Most professional photographers don’t use flickr to showcase their work. But this article is worth reading, since almost every online photo sites (including Facebook) have a wholesale copyright grab when you click their ‘Yes, I agree to the terms and conditions’.
Here’s the link:
Just saw a post on PDN about how low ball photographers are affecting the photography business in the US. It’s definitely a good read.
It’s getting from bad to worse over there, there’s even a sport photo agency asking for free photography. So, what’s happening in Singapore with organizations asking for free event photography is not a local thing, it’s world wide thing. It’s textbook case of supply vs demand. But it’s going to get worse, pricing for semi-pro full frame cameras likely to head south this year, competition will only increase.
Is there a way to get out of this situation? Yes, there are:
1. Image licensing – Unfortunately, this is only happening only at the level of top tier photographers here, typically in the advertising area.
2. Creating a niche – Some photographers are also diversifying into film/video work.
3. Investing in other business – More photographers are looking into stocks and property for residual income.
I am compiling a list of Singaporean professional photographers (foreign photographers based in Singapore are included) for the blogroll. To make sure the list doesn’t replicate other Singapore photography lists, it will be limited to photographers:
1. Who specialize in one area of photography AND
2. Who have been in the business for 5 years or more
The list will be categorized in alphabetical order under different specialties. If you have names and working websites, drop me an email? Thanks!
This post is about photography rates in Singapore. The rates are approximated and they might not apply to ALL photographers in each field. All figures are in Singapore dollars. Please note:
1. The information has gathered from many sources over 5-10 years. Some rates could have gone higher or lower, please feel free to update me if you have more accurate information.
2. If you would like to know more about other categories, please let me know.
3. They are listed in alphabetical order.
4. All figures are gross total.
5. This post does not condone nor condemn copyright practices by clients or photographer.
Advertising
Rates: $20,000 to >$100,000/project
a. Photographer usually works through an ad agency handling the client account. Typically, loading fees are enforced and photographer keeps copyright for images.
b. The figure looks good but a shoot usually involves a full production team and a great amount of liaison work. Typically takes 1 to 3 weeks of casting, production & logistics. Post production work on images is approximately 1 week to 4 weeks of digital retouching/imaging (DI). Depending on complexity of deliverables, digital retouching work might be outsourced to specialist 3rd party DI companies.
c. Photographer typically uses a digital medium format system.
d. Fees are usually paid 6 months after invoicing.
Architecture/Corporate/Food/Interior/Product
Rates: $1200 to $2800/day
a. Photographer is usually forced to sign over copyright of images, this practice is very prevalent, especially with government bodies. This is due to the abundance of photographers in this sector.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Fees are usually paid 1 month after invoicing.
e. Some form of retouching work is expected.
Events/PR (concerts, events, functions, etc)
Rates: $50 to $200/hr
a. Photographer is usually forced to sign over copyright of images.
b. Photographer is expected to own camera system.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Fees are usually paid 1 month after invoicing.
Magazine
Rates:
2008-2009 : $100-150/page OR $800-1200 for full shoot (6 images or more)
a. Photographer might be able to keep copyright of image, it depends on the magazine.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs/medium format systems
d. Fees are usually paid 3 to 6 months after invoicing.
e. Some form of retouching work is expected.
Press (a rough guide)
Rates: $1400 too $5000/mth (salary) for staffer
$55 to $110/day for stringer (freelancer)
(depending on seniority, education and experience)
a. Photographer’s images are owned by newspaper or agency or company.
b. Photographer’s gear is provided by company for staffers and sometimes stringers.
c. Photographers work with DSLRs.
d. Photographers normally work around 8 hour shifts with anywhere between 1-5 jobs in that time.
e. Photographers are expected to be on call anytime in case of breaking news.
f. Photographers are expected to be able to shoot anything and everything.
e. Payment is monthly, transport is normally covered by an allowance or is claimed.
Photographer Assistant
Rates: S$5-$20/hr OR $900 to $1500/mth (Salary)
a. Please note that this is not the same thing as Assistant Photographer.
b. Assistant is expected to carry equipment, be responsible for safety and care of equipment plus other duties.
c. Assistant doesn’t need to own photography equipment.
d. The role of the digital assistant (i/c on-site computer/software management) can be a separate role. It is rare however in Singapore for an assistant to specialize solely as a digital assistant.
