Online photos are free, right?
In short, NO!
The belief that digital photos should be free (or only a few pence) is by far the biggest threat to having a professional photographer working at your next event.
‘Screen-shotting’ or downloading watermarked images is obtaining something without paying for it - in other words it is ‘theft’!
Hence my new watermark… A necessary evil that I dislike as much as you do (if that’s any consolation)!
Sadly, as long as this image theft continues, professional photographers can’t make a living! It is the main reason fewer and fewer events now have an ‘official’ photographer providing images for competitors and organisers. Sadly I now know more ‘ex’ Professional Event Photographers than I know still in business. 😞
I wonder how many people realise that photography theft is no different to shoplifting? It matters not if you have only taken it to share with a few friends on Facebook, or to advertise your products and services globally - it is still taking someone else’s property without permission or payment and is a criminal offence…. If you are successfully prosecuted by the copyright owner, you will have a criminal record, you will be fined, and you may even go to prison.
The concept many people struggle with is that they believe there is no cost involved in taking a digital photo: as there is no film, print or developing cost involved, unlike the old days of film…. Once you have a camera and an internet connected device to process and upload the images, each picture online costs nothing, surely?
So, to set the record straight, I decided to calculate what it typically costs to provide competitors with photos from a very small one day sports event:
Cameras:
At least 2 x Professional camera bodies (needed to be able to withstand reliable continuous use in all weathers and in low light, without ‘buffering’ or battery failure) - cost £6,000+ total.
Typically these will last for around 200,000 shots each before failing - at which point they are usually beyond economical repair and outdated in terms of professional manufacturer support / camera features / image quality / compatibility with new software expected by media and commercial clients, etc. and so invariably need to be replaced completely. Also, as normal retail warranties do not apply for commercial use, any interim repairs have to be paid for.
So, cost per photo actually ‘taken’ may only be around 1.5p, but the best professional event photographers are continuously following the action, anticipating the most dramatic (and saleable) moments, and often only upload the best 20% or thereabouts online - so a cost of 7.5p so far.
Lenses:
The selection of lenses used by a professional sports event photographer will easily add up to well over £5,000 (some individual telephoto lenses cost in excess of £10,000 each!). However, lenses tend to last longer than cameras, so they probably add only 1p or so to the image costs (so 5p per image posted online).
Other equipment:
Memory cards are relatively inexpensive and long lasting these days, as are batteries and other consumables. Our display equipment is relatively durable and long lasting, but high powered image processing computers are very expensive and don’t last long with our heavy use! However, we’ll just allow another very conservative 2.5p per picture kept to allow for all of this.
Photographer’s Expenses:
Professional Photographers have to have comprehensive insurance - including at least £2 million public liability cover, professional indemnity, as well as very expensive equipment insurance - typically in excess of £500 p.a. (mine was £850 last year). Then there’s website, internet, phone, electricity, and other admin expenses typically totalling in excess of £1,500 per annum.
A busy event photographer will be at events for around 50 days per year, so about another 4p per image online.
Even a local event often involves a 50 mile round trip and we are also usually expected to pay for a trade stand or sponsor an event. So, adding say £100 to a day’s shooting of anything up to 5,000 shots, is another 10p for every shot online. (At Crufts, I used to shoot in excess of 10,000 images per day and my record was at a dog agility World Championships in Italy, where I shot 16,000 in one day and 52,000 total over the 4 day event - with very much higher attendance costs of course!)
So far, we have a cost of around 30p per image uploaded to our websites. However, even the very best event photographers will struggle to sell more than 5% of the images they post online. (Over a 3 year period of full-time dog-sport event shooting, I sold just over 3% of the 500,000+ images online).
So, we are now talking about a cost of around £6.00 per image sold - just to cover tangible expenses of providing those images!
Then there’s my time…
On the actual day of the event I will usually be working continuously, without breaks, for at least 10 hours. Grabbing snacks and fruit while at the ringside and with bottles of water in my bag (and crossing my legs!)
Then there’s preparation: typically another minimum of 5 hours preparing folders on computers, refreshing memory cards, charging batteries, making arrangements with the organisers, learning the details needed to get the best angles, planning my shooting positions and workflow, etc. I will also usually try and do a physical recce for something like a road or fell race or rally using an external route to the main venue.
Sorting and selecting images for uploading typically takes another 5 hours+, then there is another 5 hours minimum for post-processing, adding watermarks and uploading to the website. Another 2 or 3 hours is racked up in marketing time - posting and sharing links on social media and emailing competitors and organisers who have asked to be kept updated and informed when pictures are available.
Finally, there is typically another 3 or 4 hours involved in processing orders and various other administrative tasks following the event.
So, a ‘one-day’ event for you, is typically a short week’s work for me and is rarely less than 30 hours in total!
Even at the minimum wage, that’s around £6.00 for every image sold.
I’ve now scared myself silly, as I did all these calculations on the hoof while writing this blog post!
I’ve just worked out on average each image sold has a ‘cost’ to me in excess of £12.00! Yet most of those sales will be web-res images @ £2.50 each…
Still think event photos should be free?
Having said all that, I love this job.
I get ridiculously excited when I think I’ve captured a special moment that I know the competitor(s) involved will love.
I love seeing the ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on Facebook (still not got to grips with Instagram 🙄)
Most of all, I love it when someone likes my photo enough to buy it!
If enough of you do that, I can keep going and keep bringing you pictures to be proud of - memories that last forever!
This is why I took 16,000 shots in one day at the WAO in Italy: 22 sharp images from just one run were used to make up this montage - and there were over 600 competitor runs that day in that ring!