Photography is expensive.  Well, good photography is expensive.  The upfront cost of professional grade equipment is substantial and it isn’t easy to produce quality work like many people believe it is.  If you believe you can instantly create great commercial photography for your business with a simple DSLR and home studio without any training, go try it.  You might get lucky, but chances are you will just end up frustrated.  Today’s basic DSLRs are absolutely mind-blowing, but without knowing how to tap into their potential, most people are not going to be able to do much except shot in full-auto mode and the results will show it.

And for that reason alone, commercial photography is much more challenging than most people believe.   That’s not to say it is exceptionally difficult, but it does take some knowledge and skills that most people will not have naturally.  In that way, it’s a lot like being a baker.  Only a few ingredients are needed to make bread, but without experience and knowledge, it’s hard. And that makes photography a very difficult issue for small online retailers.  To be successful in today’s online world, small businesses need quality photography, but very few small scale retailers can afford the investment of hiring a pro photographer to do it for them.  Most good photographers charge anywhere from $300-$500/half day and that’s generally much more than a small business can dish out and still make money.

Because of the large cost of hiring a pro, small businesses typically do one of two things.  They either attempt to do it themselves and end up with amateur looking photography or they attempt to get a want-to-be pro to do it for them for next to nothing.  Sometimes you end up with a skilled photographer who really is just getting their start, but for the most part, you will end up with someone who picked up a DSLR one day and decided, “I’m going to be a photographer!”   It’s great that people have an interest in photography, but most so-called “pros” that people find for cheap on Craigslist lack virtually any skill.  It’s one of those situations where you most likely will get what you pay for.  But even if you get a photographer with their own equipment and studio to do your work for say $200/half day, that’s still a lot for what you get.

But there is a third solution.  And it’s a much stronger and financially sound solution for small businesses.  Hire a photographer for a photo consulting session and create a relationship with that photographer.  When you need help, give them a call, but take control of  95% of production yourself.  Yes, I’ve started hiring out myself for this type of work, but I’ll be honest, it’s a brilliant solution for everyone involved.  As someone who does more than just photography, operating  as a photo consultant helps me grow my business, but it also creates a situation where the small business owner can maximize their investment in photography and grow as well.  As a small retailer, chances are you are pretty skilled at doing a lot of different things for your business.  Make photography one of them.  Yes you will have to make a fairly substantial investment in equipment and yes hiring a photographer (who can teach you) can be expensive, but the investment is well worth your time and money.  To give you an example of what a $1000-$1500 total investment and 4-6 hours of your time can result in…