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Market readiness in the business world means having a business card appropriate to your profession with a website and email address. Scraps of paper with phone numbers scrawled on the back does not really reflect sophistication. Neither does a phone number where “Mom” answers.

Never underestimate the microstock customer. They may be dressed in old jeans and wear worn sandals but they may have an endless credit line for the budget of their pet project. The readiness on the customer side to deal with questions and address cost issues like transportation or expenses should be polished and professional.
 
Don’t be afraid to trade receipts for customer based or photography assignment based travel or supplies. Batteries cost money, don’t be shy asking your customer to buy these for the gig, especially if video is involved. The client should acknowledg these costs.
If you think you are ready for a photography assignment, give yourself one. Try pretending your jewelry collection or set of toy trains or collection of objects is the product. Use the opportunity to balance light coming in with descriptive text and details a buyer might want to see. Make sure the connection between the images remains a touchstone to relate dissimilar objects or subjects.
Get a series of complimentary images that show the product to advantage using light, angles, perspective and color with tasteful composition and impact that creates interest. The trick to photography is that it pleases the eye, and the human eye cannot be fooled or cajoled by sales text. It has to see what is appealing and provoking.

The client should the materials you need out and in an environment friendly to getting focused work done. Children, blaring televisions, pets and distracting chatter simply extends the time the assignment will take and inflates the end cost of the shoot because the photographer’s time costs money.

One of the reasons photography is so expensive is that the clients assume a photographer will stand around all day solving their problems and then charge only for the time the client “needed” them to take pictures. Photographers do not owe clients any goodwill to waste their day dithering until the client becomes “ready.”

Care should be taken to represent materials accurately. Photos taken in direct sunlight will not look the same in artifical light. Flaws and quality detractions should not be misrepresented by omissions or crops and represented as perfect, and any photo credits for this kind of photography will come back to haunt you.

Images and copyrights should be negotiated well ahead of time. Find a way to secure final image publication rights for images you really want to use for self-promotional use, or don’t submit them. Make sure any byline credits or name associations are cleared before final request for payment or final image submission.

 

 

 

 

 

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