Corporate Portraits
Rates: $250 to $500/person
a. Photographer is usually forced to sign over copyright of images.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Fees are usually paid 1 month after invoicing.
e. Some form of retouching work is expected.
Weddings (Bridal)
Rates: $800 to >$5000/day
a. Photographer has option to keep copyright of images. Depends on how the photographer has been trained and value of the work/style.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Deposits of up to 50% of fees prior to shoot and 50% on collection is common.
e. Some form of retouching work is expected.
Weddings (Wedding Day or Actual Day)
Rates: $300 to >$4000/day
a. Photographer has option to keep copyright of images. Depends on how the photographer has been trained and value of the work/style.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Deposits of up to 50% of fees prior to shoot and 50% on collection is common.
In 2001 after 9/11, the US stock market took a dramatic downturn. The Singapore stock market followed soon after. One of the most well known advertising photography studio in Singapore slashed their fees by approx 33%, the rest of the commercial photographers had to re-adjust their day rates since clients were saying, “If this famous studio can charge me a lower rate, why are you charging me same/higher?”. The day rates for that segment of the photography market tumbled almost overnight. The rate cut was a tad too drastic.
Like it or not, professional photography fees are not arbitrary. They are linked to a complex supply/demand chain that is also closely tied to the Singapore economy. In this system, the de facto bench markers play an important (though not 100% critical) role in the price structure, especially if they decide to lower fees. In an economic downturn, the benchmarkers don’t have much of a choice since the clients will have less money to spend. But more importantly, they have a choice in how much they want to lower their fees. Benchmarkers have a responsibility to their peers, even if they are ignorant of the fact.
If the stock market in 2008 mirrors 2001 situation, the downward shift is inevitable. As for our fees, we will wait and see what benchmarkers do.
John Clang is having an exhibition 24 June – 6 July at the Substation in Singapore. Titled Clang: A White Book. Martin Parr too! Titled Retrospective at City Hall from 6 to 29 July. A must see, especially Clang’s work.
Pity we can’t be there. Can a kind soul take piktures and post? pweeese?
Wes
I just had to get this link off mr brown’s blog. Last I read, the student that copied the work was getting expelled from NAFA.
Poor Little Singapore Student
How many times have photographers got a brief that went ‘Can you do a shot like this image that i’ve torn out from a mag?’ 😉
Wes
Hello Marvin, to answer your question, I am writing this post show the steps you might want to take in starting out your professional photography carrier. I’ll start off with the options and end with my experiences. However, please note that the routes I have listed are not exhaustive.
Start Point
In short, there are basically 2 ways in starting a career as a professional photographer:
1. Self taught – Most folks will start out on their own after observing weddings/events photographers doing their job. They work out the cost of entry, the fees and figure out a process to freelance (part-timing) and cover the cost of the equipment and gain experience. Some might attend some courses from a photography center to learn the basics. Online photo forums are very useful for them. Most will end up doing weddings and events and/or portraiture or product shoots as they progress. Typically, the business learning curve is lower and the monetary gains are faster over the short term. Some prominent wedding photographers have taken this road and are doing extremely well. Their fees usually take a while to climb from because they have to figure out the market by trial and error.
2. Apprentice – Others will call up photo companies or photographers and assist to gain experience, esp. after reading fashion magazines, etc. These will assist for about 1 to 2 years full time learning the art and business of photography by observing their bosses. If the assistants are good enough after an extensive stint, the photographer might introduce clients or even include them as partners, this is rare however. Assistants are usually not paid well and the hours are long, wage is mostly $900 to the $1500 range but the skills learned will bear fruit in the long term ONLY IF the photographer is the top 10% in their field of work. The disciple will also likely take up the type of work related to their experience. Most advertising photographers take this route because it’s a relatively closed industry.
Couple of points to note:
a. As you can see, each way has its plus and minus points. It will take anything from 1 year to 4 years to complete a route. And after that it will take about 1 to 2 years to get the business up and running.
b. Some local institutions like Temasek Poly and NAFA offer photography as part of their visual arts or design curriculum. For photography based courses, most will go overseas to the US to study photojournalism and commercial photography. Most will go through internship with professional photographers and newspapers for a short stint before graduation.
c. During the early business years, the photographer will likely get entrenched in a particular area of expertise both by his art/skill and business opportunities. Let me explain, assuming that the photographer is good, it’s highly likely the work will snowball in the area of competency. And if the work snowballs, it’s very difficult to get out of that sector. Why? Because it will take another period of time to retrain some part of the skillset. Also, income might be affected since clientele base might have to be changed. Lots of time will need to be spent for PR/marketing to new clients. In short, it’s like getting a heart surgeon retrained as a brain surgeon. It’s possible in theory (since they’ve gone through med school) but generally extremely difficult in practice.
