[ratpack] Re: Car show photos
- From: "Dan Greenberg" <dan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ratpack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:12:06 -0600
HI Ray,
I should have been more clear on that - I bracket without flash - even
though my camera and flash have the capability I have never used it.
As far as car shows go - I think in general they are a losing proposition.
I have turned down the request to be the official photographer 3 or 4
times. They want you to take up your time so that they look like a more
professional operation for free. And then you make all your money selling
to the participants. The only way I have seen this make any money is when
the photographer shoots everyone as they drive in in a predetermined place
and then has a facility to make prints and sell them right there and then.
In my case, that would totally defeat doing what I like doing since I would
be tied down in one spot.
I definitely agree that most of the people who say they want a shoot or
whatever will not come through. Personally - I would never do the free
photo thing. All it does is cannibalize the sales you might have made and
people for the most part really don't appreciate or value it. I have given
gift certificates to sponsors to give away as door prizes a few times.
These were for a free 10x15 metallic print for an image off my web site.
But I made sure they knew the actual value was $45 for them. I am trying to
position my work as a premium product and therefor will not try to sell at
bargain basement prices - a method that at best leads to lots of running
around, lots of work and very little revenue. I do have quite a few
experiences where someone really, really wants something and then once they
see my price list, they don't call or email back. But others do. For what
I am offering I think my prices are very reasonable. When talking to other
non-car professional, photographers, everyone has said my prices are too
cheap. I have attached my latest price list so you can see what I mean.
Also with regard to posing at a car show, I have done that very infrequently
and only if there was a chance of getting a far better than average image
from it. In your image - the car looks fantastic, but it is still plagued
by having the overall car show background clutter. One thing I am not good
at is removing a car from the background and placing it on another
background, but in my opinion - the Corvette in your photo is clean enough
that you might be able to do that. Still a lot of work though. Below is
a link to a shoot I did where someone posed his car for me at his
insistence. The password for it is ray - all in lowercase.
http://www.pbase.com/dlgphoto/temp_rg
The images came out ok and as you can see I did quite a bit of PP work on
them and quite a few are HDR. So I did all this and the guy still did not
buy anything. At least not yet. I will contact him one more time before
removing the gallery.
I have been selling pictures, but not nearly enough to cover the cost of
time and travel and so forth. I feel like it might be ramping up, but hard
to tell. It is not my full time job (doing computer systems and websites
is) but I would like to get it to the point where it is bringing in
something more substantial. I don't yet know what the answer is for that.
I do make money on doing yearbook photos but I am really not holding myself
out to do that.
So I guess that is my rant. I was up till 1 as well, overslept and no I am
behind for the day - so that's all for now.
Thanks Ray.
Dan
From: ratpack-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ratpack-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Ray The Rat
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 5:21 AM
To: ratpack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ratpack] Re: Car show photos
Thank you Ray.
When the lighting is bright and harsh I do bracket a lot. I may not use
them all later, but if I need to at least I have them. I would rather take
up a lot of extra space on my memory cards/hard drive than find out later I
had a potentially great shot that is washed out or too dark on part of it
and not savable. I do use Photomatix and also various techniques and
filters such as Nik Color Efex, Viveza and Topaz Adjust and Detail.
I sure understand the value of bracketing. Hard to do with a flash, tho.
Yeah, I know it can be done, but it's a pita to reset the flash unit between
shots, whereas it's pretty simple to set an auto bracket in the camera and
just hold the shutter down for 3 shots. Unless there's a way to set the
430EX for bracketing that I haven't found yet.
Since I am trying to create fine art car images, I would rather have fewer
really nice images than cover the whole show in most cases.
I understand. I'm tryin to work with the promoters and for the car
owners...but that seems to be falling on its face...or maybe it's just cuz
the season was drawing to a close. I've given away coupons for free 11x14
prints at the last few shows, passed out a million business cards and not a
single person has contacted me, even to get their free prints. I understand
that many "giveaway coupons" are never redeemed...just like rebates. Still,
when a guy moves his car to position it just right in the light, spends 30
minutes looking at my portfolio, goes gaga over one of my special effect
shots and tells me that's how he wants his done...well, I at least figgered
to hear from him. Not a frikkin word. It might be cuz that's the show I'm
scurrying to finish up isn't on the web yet, but I can only do so many
things at once. Here's what I cooked up for him:
(Yes...there's a mismatch between the door and rear fender color.)
