I recently came across an article by www.pixelpluck.com that discusses “10 stupid things people believe about photographers”. I wanted to add my thoughts on it with the hope to educate the public on this craft. Using the term “stupid” in the title should indicate that you will not score any points with a professional photographer with these 10 beliefs. The reason why some people hold these beliefs is because they have very little experience working with professional photographers and have a false belief that anyone can pick up a camera and deliver the same results as the professional. Like comedian Katt Williams once said, you feel like you are driving a Rolls Royce in a Chrysler 300M until a real Rolls Royce pulls up next to you. On the flip side, when couple is engaged and shopping around for a professional photographer, they will educate themselves and understand the factors that makes a good photographer.
Below are the 10 “Stupid” things mentioned in the article. I will discuss two of these items today and discuss the others in the coming weeks.
- Oh! It’s Just Pressing a Button
- Friends Will Work for Free
- Better Gear Makes Better Photographs
- My friend can shoot the wedding
- They have no right to shoot someone at a beach
- Great Photograph, it must by photoshopped
- XYZ Takes Better Photos than you
- Discounts and more Discount
- I know a guy who can do it much cheaper
- I can shoot better than you if I shoot regularly
Lets start off with the first two beliefs.
Oh! It’s Just Pressing a Button – Having that opinion is wrong in so many ways. For anyone that has used a DSLR camera, you technically cannot simply push a button and get an image out of the camera. Most professional cameras requires the user to press the shutter button half way down to focus the camera first before taking the image. But the main point with this item is that capturing a photo requires a lot of aspects that people generally do not appreciate. A photographer has to envision the image they want to create, then understand how to set up the image with their surrounding elements. Then the photographer has to provide the proper exposure, which primarily involves 3 key settings on your camera and the flash is an addition when used. The process of capturing a photo is very intense and requires a lot of experience before the skill can be mastered. And remember, photographers have to consider all of these elements in real short period of time when on the job. Many photographers will invest a lot of money to educate themselves with the goal of improving their process of capturing photos.
Friends will work for Free – Professional Photographers invest a lot of time and money into their craft and it will be generally difficult for someone to get their friend to photograph an event for free. There may be some rare cases where a friend will work for free but lets look at the trade-offs. If someone is starting out as a photographer, they may offer to do a party or wedding for free just to gain experience. But as a recipient, you will more than likely get plan to low quality photos that may not be properly exposed, not composed correctly, and may not have all of the photos you wanted such as the photo with your favorite auntie. With a start out photographer, they may not have all of the equipment needed to perform the job such as no back up battery or memory card. Now lets say you have a friend who is very experienced in photography, you will find it almost impossible to get them to work for free. They invest a lot of money in their equipment (camera, lens, studio lighting, etc) and the spend additional money to maintain their equipment. The full time photographer typically operates an office and have staff, which means more expenses required for them to operate. And since there is a lot of competition, photographers spend money on advertisement and events to secure future business. With all of these expenses mentioned, you would have to think twice before asking your friend “Professional Photographer” to capture your special moment for free.
Below is the link to the source article that I have been referencing.
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