Outsourcing Photography to Grow Your Business
If you have reached our website, you are either currently outsourcing your company's photography requirements and something is not working quite the way you would like to, or you are thinking of doing it.
There are PROs and CONs to both and we have prepared some thoughts to share with you to help you calculate what would work best for your case.
In-House Photography
First of all let's consider the case of in-house photography. Maybe you are thinking that you can train one of your staff to do the photography (we believe that anyone can learn to be a good photographer).
PROs
Full control of the creation process
Save costs? (see below)
CONs
Need to purchase a professional camera
Need to purchase lighting equipment
Need to allocate space to convert to a studio
Time spent learning
Inefficiency of the process due to inexperience
Need to manage productions
If staff quits, have to find replacement
In-house photography can work for large companies who need new images every day. These companies have the budget to build a dedicated team and the space necessary for a quality production. And even then, this team has to be managed constantly, which is also a significant cost in itself - time. We know of plenty of companies who after setting-up a team and studio in their office realized that the actual overhead this requires (including the very expensive overhead of management time) is pretty high. Also when considering the actual per hour cost, don't forget to count in benefits, not only salary.
For businesses that need photography less frequently, by doing photography in-house, a team member who you hired for his expertise in a completely different field will have to take a break, set-up equipment, photograph and process images. If that team member has nothing better to do, this may make sense, however, most likely that team member has tasks that are essential for your businesses' success. Photography is drawing with light. Many services claim to be able to fix any lighting problems in post-production, however, the truth is that it is not possible (yet). In photography great lighting is everything. Additionally, learning what kind of images sell also takes time, and an image that make your product stand out and shine is better than one that doesn't.
Hiring a Freelancer
One alternative to having in-house photography production is that of hiring a freelancer.
PROs
Skills already present
No need for studio, equipment, training
Cost efficient
No commitment
Easy communication
CONs
Not scalable
Inefficient workflow
Management time can be high
Hiring a freelancer can be very good if you find a good reliable freelancer, as there is no commitment and no overhead. The main problem with freelancers is that they rarely have the resources to create an efficient workflow and their operation is not scalable, which means that there may be inconsistency in the quality of work they deliver, times when they cannot take your project, and a lot of back and forth in communication.
Hiring a Photography Company
Another alternative is hiring a photography company like ours. Yes, of course we are biased!
PROs
Skills already present
No need for studio, equipment, training
Cost efficient
No commitment
Smooth workflow
Knowledge of online marketing
Speed