Best Business Practices for Photographers [248]
Carnegie's citation of others studies and sentiments on the subject is to this point: Listen to what is being said, pay compliments, and convey genuine appreciation for your spouse or partner.
Vacations: Really Not the Time to Shoot Stock
Do not, I repeat, do not bring your camera on a family trip or vacation, unless, without prompting, your spouse asks you to take pictures of the two of you, your children, or other family members. This time is not only a time for you to recharge your mental energy, but it's also a time to be away from your desk, workflows, and such. If you just can't stomach not having a camera, go out and buy the most expensive point-and-shoot-looking camera with a chip that is bigger than the most professional camera from just two years ago, and use that. Make sure it does not look like your work camera, and invite your spouse to take photos of you for a change! And do not hang back to make more images or schedule your walk along the beach for the golden hour. Enjoy the down time; there will be plenty of assignments waiting for you when you return.
Chapter 31 Expanding into Other Areas of Creativity
Photographers' creative impulses are frequently not constrained by the still camera. Often, photographers evolve into videography or authoring books of fiction, fact, and even the beautiful coffee-table book. Most of the business insights in this book are applicable to other creative arenas, but it is of the utmost importance that if you are interested in branching out, you do so in a responsible manner.
All too often, I hear from my colleagues about individuals who have hung out their photography business shingle and are doing things that will hurt not only their own business, but also that of the photographic community of which they are becoming a part. As you evolve into another arena of creativity, I encourage you to do so in a manner that does not do harm to the community you are entering and sets you up on a positive first footing.
Video Services
Until you pick up a camera, capture some footage, and then sit down to edit, you will not realize just how much work goes into producing even a 30-second video. Unless your 30 seconds of footage is a single camera uncut, the need for a second point of view (usually with a second camera but not always), quality audio, a well-lit scene, and continuity of dialogue and a cohesive message, you will have a poor final product. Thinking in motion and about how you tell a story with moving pictures is far and away different from thinking about how you tell a story with one to three still images.
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SHOOTING VIDEO ON STILL SHOOTS
There is a new wave of cameras that are capable of shooting both still and video in the same "still" camera. I put quotation marks around that because it's an electronic box with interchangeable lenses that looks like an old-style 35mm film camera, yet these cameras are capable of shooting in HD video. Be very careful about shooting video on still photography assignments. Clients and even locations where you may be photographing may get very upset with moving pictures being produced on a still shoot.
In some cases, however, clients are actually asking, "Hey, can you shoot a little behind-the-scenes [BTS] video of the shoot?" Recognize that this footage could make its way out onto the Internet and be a promotional vehicle for the client. Further, you are then responsible for making sure you have BTS footage.
In other cases, clients are very uncomfortable with BTS footage being captured. Things said on a set could be caught in the audio track and be embarrassing when it gets out. Other times, clients are leery of revealing how much work went into making a final beautiful photograph.
Many photographers like doing BTS video to show their friends and prospective clients as well. I have heard of more than one photographer who was fired because he or she