My Journey
1988 – Picked up photography in junior college. Read books, magazines and anything else I could lay my hands on. Did a small project for the school.
1990 – Did my first wedding shoot and started freelancing after meeting my first sifu, an ex-press photographer from Straits Times.
1994 to 1996 – Freelanced more doing commercial and wedding work.
1997 – Went full time professional photography doing the same stuff.
1999 – Apprenticed for 6 months with another former press photographer turned commercial/advertising photographer.
2000 – Got invited by Ngiap Heng to share a studio and office in Joo Chiat Place.
Here’s what I found out,
Stuff learned in 6 months with pro photographer > stuff learned 10 years on my own
What was learnt?
I learned what clients really wanted
I learned what to say
I learned what not to say
I learned how solve problems
I learned which problems couldn’t be solved
I learned about my responsibilities
I learned about staff responsibilities
I learned production
I learned post production
I learned precision
In short, I learned the business of professional photography. To be honest, I got whipped into shape during those months, the photographer was old school and he did things the old school way. Things had to get done one way or another, there was no room for excuses. If we were sent out to get pictures, then ‘die die better get the picture’. To him, how the business was handled was as important as the art of photography. At that time, I did not agree with the way he did some things but I only began to see his logic after I left to set up my studio.
One of the things that sobered me up good was this, he said, “Wes, I scold you when you have done something wrong. But when you are on your own, your client won’t scold you when you’ve messed up. They just won’t call you again.”
That’s all I have to share.
Best
Wes
This post is about technology and the professional photography business. It’s another long story. All figures are in Singapore dollars.
A few years ago, my friend told me a story about his family. His great grandfather and great granduncles were portrait photographers operating a photo studios in Singapore. During those times, they used glass plates coated with hand applied photosensitive chemicals instead of negatives. The glass plates were technically the most superior technology at that time. In fact, the 8inch x 10inch glass plate will produce a black & white picture that *beats* a $30k 22megapixel digital camera in terms of resolution and tonal quality.
When his great granduncles retired, the next generation decided not to continue the business because of the advent of new technology, the 35mm camera.
He told me that the 35mm camera killed the portrait studio business. The 35mm cameras were small, simpler to use and had 36 shots per roll of film. The glass plate cameras were big and heavy and mostly confined to the studios. And you get only a few shots from the photographer. The quality of the prints produced from the 35mm comparison would have paled in comparison to the 8×10 plates but the clients didn’t care, they either couldn’t see the difference and/or it was way cheaper to buy a 35mm camera and take their own snaps.
This happened in the 1930s.
In the last few years, I have met up with “chian peis” (seniors) that I got to know in the 90s. They were mostly events and corporate shooters and they were netting anything from $5k to $8k a month just doing events and corporate shoots. In the last 3 to 4 years, a number of them have left the business altogether and nearly all of them have noted that business was severely affected by freelancers offering lower prices.
At the end of 2002, a major slide processing lab in town closed down. The lab handled a great deal of slide processing from photographers, both professional and amateur. It was a shock as they were about the most prominent slide processing folks in the business. I asked one of the ex-staff about the closure and she said, “A lot of you guys went digital, that’s why.”
Drawing comparisons
If we take a close look at digital and film SLRs, there isn’t really much of a big difference. The basics like aperture & shutter settings are there, in fact they look and work about the same. The CMOS or CCD works like film.
The killer application is the LCD instant preview. Why? With that, you can:
1. Flatten the photography learning curve. I am basing this on the fact that it takes a minimum of 4 hours to drop off and collect the slide film at the processing lab vs instantly reviewing the shots in seconds. Any mistake can be instantly reviewed and be corrected on the spot. Lessons learned are reinforced immediately.
2. Increase accuracy for shoots. Before the digital camera, only an experienced event/wedding day photographer guarantee good shots. The training would have taken at least 6 to 18 months before reaching competency. Even then, the number of perfect shots would be in the 80%-90% range. In commercial shoots, polaroid backs on medium format were used and we had to wait 90secs before viewing the polaroid. It was an eternity waiting for the image to form. This meant that polaroids were restricted to shoots where lighting and subjects could be controlled accurately. With digital SLRs, almost any type of photo shoot can be perfect.
