I have been asked, by the client BurCol, to photograph a selection of buildings for an article on buildings and their character for their website. In the request, the client wanted a selection of buildings including modern, heritage / monuments, classical and religious. They made a special request for a location shot at Whitby, which they wanted to include in a feature about the Whitby Goth Festival.
As with any project where you are working on location, consideration of the weather is an important factor, as in bad weather, eg. Fog, the shoot would have to be re-scheduled and given the time constraints this could lead to a location being completely aborted.
The first task was to understand exactly what the client was looking for, to ensure that valuable time was not wasted in finding unsuitable locations.
Next, once the brief had been confirmed, was to locate buildings that were suitable for the article, and have a number of back up options should bad weather prevent one or more locations being photographed.
Estimate of Resources
For this assignment, an important consideration would be access to the buildings, and this would influence the equipment to be used.
Camera - Pentax K10D
I chose to use the Pentax K10D, as this camera has a number of advantages over my other camera, which is a bridge camera together. The camera is a DSLR, with full control of shutter speeds and apertures. The facility to change lenses would allow me to change to a lens with a longer focal length if necessary.
The camera was fitted with a BG2 battery grip, with a second batter fitted, to help with portrait format photographs.
Additional batteries were carried in case of battery failure or high power drainage which can result when taking photographs in very cold weather. Also, when taking photographs on location extra batteries and memory cards should always be carried.
Lens - Tamron 18 – 200mm lens.
This lens was chosen as it would enable me to capture the buildings from different angles from both near and far, due to the large range of focal lengths available, and by using longer focal lengths I could reduce the impact of converging verticals, a common problem when photographing buildings, due to the use of wide angle lenses and tilting the camera upwards, where the focal plane of the camera is not parallel to the side of the building.
Transport - Lowepro AW200 camera bag
This bag was used because it allowed me to carry the kit I needed, without too much bulk, but still provide all weather protection.
Sat Nav
Due to the location of one of the clients requested building a sat nav was used to ensure that no time, or fuel, was wasted both travelling to and from the location.
Estimate of Time
Because some of the locations were far apart, travelling was an important consideration, especially when combined with weather, as one location could have good weather allowing photographs to be taken, where as another location could have bad weather preventing any photography. Given the tight timescale no time could be wasted, so careful planning and weather forecasts were very important.
Therefore the main time issues were locating suitable locations, travelling between locations, and delays resulting through bad weather.
The images were captured as raw files as although these required an additional step in the workflow, the images do contain data which would be lost if they were captured as compressed jpeg files, and therefore could be edited further, eg exposure compensation, which could improve the image without having to return to the location for a second shoot.
To help plan this assignment ConceptDraw Project was used to create a Gantt chart, a valuable tool in project management, to plan out the tasks required to complete this assignment on time.
Gantt charts are used to identify which tasks can be performed whilst other task are in progress. They can also be used for resource management and costing purposes. Using the gantt chart I see that thirteen working days are involved
Estimate of Cost
With all the locations being free to enter, the element of entrance fees would not impact on the costs of the assignment.
With the locations being spread out the main cost is fuel.
Today, we have available via the internet route planners which can calculate routes and mileages, which can be used to calculate the fuel costs and a route. An example of this is shown below:
Today, we have available via the internet route planners which can calculate routes and mileages, which can be used to calculate the fuel costs and a route. An example of this is shown below:
Route planners display the routes both as maps, as shown above, and as a series of instructions (shown below), both of which can be printed out and taken when traveling.
One advantage of using an internet based route planner, as opposed to installed software like AutoRoute, is that any road changes are usually updated on the system quicker than waiting for the route planner software to be updated.
Satellite Navigations Systems (satnavs) are very useful, not only for planning routes but for the actual traveling, with the advantage that if there is a closed road or a diversion the satnav can calculate a new route instantly. Satellite navigation systems are available as both in car systems, like the TomTom:
Although, some mobiles now have satnav software and built in GPS (Global Positioning System) hardware making these mobiles very handy, especially when the photographer is on foot.
This cost, charged at £0.50 per mile, making the Whitby photography a fuel cost of £148.00 (return journey) combined with the hourly (or daily) rate of the photographer, and accommodation costs, higher of equipment, models, assistants if necessary, post production fees are all costs which must be recovered by the photographer when they charge the client for the project.
Time
A rate has to be set by the photographer early in the running of the business, to maintain a standard price from one client to another. Sometimes they may offer discounts for regular customers or even loss leaders to attract business when starting out, but care has to be taken to ensure that the business does not end up running at a loss.
For the actual photography time I have set a rate of £30.00 per day, with a rate of £20.00 per day for admin and planning and post production. The reason for the higher rate for the actual photography is that the photographer may find themselves working in cold or bad weather or on difficult locations, so a higher rate has been applied for these days, as opposed to working in a studio or office environment.
Materials
Today, most people still like to see their photographs on paper. The popularity of digital picture frames is growing, but people like to see special photographs mounted and framed.
Paper and Ink
If the photographer is printing the photographs in house, the cost of the paper and ink has to be included in the final cost.
