Price vs. Quality

Price vs. Quality

I am a business headshot (and real estate) photographer based in Boise, Idaho. The Treasure Valley has reached a crosspoint of two worlds: that of the “good ole boys’ network” of yesteryear and that of the amenities-driven, more affluent culture that’s been imported as a result of a massive influx of Californians and other out-of-staters during the past several years.

Despite a lot of change and development in Idaho’s capital city and surrounding areas however, a perplexing phenomenon still exists in which many business owners resist the call to spend much on their website marketing. This invariably includes team photos of any better quality than cell phone pictures (of course there are exceptions).

I’ve learned over time that many business leaders are either looking for a flat rate from a photographer in order to produce headshots of their team, or they’re looking for a minimum “per-person” rate that will be good enough to get those photos onto their site. But at what cost? And by that, I mean, does the lowest possible price work in the photography field as it would if one were searching for home insurance?

Absolutely not. In fact, I’ve seen it time and time again in which the lowest price wins the bid, but most of the women on the team are unhappy with their business headshot or portrait. Why? When one is focussed most on pricing and not on the quality or merit of the photographer, there will most certainly be a trade-off. It’s not rocket science, and yet so many people keep taking the chance and hoping for the best.

The easiest way for a business owner to figure out the best possible scenario is so simple: the photographer under consideration absolutely has to have a healthy online presence - be it a website portfolio, a Facebook page or an Instagram page (optimally all of the above). Take a look at the entire body of their work: is the lighting style flattering and professional? Are the images obviously edited tastefully in order to clean up lines, red spots or other marks from faces while keeping the character of the subject in tact? That’s a very good start.

Around Boise, Idaho, the minimum per-person shoot price should be $55 in a corporate setting, no questions asked. The photographer should have at least three lights: one for the main, one for the fill, and one for the hair. A fourth light is obviously good for the background (no matter if it’s white, black or anything in between), and those lights require soft boxes, stands, and other associated equipment that must be brought in, set up and taken down. All in all, there's a LOT more involved in producing professional images than just accepting the ambient (often fluorescent) lighting in the office, pointing the cell phone and clicking a pic. In other words, a picture speaks a thousand words, and one does not want their team photos screaming, "I'm a cheap, clueless boss!"