Folks realized that with a digital camera, photography wasn’t that difficult after all. They could learn and shoot like National Geographic, Tatler, FHM, etc. types of pictures with ease. And coupled with mutual exchange of information in photo forums on the Internet, photography exploded.
Looking at the 1930s, the smaller and simple-to-use 35mm camera smoothened the photography learning curve and increased accuracy by being 36 times more forgiving than the 8x10inch camera.
In short, the professional photography situation in 1930s = 2000s.
Freelancers & Professionals
When the Canon 10D (and its Nikon equivalent) came in with a great price at 6mp, it was the back breaker for film SLRs and medium format. If properly exposed and processed, the 6mp was better than 35mm film and came close to medium format quality (at least in the eyes of the client). The cost of entry into the realm of paying photography was within finally within reach. A semi professional setup of 2 lenses + body + flash would be totally unavoidable.
Due to the drop in photography fees (especially in the events sector), a large percentage of professional photographers could not match the new fees and had to leave the business OR find a new photography niche. Their clients either went with a cheaper photographer or bought a digital camera themselves. This means that the clients either wanted to save money and/or couldn’t see the difference in the quality of the images.
In summary, don’t blame the freelancers, blame Economics 101.
Next Phase
Technology is inevitable, it is an undeniable truth. It’s been happening since the day photography was born and technology will continue to evolve. But this time, moving from film to digital, it wasn’t evolution, it was a quantum leap. And with IT bringing a convergence of 3d art, video and still photography, the business will continue to be reshaped. 2 examples:
Red One – A 12MP digital video camera that records 60fps in RAW.
Maya – Try the ‘Is it Fake or Foto‘ demo. Take special note of the car photo. Try to see if a non-photographer can tell if it’s fake. Some 3D artists are so good that photo-realistic car and interior renderings are possible now.
Right now, the technology for Red One and Maya are still either expensive or complex. But like all tech, they will get cheaper and simpler to use. It’s just a matter of time.
So how like dat?
There are a few ways, most folks will mix and match options 1, 2 & 3. (Please note that this list is no exhaustive, please email me if you have any more ideas).
1. Ride the tech wave – This means that the business primarily uses technology as leverage. I’ve heard of some photography companies using wifi equipped cameras + on-demand printing for shooting corporate dinners. It’s a great idea and apparently only a few business are doing it, so they must be getting more business and/or charging more for service or instant prints. As we have mentioned earlier, technology will get cheaper and/or less complex eventually (6 months to 1.5 years) so the businesses will either have to find new technology to supplant or drop their prices to match new comers. Needless to say, investment capital is high for this type of business.
2. Become a writer/web-design/3d/video/still photographer – There are a few obvious plus points for this options, by offering a myriad of complimentary services, it will be possible to get work coming from different areas so income might be more stable. Also, the business is buffered against fluctuations in the various industries. The biggest issue is that it’s very difficult to become very good at one thing because there isn’t enough time to learn everything well. Also, some prospective clients might find the ‘branding’ a bit confusing.
3. Make your business tech independent – In this type of photo business, a combination of photography skills + PR/marketing + good price point can be found at its core. Technology plays a minor part so capital investment might be lower for the long term. I’ll be brief in the explanations.
Photography skills is defined as the style and/or technical prowess of the photographer. If the photographer has a unique (and salable) style, clients will come a knocking. As for PR, how the photographer relates or deals with the clients is very important, it might make or break a deal especially if the client has a alternative photographer with roughly the same skill set. I am sure that you’ve heard this before, a 1st class photographer with 2nd class marketing will never go as far as a 2nd class photographer with 1st class marketing. Btw, PR also includes everything about what your client sees about you, this includes your diction, delivery on time, great name cards, letter heads, dress sense, body odor, etc. Everything.
Getting to a good price point is not just about how much you think you’re worth, it’s also knowing how much your clients think you are worth. Err in either way and you might be in for trouble with overwork (don’t laugh, this is an issue too) or not having enough work.
4. Go freelance/hobbyist – If you love photography but hate the pressure of maintaining a photography business for various reasons, go freelance. Most freelancers/hobbyists I have met are truly the happiest folks in photography. They can shoot anything, anytime, any price they like. They have the option of walking away if they don’t like the shoot/model/client/etc. They take photography at their own time and pace and they don’t have to justify expenditure to anyone (except the spouse). I know a nice gentlemen who shot for a school free-of-charge for many years just because he enjoyed photography. So if you aren’t really sure about professional photography being a good career choice, go freelance, attend courses & fun photo-shoots organized by clubs and stick to the day job.
