When A Professional Photographer Is Cheaper Than An Amateur

I never cease to be amazed at the number of people selling products online who don’t think it is necessary to pay for someone to take professional photographs of their goods. They’ll do it themselves or find the proverbial “friend with a good camera”.

Jewellery product shot, pendant of turquoise colour designed by Candle Jewellery — The pendants from Candle Jewellery are very colourful. It was essential to capture the right colours, which I did using the professional X-Rite ColorChecker.

Let’s first start with the obvious. Would you buy something that doesn’t look great? A bad photo can make your product look like damaged goods. Imagine how much more you could sell if the pictures you have online make your products look better than those from the competition. In this case, the photographs easily pay for themselves.

Jewellery product shot of pendant designed by Candle Jewellery. Pink and sparkling. — This pendant from Candle Jewellery sparkles. The photographic challenge was to showcase the sparkle without getting nasty reflections. This was done using proper lighting.

You may not have paid for your photographs, but that is expensive if they don’t sell your products. The pictures also tell a lot about your brand and the kind of business you are running, successful or not. The first impression you make is going to be very difficult to change.

Jewellery product shot. Deep blue coloured pendant designed by Candle Jewellery. — The beautiful, deep colours of this pendant needed to be showcased. Reflectors were needed to avoid obliterating the darkest tones in the digital capture process.

There is a less obvious drawback to using the “friend with a good camera” who is going to take your pictures for free. Since he/she is not getting paid, there really isn’t an incentive for him/her to deliver the pictures in a short time frame. The time you have to wait for your photographs translates into lost sales.

Jewellery pendant product photograph. The red pendant was designed by Candle Jewellery. — The photographic challenge of photographing this beautiful red pendant was to show some of its translucent properties. This was achieved using reflecting pieces of foam core.

Now imagine the following, plausible, scenario. You get your “friend with a good camera” to take pictures for free. It takes a couple of months, and the pictures aren’t up to scratch. So you eventually have to pay someone who can do a proper job. If you count the time lost, the cheap alternative actually turns out to be more expensive. This is when a professional photographer is cheaper than an amateur.