A Man's Got To Do What A Man's Got To Do*

Monday, September 26, 2011. President Obama was scheduled to present a Town Hall type meeting a the Computer  History Museum in Mountain View. I arrived at 6:30am to find out that I was too late to get access to the shooting riser that had been set aside for still photographers covering the event. Not that I was late, mind you. I just mistakenly tried to enter the law enforcement entrance and spent 10 precious minutes trying to find the Media Entrance, which was locked when I found it. Now I'm in a pickle. Two more senior photographers from the San Mateo Daily Journal, Scott Lenhart and Andrew Scheiner, were far better prepared than I, as they arrived at 5:30 (the suggested opening) and dropped off their equipment and were now relaxing until we all could enter the hall and begin preparing our equipment at 9:00 am, sharp.


Somehow, either because I was lucky or pitiful, I managed to get a hand check of my equipment by a Secret Service agent. After the obligatory wanding, I headed into the hall and tried to stake out a spot. I wound up at the far right end of the riser next to the sound mixing station and behind two network video cameras. By 10:00am, nearly a full hour before the President's arrival, our shooting area was beginning to get crowded.


Good Idea #1: Always Carry A Speedlight: The Secret Service specifically said, "No Flash Photography", but since President Obama was an hour away, I felt that these "color commentary" shots would certainly be permissible. I wanted a shot of the melee that was forming in front of me, but all of the spotlights were pointed at the stage, which left us in the dark, literally. I needed a splash of light to illuminate the foreground.  I could have used the flash built into the top of your camera, but the light would have been uneven, fading rapidly as the distance increased. In addition, if used in the TTL mode, the flash and camera would have been easily fooled by the disparity of distances within the frame.


Instead, I mounted an SB-800 on the D7000 and pointed it straight up into the ceiling, which was probably 20 feet above us. Since my current camera settings  (shutter speed 1/125 and an 11-16mm Tokina set to F4) included an ISO of 1600, I was able to aim the flash straight up and bounce light off the ceiling. The light, now traveling a distance of over 40 feet, evenly lit the players in front of me, and completely disappeared towards center stage. And while the White Balance setting was at Auto, the deep blue drapes must have compensated for the warm tone of the spotlights, a happy accident and a believable rendering of the stage-lit audience. The flash  was set to manual at 1/8 power and gave plenty of light. If you examine the people at the far right edge of the photo, you can see the "daylight" from the flash start to fade, and the tungsten light start to pick up, as the distance from the lens increases.

The speedlight's power setting was determined through trial and error, and since the overall appearance of the photo was pleasing, I kept shooting until I saw something interesting in the foreground. Thank goodness for digital cameras and the preview mode!

If you carefully examine this image, you can see that my shooting position was not the best. There were two real problems. The first was the height of the video cameras. If you drew an imaginary line across the tops of the two cameras, you can see that my view of the President would be obstructed when he sat down. This meant that I would be forced to shoot between them, and would be their mercy if the operators panned their cameras from side to side. Also, the big Linkedin logo was at an angle from my vantage point. This would not look good as a background.

With all of the light directed toward center stage, everything in the immediate foreground was nearly black. Without my flash, this Point-And-Shooter was completely silhouetted against the background drapes. But the brightness of the LCD on the camera appeared to be equal to that of the background. I liked this shot because it was both a study in "blue" and it illustrated how one photographer overcame the shortcomings of his shooting position.


Good Idea #2: Live View Rocks (sometimes): I needed to get a photo with a little more context, one that said, if not shouted, "Linkedin". Seeing the oversized logo in the center, I positioned myself so I could photograph it dead-on without any perspective distortion. I finally got to a good position, but found that EVERYBODY had bunched up directly in front of me, obviously trying to get the same vantage point. While I could have just blindly held my camera aloft and did the "shoot and chimp" routine, I turned on Live View, and while holding the camera above me, adjusted its position until I could see that the logo was parallel with the top edge of the LCD screen. I shot several photos, keeping one eye on the alignment in the LCD and the other on the President. When he made a thoughtful gesture, I shot, being careful not to disturb the camera held precariously above my head at arm's length. 

I was well pleased with the final photo. You can clearly see that the heads of photographers and the bodies of the video cameras, but they helped to frame the image and refine the composition. Interestingly enough, this wasn't my first choice, as I felt the logo was a little over the top. But the Editor in Chief, seeing the photo, pushed it to the front page, above the crease, and gave it a full four columns of width.

Sometimes, you just get lucky.

*The quote is usually associated with actor John Wayne (1907-79) who allegedly used it, or a similar variant, in the western "Stagecoach". Or was it "Hondo"? Or "Shane"? WikiAnswers cites Fred MacMurray (1908 – 1991) as saying it in "The Rains of Ranchipur" in 1955.

Play it again, Sam.