Wes
After coming back in Dec, I’ve met up part-time and pro photographers, clients and friends. I have come to the conclusion in order to do well, professional photographers will have to go into wedding OR advertising photography. Let me explain, this is going tof be long one about the long term. All figures are in Singapore dollars. (Note: Professional photographers make >70% of their income from photography, the term does not imply anything about standard of photography)
What is “Doing Well”?
This is very subjective, but we have to take some sort of standard, a fair gauge is comparing with your peers. From 25 to 32ish, it’s highly likely a person with a full time job will be making $2.5k to $3.5k/month. Let’s take the middle ground and work with $3k as a standard. With the 13 month pay + employer’s contribution to CPF, monthly wage is actually ~$3.7k/month. Add in employer benefits, like dental, medical, etc and the figure will go up. This means that a full time photographer will have to make that amount monthly to sustain a decent lifestyle (as net profit after deducting expandable materials like prints, cd-rs, etc).
From 33ish and up, at middle/higher management, salary will range from $3.5k/month to $5k. Taking $4.2k as the average salary, this works out to be ~$5.2k/month. At that age, it’s likely you’ll be married, likely have 1 or 2 kids, HDB apartment & car. All these are long term commitments.
So, the young photographer will need to hit $3.7k/month and a few years after that, about $5.2k/month to do well. If that cannot met, it might be wise to stick to the current job and freelance* (meaning part time photography). If you are making more than that as a full time photographer on your own, well done.
Sectors & Overheads
To simplify (I emphasize ok? it’s really simplified), there are basically 3 sectors and they overlap slightly:
1. Events and Wedding Day – Typical equipment setup is 2 d-slrs (both likely semi-pro bodies), 2 or 3 lenses, flash, cf cards, laptop or desktop, software, printer. All adds up to $10k to $16k for starting out. After that, it’s another $4k to $6k a year to maintain and upgrade cameras, software, storage, etc. Typically, the event/wedding day photographer works from home so there’s no rental. Let’s take $13k as the startup cost, add transport (~$600 for bus+taxi), total is ~$600/month for the 1st 2 years. We’ll assume that the photographer will do a modest markup for expendables like cd-r, paper, etc so the cost will those items won’t be considered. After the 1st 2 years, the photographer will likely get a small office space for $400 to $600/month. So maximum running cost is $1020/month ($420/month maintenance + $600/month rental) after 2 years.
Now, we go to the fees. As you know, the events market has been decimated by freelancers* (part time photographers) and the going rate is approx ~$80/hr. This hasn’t changed since 1990 when I started freelancing* in my NS days, so the fee has actually gone down when inflation and cost of living is added. For the long term, we add $1020/month (overheads) + $5200/month (do well salary), the photographer has to spend (1020+5200)/80hr x 2 factor (meetings + post processing + delivery + travel) = 155.5hrs to make $6220/month.
The wedding day photographer typically shoots 4 to 6 weddings a month, and the fee is about $1300 to $2600/day for approx 16hrs/day. The rate is ~$120/hr for the middle fee. Works out 103hrs to make the same amount. Btw, rates for wedding day’s probably the only fee that’s gone up. In the early 90s, $600 to $900 was the norm.
To summarize, it’s 155.5hr/month for the events photographer and 103hr/month for the wedding photographer for $6220/month.
2. Commercial – this covers product, food, interior, people photography for direct clients like, schools, businesses, magazines, etc. Commercial work also covers wedding studio photography. Typical equipment setup is 2 d-slrs (both likely semi-pro or pro bodies), 4 or 6 lenses, flash, cf cards, laptop and/or desktop, software, printer. Plus decent set of studio lights with softboxes, umbrellas, background paper, etc. All adds up to $30k to $40k to start out. After that, it’s another $8k to $10k a year to maintain and upgrade cameras, software, storage, etc. Rental for a studio space large enough to shoot products and people is about $1700/month.
For the 1st 2 years, the cost is $3500/month and after that, $2450/month. Please note that it’s highly likely after the 1st 2 years, the photographer will get a company vehicle (eg. van) for about $600 to $1000/month.
