Cameras have become so dumbed down in recent years that pretty much anyone can take great shots with even an iPhone or an entry-level camera. Here’s why you do not need to worry about the explosion of mediocre photography impacting your business.
If an Amateur Is a Threat to You, You Are the Problem
If you are worried that a person with no skill or experience is going to take all of your business, then the problem is that you should not own that market to begin with. If you are replaceable by virtually everyone with an iPhone, then you need to up your game. The problem is that you are not good enough, not that the market is being flooded with amateurs. Amateurs coming in and doing exactly what you do is just exposing your lack of specialized skill.
Underbidding can also seem like a problem, but it’s not. If you are in any photography Facebook groups, you might see something like this:
Photographer needed for a clothing brand shoot. Paid! $100 for full day and must provide 50 edits.
That post will have 20 comments from people jumping at the opportunity. But the important thing to remember is that a client that has a $100 budget for 8 hours of work on top of 10 hours of editing was not your target client to begin with. That client is paying a budget rate and is going to get budget quality in return. If you are charging decent rates in exchange for a decent product, you haven’t lost any clients. You have lost the opportunity to work with someone who would undervalue your work. That’s not a loss.
A Good Photographer Should Welcome Amateurs to the Market
Imagine you are a Mercedes dealership and 18 used car lots open around you. Are you afraid of never being able to sell a Mercedes with all of these cheap 2005 Honda Civics for sale around you? People in the market for a 2005 Honda Civic are not going to suddenly be in the market for a new Mercedes, and people in the market for a new Mercedes are not going to be tempted by a significantly cheaper 2005 Honda Civic.
An influx in mediocre photography should only help you stand out more. If everyone around you is a six out of ten, then even being a seven out of ten makes so much more valuable.
A pro photographer would have known to use at least a 35mm lens to capture this angle and also would have shot from an angle that is not the back of that lady's head.
How to Make Money Off Your Competitors
If you shoot high school seniors and there are five photographers in your area who charge half what you charge and offer twice as many photos, here is what you need to do:
- Identify what sets you apart from those photographers
- Communicate that difference to your demographic
I don’t mean that you should message potential clients or make an ad about all the reasons you are better than the next guy. That would probably hurt your business. Look at the people underbidding you and look for the reasons why someone should hire you instead. Is your editing better? Is your lighting better? Is your composition better? What is it about your style and your product that makes you better than the people who significantly undercharge you?
The next step is to communicate that to your target demographic. For example, if you believe that your editing sets you apart, then maybe share some before and after shots in your posts. Make it clear the work that you put into your pictures to give them your signature style. You need to make sure your target demographic understands why they would go to you instead of the cheaper version. The burden is on you to educate your potential clients.
I had a recent call with a bride-to-be. She told me that she priced around and saw that there are some people who would only charge $500 for a wedding, so she could just go with them if I didn’t lower my prices. I explained to her what a $500 wedding photographer would likely deliver, how a $10,000 photographer would be different, and how my price in between the two would probably better suit her needs and not leave her with a lifetime of regret and disappointment when she looks at her wedding photos with her grandkids.
Remember that your clients are not always in this industry, and they don’t understand the difference between one photographer and the next. If a bride-to-be sees a pretty wedding photo on someone’s Instagram and they would only charge $500 and you charge $4,000, then you can explain how you have experience in taking group photos and lighting for group photos. You have experience in low-light situations, like a dimly lit reception hall. You have a second shooter who will capture a different angle or shoot video. The point is that your potential client would probably not think about these things, even if they see that both portfolios have pretty pictures. It is up to you to educate your demographic if you want to charge more than the other people in your area.
To circle back to the original example of the clothing brand offering $100 for 50 edits, if you are worried that potential clients might see this rate and get an idea in their heads about what an appropriate rate should be, then message this clothing brand and say: “Hello, I saw your ad for a photographer for $100 for 50 edits. My rate is higher than that and the difference is X. If your budget ever changes, I encourage you to check out my work on my website. I’ve worked with several clothing brands similar to yours who have paid my rate and I’ve helped them achieve their marketing goals." Or something to that effect.