With the paper, it is important to ensure that enough paper is purchased to keep the costs down, via bulk buying (economy of scale) but making sure too much paper is not purchased in case it becomes damaged prior to use. Also, it is important to try to offer only a small range of print finishes in case one type of paper, eg canvass finish is not used very often and this can lead to a higher value of stock being retained when it is not necessary, which might, at a later date, be hard to sell. Where a specialist paper, or one you feel that you would very rarely use is required it might be worth considering outsourcing to a third party company, like D S Colour Labs, for these jobs, but if they become more frequent consideration to purchasing these papers might be an option.
Different papers also require different printer profiles to ensure the highest quality, so it important to ensure that these profiles are obtained, and updated if necessary, for each type of paper. Some companies like Permajet, offer to send the photographer a custom profile for their printer (and ink) if requested.
With inks, there are options like the permaflow system that uses larger ink tanks (outside the printer) to reduce the costs of the ink. But it is important to ensure that the finish produced and the colour matching is of a high enough standard. Cheaper inks and paper are a false economy and will lead to low quality images and would damage the reputation of the photographer. Where possible, stick to the same make of ink, but keep a check on the use by dates (rotation of stock is best to prevent using out of date ink).
Mounting and Framing
Often the photographer will outsource this work to a specialist company, who's costs would have to be passed on to the client via the invoice. It is often not cost effective to mount and frame the finished prints in house.
Delivery
Often the client will collect the finished work, but sometimes the photographer will have to either deliver the work themselves, either as a special journey or enroute to another client or job, or send the work via the post (recorded at least) or via a courier, who's costs should be priced prior to invoicing the client.
Therefore the total costs for this project were:
| Element | Pricing * | Total |
| Costs | ||
| Fuel (to and from locations) | £0.50 p/m | £170.00 |
| Hire of Equipment | £ | £0.00 |
| Entry Costs | £ | £0.00 |
| Time | ||
| Planning | £20.00 per day | £100.00 |
| Shooting | £30.00 per day | £150.00 |
| Post Production | £20.00 per day | £40.00 |
| Materials | ||
| Printing (ink & paper) | £2.00 per print | £20.00 |
| Delivery (if outsourced) | £4.00 per order | £4.00 |
| Media | £10.00 per DVD | £10.00 |
| Delivery to Client | ||
| Hand Delivered | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Courier | ||
| Total Costs (* exc VAT) | £ 494.00 | |
| VAT | 17.5% | £ 86.45 |
| Total To Pay | £ 580.45 |
Running costs, like insurance, rent, equipment depreciation, etc would have to be recovered over a period of time via the companies profits, and documented on the final accounts at the end of the financial year.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
When taking photographs on location, especially of buildings, it is important to obey the law and not to trespass on private property. Also where windows are visible and people, or property, can be seen you must take reasonable steps to avoid invading the privacy of those inside or near to a building.
With recent concerns over terrorism, photography of some buildings could be prohibited or result in questioning by a member of the police or other security organisation.
One major area here, where the photographer is concerned is health and safety, for themselves, any assistants, models and the general public. On site cables can be a major tripping hazard, lighting stands must be secure so they cannot fall over onto people, especially if the flash bulbs are hot from use, which can lead to burns and possible cuts should the bulb smash on hitting the person. Even the photographer themselves can be a hazard if they move around looking through the viewfinder, and not where they are going, this can lead to anything from an embarrassing meeting to the photographer falling over someone, with both people being injured.
One major area here, where the photographer is concerned is health and safety, for themselves, any assistants, models and the general public. On site cables can be a major tripping hazard, lighting stands must be secure so they cannot fall over onto people, especially if the flash bulbs are hot from use, which can lead to burns and possible cuts should the bulb smash on hitting the person. Even the photographer themselves can be a hazard if they move around looking through the viewfinder, and not where they are going, this can lead to anything from an embarrassing meeting to the photographer falling over someone, with both people being injured.
On remote locations, the photographer, any assistants, and any models must ensure that they have suitable clothing and that contact is maintained with someone in case of an emergency. Photographic equipment would have to be carried and stored to protect it from bad weather, extreme cold and theft.
One problem, which is partly outside the control of the photographer, is how the images are used after they have been taken and sold to the client, as long as the photograph is accurate and does not imply anything that is not correct or can be defined as offensive to anyone.
One problem, which is partly outside the control of the photographer, is how the images are used after they have been taken and sold to the client, as long as the photograph is accurate and does not imply anything that is not correct or can be defined as offensive to anyone.
To protect the photographer, and any models, as far as possible contracts and model (or property) release documents should be drawn up prior to any photography taking place, and each party (the photographer, the model, any property owner, the client, etc) should make sure that they are happy with the terms of the contract, including payment terms, and that they are also happy with the intended use of the photographs taken.
These documents could form part of the evidence in a court of law for any breach of contract in the sense of failure to pay or misuse of the final photographs. There have been cases where models have consented to photographs being taken, without any form of contract, only to have these photographs misused at a later date.
During the post processing stage care must be taken, in some cases people have taken this too far, leading to photographers loosing their jobs !
During the post processing stage care must be taken, in some cases people have taken this too far, leading to photographers loosing their jobs !
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