Three Ways to Save Money on Aviation Photography Without Getting Cheap Photography
Buying a retail product is easy. You go to a store or online, you find what you want, and you pay the retail price. Simple. But this isn’t necessarily the best way to purchase a commercial product or service. Other factors such as quantity, quality, location, customizations, etc, come into play.
As a commercial photographer, I’m often asked, “Can you send me a rate sheet?” I’m more than happy to but I try to share some tips to help guide a prospective client through the process and not let them pay full retail. Here are three tips I send along in addition to my rate sheet.
Share the Costs
Think about sharing costs with the interior completion company.
This is probably the biggest cost-saver, the easiest to pull off, and it’s almost always the way my architect clients do it. Identify any other parties that could possibly have a need for your aircraft photos such as the interior completion company, owner, broker, etc, and ask them if they’d like to share the cost with you at a discount over going it alone. I’m more than happy to do this calculation for you and send it along with a quote. Although I do add an incremental amount of usage fees for each additional party, the entire invoice is then split (including any other expenses) among each party. In many cases, adding just two additional parties could cut your original investment in half.
Schedule Multiple Days of Shooting
Scheduling more than one aircraft is an efficient use of time and resources.
Although I do my best to keep my travel costs to a minimum, things like hotel and car rentals can get a little pricey when I need to fly to a shoot. But doing two or more consecutive days of shooting will spread that cost over multiple aircraft so it’ll be a much smaller portion of your overall budget. For example, we can do an incredible amount of shooting in three days where the increase in productivity more than offsets the travel costs.
Let’s Shoot More Than Just Your Fleet
Let’s shoot your facilities, headquarters, and more while we’re on-site.
When I said I am a commercial photographer, that means I can do so much more than just aircraft photography. With more than 30 years in the business, I have experience with many types of imaging. So let’s go the extra mile and maximize our time together with architectural images of your headquarters, updated and consistent headshots of your team, images of your MRO, FBO, interior finishing processes, etc. It may also be a good idea to consider replacing old photos from different sources and of varying quality with updated and consistent images to refresh your entire brand.
Personal Work: Powel House
The Powel House is a historic house museum located at 244 South 3rd Street, between Willings Alley and Spruce Street, in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia. It was recently restored under the guidance of John Milner Architects and is the flagship property of The Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks. And George Washington actually slept here!
Personal Work: Historic House Trust of NYC
A long time ago, I happened upon the Brinton 1704 House in West Chester PA. I popped in and met Giulietta and asked if I could photograph it. Flash forward a bit and I was thrilled to find out that she was now with the Historic House Trust of NYC and wanted me to help them with their Dutch Heritage Project. They loved their photos and I’m more than thrilled to show them off, too!
Personal Work: Grumblethorpe
The third house in a series of projects for The Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks, Grumblethorpe, presented some unique challenges. Among them was the fact that the shutters on the lower floor windows were all bolted shut! But I was able to reach into my bag of tricks so it was all good in te end.
Personal Work: Historic Waynesborough Mansion
One upside of my for-profit photo work being slow to come back to 100% is that it gives me time to photograph more historic properties. And there are many, many of them in the Philadelphia area! Historic Waynesborough was a Main Line home before there was a Main Line!
Waynesborough is a fully-restored piece of pre-Revolutionary War history cared for by the great folks at the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks.
Personal Work: Hill-Physick House in Old City Philadelphia
Some people like to spend their off-days in the summer at the shore. I like to photograph old houses! I especially love it when I get to work with the good people at the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks! The Hill-Physick House was once the home of Dr Philip Syng Physick, a surgeon in the late 1700s.
These old houses are tricky to photograph due to the small windows and lack of available light but the result was a pleasing collection of architectural images at the end of the day.
Your Awesome Camera vs Professional Photographer
I try my best to add value to every image in terms of artistic and technical input. So you can imagine that it is more than a little painful to hear someone say, “We won't be needing your services. We just bought an awesome camera.”
I felt compelled to write this not as an insult to any potential clients but purely as an instructional reference. I try my best to add value to every image in terms of artistic and technical input. So you can imagine that it is more than a little painful to hear someone say, “We won't be needing your services. We just bought an awesome camera.”
As a follow-up to my post-production, behind-the-scenes posts, I put together some out-of-camera files side-by-side with the finished images. Click on them for a better view. Enjoy!
Behind the Scenes: Post-Production of Cockpit Image
I shot this Dassault Falcon 2000 cockpit and cabin interiors for the great people at Dumont Aviation in New Castle DE (ILG for you flying folks!).
I shot this Dassault Falcon 2000 cockpit and cabin interiors for the great people at Dumont Aviation in New Castle DE (ILG for you flying folks!). They want their planes to pop in a way that a simple snapshot can't handle. We started by lighting the cockpit with wireless strobes on 10.5' C-stands (you can see the actual shoot setup in a previous post).
