[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Hey fstopper89, I checked out the Ace photographer. Yikes!  Her photos are beyond awful. They’re putrid!  I also noticed that her About Us description is full of mistakes. Someone get that girl some lessons in photography (and English)!!

Here’s her website:   http://www.acephotographygt.com

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Most mid-range to high-end restaurants would never put photographs on a menu. However, they all have photos on their websites.

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Well, I am going to be paid $25 per digital file (the client wants 5 photos from the shoot).

So the whole thing will net me $275. Not bad for a few hours’ work, but I think the digital files are worth more.

She absolutely did not want to buy prints, so what choice did I have but to sell her the files?

Part of this is my own stupidity. I should have worked out a fee schedule before I even took on the job.

$150 sitting fee

$100 per digital file

Would that have been too much?

 

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Hey Trainwreck,

Yes, I know that the point of your story was about the value of a good photographer. I couldn’t help injecting my dislike of shooting glass.  🙁

Thanks for your comments!

 

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Cameraclicker, I’ve been doing a lot of reading online about the changing business model for photographs/photographers. It seems that most people want digital files PERIOD.  Even if they order some prints from you, they still want the files.  Trying to figure out what to charge people is a nightmare of such proportions that it makes me want to throw in the towel!

The other day I gave an estimate on a job for a local restaurant. They balked at my fee and asked me to lower my rate. They said that maybe they could just use their own photos for their website (food photos). Rather than negotiate with them, I sent them a picture they had taken of some of their food (snagged from Facebook) and a picture of food that I’d taken so they could have a visual of the value of properly done food photography.

Within minutes I received an email back from them saying “Okay! Let’s do it.”

Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words!  🙂

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Trainwreck, thanks for sharing your story. And yes, I’m familiar with the difficulties of photographing glass. I have had to photograph wine bottles on location…what a nightmare!

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Thanks Trainwreck.  It’s a crying shame, really.  People are now used to seeing their photographs on a tiny iPhone screen or on a tablet and they think the pictures look great. Try printing some of these things and they’re just garbage.

 

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Thank you for the replies.  I guess whether or not the client needs high resolution files to send to the magazine to accompany her order will determine what I charge her. I could give her low-res images but I doubt they would be useful for her needs as publications usually require high res.

 

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

I just can’t understand photographers giving away digital files!  I think you should give the clients small files in reduced resolution (with a tasteful watermark) so they can post to social media.  But giving away full-sized edited files….this makes me crazy!  The money to be made in this kind of photography is through print and product sales.  And what will it do for your reputation when they take their disc of jpgs to the local WalMart and have crappy prints made?

I’m sad.  🙁

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Someone gave me the Gary Fong Tupperware a few years ago and I can honestly say that despite trying it many times I have never found it to be anything but useless.  The only time it ever came in handy was when I was shooting a photo of some kids who thought it was so funny looking that they ended up laughing and I got great shots. I told them that I keep my snacks in it for when I get hungry.

And yet Gary Fong is a gazillionaire selling all manner of plastic and rubber “light spreaders.”

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Oh my gosh, I just don’t know what I saw just now.

What is the meaning of this:  http://www.losangelesweddingpro.com/Portraits/i-RLKfj6p/A

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

First I want to say thanks to everyone who posted their solutions for this problem.

I ended up having to take an indoor photo of about 30 people in a confined space (an office).  They were in about 4 or 5 rows, so I needed a lot of depth of field.

I stood up on a chair and set my camera to manual exposure, ISO 1600, f6.3 at 1/60th. I was using a Canon 5D Mark 2 with the flash mounted on the camera. First I tried using the Gary Fong (which is supposed to “spread the light”) and that didn’t work. Incredibly, what worked was popping up the little white plastic bounce card on the flash and bouncing the light off the ceiling. The photo came out perfectly exposed and everyone is tack sharp from front to back.

Success!

Thanks again for all your ideas!!

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

When I look at timmyschick’s photo here http://www.picturedrox.com/Landscapes/i-Gv3Fbbh/A   I see an overuse of luminance. The photo looks….odd.

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

I believe I have found the mother of all MWAC fauxtogs.  Blue babies, random cut and paste jobs, heads sitting on logs. .. this is a classic.

One thing:  you can look, but please don’t steal her photos. Oh wait. She’s made sure to watermark them well so you won’t be tempted.  🙂

https://www.facebook.com/anjelicaphotography/photos_stream

[Rise Against Fauxtogs]

Oh Lord help us….Digital Memories has new “sets” for Easter.  I don’t understand how she can continue to purchase all these cheesy sets and charge $60 for a shoot (complete with a CD of full sized images).

Yes, that is steam coming out of my ears.

https://www.facebook.com/399905263422134/photos/pcb.631867573559234/631866120226046/?type=1&theater

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