Pricing Photographic Services

I am sure that every serious amateur has considered going “pro” at some point. This has become more common with the advent of affordable digital cameras with modest price tags that are capable of producing professional quality results. I freely admit that I have often said that “Education is my wife, but photography is my mistress”. And truthfully, when I leave my “wife” (retire), my mistress and I will run off into the sunset together, spending countless hours in unbelievable bliss. However, turning “pro” implies that I will start charging for my work, a convenient way of offsetting the costs of new equipment. But before I start working on an appropriate price structure, I must examine how I want to price my services and match them with the market I wish to penetrate. I must also consider the level of compensation for the number of hours involved, and any other expenses incurred during the shoot.

For most people, the first time we encounter a photographer is in elementary school, and the last encounter is at a wedding (usually yours), and with almost no contact in between.  The unfortunate result is that most people believe that all photographs are priced in “photo packages” like 2 5X7 inch prints with a dozen wallets thrown in. And about twenty years later, when people start shopping for a wedding photographer, the package mindset frames the entire price to product discussion, since the bride and groom often base their decisions on how many photos will be in the album. In both cases, the first impulse may well be to take the total cost of the package and divide it by the number of pages in the album. I guarantee that if you take that approach, you will be amazed by how expensive each page becomes. While this approach to pricing may seem appropriate in our consumer-driven society, it does not accurately reflect the true cost and the intrinsic value of the end product.

Post Production: Let’s examine the pricing process and work backwards, starting with the album and ending with the services required to produce it. Chronologically, album production has many stages, the first of which is the editing. This is a process where all the stakeholders have some input on the final selection, the theme of the album, and the cover material. These decisions don’t just happen. The selection meeting may take an entire hour, and must rightfully be included in the total price. Next, there is the album design. This is the arrangement of the photos, selection of complementary backgrounds, and a sense for creating a pleasing graphic arrangement that is both visually appealing and presented in a logical sequence.  And even with the availability of some very specialized album creation programs, the process could take many, many hours. Once this is finished, another appointment is scheduled to get final approval of the album design. Once written approval is obtain, the actual production of the album can begin.  As a rough estimate, 2 hours of consultation, 8 hours of computer time, for at total of 10 hours of post production. This is a very conservative estimate, by the way. Since the actual cost of the album will vary, I’m leaving it out of the equation.

Remember that up to this point, we haven’t mentioned photography at all. All this happens after the wedding and is commonly referred to as “post production”. Successful management of post production is not about skills with a camera. It takes a well developed sense of aesthetics and superior computer skills to create an album look that reflects the mood of the wedding.

The Equipment: The actual photography during the wedding is highly visible, but also misunderstood. Before we get to the specifics, let’s start to look at what is required to properly document the event. First, let’s look at the equipment. A professional photographer must use equipment that is reliable, durable, and expensive. Even if the equipment is rented, the cost can be surprisingly high. For a wedding, I would bring the following: a Nikon D3, 3 zoom lenses (17-35 2.8, 20-70 2.8, and a 80-200 2.8), 2 Nikon SB-900 speedlights , 2 Spare camera batteries, Nikon D90Backup camera (w/ lens)  for a total of  $371 per day. For a two day event, you must double the cost. Incidentals such as single-use batteries and memory cards are not included. These prices were based on an on-line check of day-rates at Calumet.

 

The Wedding: Next comes photographic time on location. For a fully covered wedding, the day starts the moment make-up touches the bride’s face. In the wedding I will be photographing, this starts at 9:00 am in Burlingame. After both the hair and make-up are done, I’ll return with the bride to Half Moon Bay where the event is scheduled to start on 3:00 pm. I don’t believe I’ll be finished until 10:00 that evening. Dinner? Drinks? Afternoon Tea?  Forget it. I’ll be too busy photographing the bride. Any time away from the party will spent working with the bride and groom, trying to produce some show-stopping images with sunsets and seagulls, flowing veils, or romantic moments on the beach. Maybe I’ll get an hour or two when I’m off duty, you say. Off duty? That’s when you start to backup up your images. So far, I count 11 hours of my undivided attention dedicated to the lucky couple. This doesn't take into account the file uploads, backups, mass edits, and the final design of the album.

The Total: I’m sure I haven’t thought of every possible expense. However, an incomplete tally of the time and costs total $371 for equipment rental and 21 hours for photographing the event and the subsequent post production.

In short, both the photographer and the client need to understand that making a photograph involves far more than just the time behind the camera. As a photographer, keep track of your true costs including time and expenses. I am sure that you’ll find it to much higher that you thought. Knowing all of the facts can help both the client and the photographer better understand the true costs of photography.

Addendum: October 3, 2011: Since I originally posted this article, I've had some interesting discussions with several photographers whose situation is similar to my own. Any photographer who is contemplating turning pro must consider how his or her work stacks up against other photographers who are competing for the same market share. It's not enough to have a cool camera and an impressive lens. It's all about the images, the presentation, and on-time delivery. It's called customer service, and includes all aspects of the assignment, camera related or not. Just being there is not enough!