SAP-Continuing the Alliance

Congratulations, you have found a photographer you like their work, their prices, and most likely, you like them. How do you stay in touch with them?

- Stay in Contact

- Join their mailing list

- Follow their blog

- Invite them to send in new work

Future Project Estimates - Try to give the photographer as much lead time as possible for a project to ensure they can provide a thorough Estimate as well as give you priority scheduling in their calendars. By having them provide Estimates against other photographers that you also like their work, will ensure the pricing you are receiving is on standard with the industry.

Really Like Them - Consider a Multi-Project Contract

This will ensure they are there for you.

How to Get More “Bang for your Buck”

Provide Feedback.

Be sure to provide the photographer feedback on his/her images. These are business people the same as yourself, and if you, the customer, isn’t happy or would like to try a different approach, the photographer should be open to your suggestions.

Scrapbook

As you go through your business day/weeks, there are bound to be images of other projects that an angle catches your eye, a time of day/lighting, anything. Show these to your photographer. It will help him/her gauge your tastes and preferences, leading to increasingly successful projects in the future.

Whether you were there or not, and whether we are your photographer on a project or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com

866-722-9506

SAP-Image Delivery

This can depend on a multitude of variables, as well as the methodology of the individual photographer. But most importantly, if there was a serious time consideration, this should have been disclosed to the photographer at the time the Estimate was requested.

Time Frame

This is greatly dependent on the number of images in your shoot, specific deadlines requested at the time of Estimate, and the workload of the photographer’s studio itself. Your photographer should provide you an estimated date of delivery of proofs (whether online or hard copy) within 1-2 business days of the shoot. Just a basic rule of thumb on the typical processing time images not requiring extensive post production efforts is two to twelve hours for each image, so if you have a five image shoot and taking an average of that, you could potentially be looking at 30 man hours in post production, so, potentially a week.

Online Contact Sheets

For ease of review, and sharing among many parties within your firm, many photographers provide online contact sheets to their clients. From these contact sheets, final delivered images can be selected. However, some clients still prefer to have a physical contact sheet delivered. If this is your preference, be sure to tell that to the photographer at the time you’re asking for the Estimate.

Final Images

There is a wide variety of image delivery options available to you:

• Electronic Download - final image files can easily be downloaded directly from a photographer’s web site
• DVD Delivery - a physical DVD with all the final images delivered to your office
• Hard Copy Delivery - a hard copy print(s) created by the photographer
• Combination - some clients prefer a combination of two or more of the above delivery options of the final images

Image Storage

Though your photographer undoubted is going to maintain a copy of your images, to be absolutely safe that you always have access to your images, the best approach is maintaining your own catalog.

The industry standard for Digital Asset Management (yes, DAM) is the 3-2-1 approach.

• Three (3) copies of the images
• Two (2) different onsite drives or media (one hard disk/server, one DVD, or two hard disks)
• One (1) offsite copy. These files can be maintained on either a hard disk, back up service, etc.

Whether you were there or not, and whether we are your photographer on a project or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com

866-722-9506

SAP-Post Production

OK, you’ve chosen the photographer, received the estimate, photographed the project, since there isn’t any film processing involved anymore, you should have your photographs immediately when you leave the shoot, yes? Not quite.

Basic Digital Processing

The extent in which post production processing takes place on your images depends on a lot of factors, including what special treatment the images require as determined in the Estimate. But nearly every photographer (or their digital production staff), at minimum, performs the following actions on their images:

• Imports them into their digital asset management system. This includes cataloging your images as well as inserting permanent digital text information (meta data) into the images.
• Basic retouching for minor imperfections including dust on the sensor, flaws on the site.
• Applying subtle changes in contrast/color balance/tone to ensure all the images appear to have the identical color cast and exposure.

Advanced Digital Enhancement

Depending on the specific services outlined in the Estimate, additional image enhancement can be applied:

• Light Color Temperature Adjustment. Sometimes there are multiple light sources with different color temperatures in one image. Lighting brought onto location, as other on site techniques, used by the photographer should minimize this impact, but sometimes it is easier and more cost effective to perform final adjustments digitally back in the studio.
• Removal of Distracting Elements. In the magic of the digital world it is more possible than ever to get rid of distracting slight switches, outlets, faceplates, plumbing, cords,
• Merging Multiple Exposures. This technique is commonly referred to as High Dynamic Range (HDR) and allows the photographer to take multiple images of the same scene at different exposures and merge them into one image. This allows for increased detail in highlights and shadow areas, and, for example, minimizes burn outs from over exposure from strong lighting coming in a window.

