Anyone can take a good picture when the right circumstances happen. Or, if they push the shutter button a couple of dozen times in a row, at least one shot is bound to turn out good. This, however, does not make one a professional photographer. Having an expensive Digital SLR and expensive lenses does not make one a professional photographer. Having a lot of gear does not make one a professional photographer.
A professional photographer can make the right circumstances happen when they need them to. A professional photographer knows when to press the shutter button to get the great shots. A professional photographer will have the right gear for the job not just a bag full of cool gadgets.
When you are looking to hire a professional photographer, you should ask them about their experience, not their education. A degree in photography means about as much as a degree in basket weaving. There are many successful and talented photographers who never took a photography class in their life. Many photographers have degrees that have nothing to do with photography. Photography is as much about art as it is about science, a class can teach you about all of the science of photography, but it can’t teach you to be an artist, to be creative.
When you interview a photographer that you want to hire for a potential job, they should be asking you as many questions as you are asking them. You should be asking them about their experience and what they are going to do to produce the results you want. They should be asking you about what you want and for details about it. A professional photographer should be able to offer ideas and insights on how to achieve the results you are looking for. They should also be able to offer alternative methods to do things that are impractical or overly expensive.
The things you really should not ask the photographer you are interested in hiring, and why shouldn’t you ask about them? You shouldn’t ask, because you shouldn’t care, these are all thing that will be different from photographer to photographer. You shouldn’t ask about what kind of camera they have. You shouldn’t ask them what brand of lights they use. You shouldn’t ask them about their work flow, how they process their images or what software suite they are using. What you should care about are the results they can produce not the gear they use to do it.
When you are interviewing the photographer for a potential job these are the kinds of questions that you should be asking. Do you have general liability insurance, can you provide copies of the certificate of insurance? If a critical piece of equipment fails during the shoot do you have a backup equipment available? Do you have contingency plan if something happens to you and you can’t make it (i.e. get sick), what is it? These are the questions where you can separate the weekend warriors and hobbyist from the professionals. The answer to all of these questions should be yes, if they aren’t then you should consider moving on to the next photographer on the list.
General liability insurance is necessary in case there is an accident (i.e. someone trips on a power cord, falls and breaks an arm) or some kind of property damage (i.e. a light stand falls and breaks a glass coffee table, or dents a hardwood floor) during the shoot. Most likely your insurance is not going to cover it, and if the photographer doesn’t have liability insurance its unlikely that they have thousands of dollars lying around that will cover the cost or medical bills if someone was injured or the cost of repairs to property.
The contingency plan is designed to cover thing that come up several hours or days before the shoot not minutes or an hour before. The contingency plan is usually for situation where they get the flu, have a broken leg, or have some kind of family emergency and can’t make it to the shoot. Most photographers are not going to have a plan to cover being injured in a car accident on the way to the shoot, or to cover if they should suddenly die in a freak accident.
Back up equipment is also important, and professional photographers will have several different pieces of gear capable of doing the same or similar jobs. They should have at least two cameras and lenses, this way if one breaks or malfunctions they can switch to another with almost no time lost from shooting. Most professional photographers have will have at least two of every piece of gear that is critical to a shoot. They may own it, or they may rent it, but if the shoot can’t be completed, and completed properly without it they will have more than one of it.
There are many other things you should consider when you are looking for a photographer such as style, personality, and cost, but those are a matter of personal tastes that I can’t give you any advice on. This is meant to help guide you through the process after you have found a photographer who’s style personality and price you are happy with. Hiring a photographer is no different from hiring any other professional to provide service to you, you have to ask the right questions to be sure you’re going to get the service and product you are expecting and be sure you know what to expect from the photographer.
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