7 Things Student Photographers Want You To Know

Photo by Walker Leigh Photography

Photography is an art form and a profession. You can be really good at it, you can be terrible at it and you can be anywhere in between. It takes a lot of practice and work to be good at photography, believe it or not. Some folks, unfortunately, do not believe that the photographer’s time is worth much.

The purpose of this post is to let you know that there are reasons to respect student photographers and their work and to tell you that there are helpful and respectful ways to communicate to a photographer. Here are some things you should know about student photographers (and photographers in general).

1. You get what you pay for. 

Photo By Walker Leigh Photography

Good photography requires good equipment. Some people can refute this statement because there are a lot of very talented student photographers out there using a beginner lens and Canon Rebel to get a primo shot.

However, I argue that if you, client, want that beautiful sharp shot with bokeh in the background, and you want the white balance and the lighting to be perfect (even though your venue has terribly low lighting), you have to hire a photographer that uses the kind of expensive equipment that job requires or you have to pay them enough for their time as well as rental of good equipment if they don’t own any.

Or you can risk it. People risked it on me when I was a beginner and I am so grateful. But if you risk it on a student with very little experience and very beginner equipment, don’t come crying when it’s not what you expected.

2. Our time spent shooting for you is not the only time we spend working for you. 

Student photographers (and freelance photographers in general) have to edit your photos tediously (if you want them to look nice) for hours after the shoot. On top of that, student photographers also attend school and most likely work another part-time job or two because being a student photographer does not make much cash.

So, when we charge you $50-$100 per hour of shooting for a four hour shoot, you’re actually getting a pretty dang good deal. It all varies, but if you generalize a bit, talented student photographers should really be charging about $150-$300 an hour and cranking out about 25-50 edited images per hour. Don’t cheat us, and heavens to Betsy, do not ask us to do photography for free. (I’ve done it for free because I wanted to and that’s different.)

3. It is disrespectful and unethical to edit, crop or sell our images (without permission). 

Enough said.

4. Please, please, please. Do not ask to see our images while we are holding the camera. 

In order to get that one perfect shot, there needs to be a few not so perfect shots. When you are looking over our shoulder wanting to see the raw and unedited images that we took, it annoys us. We like to represent ourselves well and most good photographers have a certain editing style and that is not represented by the raw images on the camera. Touched up and edited images are what we usually present to clients because editing is a process that creates a cohesive and beautiful set of photos that we are proud of.

5. Do not ask for more images than we agreed on. 

If we agree on 10 edited images, you will get 10 edited images. If I give you 12, it’s because I chose to (probably because you didn’t ask for more, and I like that.)

6. Good photography often requires good lighting.

It requires nice equipment and/or a flash as well as natural light. If you want a student photographer to take photos of your event and the venue is very dimly lit or lit with ugly florescent ceiling lights, you’re making their job harder.

7. We have to stand, sit, crouch, move, walk and run for hours for your event.

In order to get the shots you are wanting, we have to work our butts off most of the time. Our backs ache, our feet are sore and our eyes are tired, but we got those shots. Don’t you think that our hard work deserves equal pay? Don’t you think that those photos that you’re going to post on social media or print and frame and keep forever, are worth it?

Photo by Chandler Turner

I think people often undervalue the work of student photographers. Anyone, student or not, who does freelance photography knows it is competitive, it’s hard and it’s not a cash cow. Now we just have to help the rest of the world understand that photographers have a hard job. There is a lot that goes into photography and it’s more than what clients see. Be understanding, be forgiving and be respectful.