I agree with you on all points except maybe seeling and upselling. I didn't really talk about upselling, but it can be an important part of a photographer's business model. Not to scam or squeeze in extra dollars, but just in educating about extra products you offer. It is impossible to be a good businessperson and not be selling something, whether it's your experience, services, products, etc. Learning how to sell yourself is integral to being a successful entrepreneur in any field.
If I didn't mention upselling and retail at all in my article, but only mentioned that upselling might be important to some people in response to a comment, how can my article only be targeting retail terms?
'Lastly, before you price your work at thousands of dollars while others are charging hundreds of dollars, be certain of your skill level!'
This is the very reason that I've reduced my pricing, albeit momentarily. Looking at my work, I just didn't feel right charging what I was (even though it wasn't anywhere near thousands of dollars).
Now, it could be imposter syndrome, or simply being overly critical of my work, but when I feel my work is worth being priced higher, I'll most certainly be doing that.
Side note: I signed up with Fstoppers, just so I could reply to this. :)
f your work doesn't stand out from the crowd, how do you expect anyone to notice it? First and foremost, you have to master your craft, then you have to add your own signature.
Many thanks for the article.
"If you are worried that a person with no skill or experience is going to take all of your business, then the problem is that you should not own that market to begin with."
I think that is a bit extreme. There are people with SOME skill and experience who have a good chance of taking SOME of your business.
I'm one of those hobbyist trying to take some of your business.
Welcome to the party pal! (in my Bruce Willis from Die Hard! voice :)
Sort of agree. In order to sustain a business you need to build up a strong client base with repeat custom, ie commercial work, wedding photographers lack this. So focus on commercial work. Adapt and change according to the market.
That's why I only shoot weddings if I can tell the couple is not going to make it. Be extra nice to the bride's dad. Boom. You're welcome.
Commercial work has gone under a lot changes too, It is not just shoot these 4 pictures for a layout. Many times it's shoot the 4 pictures for the layout, 10 more for the PR and brand marketing dept. 30 more for the social media kids and throw in some tick tocks and a BTS video.
In commercial work there is still room at the bottom or the top but the middle ground is drying up.
Photography has always been an extremely competitive business to try and make a living. Yes amateurs, hobbyists, the ever growing stock photo marketplace, and your next customers nephew do impact the amount of work you might hope to have.
I can count very few of the hundreds of clients I've worked with who can determine what a good photo is or isn't.
As someone else mentioned, business sense and effective marketing of your work (agent, or other) make all the difference in sustaining a photography business.
Good luck out there. It's not getting any easier, but you might succeed if you're smart and have grit.
You can tell the guy at the top is an amateur because he's looking backward! Photography 101: face camera when shooting. Duh.
Agree, about the changes, like 100%.
The funny thing is most clients and photographers are Honda Accords.
A good reliable product that gets the job done, maybe the Accord LX but way more of them than MBenz.
I think it's more of a problem with a change of perceptions brought on by lifestyle bloggers and microinfluencers on social media. More people are posting cell phone pics and using brand ambassadors using amateur photos in lieu of professional studio shots. Larger companies are following that trend because it's trendy and they can connect with their customers on social media better. And those pictures are "retouched" with IPhone apps, not layer stacks in Photoshop. But, if you are a high end photographer and you do high end commercial shoot for high end fashion brands or magazines like Vogue or Cosmopolitan or high end weddings or even just $3,000 weddings, what is a guy who just bought a crop sensor camera at Best Buy or an IPhone 12 going to do to hurt your business? Things are changing for sure, like CGI being used for product shots. But businesses and industries have always had to adapt. My point is the threat is not from advanced hobbyists.
I think that perhaps newspapers and other print media such as magazines have other problems that are affecting their budgets. Great portfolio by the way. I have my own law practice so I set my own schedule. I (used to) work almost entirely in the courtroom. I do both full time. Cheers.
All due respect but if you are an established full time lawyer and full time photographer your experience will be radically different from full time photographers who have "all their eggs in one basket". Which used to be a good business practice, not any more.
