Commissioning Photographers

(Picture of female photogapher about to take a photo). When commissioning a photographer make sure you have seen a portfolio of their work and that they can provide references from satisfied customers. Make sure you have the details of their current rates and which items they charge as extras.

Hiring

When considering whom you can afford, take into account that you will be charged not only for the setup, staging and shooting time but also for travel time, films and processing, as well as equipment hire in some cases. If the shoot is far from the photographer’s home you may be charged for food and accommodation. Always check if prices quoted include VAT.

Be clear on who owns the copyright to the shots and extent of usage permitted and get this in writing. Also be sure about whether the shots are exclusively for your use or whether you or the photographer can issue them to third parties. Many photographers issue forms listing their standard terms and conditions.

Photographers may like to keep hold of original transparencies or negatives, not just because providing reprints is an extra form of income, but because they are expert at storing them and ensuring they don’t get damaged.

Briefing

Visit the location where the shoot will take place and note down details about the environment. You should inform photographers about whether the area is bright, whether it has reflective surfaces and also about the type of lighting if indoors. The photographer will need to know how many lights, reflective umbrellas, frames and background sheets to bring and what rating of film to use. Tungsten strip lighting can give pictures a green tinge so the photographer may want to use coloured lighting, filters or film to compensate for this. If you can get them to drop in and view the location before the shoot do so.

Let the photographer know whether you will be there to assist with carrying equipment and directing subjects otherwise they may need to bring and charge for an assistant. Provide parking if possible because parking fees are often billable too.

Be realistic about what can be achieved in the time available; photographers need time to set up equipment, brief and pose subjects, do test shots, move from location to location and pack up. If you try to rush them into taking high quantities of shots the quality will suffer. Some photographers will insist on a half-day minimum because by the time they have travelled, set up and packed away equipment not a lot of time is left for taking pictures out of a couple of hours.

Make sure the photographer knows what format you require the pictures in. Specify if you want:

contact sheets
black and white or colour shots
35mm transparencies, medium format transparencies, 35mm negative film, other
unmounted, glassless mounts or glassed mounts.

Let the photographer know the shape and size that you expect the shots to appear in your publication, the photographer can then advise you on the best format of film to use, decide on the best orientation and allow an area around the main focus of the image for cropping purposes.

Let the photographer know if you want pictures of people posed some left-facing and some right-facing. Pictures of people tend to look odd if they are placed near the edge of a page with people looking out across the open edge.

Be explicit about the style of pictures you want and how close in you want the subjects. Macro shots are good for iconic purposes, close in shots of people emphasise emotion and expression, providing the viewer with a greater sense of involvement. Long range shots are be good for showing the scope of subjects.

Look at catalogues of picture library shots to get ideas of what you want and show the photographer the kind of things that appeal to you. If you can, make a list describing the shots you want and send it to the photographer in advance of the shoot.

Don’t forget to specify on your order form when you need the developed pictures by.

What You Can Expect

Don’t expect every shot to be amazing, even with talented photographers you are only likely to get one in ten shots that you will use on a regular basis, although most will usually be of acceptable quality.

Be aware that photographers are not magicians, if you have asked them to hand develop the prints then this will take a lot longer than having them machine processed at a photographic store. Also, having transparency film processed or duplicated generally takes longer than getting prints. In any case, you should schedule at least two to three days for processing.

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