To sell or to give away photos - that's a difficult question

Recently I've done a shoot at the Perth's Biggest Office Party, a not for profit event that is run each year in the Perth CBD. Several thousand people turned up for music, fashion and of course beer to help support this years charities Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and The Greater Good Foundation. The highlight of the night was the fashion show showcasing fashion and jewelery from around Perth.

With all these interesting things happening, it was relatively easy to get some really great shots of the event, the models in the fashion parade and as well as the performers.



Now, here comes the big question... when I am being approached by the subjects who ask me for the photos, do I just give them freely or do I actually charge them a fee? The argument goes both ways. We can argue that I should give them freely as it was actually a non commissioned shoot. I was given a free press pass. Like many photographers there, I had access to many places which allowed me to capture some really amazing shots. As an amateur who is starting to go into freelance photography work, this was like serving my apprenticeship. So naturally, I would love to market myself and my service. Giving out free high resolution photos does seem to make sense.

Then again, I was told by my peers (other photographers, both professional and amateurs) by giving out free hi-res photos, I am actually responsible to help destroy the market. I can also see the logic to this side of the argument.

I really don't know which way I'll end up going, but right now, I feel that I should charge for the hi-res photos even if it mean just charging for a really small and nominal sum.

I will love to hear any comments from you readers about your views and opinion on this subject matter.

Learning how to shoot people

I haven't been blogging for a while, attributing mainly to two major events that happened recently:

1. I have been caught up moving my Dotnet Commons Open Source project from GotDot net host site to the new Microsoft Open Source hosting site called Codeplex.


2. I am doing (and will do) a couple of shoots for some of my friends

Recently, I have just done a photoshoot for a friend in her graduation gown. It has been an interesting shoot. You see, I am not quite a portrait photographer yet. I have been shooting landscape for a while, and have only recently venture into portraiture photography.

It has been an interesting experience for me, trying to get the right lighting, and posture in portraiture shots. I constantly had to pay lots of attention on the lighting on the subject (my friend). She, having really fair complexion also made taking light metering challenging. Getting the right postures for the shot was also the major challenge in portraiture shoots. I constantly had to remind myself... I must make the subject looks the best possible in my shots.

Frequently having to make mental notes such as ensuring that the background behind the subject, my friend, does not having things "sticking out" of her head or make her look awkward while trying to work out all the different angles and perspective I could take as I moved around her to find all the best position angles to capture.

Here are some of the photos I took of her:




I guess, I am starting to really enjoy shooting people. This is definitely one area in which I hope to make significant inroads in terms of my skills and capability.