Not really a rant, per-se, just something funny that happened.  Had a person from a local newspaper contact me to use one of my images in their article.  They asked if they could use it, which is 9/10 a red flag that they didn't want to pay.  So I responded asking whether it was a cover, or internal placement, and what size, and once I got that I'd give them a quote.  The addition of "i'll get you a quote" is almost a fullproof method of weeding out those who want to pay vs. those who don't.

 Well, they responded with the size/placement details.  This threw me off a bit, so I took the time to prepare the quote and sent it on.  I even lowballed myself here figuring they weren't a big operation (their ads sell for $500-1k I believe) and I thought it was nice that they gave me placement details.  So I figured $35 for one-time use internal placement was more than fair to them.  They declined saying they didn't have a budget, lol.  

I'm not really that mad, because they probably didn't.  But I know they'd charge me an arm and a leg for ad space, so it's just funny/sad at the state of editorial photography.  They've relied on free imagery for so long that when a great image comes their way, they can't pay for it properly, even pennies.  

This is the shot in question.  It took me about 2.5hrs to light, and probably another 2-3hrs to clean all the wires out and edit in photoshop.  Not the best one I've taken, not the worst.

IMG_6169 by Durka-Durka, on Flickr

If they can't afford a whopping $35 they're doing it wrong.

Tell us more, please.  What did you use and where did you place them?





 

3 600w lights up the towers on the left, 2 washes on the lower portions to even the light out.  One 1k watt light going up the middle tower going up its right side, to the left of the glass.   One 1k watt light hitting the rounded tower on the right from far back, it was the toughest one to get right.  A wash on the bricks at the bottom of the rounded tower.  One 1k watt light moving back and forth painting the signage from camera left.  A couple 1k watt lights hitting the brick squares and landscaping on the bottom.  Waiting till sunrise (camera left) to help with ambient and reflections on the glass.

Generators powering all lights, with some help from an outlet at the front door.  I think I took probably 3+ exposures with the lights placed in different positions to get it right, starting at full darkness.  3+ hrs in photoshop taking a ton of telephone wires out and matching them to the bricks.  Hardest part was cloning them out of the rounded tower, due to the curvature and varied lighting.

Well, it turned out great; very nice pic.  The lighting appears smooth and balanced across the building, which had to be a real challenge to achieve. Thanks for the details.



Most folks would have no clue what you had to go through to get it right and would probably think "oh, the school sure lit that up nice."  

Thanks.  It was by-far not the cleanest one I've ever created, with all the different light sources involved. The hardest part was trying to light the lettering on the sign so that the shadows came out.  It was on a curve, so I think I remember either using two lights or one and painting it.

The inside has a 6-story atrium that I had to light top to bottom, two stories at a time, took me around 6hrs to produce, with another 3+ in photoshop.

I'm cropping out your watermark and making this my background. How much do you charge for that?

Kidding!!

Nice shot. Love the blue in the background.

Been there.

Had a vehicle restoration television show contact me about a photo of mine. The image they wanted to use was of a shot of a WW2 military motorcycle I snapped at an airshow. The television show was restoring a similar bike and wanted to reference my image during the filming. They didn't want to pay. "We're a small production, with a small budget." Right.........


ETA: There was the guy writing a book about WWII aviation. He saw one of my images and wanted to use it for the cover of his book. No money, no photo. Sorry....

it sucks that they hardly light buildings from the outside anymore, dusk shots aren't always what they could be, damn LEED fucked it up

Though we did just shoot a building at dusk that was lit at night, and lit well at that, was a nice change

99% of my buildings I have to supplement the light for. I've seen some of the most beautiful buildings have the most atrocious lighting.  

I always joke that I should go into the exterior commercial lighting business, but lighting (like photography) is about the last thing on the budget list.

What lenses are you using?   We usually use a 17 or 24 with perspective control

Same.

Nice job on the shot. Quality photography has certainly taken a tumble as far as value in the market. It's a shame that much of the best photography has little value commercially. A lot of people ask me if I'm selling my wildlife images and I tell them it's not worth my while. Even though I've spent nearly as much on my main camera body and lens as my first house to have the best gear, I'm better off spending my time as far as making money working on my properties.

Jeebus!  When you wrote "lighting the shot" I was thinking photoshop, dodge and burn or something, and I thought parshooter was being a smartass.

Why did you take that shot, with all of the effort involved, in the first place?  Funsies? Did the building owner/designer/builder hire you?

I won't speak for him but in our case architecture is the largest part of our business now.   We get hired by architects, general contractors, designers, home builders etc to shoot their projects.    It used to be we mostly did product photography but that is a much smaller percentage these days, now its architecture.   We are absolutely cranking right now too, this time of year is probably are busiest, hell I'm heading out the door in a few to drive to the next city over to shoot, you guessed it, architecture.  

Its an awesome job

Same here.  Although it's flailing here.  Too much competition and too little of a market, I guess.  Right now that and weddings I'd hazard to guess are the only markets that are worth it.

It's provided my family with an OK life these past 10yrs, though, so I can't knock it.  The stress of being a lone person, though got me realizing I shouldn't look/feel this old lol.