Whether you were there or not, and whether we are your photographer on a project or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com

866-722-9506

Schedule/Timing/Duration of Shooting Images

Ideally, the order in which images are taken needs to be established before arrival on the location and can easily be established by some kind of scouting. Natural lighting through windows, on exterior faces, etc. can determine what order images will be shot in. As a very rough rule of thumb, each individual image can take from 45 to 90 minutes to set up, properly stag with props and furniture arrangement, and photograph. However, some of the highest end architectural photographers can take several hours for set up, primarily to position lighting. I know of one of the top photographers that can has been known to use 200+ lights on a single image and it took eight hours to achieve his single, award-winning shot.

Photography Staging Area

Talk with the photographer about what kind of staging area needs are required. He/she will need space for cases, lighting assembly, and, if the photographer doesn’t work with their camera tethered to a display, a workstation to review images after the shot. Depending on the amount of equipment and props required, these needs can be just a few square feet, but generally average about 10x10.

Your Input - How Much Are You Involved?

Photography is a collaborative effort, but how this is handled varies from photographer to photographer. My approach is working with you, listening to your vision for the image, your preferences, learning what you’re trying to achieve with an image, etc. helps me create an image that hopefully exceeds your expectations. But just like you are a specialist in your field, we are as well, and bring unique experience and creativity to the process as well. If it were easy to just press a button and capture incredible images, you could bring in a high school student or someone from your administrative staff with a good camera.

Potential “Don’ts” When Working With A Photographer

This is varies from photographer to photographer:

• Touching Equipment. Just from a liability standpoint, if you were innocently shift a tripod or a light stand, and it were to fall over... well, you get the picture.
• Looking Through the View Finder/Touching the Camera. Some photographers absolutely don’t like this at all. With more and more photographers shooting tethered, you will be able to see the image instantaneously as soon as it is shot anyway. Besides, again, would you want to accidentally knock over that camera that potentially is worth more than some used cars?
• “Saying Anything But “Yes.”  I saw this written on another architectural photographer’s web site as something some photographers demand - and they were referred to as prima donnas. Personally if you were always saying yes to me, I would be worried that you weren’t completely involved in the project, and we might not be accomplishing your vision.

Whether you were there or not, and whether we are your photographer on a project or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com

866-722-9506

SAP-We Have an Estimate – Now What? Controlling the Cost of a Project

A photographer’s estimate is based on the information you provided about the scope of work of your project. Just like your bidding process for your own projects, there may be questions, clarifications, and negotiations. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or to negotiate, but just always negotiate in the same manner in which you would want to be negotiated with... fairly. When you ask the photographer for something, be prepared to give something.

Have your annual budget and number of projects in mind. Many photographers are willing to negotiate fees on one project, when there are multiple projects added to the original agreement. You’re familiar with this, the quantity discount. But, be prepared to contract all of these projects at the time you’re offering it, because nearly every single photographer has been burned on the promise of “future work” if you “cut us a deal” now, and the future work never materializes.

There are areas in which you can trim your costs, but always remember, the photographer has included these items in their estimate for a reason, and probably has already tried to keep these charges to a minimum in order to land your project. If you want to negotiate down the lighting rental charge, remember that this may impact the quality of the final image. If you’re looking at the number of assistants required, this may increase the amount of time the photographer has to be on site since set up may potentially take longer with fewer crew members.

Whether you were there or not, and whether we are your photographer on a project or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Owner-Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com

866-722-9506

SAP-Understanding the Estimate

The most common question an architectural photographer is asked, “How much will it cost?” But unfortunately, that question is usually asked without much detail about the project. Very few architectural photographers have a “Price List” because of the nature of each and every project is different. There is also not a “pay scale” for architectural photographers because images are not a commodity. Finally, identical services from two different photographers will charge a completely different set of fees.

Just like your design rates quoted in your proposals for projects, that number isn’t what the individual architect or designer takes home as their pay. Just like your firm, architectural photographers have overhead: cameras, computers, software, vehicles, lighting, office space, equipment, etc. The fees you see in an estimate aren’t just the charge for clicking a shutter.

