a smaller copy for the internet, plus backing up all of the edited photographs.
-
1 hour (or more) spent meeting with customer to deliver and/or ship their photos.
So, now you can see how one 2 hour session easily turns into more than 14 hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a $200 session fee for a 2 hour photo shoot, you’re not paying the photographer a $100 per hour to just shoot your photos.
For an eight hour wedding:
- I won't bore you with all the details, but an eight hour wedding typically amounts to at least two to three full 40 hour work weeks worth of time. Again, if you are being charged $4,000 for an eight hour wedding, you are not paying your photographer $500 per hour!!!
Now for the expertise:
Professional photography is a skill, acquired through years of experience. Even though a quality camera now costs under $2,000 taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.
Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their first decent camera to making money with their photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website etc.
And let's not forget that you actually have to have people skills too: be able to communicate, make people or pets comfortable in front of the camera - and posing people or pets to make them look their best in a photograph is a skill all by itself.
Think of it this way - the next time you pay to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50. But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a Professional.
Return to Top
| |
|