The fees – Commercial work usually pays from $1200 to $2400/day for a 8-9hour day, works out at $200/hr. Again, the fees haven’t changed much from the 90s. For the long term, we add $2450/month + $800 (company vehicle) + $5200/month (do well salary), the photographer has to spend (2450+5200+800)/200hr x 2 factor = 84.5hr
To summarize, it’s 84.5hr/month for the commercial photographer. I didn’t add in other costs like having a full time administrator or assistants but it’s quite likely they will be needed after 2 years.
3. Advertising – this covers product, food, interior, people, fashion photography for advertising agencies. Typical equipment setup is medium format digital back, bodies, 4 or 6 lenses, flash, cf cards, laptop and/or desktop, software, printer. Plus decent set of studio lights with softboxes, umbrellas, background paper, etc. All adds up to $70k to $90k to start out. After that, it’s another $8k to $10k a year to maintain and upgrade cameras, software, storage, etc. Rental for a studio space large enough to shoot products and people is about $1700/month. Full time producer, admin, assistant will add up to $8k to $10k a month. Company vehicle is ~$800/month.
The fees – The fees vary quite a bit. Advertising work can go for 20k to 40k/day. But meetings, production time, logistics, post production & processing will take up to 6 to 12 working days. Long term, we add $12250/month + $5200/month (do well salary), the photographer has to spend (12250+5200)/416hr = 41.9hr
The x2 factor for processing, etc might be disputed. But it’s in my experience that sometimes it actually takes MORE than x2 time in post processing.
In summary, to make a salary of $5200/month it takes:
155.5hr/month for events
103hr/month wedding
84.5hr/month for commercial
41.9hr/month for advertising
Note that work hr/mth for commercial work comes really close to wedding photography (22% in hr/month). Again, I must emphasize that some of the data is simplified so that we can get a comparison of the different sectors. Some photographers might do both wedding day and studio photography, some might do fashion and advertising, so in reality things are a bit more complicated. Commercial and weddings are treading the middle ground but the overheads for commercial is much higher than weddings, especially in the 1st 2 years.
What do clients want?
I will skip events and focus on wedding, commercial and advertising.
1. Wedding Day – Most clients want a good record of their wedding day, it’s personal and different couples want different things to be emphasized. Hence there will be a need for photographers who specialize in different styles and looks. Some clients will be willing to pay a good premium for great photography.
2. Commercial – Most of the images will be used for advertising in the form of brochures, magazine, newspapers, bus ads for mostly local use. Most companies have tight marketing budgets and they will not be able to afford great photography. There are a handful that will pay for good photography because of branding, etc. But these are few. The stock industry is targeting these type of clients, more about that later.
3. Advertising – A good percentage of the images shot will be used in all types of media. And some will be used outside Singapore. Agencies will include loading fees for the photographer. It’s highly likely they will be looking for a specific style for the photography. They will pay a good premium for great photography.
Stock Photography
Stock images were good and expensive for a long time until the last 2 or 3 years when digital photography filled the market with good images. So the prices have dropped. That’s the good news (for clients), the better news is that the prices will drop even further in the next 2 or 3 years as more and more images are royalty free instead of being rights managed as more and more images are hitting the market, it’s basic economics at work. If we take a look at what the stock images are offering, most of them are good generic images, and they are targeted at the commercial client who can afford a few hundred bucks for a collection of 20 – 30 nice generic images. Even if the client needs only 1 image, it’s still cheaper than getting a pro photographer to shoot if the image comes close enough to what they want. To the client who is not into branding or great images, these stock images are good enough. The commercial photographer will need to match the stock image price or lose the job.
Conclusion
The math and the research has been done. The wedding photographer has low overheads and a relatively high margin. The advertising photographer has high overheads and very high fees. But the commercial photographer has a high overhead to fee ratio. The fees are based on current rates but the market in Singapore will make a turn for lower (or remain stagnant) fees for him in the next few years. The writing is on the wall. The commercial photographer has to change/adapt his business structure and client base soon or face the consequences.
Wes
* Note: Freelance (or Freelancing) is defined as “self-employed, offering services when required; not under contract to a single employer”. This is the correct definition. In Singapore however, some folks have taken freelancing to mean part-timing. So the reader might disagree with me on how I have used the term, I am fine with that. But in any case, when the client asks if you are freelancer, correct him by saying you are a professional photographer (of course, meaning if you are really a full-time photographer), he might talk to you differently after that.
Professional Photography in Singapore 