All photographers are performing a balancing act between providing the most exceptional images possible while still providing you the most value for your project.

Elements of an Estimate

Though every Estimate is different, there are usually three basic components:

Creative Fee

Some photographers perform their services on a “Day” or “Half Day” rate, while others work on a “per shot” basis. This component also can be broken down by Photographer and Digital Artist (post production).

Usage Fee

You would not allow your General Contractor, or your Client, to take your designs for a building and build another building using them, and thus profit from it. Those are your creative designs and they are owned by your firm. The same holds true for your architectural photographs, the photographer lets you use them, just like you… for a fee.

Copyright of images is usually retained by the architectural photographer, unless specifically granted in the Terms and Conditions of your contract. Most photographers register their images with the US Copyright Office and to violate that copyright can be an expensive prospect. Some photographers do offer the copyrights to their images to their clients, but in doing so, they usually charge for this transfer.

Usage varies also according to how you are going to use the image. If you are going to use the images only for in-house documentation purposes, the usage would be relatively low. However, if you were going to use it on a billboard for paid advertising purposes, the Usage would be quite high because your potential financial gain from that image is a lot higher than the construction progress images in your file cabinet.

NOTE: To protect your firm, you need to be sure that you understand clearly the terms and conditions of usage of the images of your project. If you don’t understand something in the Terms and Conditions, ask the photographer, they will be more than happy to explain them, and if necessary, adjust them to meet your needs. However, this pay increase (or decrease) the Usage charges on the estimate.

Expenses

These are generally set expenses incurred by the photographer. Typical examples include:

• Assistants
• Lighting or Other Equipment Rental
• Location Scouting (either by the photographer or an assistant)
• Props
• Travel
• Media
• Permits

Whether you were there or not, and whether we are your photographer on a project or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com

866-722-9506

NEWS RELEASE-Local Business Owner Elected to ASMP National Board of Directors

Contact: Kimberly Blom-Roemer (866) 722-9506

contact_us@r2-photography.com

For Immediate Release

French Settlement, LA – Kimberly Blom-Roemer, Owner of R2 Photography, LLC has been elected to serve a 3-year term on the National Board of Directors of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP).

Board members are elected nation-wide by the organization’s General Members on the basis of their professional qualifications and leadership experience, as well as their perspective on various issues impacting photographers and the creative industry.

“I am acutely aware of the issues and challenges facing photographers and everyone in the creative industry,” notes Blom-Roemer on her inspiration to pursue the ASMP Board position. “The industry bears little resemblance to the one of five or ten years ago. Technology has made a massive impact, with extreme benefits and sometimes drawbacks to working professionals. But rather than lament the change in the industry, I am about believing in the promise of the new frontiers open to all of us. To help other creatives refine their business practices in order to embrace these changes to grow their businesses is a goal of my service on the ASMP National Board.

Blom-Roemer is also a member of the Association of Independent Architectural Photographers (AIAP), the International Association of Architectural Photographers (IAAP) where she is a client needs forum lead, the Real Estate Photographers of American and International (REPAI), and has been an affiliate member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in Kansas City.

Before moving to French Settlement in the fall of 2011, Blom-Roemer helped resurrect a dormant ASMP chapter in Kansas City, serving both as the Vice President, and later it’s President. Her efforts included bringing Canon Explorers of Light presenters to the area, and to establish regular educational and networking events. All these activities were designed to enhance the professional development opportunities in the region.

ASMP is the premier trade association for photographers, providing members with all the tools, information and support needed to run successful photography businesses. ASMP members are recognized as a community of forward-thinking professionals. More information about ASMP is available at http://www.asmp.org.

R2 Photography, LLC is one of the few architectural and aerial photography specialists along the Gulf Coast. We provide architectural, interior design, architectural product, aerial, and construction progress photography to support projects from initial ground breaking to final completion photography. In addition to being a State of Louisiana Registered Vendor, we are also a State of Louisiana Certified Small Entrepreneur (Hudson Initiative) (SEHI) Vendor, and a Federal Small Business Registered Enterprise. Contact R2 Photography, LLC, 17030 Dykes Road, French Settlement, LA 70733, telephone: 866-722-9506 or by visiting our web site at http://www.r2-photography.com.