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Article DetailsWhy Do Photographers Demand a Digital Production fee? |
| Date Added: April 30, 2010 03:28:56 PM |
| Author: Andy Nickerson |
| Category: Digital photography |
| You've established the perfect commercial photographer to shoot your fresh product range, you love their portfolio and are certain they can supply a set of images that best reflect and strengthen your brand. The estimate arrives in your inbox and all seems fair except for one thing, what's this digital processing fee then?Clients often seem unwilling to pay for digital processing costs. They either don't fully grasp the costs to the commercial photographer in capturing and presenting digital imagery or simply believe that the 'virtual' nature of digital photo files somehow deems them free or of less worth than a file that has been shot on film, printed and then scanned.Ten years ago billing a client for a shoot was a simple case of costing out the price of the film used, the 'wet' developing costs and the presentation of the final prints or transparencies, whether executed by the lab or by myself. Add on a few percent for the time in managing the whole process and the costs involved with the shoot was a simple figure to equate. Scanning and retouching was usually done and paid by the customer but if I was expected to do it myself then this time would be billed for separately. With the arrival of digital capture, things have changed considerably.I don't now shoot film and true the benefits both to myself and the client in shooting digitally are tremendous. I suspect the most major advantages are the new level of creative control the professional photographer and customer has over the final images plus the time saved by the whole digital process. But there are now many less palpable and invisible costs involved in getting to this final image file:Digital Camera Equipment. Just to be able to capture digital files the photographer must now frequently invest in extremely costly digital cameras, far more expensive than their film counterparts. Film cameras are comparably simple mechanical devices that would last a careful photographer for many years whereas digital cameras are full of technology that soon becomes obselete so therefore need regular upgrading. Digital cameras also seem to break more often, let alone the regular sensor cleaning required!RAW file processing and retouching. Professional digital cameras capture files that are RAW, think of them as negatives which need to be developed, printed and then finally scanned and retouched to the clients requirements. As opposed to wet chemicals and lab machines the digital photographer now uses computers and RAW processing software. Instead of dodging, burning and spotting prints in a traditional darkroom, the digital photographer will now use potent computers and image adjustment software like Photoshop to retouch the files including eradicating flecks of sensor dust, colour correction etc. Finally these completed files are either printed off on a ink jet printer, burnt to disk or digitally sent via an ftp service. Such superior computing gear doesn't come cheap, nor the imaging software that photographers must discover how to use. Depreciation on such items is horrifying and the learning curve required to skillfully use such software programs is very steep and will often necessitate further training.Time. These 'unseen' jobs and skills all require the commercial photographer to spend substantial time in processing the perfect image before the files are handed over to the customer. The client could well receive the completed work sooner than with traditional film based media but in many ways the work load and skill set of the photographer has actually increased. Separate scanning and retouching costs could be a thing of the past for customers but the photographer still needs compensating for his, now prominent, part in this digital production process.To conclude, todays digital workflow now requires significant and ongoing capitol investment by the photographer and an increased time consuming work load. Digital processing fees are merely meant as a way to reflect and recoup this.Andy Nickerson is the owner of Brampton Valley Photography, Commercial Photographers Northampton. |
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