Q: Why should we hire a professional photographer? We have a digital camera at the office and I am sure someone on our staff could take the photos we need.
A: There is no denying that advances in digital imaging have made it possible
for companies to meet some basic photography needs in-house. A decent digital
camera and a staff member who knows how to use it may be all you need to produce
images that are adequate for some purposes. However it is important to keep
in mind that the images you use to communicate your message speak volumes
about
your organization. Cutting corners on something as important as the impression
you make on your clients can backfire. After all, you probably have a pair
of scissors at the office and maybe even someone on staff willing to give
you a
hair cut with them. However, I am sure you would agree that you are better
off hiring a professional hair stylist to do the job. The experience that
a professional
brings to the job, and the equipment he/she has available to properly execute
an assignment are important things to consider.
Before digital came along you probably had a 35mm film camera as well. Why
didn’t
you shoot your own photos then. Just because you took the film from the equation
didn’t turn you into a photographer overnight. So you spent about a $1000.00
on a digital camera and you already have a computer, maybe your firm even has
their own graphic arts department surely with the new digital camera you can
produce your own materials. You can I’m sure put something out there that
looks OK but is that really how you want to represent your company’s
product or service. The collateral and photographs you put out there have a
direct bearing
on how your product is perceived, if the photos look amateurish then so will
your business. In many cases the difference between your product and your competitors
product may just be subtle differences and only the best photogaphy with the
best equipment and professional lighting can show these differences.
There are three basic things that make a photograph good or bad, the most
important is lighting and creativity and it takes years to learn good lighting
techniques.
You can’t just buy a couple of lights, aim them at the subject and fire
away. I’ve been shooting for 25 years, I spent the first 20 years learning
where to put the lights. I know it looks easy when we just walk in drop down
the lights and start shooting, maybe in twenty years you can do that as well.
Next is the capture size of the digital camera. The one you purchased is probably
somewhere between 4 and 8 mega pixels which is actually large enough for most
applications, ours is 16 mega pixels. But what it is lacking is the thing they
never mention when you buy a digital camera these days. It’s called dynamic
range. It’s why yours cost $1000.00 and mine was $30,000.00. Dynamic range
is the range of tones between pure white and pure black that we as humans can
distinguish. If enough of those tones are not accurately reproduced then the
photo looks flat or does not show enough detail. First you need to have a camera
that can capture the detail that’s in an object which has a full range
of tones. Let’s just say that if you light an object perfectly so that
it has a range of tones with pure white being 1 and pure black is 10. If you
were able to expose the scene perfectly with your $1000.00 new digital camera
you would capture 8 mega pixels of information, plenty large to reproduce for
your purpose. But the tonal range of your camera would only capture from 3 to
8 losing all of the detail in the light and dark areas of the object making the
photo appear flat and losing much of the important detail. If your object was
a dark colored pin striped suit with a white shirt that has detail on the collar.
Your white shirt would need to be in that 1 to 3 range that your camera just
can’t capture. The shirt would be blown out white with no detail and your
pinstripe suit would just be black because the detail is in range 8-10. And that’s
if you were able to get a perfect exposure which is very unlikely. The meter
in any camera is set up to read a center weighted average which unfortunately
almost no scene has. Especially if you are in your makeshift studio, shooting
on a white background with your bare bulb lights blazing at the subject it’s
going to be nearly impossible to get a correct exposure. More than likely you’re
going to expose somewhere in the 5-15 tonal range or even worse the -5 to 5 range
where we can’t even reproduce the information. Where our expertise comes
into play is having the experience, know how and equipment to setup lighting,
properly expose the scene to allow the camera to capture the entire range of
tones, having the camera to capture that range of tones and how to convert
the exposed RGB images to CMYK for the individual print process involved.
Which brings up the next stage of the process. The biggest hurdle for photographers
that have switched from film to digital is color management. When we shot film
we processed it and then the printers took over. If you needed prints the photo
lab did all the color and density corrections. If it was to be reproduced in
a brochure or posters we sent the film to a scanning service which scanned
the image at the proper resolution, setup the digital file for CMYK conversion
for
reproduction on the specific paper and printing press while referring back
to the original transparency to make sure everything was the proper color and
density.
I have found even the best printers don’t have a clue with what to do with
a raw digital image. That task has fallen to the photographer or graphic designer
which without training has no chance of getting good results. Even the best graphic
designers for the most part have had no training in CMYK conversions and color
management so when you shoot your poorly exposed digital shot and pass it along
to your inhouse design team with the instructions of it’s a little dark...you
can fix it can’t you, how good do you really expect it to represent your
business. In order to reproduce a digital image accurately it has to be exposed
properly with a full range of tones, brought into a color managed, carefully
calibrated system with calibrated monitors, profiles for the proper CMYK conversion
for a specific paper onto a specific printer sized to the proper resolution.
We run a tightly controlled process with untold hours spent on color profiles
with all the areas printers, carefully calibrated monitors and custom profiles
for all of our digital cameras. But still the most important thing in this process
is experience and knowledge. That has come from being the first studio in the
area to go digital. We have been working out these issues since 1993 when the
first digital equipment was available. While some studios are still working out
whether it’s worth wile to shoot digital, we have done nothing but digital.
That’s why we insist on doing all of the image conversion and retouching
ourselves. I hear everyday how you have our your own inhouse people to do this
but just because you have a computer and photoshop doesn’t mean you can
do the job correctly. I’m sure they can drive a car too but would you buy
a race car and enter them into the Indy 500, I don’t think so.
And lastly we provide safe storage of your images, I’ve been shooting 25
years and I have the first negative I ever shot filed away and safe. It’s
very complicated storing and managing large numbers of digital images. What will
happen to and how will you find those images you shot yourself in three years
when you need them again. Where did that employee that no longer works for you
stash them away. Also if you didn’t save the original file but only the
one from that print brochure you did how will you re-purpose the file for other
uses. When you made the CMYK conversion for web press printing you tossed away
a lot of information that will be needed for printing on different papers and
printers or on the web. We would have that original file that contains all
of the captured info still available and for a modest fee could convert it
for any
use necessary.