One thing you can never do twice is make a first impression. When consumers look at your business communication, they decide within the first few seconds whether they want to buy your goods or services. Our attention spans are very short.
People look at images before they read text. It is the way our brains work. And whilst we may not all be able to take a good photograph, we are all experts in good quality photography - and bad!
This comes through years of reading magazines, seeing advertising, and television. We may also not know which elements in particular make an image good or bad, but it is clear to us all, when something is not right.
Professional photographers find comfort in this fact. Society has extremely high standards when it comes to images, and rightly or wrongly, photographers see themselves as the guardians of this bastion, protecting us all from inferior photography.
Everyone has a camera these days. Be it on a mobile phone, or something more elaborate, we all have access to image making. This is a far cry from only ten years ago. When RGB digital Ltd bought their first digital camera, it was a massive six megapixels, and cost a little over £20,000. You can now get a free phone with a better spec than this. The misconception that we face though, is that we can take good photographs with this wonderful advance in technology. This is a myth - luckily!
How so I hear you cry? ‘We have someone in our business who has a really good camera. Why pay all that money to get a proper photographer, when we can do it ourselves’.
I know we photographers make it look easy, but there is actually alot in it. Allow me, if you will, to take you to a concert, to illustrate my point. For one night only The Beatles are playing with Jimmy Hendrix and The Doors. Naturally, like everyone else, you want to get a shot of this momentous event. Thousands of flashes are going off every second in this sell out stadium. Every single one of those shots will be useless. The built in flash will work to a distance of about ten feet. So the majority of those shots will be the backs of peoples heads, directly in front of them - beautifully lit, with a dark or invisible stage somewhere in the frame.
Professional photography ensures a professional result. You would not think twice about going to an amateur dentist or doctor. When we visit the website of a company that has done it themselves, it is clear that they do not take themselves seriously. This is worrying if we are to part with our hard earned cash for a substandard product.
The benefits of using a professional photographer are that you can spend more time doing what you are good at, and let the photographer take care of producing fabulous images, so vital when it comes to selling your goods or services.
So what should you look for when choosing a photographer? With so much choice it can be daunting trying to find the right one. Here are handy tips that may help. It sounds obvious, but find out what experience they have and how long they have been going. You should ask who they are currently working with and ask to see examples. This will tell you alot about the individual or company. You can also enquire about the facilities they offer. Do they have their own studio?
The more successful and established a photographer, the more professional and successful their business should appear. Top name clients do not risk their brand and images associated with it, to substandard photographers. It is also important to know who will be shooting for you, and to feel you can work with them. Ask questions, and if the answers are not forthcoming, move on. It is vital to feel comfortable working together.
From the perspective of us photographers, things couldn’t be better. The new technology has brought numerous benefits and opened up huge exciting markets. The best bit though, is that even with the most advanced camera, you can never replace a professional photographer!
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