I don't care about dollars but what percentage of your income is from photography vs. law.
In a normal non pandemic year, how many days per year do you spend doing law vs. photography (shooting, marketing, post / pre production,etc)?
Objection. vague and ambiguous. Assumes facts not in evidence. That is a tough question to answer because it's not like I would ever say, "Man, I'd love to do photography stuff, but it's Tuesday and Tuesdays are for depositions." But I schedule the two around each other. So days that I am in court in another city, I will do back end admin stuff in the evening as opposed to shooting. But overall, I'd say probably 80% photography and 20% law because the law stuff is by it's nature more concentrated by project and photography stuff is more never ending projects and marketing and social media stuff. But having a diversified income wouldn't affect the analysis of an issue, only the level of anxiety you would have being in the middle of the issue.
Having two distinct sources of income is a good way to reduce anxiety! Especially these days.
Sorry about that. It is a downward spiral. Customers loose (lost) the ability to seriously judge work and started to hire cheap photographers (nor none at all). This leads to mediocre results at best. But then more people think: What those photographers are able to do I can do as well and offer their service too.
Part of the cost-cutting is already baked in before getting as far as the photographs. Those huge corporations are already hiring very young and not particularly insightful account managers at very low rates. Those young account managers don't see the difference in quality and prefer to send the business to their friend Janine who just bought a camera and is really nice to have around.
Either be specifically good enough at one kind of shoot to be in demand in the genre or perish in the flotsam. Perhaps it's like cooking. Most people can cook competently but the ones who can really cook can have jobs in restaurants any time. Yet I know some very good cooks seeking jobs in restaurants who can only aspire to vegetable washer. It's a strange world, and who you know and how you interact with people have as much to do with success as straight skills.
Embittered and cynical don't sell well.
At one time the standard was to offer packages of prints. If digital files were offered, it was at an add-on price.
The fact that "we" now include digital files as standard packages is a result to new photographers. The new photographers entered the market and put files on DVD or thumb drive. This changed the industry.
The fact that you are better had no impact.
Our clients are not photography experts. They jump on the cheapest price or promise of most digital files. Our answer was to offer more digital files, to keep up.
The fact that you are better had no impact.
The new photographers posted 2 nice images on social media. They shot 100 with 2 keepers, while you shoot 100 with 98 keepers. Some of your clients rush to book a low cost, high quality shoot with that photographer.
The fact that you are better had no impact.
Folks, stop and look around. This industry is changing from the bottom up and not from the top down. There are solutions, but we first have to acknowledge that a problem/issue exists.
Many of our very best photographers have to supplement their income via training of some type. Some only do training.
The fact that they are better had no impact.
Agree. I've never seen a professional photographer whose work was seriously impacted by amateurs, to be honest, neither do I really think it's possible. The amount of skills is seen clearly and the customers usually opt for someone whose works are cheaper just because their works are cheaper and they are fine with the quality of pictures they will be getting. Of course, there are always those who expect a hobbyist to provide the full professional level photo shoot and all the Photoworks magic possible for a couple of dollars, but these are clearly entitled people that can be met in every sphere, be it photography or not. The amateurs will come and go, some of them will stay and make it to the professional level, and if you are afraid of it then the joke's on you.
Lee, your example of the cheap, disorganized and not very capable photographer hired by a big company is a good one. Some companies have obviously never learned: if you pay cheap, you get cheap. This is not limited to photography, but can be seen everywhere and all the time.
In the end, such companies run the risk of paying double, or at least more, than they would have paid to hire a professional, and run the risk of getting less quality than expected.
But again, this could be seen as an opportunity for any skilled and organized photographer to take on this job and do it better.
Catherine, with all due respect, please take a look at newspaper photographers. They mostly have been replaced by amateurs, half time pros, even normal people with a smart phone or, as we sadly see everywhere, those always the same looking boring stock photos.
