There seems to be a misconception in regards to photography and the cost of finished work.

Several times I have been approached for copies of my images, either in print form or for the file itself, no issues in that but when the discussion comes to cost it either falters or they question as to why they have either pay for the image and then they will moan about the cost.

We also have issue were our work is ripped off on a regular basis, not just from here but anywhere we deem to put it.

"Its only a photograph anyway"

A response I get quiet often.

Lets have a few home truths about the costs of photography.

Equipment:
A Canon 1D mark 3 will cost: £2500 (just under) in the UK, that's for the body alone, not many can afford this and as its a full frame any lenses you may have will not work, go out and buy more, they are not cheap.

I have a much lower grade 400D, I would love the 1D but cannot afford it as of yet.

I do though use a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, cost in the UK: £400+ in the UK.

Add to that the other lenses, the tripods, the flash guns, the memory cards etc etc and you will see the costs mounting up.

Then lets look at the programs:

The three I use the most:

Adobe CS4: £355 in the UK

Adobe Lightroom: £90 in the UK

Photomatix Pro 3: £45 in the UK.

Lets then look at the time:

I will scour the internet looking for places to go for photographic locations, I then arrange for someone to look after my son while I go, I then have to pack up all my stuff and I have to drive there.

Once there I scour the area for the best locations, I set up and I can spent a good day simply taking images.

Once home the images have to be uploaded and then sorted for anything worthwhile.

The better images are then put through the post editing process, this can take another day or so and in the end I may end up with one image I feel is good enough to put out to the general public, that can be two days work for one image.

Now go ask a photographer to do a commission based on a hourly rate, to do no more than take 20 images you need and post edit them, once they have given you a quote and you pick yourself up of the floor you may understand that photography is not free art.

Have some consideration for the time and effort people put into their work, yes we don't use paints and canvases, yes we can reproduce our work many times but its not free.