Editor’s Note: Thanks to Tom Beck, owner and commercial photographer extraordinaire, at Beck Photographic for sharing his thoughts with us… Tom is the best in the business, check out his web site or connect with him on Twitter to get to know him better.
Why would you want your brand (advertising) photography to not look professional? What purpose does it serve, except to make your business look unprofessional.
A good portrait photographer is not necessarily a good commercial photographer, and vice versa. Photographers tend to have specialties, and just because one shoots great portraits doesn’t mean they can shoot products, or food. Research who you’re hiring, and notice what photos of theirs stand out.
What does a “good enough” photo mean to your business and your ad? If it looks blah, then it’ll get lost and forgotten in all the other ads out there. And even if you do see results, how much better would the results be if you actually had a GREAT photo in your advertising?
When you hire a pro photographer, you’re insuring that you’re going to get great results. Does the person you hired for $100 off of Craigslist have pro equipment? Backup equipment? A certificate of insurance in case they break your merchandise? Are they going to behave professionally on the shoot? Do they know the technical specs of what you need delivered, and will they deliver in a timely manner? These aren’t (usually) a concern when you hire a true professional.
If you (or your graphic designer) is purchasing microstock photography (iStockphoto, Shutterstock, etc.), then your competition can too. How embarrassing will it be to see the image you’re using being used by your competitor (and yes, it HAS happened, more times than you know)? Also, is that image “good enough”, or does it stand out? If the image is just “OK”, even if you didn’t pay much for it, how much is it costing you in business you COULD have had? In other words, are you getting the biggest bang for your buck?
What say you? What is your experience with good enough vs. great photography?
Love this article! I can’t tell you the number of people who have taken my catalogs (with your product photography) at trade shows to take to their boss, manager and commented “oh, good. It shows the texture of the paper and cards. I wanted to make sure they could see that, because that’s what makes them so unique.” I can also attest that it adds another level of professionalism to have good looking photos which is a huge plus in selling yourself and your company to business partners. Thanks Tom!
Tom is a great photographer to be sure. It’s amazing how many uses you can find for your photography once done – it allows you to leverage your publicity opportunities as well and makes it super easy for press outlets to cover you when you can give them both a great story – and great photos, don’t you think?
I have seen firsthand the additional opportunities for promotion that come from upgrading to professional photography. One of the companies I operate lived with amateur snapshots and begged shots from other sources for a number of years. When sending out news releases and the like, I was always slightly embarrassed by the lack of quality photography we had for an inherently visual business.
Last year, in conjunction with the redesign of our website, we engaged a young, very affordable but also very high-quality professional photographer. She spent a day getting some great shots, which we then used prominently in our new site ( http://www.bricktownwatertaxi.com ).
Since the launch of the site, we have had use requests from multiple entities, including the City of Oklahoma City Planning Department for use at an industry world conference in New York this fall, plus media outlets including American Express Publishing’s Travel and Leisure magazine. There is zero chance the photos we previously had available would have been requested or used in these instances.
This type of exposure, in addition to simply making our web presence and promotional collateral look more professional, surely makes the few hundred dollars we spent worth the investment.
What a great story from your experience, Chad! Thanks so much for sharing it – good on you and the rest of you folks up in OKC!