How to beat the pizza photographer?

[unpopular]

Here's one example. I recently saw a flyer for a "pet photographer". The flyer featured several example images with prices below them. The advertised prices were pretty reasonable, a bit higher than what I'd be willing to spend - but not . The exact price doesn't matter much, so go ahead and imagine whatever you'd think is a fair price that way we don't get into relative value. The service didn't come with grooming or anything like that. The client would be responsible for having the dog photo-ready.

So we all have an expected price we'd pay to have our dogs photographed.

Now, for the quality. It was bad. Not, like slightly missed focus bad. Not like poorly placed shadows bad. Not like instagram filter bad. Rather, we're talking red-eyed, on-camera flash, dogs clearly not looking at the photographer, white sheet on a mattress, against a bare wall bad. We're talking so bad that anyone with a dog likely has better photos taken by the owner in his or her phone -bad. It was a level of bad that they weren't even good snapshots, these images were the one's you'd throw up on the refrigerator and let get buried with old bills and eventually thrown into the trash. Like literally. This wasn't an exaggeration. They really were *that bad*.

Now, lets say one of my friends approaches me and says "I was thinking about getting my dog photographed, but could only find this photographer" and shows me the flyer. I agree not to charge. For me, spending time with my friend and her dog is worth my time.

Will the professional photos be better?

Let's say from the experience I discovered that I am pretty good at dog photography and I decide to compete and decide that the best business practice is to charge at a rate 20% less than what he or she is charging. Do you really think that people will go to a photographer that is substantially worse simply because the cost is more? Because this contributes to some "perceived quality"?

Does the fact that a hack is willing to charge more somehow impact my technical ability?

 

[smoke665]

Marketing quality" makes it seem as though your price point sets the quality of your work. It doesn't.

Didn't say it had anything to do with actual quality but "perceveived" quality. The $300 photographer may be a unknown wonder who's work is better than the $15k photographer (though doubtful) but if I was spending thousands of dollars on a dress, wedding, cake, etc., I would not risk the wrath of my wife and daughter or embarrassment in front of friends by going cheap on the photographer. There's also the ability of a business to be "good" for their work. I was talked into letting a small mechanic (supposedly good reputation that needed a start) build a truck engine for $6k, vs the $12 k at Cummins. The engine failed within a week, and the mechanic claimed he didn't have the money to fix it. When I filed suit, he filed bankruptcy. Did the engines from Cummins ever fail, of course they did, but once paid they took care of any problem.

 

[astroNikon]

"perceived" ... reminds me of this thread(s) from a few months back

Wedding Photog from Hell

Wedding Photographer Sued


but I digress because I think the OP stated the pizza photog was pretty good.

 

[smoke665]

Let's say from the experience I discovered that I am pretty good at dog photography and I decide to compete and decide that the best business practice is to charge at a rate 20% less than what he or she is charging. Do you really think that people will go to a photographer that is substantially worse simply because the cost is more? Because this contributes to some "perceived quality"?

I don't know Vtec44 but based on his posting statements he provides a quality product to a high end clientele. Just because someone is willing and capable of spending more doesn'tdoesn't mean they would accept junk, (though I've seen some spend huge amounts on so called art)

 

[unpopular]

Marketing quality" makes it seem as though your price point sets the quality of your work. It doesn't.

Didn't say it had anything to do with actual quality but "perceveived" quality. The $300 photographer may be a unknown wonder who's work is better than the $15k photographer (though doubtful) but if I was spending thousands of dollars on a dress, wedding, cake, etc., I would not risk the wrath of my wife and daughter or embarrassment in front of friends by going cheap on the photographer. There's also the ability of a business to be "good" for their work. I was talked into letting a small mechanic (supposedly good reputation that needed a start) build a truck engine for $6k, vs the $12 k at Cummins. The engine failed within a week, and the mechanic claimed he didn't have the money to fix it. When I filed suit, he filed bankruptcy. Did the engines from Cummins ever fail, of course they did, but once paid they took care of any problem.

And this is why you can't compete on quality alone. Your mechanic was probably a good mechanic, otherwise he wouldn't have had the reputation (or at least people perceived him as such). That wasn't the issue here, well, it was to an extent. But it wouldn't have been if the mechanic was able to install a new engine while covering the cost.

The problem is that he was floating guaranteed work and didn't have enough income to follow through. The problem was his business size.

 

[smoke665]

was probably a good mechanic, otherwise he wouldn't have had the reputation (or at least people perceived him as such).

Actually in his case he wasn't because I found out later the so called recommendations involved work on a much smaller scale. Which would also apply when choosing a photographer.

 

[robbins.photo]

With very few exceptions, you almost always get what you pay for. If that wasn't true the vast majority of the time, it wouldn't be an adage.

 

[unpopular]

There is a point, though, that this isn't true. A photographer who charges $20,000 is simply not 20x "better" than one who charges $1,000 no matter how you measure it - well, aside from marketing perhaps.

 

[Vtec44]

You're selling something intangible with no defined standards of value. The only thing you have is the perception of value that you have created for your brand, whether it is a certain posing style, post process, customer service, quality of print products, or a combination of everything. People who are charging 20k per wedding dont sell on quality but sell on their brand. Celebrity wedding photographers often charge over 100k per wedding, not because they're 100x better. There's a lot more into a brand than just a well exposed image. Look at any luxury brand and you'll see the similarities.