You Get What You Pay For... Revisited

I wrote the blog below back in July, but felt the need to repost it and update it tonight after someone sent me a link to a new photographer opening in our area with prices that are just ridiculously low. If I had to do what this person is doing for the price they are charging, I'd sooner not do it, because my time alone is worth far more than what his person is charging. This person does not offer prints, only a CD. It takes some know how to know how to crop the same photo to be printed at various sizes, such as an 8x10, a 5x7, an 11x 14 and so on. You cannot just print any size from a shot without ruining the picture. Then, I looked at the quality of work... and while I may sound arrogant... I'm just going to say it, I would be embarrassed to put my name on what I saw. Again... you get what you pay for. Want to go to someone who will give you a CD of 20 pictures for under $100... go ahead. But remember... you get what you pay for!

17 July, 2010

You Get What You Pay For

Most of you are aware of this, but for those who are not, I also operate a photography business. To be honest, the poor economy has hurt my business pretty bad. Another thing is that everyone with a digital camera now fancies themselves a photographer. As a colleague of mine often points out, "anyone can snap 100 photos with a digital camera and get a couple of good shots, but it takes an artists eye and talent to get an entire package of good portraits." In the town where I live, there have been about a dozen new Photography companies spring up in the last couple of years. Tonight on Facebook one of the parents of an upcoming client of mine sent me a link to one guys website and asked me why he could sell an 8x10 photograph for $8 while I sell them for $24.  My response was, "you get what you pay for." I asked her to go to his website and mine and do some comparison, looking for out of focus shots, sun glaring off the skin, sun glaring off the lens... and then I asked her to call him and ask him specifically where he had his prints made. I told her that I promise you that if he is selling them for $8 then he is getting them done at Walmart or another store in town which uses cheaper paper and ink, crops the photos to fit their standards, not the photographers, and that she should know that those pictures will be faded out in 2 years.  I then told her that my pictures are produced in a professional photo lab and coated with luster gloss which seals them, protecting them for years.  Then I asked, if you need copies in 5 years, is this kid shooting them going to be around? Does he archive his photos? Again, you get what you paid for. After she spoke to him, she called me back and booked with me.  

It's that way with so many things in life. You can almost always find something cheaper... but that's what you get! 

My website:  http://danashphotos.com