Money, Money, Money! Too Much Money For Photography Bills!

Where Is The Photographer?

You have an event coming up and you want great pictures. How do you get the great pictures and still avoid an enormous photography bill at the end of the event? You are the best. You are the person who knows the subject the best. You are the person that is closest to your subject, therefore, you are the best one to produce the best photographs for your own event. What if you want baby pictures of your own baby, do you really need to call in a professional photographer? What if you want pictures of your child's sweet sixteen party? Is it really necessary to pay a fortune to a company that doesn't know your child at all? What if you want beautiful pictures of your bride or groom or your Communion child or your high school graduate, do you really need to hire someone to do that?

The answer to all of these questions - "No."If you just read a little about photography and if you practice for a few weeks or months, you can take pictures almost as good as any professional photographer can take.

With digital cameras so inexpensive today, you can purchase a seven or ten megapixel camera and produce awesome results. With a PhotoShop Elements program, you can adjust your pictures, color them, transform them into black and white or do any other of the many special effects that are in this photo program. Here's what you need to do if you want to avoid the big bills of a professional photographer: Read. Yes, the first step to any education is reading. Go to the library and read all the Kodak books. These books are usually in the "770" section along with the other photography books.

Look for books by the author named, "John Hedgecoe". His books are awesome and he teaches in such a way that practically anyone can improve their own photography by fifty to eighty percent just by using his techniques.

These two series of books - the Kodak photography series and the series of books by John Hedgecoe will transform your photography. Another book you can look up is the Joy of Photography.

After reading, take your camera and go practice. Practice taking pictures and practice adjusting your pictures using Photoshop Elements. You can use other photo programs such as JASC, or any of the photo programs that the local drugstores offer. Have confidence in yourself. Know that you can do it. Have total confidence in yourself. And know that you are going to produce the best photographs for your own event. Purchase some CDs so that you can put the photos onto these disks and give them as presents after the event has passed. You can use flash drives or CDs to save the photographs. What if you don't have the confidence or what if you do not want to risk it?

Great Photographers at College and High School:

There are some who will not have the confidence to do their own event. Even these people can still save money on photography using other options. You can search around at the local college and ask the photography teacher if she can refer any college artists to you. You can say you have a job for them and you can pay them with their own photo portfolio - give them permission to use your formal photographs in their own professional portfolio. You can even sign a release for them. You can ask at the local camera clubs for other photographers. Some members might already have their own business. But others might just be starting out or doing photography as a hobby. You can approach them and ask what they would charge to do your event. If you hire anyone from a school or anyone who is under age, contact the parent first and get permission for that teen or young adult to do your photography. Keep it all out in the open, checking with parents and guardians on what they want. Never exclude the parents, guardians or teachers when dealing with under age photographers. That is how professional business people handle interactions with young adults. Use proper photography releases, contracts and forms and have them signed by legal adults.

Guests and attendees take the photos:

As your own guests and family to take pictures at the event. Ask more than one person. If you use this method of having photographs done, you should ask at least five different people to take the photographs. You can pay for the copies and the development and still save money on what normally would be a very large photography bill. By asking at least five family members or five friends to take the pictures, you are guaranteed to have at least a few awesome irreplaceable shots, an d many varieties of shots - as different as the photographers are.

Videos!

What about taking wonderful videos of your events? Wow, that's even a little better than still photography because you have the action , the pictures, the music and every feeling of the actual event re-happening right in front of you. Videos can be expensive. However, if you know where to go and how to proceed, these videos of your events can be very inexpensive or even free.

Here are some clues on what to do regarding videos of your events:

Hire three college students to do the videos. Pay for their tapes or discs. Give them dinner at the event. Pay for the processing or editing, and give them a good reference for their future resumes.

Hire only of legal age (to avoid needing permission notes and legal documents) and when in doubt ask for picture identification and or proof of age. Never serve alcohol to minors, no matter what kind of even t it is. Have your family and friends take more than one video. Contact your local community access television station and ask for referrals of some good television producers. Once in contact with them ask if they will come to your event and take the video. They should not ask for any payment at all, as community access is free of charge. But you can offer to buy some tapes for them since you want to have the tapes given to you. Make any and all arrangement directly through the producer.

Depending on the situation, you might even be able to have your event televised. So those are the ways that you can have great photographs and wonderful videos without spending hardly any money at all. We know that the pro-photographers' pictures of course might be a better quality, but your pictures will be just what you need at just your right price. Use your imagination, and you will never hire a professional photographer again.

Our pictures have been displayed throughout New York City and in Brooklyn in Grand Army Plaza. We have taken pictures for more than ten years. This article was about saving money. We have won honorable mention for black and white photography. Some of our next photography articles will focus on the composition and processing of photographs.

We hope that you feel confident enough, now, to take your own photographs and save some money for yourself. Always check first with photography teachers are high schools, colleges and other specialty schools. They might just have the person you are looking for. Neve sign a contract or do business with a minor, but do business with the adult, parent or guardian.