It's a single image Photomatix Tone Compression rendering. I think it'll
live. Matter of fact, I printed one in 8x10 form centered on an 11x14 sheet
by accident. I ended up matting it in an 11x14 frame and it looks pretty
good. I was gonna give it to the show promoters Tuesday nite, but I didn't
feel like driving 75 miles round trip to freeze my ass off for only a coupla
hours of shooting...and people who don't give a shit about 1) free photos
they've been given and 2) following thru with their promises about calling
to set up a private shoot. I otta know by now that ya can't believe
anything ya hear and only half of what ya see...but when someone makes a
real big show of getting business cards, finding availability dates, looking
for photos and settings to put into a poster...well, you'd think they were
halfway serious. Sorry, I'm ranting again. I guess that framed photo will
look very nice on my wall.
Oh...and the dude I ran into at that show who was real excited about this
list, asked about working with me on future events, made sure he got my
card, plus plugged my number into his phone...I haven't heard a peep from
him.
As we all know, there are tons of great cars that you just cannot get a
decent, fixable picture of due to where its parked, amount of junk around,
behind and reflected in the car. So I skip them unless I think I will be
able to fix them later.
Boy, you got that right. There are so many different things that can get in
the way of a good shot that it's amazing we ever get a clear one. I dunno
about where you live, but around here, if the show/cruise nite isn't in a
park, it's in a parking lot where the cars are parked about 2 feet apart and
about all you can get is a very shallow 3/4 shot.
I generally only shoot what I like and what's "reasonably accessible." For
the last few shows, I've tried to shoot the larger percentage, if not all
cars, especially since I've been working with the promoters. I wish I could
say I was gettin wealthy off it, but...well, I'm glad the season's over cuz
I wasn't making anything at all. I just did a little calculation using
minimum wage as a basis and I'm not coming close, given the number of hours
I work...that includes the income from the Salt Flats posters which have
been selling very well.
I've gotta re-think my strategy for next year. Maybe asking for donations
to help cover expenses for the great unwashed who hit my server a
quarter-million times a month. I dunno.
This brings me to the next statement that I've been mulling over for the
last week or so. If things stay as they are at Miller's, I won't be going
out any more. I'm really not all that excited about motorcycles, ALMS and
Grand-Am (and presumably NASCAR West, too) are gone, there hasn't been any
historic racing other than the AHMRA Cycle fest for or 4 years....well, that
only leaves MPRA and the off-road stuff...which doesn't do anything for me.
Ohh...I forgot NASA nationals and some SCCA stuff but they usually overlap
with salt flats stuff for me. Last year I rushed back to get coverage of
the NASA thing and made next to nothing from it...matter of fact, less than
nothing. I sent a CD to one racer who didn't pay me and hasn't responded to
my emails. Don't sell anything to James Rowan...or Randy Mitchell, for that
matter.
I'm reminded of corporate decisions where a high-level decision is made to
close a plant or store and then tells the line workers, we're looking at how
this unit is functioning. High performance is the key. Then they get all
they can out of the staff, but give them zero support and in the end, the
unit fails because it can't get what it needs from the highers-up...who
already know that it is scheduled for closure...then they say, "See, we gave
you a chance and you failed. We're closing the doors." If I was a fly on
the wall in the Miller board meetings, I bet I'd hear things like, "Well,
let's see how it works with the off-road stuff, but don't try to get high
visibility series in here. They're not worth the cost."
If I was only doing it for fun, that would be one thing. But it's gone
beyond that for me. I know I need to have a source of income in 2 years or
I'm gonna have to walk away from my house. The only part of that that
bothers me is where to put my stuff. I'm not attached to the house. (The
value has gone from $350k to $212k since 2007 and I owe so much on it that
I'd make some spare chaynge if I could find a buyer...but no houses have
sold in this neighborhood in the last 90 days.) So if it comes down to the
nitty-gritty, the factors to be considered are 1) I don't make much if
anything from car shows; 2) Miller's appears to be dry hole; 3) I don't
like living in Utah, anyway and 4) I could go get a damned redneck trailer
in Beaver Dam, Arizona (just a coupla miles from Mesquite, Nev) and still
not be that much farther from the salt flats than I am now.
Maybe I'll see this in a different light if I can ever get caught up on
sleep...which seems like a good idea since I've been up since 1 ayem after 3
hours sleep.
RtR
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