Aren't Photographers just Glorified Paper Salesmen?
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 09:17AM Yeah, right......
When film was king, there was more truth to that statement, but it still wasn't true.
We all know the actual act of producing the image onto a piece of 8"x10" paper only costs a few dollars, that's not earth shattering news.
But.......
Here's why Wal* charges $2 and professionals charge >$50 or more!
First, there's cost of doing business: licenses, permits, insurance, rent, storage, electricity, phone, etc.
Then, there's time to get the print made: copying files, editing files, finding files, uploading, checking the print, packaging the print, arranging for the customer to pick up, etc.
Lastly, theres Processing time: We process or retouch and manipulate each and every file for every print made so they can print at their best. This takes a lot of time. Depending on the file, we may spend up to an hour on an 8"x10"! It's very difficult to make them all perfect and put a reasonable price on prints. The smaller the print, the more expensive it is for us to make. For example: You order a 4"x6" print, that shouldn't cost too much, right? Well, add up all the costs above and up to maybe a half hour of processing, and that 4"x6" could cost us money to make for you! Obviously a larger print will receive more work than a smaller one, but this is just an explanation.
Wal* isn't going to spend any time processing your image, they also won't check for consistency or quality most likely. Professional Labs have this unique attribute, maybe you've heard of them, they're called PEOPLE and they have EYES and a BRAIN to actually look at your Photograph and make corrections if necessary. The Wal*'s of the world don't do that.
Soooo, next time you are looking at purchasing professional photography, and see what you might consider high print prices, think again, they are saving you a bundle!
-B