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Help! How do I Budget for a Photoshoot? (a guide for clients)

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A frequent and normal question I often get from my first-time direct clients (non-agency) is; “What is your rate?” (I never work on a per hour rate for many reasons) but often the real question should be, “How much will this cost to create this image?”

Surprises are never fun for a client, so education from the get go is key.

So how much does a commercial shoot cost? Well there are many factors to keep in mind, but let’s keep it simple and break the costs into two categories.

  1. Production Costs
  2. Creative Fee + Commercial Licensing Fees

Production costs are easily described as the cost to CREATE the image, where Commercial Licensing Fees are the cost to USE the image.

Beyoncé’s maternity photo is the most liked photo in the history of Instagram

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A photo of the most popular pop star on the planet has broken all the Instagram’s records. Beyoncé’s maternity photo reached 1.4 million likes half an hour after its publishing. At the moment I am writing this, it has 9.1 million likes and counting. This makes it the photo with the most likes on Instagram, ever. While photographers are doing whatever they can to reach Instagram likes and followers, it seems to be something else that brings the audience. The photo did bring tons of likes on one side, but on the other – it received an equal amount of criticism. But does the number of likes has anything to do with photography?

Photographer creates a powerful post-apocalyptic project that puts Trump’s USA in Mad Max world

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Can photography change the world? This is the question I often ask myself, and I am not the only one. I am still looking for an answer, but there are artists who are actively trying to change the world with their projects. They are trying to point out to the problems we are facing on a global level. One of such artists is Ben Von Wong. After creating the incredible Mermaids Hate Plastic project, he continued pointing out to the environmental issues through his work. He created another epic project: Mad Max Meets Trump’s America. It relies on a well-known problem we should all be worried about – air pollution. After hearing about President Trump’s recent commitment to bring back coal, his initial idea turned political – and became a fantastic, thought-provoking project in a Mad Max-like setting. What would the world look like if we had new coal mines?

Kodak launches their own UBER photography service: KODAKIT

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Along with the news about re-launching Ektachrome, Kodak seems to have some other news, too. At CES 2017, they announced the global launch of their on-demand photography service KODAKIT. Although the app was launched almost a year ago, the online service is now available worldwide. It covers 37 countries and 92 cities.

Historically, Kodak is known as a camera company. But over the last decade or so, they have fully switched to producing other technological solutions and systems. However, it seems they are slowly getting back to their photographic roots. The last announcement they made is not about launching a new camera or revival of an old film, but it is photography-related. They have created KODAKIT – the service that is supposed to connect photographers and customers all over the world. But is this service really bringing something new to the market?

Dead body discovered during factory fashion shoot – group carried on shooting then went for pizza

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There are things more important than worrying about when you’re light’s going to fade. Finding a dead body at the location you’d chosen to use for a photo shoot is one of them. At least, one would think so. Apparently not for one bunch of models and their photographer. After discovering the body of 27 year old Declan Noonan, the group of eight carried on shooting for six hours.

They then went on to go and eat pizza at the local Papa John’s restaurant. It wasn’t until 1am that one of them called the police to inform them that they’d found a body. One of the models, Max Dos Santos Liete, who was 17 at the time attempted to justify their actions by saying that the body “wasn’t going anywhere”.

Block traffic in NYC for a photo shoot and get your window smashed

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YouTuber Coby Persin has over 2.7 million subscribers. He’s a serial poser prankster who performs “social experiments” on unsuspecting members of the general public. This time around, his latest video is going viral for a very different reason. During a “quick photoshoot” in NYC, he decided to block a lane of traffic on one of New York’s busiest roads.

Throughout the video, cars are honking their horns, and having to squeeze into traffic on other lanes in order to get past. One driver, however, thought he’d take a slightly more proactive approach. The unknown driver pulled up behind him, took a bat from the back of his car, and then proceeded to smash the windshield of Coby’s gold BMW i8.

Not falling on your crotch is more important than having a nice wedding video

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Your wedding is supposed to be the happiest day of your life. The photos of it document the momentous occasion to remember and enjoy it for the rest of your life. For this couple, however, it may be a day they want to forget. During a wedding photo session, the bride was walking along a 4ft high metal railing. Then, she slipped and landed right on her crotch.

Instantly shrieking in pain and begging for her new husband to help her, she is lifted off the railing. It’s really not funny, but, schadenfreude does seem to be the foundation on which the modern Internet is built.

Naked dogwalker photobombs high school senior photo shoot

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Shooting portraits on location has become very popular over the last few years. Since the demise of train tracks and caution tape, rural middle of nowhere locations now seem to be the go to. They’re much safer, and often far more beautiful. Occasionally, you might see some wildlife. In fact, just last week during a shoot at a nearby river, we were briefly approached by wild deer. Sometimes, you might see something else.

Something else is exactly what photographer Elena Nesbitt and Jillian Henry saw during a recent senior shoot. The seventeen year old Henry was standing in the Willamette River when a naked dogwalker suddenly wandered into the frame. After Henry posted the photos to Twitter, the Internet soon picked up on them.

How to photograph dolls with this Barbie Dreamtopia behind the scenes video

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Photographing dolls and action figures is something a lot of people ask me about. Sometimes it’s just product shots for classifieds or auctions, sometimes it’s something a little more creative. I always give the same advice, regardless. Light them exactly the same way you would a real person, but on a smaller scale.

In this video taking you on a behind the scenes look at a Barbie Dreamtopia photo shoot, you can see this principle being applied. There isn’t any commentary, but you do overhear some of the conversation,

How to plan and produce your own photo shoot

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Planning and producing a photo shoot, especially when there’s crew involved, can be a demanding and stressful task. This is especially so while you’re still learning, making mistakes, and figuring out exactly what kind of things you need to plan and prepare for.

Not everybody has access to a produce to figure all this out for them, so Alexi Lubomirski is here to help with his new video, detailing everything that goes into producing a shoot.

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