While surfing the internet today, I came across a blog post with the title…It could have actually said, “How my photographer is ripping me off!” because I HATE Photoshop!
She hates Photoshop, so I read the post because I thought that was an intriguing title.
It turned out that the author was a bride who had employed a photographer for her wedding for 4 or 5 hours (she wasn’t sure of the exact duration).
She received all the cons after the wedding. She considers it to be a scam when photographers attempt to sell their photographs after keeping the negatives. By the way, in the analog world, giving them the negatives is equivalent to giving them a memory stick or CD file with the photos on it.
She thus received all the bad news.
Because she lacked retouching software, she had kept the negs for a considerable amount of time—she didn’t say how long. She eventually acquired a copy of Photoshop. She was now “retouching” over 500 black and white images. (Half of the photos were taken in black and white, and the other half in color.)
The reason she “hates” The reason Photoshop exists is because editing 500 photos is boring! Having to retouch EVERY single one makes me wonder how talented this photographer is. (Fortunately, she received the software as a Christmas gift, so I guess she couldn’t hate it for the $600.00 plus price tag!) She never spoke of the challenging learning curve, the length of time required for retouching, or the expense of photo paper, printer ink, etc…
BUT…she wasn’t “scammed” by some photographer! One who had actually PAID the $600 for the software, spent the time learning how to use it, spent the time editing all the photos, paid for the cost of printing them, and then spent the time assembling them into an album. (we won’t even get into a discussion of the cost of the equipment, training, and the hundred other miscellaneous details that went into creating the photos in the first place.)
In other words, photographers who actually want to get paid fairly for their work and not give it away are a real scam! I’m being facetious for those of you who don’t get irony, so please understand!
How many brides out there never actually get a wedding album because they want to save a couple bucks and “print them themselves”? How many brides receive an album, but it is a subpar one because they lack the $600 worth of software, and never do? Do not have the necessary skills, or do not want to put in the necessary time?
As professionals, we are aware of the time and effort required to produce a stunning wedding album or one of the hardcover books that are currently in style. We are aware that the bride will hardly ever put forth the effort necessary to complete the task correctly and will, therefore, either produce no album at all or one of mediocre quality at best.
Therefore, when you take the simple route and give the bride the negatives, the camera memory stick, a CD, whatever, you truly ARE taking advantage of them. They will never be able to appreciate or perceive their album the way that it deserves to be. They won’t even be aware that you defrauded them!
Additionally, you deceived yourself. Their friends and family won’t be able to appreciate your work the way it deserves to be. Do you want YOUR reputation and future bookings to be dependent on an amateur who “HATES Photoshop?”
I disagree; you should stand your ground and demand a fair price for your services; everyone will benefit.
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