But shooting is only part of it. A typical image takes me 4-5x longer in post-production that it does to shoot it. Below you can see the original image, the markup notes, and the final image as delivered to the client.
Here is a short video that compresses (most of) the job from 2 hours down to a few minutes. Enjoy!
Behind the Scenes: Post-Production of Office Interior
A client usually sees me work with a camera on-site at a shoot and that it might take 30 minutes or so to set up a shot before we shoot final images.
A client usually sees me work with a camera on-site at a shoot and that it might take 30 minutes or so to set up a shot before we shoot final images. But the part that most don't see is the 4-5x that much time it takes to finish it in post-production before it's ready to be handed over to the client. Click below to see the initial image through markup and on to the final image.
Here's a short video that compresses most of the process down to a few minutes. I thought it might be fun to show all the extra effort that separates a professional image from a snapshot. It's not as complex as some that I do but it shows how I "paint" a soffit!
Behind the Scenes: Dassault Falcon 2000
I just had another awesome opportunity to photograph a jet for an awesome client and this time it was a Dassault Falcon 2000.
I just had another awesome opportunity to photograph a jet for an awesome client and this time it was a Dassault Falcon 2000. The client called on a Saturday to say the Falcon 2000 is coming in Sunday night and leaving Tuesday morning. I checked the weather to see that Monday afternoon was our only shot at making that happen. So we made it happen!Our assignment was to photograph both interior and exterior. I had budgeted for a half-day and expected to get 6 finished images. So here's a little gallery showing you some of what went into it.
Pro Tip: 2-3 tsp of soy sauce added to a liter of water looks exactly like whiskey!
Personal Work: Brinton 1704 House Restoration Finished!
It was a long time coming but the much-needed restoration project at the Brinton 1704 House is complete.
It was a long time coming but the much-needed restoration project at the Brinton 1704 House is complete. I was fortunate to photograph this historic landmark last year inside and out and saw its general state of disrepair up close. But board member John Milner of John Milner Architects stepped up to the plate, procured a grant from the William B. Dietrich Foundation, and restored the property to better-than-new condition while still respecting the work of architect George Edwin Brumbaugh who handled the original restoration in 1955.
“In specifying this work, John closely adhered to Mr. Brumbaugh’s original architectural drawings. He proposed a comprehensive scope of restoration and conservation work that included replacing the roof, painting exterior woodwork and siding, restoring leaded glass windows, repairing window frames, sash, cornice, dormer siding and flashing, replacing hardware, pointing chimneys, gables and exterior stone walls, stuccoing the foundation, replacing wooden steps, basement doors and the well enclosure, repairing the privy cornice, replacing the privy doors and roof, a thermographic review of the electrical system, and replacing the gas furnace, AC system and dehumidifier; a needed but massive list. pointing chimneys, gables and exterior stone walls, stuccoing the foundation, replacing wooden steps, basement doors and the well enclosure, repairing the privy cornice, replacing the privy doors and roof, a thermographic review of the electrical system, and replacing the gas furnace, AC system and dehumidifier; a needed but massive list. ”
Personal Work: Rockford Plantation
Historic structures fascinate me and I'm privileged that I am allowed as much access as the Rock Ford Plantation gave me.
Historic structures fascinate me and I'm privileged that I am allowed as much access as the Rock Ford Plantation gave me. Sunny, summer skies gave me and Dave Direntis a great opportunity to photograph Rock Ford with lots of natural light coming in just as it has since the 17th Century.
Neumann Goretti High School Gets an Updated Look
I recently started volunteering for the Community Design Collaborative.
I recently started volunteering for the Community Design Collaborative. I'll let them describe themselves:
“The Community Design Collaborative provides pro bono preliminary design services to nonprofit organizations in greater Philadelphia, creates engaging volunteer opportunities for design professionals, and raises awareness about the importance of design in revitalizing communities.”
I've lived my whole life in and around Philadelphia and I feel very strongly about the people, neighborhoods, and institutions in the Greater Philadelphia Area. Volunteering for the CDC is my way of giving back a little.
A little while back, CDC volunteers KSS Architects had taken the lead on updating the student experience at Neumann Goretti High School in South Philadelphia in advance of their transition to prep school status. I was fortunate enough to step in and capture some of the updated spaces.
Special thanks need to also go out to Dave Direntis for volunteering his time to help me out on this one.
Personal Work: Brinton 1704 House
I am fortunate to live in an area so rich in history.
I am fortunate to live in an area so rich in history. The Brinton 1704 House is among the many houses still standing that predate our country. Over its first 250 years, this house had undergone changes, expansions, and downright hacks until it was unrecognizable when it was bought back by the Brinton family in the 1950s with the hopes of restoring it to its original form.
I was fortunate to get a chance to photograph it inside and out right before a major stage in its restoration. As I write this, it is currently surrounded with scaffolding. John Milner Architects is taking the lead in its restoration and it should be completed in December 2017. I really hope to photograph it when completed!