I was a production photographer on the set of a large music video production for the Apple Music awards last December. The entire thing was shot at night from 5pm to 5am. Lots of background lights and lights in weird places that you couldn't control and that would make getting exposure tough. There were two other production photographers who had cameras with pop up flashes on them and kit lenses. Clearly someone's friend or relative who had no idea what they were doing. It wasn't a huge issue because the pics are not allowed to be published anywhere and were just mementos for the artist, but it was painful to see. Nepotism always has and always will be an issue in every industry though.
Nice Article
I respect the spirit of the article, but I think it falls short in broadcasting the bigger picture. The threat isn't from some complete noob with a cell phone, or as you put it, a lot full of 2005 Honda Civics. The threat is more from a bunch of 2019 Honda Accords. Good, solid reliable cars that are good enough for most people and even have some of the bells and whistles of higher-tier models. It's so much bigger than what I can cover in this post but it starts with the proliferation of decent, even good photographers, with easier access to affordable quality gear and education (skill development) but who lack the business sense to properly price/ value their work and don't understand even the basics of copyright and ownership. A naive hive that brands are all too willing and ready to take advantage of. That's why you see so many commercial shoots now with 1k budgets who demand 30 edited photos and unlimited rights and usage. It's decent photographers willing to work "for exposure" or in exchange for a product that drags down the rates and expectations that people have on how photography should be valued.
Foolish newbies are all too willing to cave for a chance to get the foot in the door.
This is what drags rates down for what would otherwise be good, solid jobs with decent budgets.
Clients now expect a Mercedes at the price of a Honda.
Then there's also the shift of labels. Digital media (Photo/video) is now looked at as just "content." That just follows whatever trend the latest algorithm fancies. I've actually had clients say things like "well could we maybe pay less for editing since the photos don't even have to be that good. We don't want them to look like professional photos." As someone who spent years developing his craft to deliver the highest quality I can muster, such requests are quite demoralizing.
Excellent point. There is a huge proliferation of the need for mediocre and "lifestyle" content. But the need for media is exploding as well. The lower tier is definitely growing the fastest though. I think a lot of that has to do with Kim Kardashian and Fashion Nova using selfies to sell products effectively and Instagram adding a store button to encourage more of the same. Patrick made a good point the other day in one of the Corona Virus videos that newborn photographers who have a set time frame to take a cute picture of a baby who is sleeping or crying during that window might be at a disadvantage to a mom who has a decent camera in her pocket 24/7 and can capture the cute moments as she sees them. There's a shift and an effect from all of this in some genres for sure. I think the growth of lower tier needs has an effect on the upper tier, but there will always be a need to top tier content.
I don’t believe the author of the article, Jeff Bennion is wrong. However, he is not complete either. One of the biggest challenges is that the perceived value of photography has been denounced. You can know “what your worth is”, all you want! If the customer perceives the job to be considerably less, you are not scoring brownie points with one additional customer.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had retail prospects demand exclusive rights at retail cost. And what the image stock firms have done to the industry has caused more damage than it helped. They have absolutely imposed a race to the bottom effect upon the industry. Don’t believe me, read www.selling-stock.com, by Jim Pickerell.
I’m in awe when I read upon social media discussion boards, when amateur shooters claim the “Pro Photographers try to nickel and dime the customer over use of RAW files and prints”. And they are regurgitating these rhetorical statements from the mouths of their customers.
While I do agree that Pro Photographers need to produce higher quality content in a better context. Also, aim for a higher clientele, be better at qualifying prospects and always educate the customer. The challenge is, that stuff cost us more in time and money. And I don’t believe Jeff Bennion has offered a silver bullet solution with his examples.
I believe the better answer is to study the market in order to create and offer packaged solutions to prospects. Ignore offers as described, “A full day fashion photo session for $100 with 50 edits”. That’s not your customer… That’s an insult! You are the master when you establish the value of your solutions in the market place. Especially when you have referrals to back you up.
Agree with almost everything you've said here, Jeff. I've been using these same arguments whenever people grumble about the industry being swamped with cheap amateurs. Anyone being priced out really needs to re-examine the products and services they're offering. Life is tough at the bottom and middle parts of the pyramid, where the prices are low and the work mediocre. Want to beat the competition? Be better at what you do.