does cheap man rubbish?

jols

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i do photography as a paying hobby.

i am not at all expensive for weddings and portraits.

i do not need the money so often i do deals with people on a tight budget.

i enjoy what i do.

but i have read recently that cheap means rubbish.

is that what people really think?

i really don't need the money so should i be forced to charge a higher price for people to take me seriously?

if i wanted someone to take photos for me i would only be interested in looking at their portfolio and seeing if they fitted my requirements then i would discuss price.

i would not book someone just because they were expensive and then assume that they must be good.

discuss??
 
i do photography as a paying hobby.
Well, there you go then. Nothing else matters.

...except to the pros who feel that this cuts into their livelihood. That's the more interesting (but still irrelevant) discussion.

No, of course Cheap doesn't mean Rubbish... except of course 95% in life it does mean exactly that.
 
No, of course Cheap doesn't mean Rubbish... except of course 95% in life it does mean exactly that.

I don't know. I can point you in the direction of some incredibly expensive rubbish if you want.

Cheap is often perceived as meaning 'of low quality' as we know that something is usually cheap because corners have been cut and standards lowered to save money.
People perceive services to follow the same pattern.
If your prices are low it is normally assumed that you can only do this because you 'cut corners' somewhere. With some justification. As you do photography as a hobby I doubt you offer the same level of service as a far more expensive 'professional' would.
But this does not mean that the quality of the end product is of a lower standard - you just don't offer the fancy packaging.
Sadly, most people can't see this because they are too busy looking at the package.

I used to have an artist friend who did craft fairs, selling their prints and paintings. They noticed a number of things about the general buying public. With regards to price, they found that people either want something for next to nothing - or they want to pay a lot.
They started by pricing their pictures reasonably - recovering costs with a small profit. People didn't buy their stuff.
Then they tried selling their pictures at giveaway prices just to shift them.
They sold out - but they didn't even make the cost of the frames.
So then they priced their pictures exorbitantly. They didn't sell so many but they didn't need to and they actually made a profit.
Draw your own conclusions.
 
If someone quoted me $100 for something everyone else quotes more than $500 I'd always be cautious. But there's a place for everything.

It depends if you're good and undercutting the pro market. You will generally be whoring yourself on the cheap and just stealing potential profits from pros.

The other side is are you cheap because you're not producing the quality service that the pros give out? There's a big market that doesn't undercut professional photography, and that's the cheap weddings so many people have. The key difference is you're not stealing clients from pros as the clients in question would probably simply not get a photographer if they had to pay full price for a pro. That's just filling a needed market.
 
who cares *shrugs*

mmm thought provoking answer.



as for the rest of the answers thanks for your time and comments.

i know this will cause some reaction but I'm not really interested in the pro togs and whether I'm moving in on them.

nobody would ever start a business up if everybody thought like this.

i think competition is good and if the pro tog is better than me or deals with better packages than the customer can go to them i wont be crying in my soup.
 
If you enjoy what you are doing and are able to continue doing it, smile and wave and point to the place where the world can get off. ;)

I am currently providing services to people of "less extravagant means" and when I hear a Newly Wed griping about her husband falling asleep looking at their Album in bed again (oh yeah, I loved it ;)), I am well paid. :)
 
Cheaper doesn't mean rubbish. Cheap usually does. Not long ago, a young man told me his camera was better than mine. I shrugged and said, "Why?" He told me what he'd paid for his camera. I thought that was idiotic.
 
Cheaper doesn't mean rubbish. Cheap usually does. Not long ago, a young man told me his camera was better than mine. I shrugged and said, "Why?" He told me what he'd paid for his camera. I thought that was idiotic.


lol

i agree a lot of people think they take better pics cause their camera cost more.
 
I tend to think the proof is in the portfolio.

If "cheap" on the economic level still produces photos that make other photographers want to get out of the business because of your work... then whats the big deal. Be cheap... "O Master of all things Photographic!"

But if your photos don't hold up on quality, than you have another issue.

On the other side... you [a photographer] might be one of the highest paid out there. However, the photos you take look as if you taped the camera to your dogs head and set the timer to snap a shot every 60 seconds. In that case... "Congrats to you O Master of all marketing of Crappy Products!"
 
I tend to think the proof is in the portfolio.

If "cheap" on the economic level still produces photos that make other photographers want to get out of the business because of your work... then whats the big deal. Be cheap... "O Master of all things Photographic!"

But if your photos don't hold up on quality, than you have another issue.

On the other side... you [a photographer] might be one of the highest paid out there. However, the photos you take look as if you taped the camera to your dogs head and set the timer to snap a shot every 60 seconds. In that case... "Congrats to you O Master of all marketing of Crappy Products!"


i agree totally

its all in the portfolio.


when people ring me to do a shoot they never wnat to see my camera just the portflio
then they ask for prices.
 
As long as you deliver a good service to people, and not make them question how much they paid then you are fine. Word of mouth gets around. If you did a great job, then you will get good feedback, but if you were lacking anywhere... WATCH out!!! Bad word of mouth travels a lot faster than good.
When I got married my mom went with my cousin as the photographer because she was giving us the family discount. It took me 3 years before I got the pictures, and I don't think I even have all of them, and I have been married for 7 years (on the 13th).
So be the best you can be and you won't be thought of as rubbish.
 
i enjoy what i do.

This is all that really counts.... keep doing what keeps you happy. If you get paid, then good for yah! 9/10 people out there wish they were just as lucky.

but i have read recently that cheap means rubbish.

In general, the sayin "you get what you pay for" applies BUT it in no way means rubbish. Both inexpensive and expensive items can be "rubbish". People forget that there is a market for the inexpensive and expensive goods and services out there.... to cater to a wide variety of people's preferences. I like inexpensive cloths but expensive cameras... neither of them are rubbish.

Just ignore what you read/hear out there and continue to run your "hobby-business" the way you see fit. If you work is really "rubbish", you will hear from your clientele loud and clear. If your work is "high bang for buck", then you'll be in "business" a long time and enjoying it.
 
btw... there has been a few threads on Holgas lately...

Many would see them as "rubbish"

others.. see them a source of creativity and fun.
 
I think it completely depends on the portfolio, however, I do think a great deal of people think just because something is expensive it is good. I think its more of a thought with cheap products rather then services that the people have experience with but they then carry over that thought to services as well. Think about it this way, look at a pen, I can but a cheap 2 or even 5 or 10 dollar pen. Then I can buy a 200 dollar pen. Is the 200 dollar pen going to write any better then the 5 or 10 dollar pen, maybe, but not much, but people think it will because they bought that 1 or 2 dollar pen and its a lot better then that 10 cent pen, so it must be that way all the time.
 

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