This is a topic I always get asked about, so I thought I’d share my advice

1) you should be aware of image banks – you don’t always have to commission a photographer to do unique photography for you because there are millions of images already out there that you can buy a licence to use. And best of all the licence to use a low resolution web version can be as low as a pound or two. The only catch is that others may also buy a licence to use the same image. To buy exclusive rights to that image can be so expensive though that you might as well have your own done. It’s a number’s game – the photographer gets paid either by hundreds of people or by one. As long as you’re aware of this it’s a good way of keeping your costs down.

2) if you need to have images of something that would not be in an image bank for example products, places or specific people, then you need to commission a professional photographer. How to find a good one I hear you ask? Well that’s tough to be honest, and as in everything you generally get what you pay for. Things to watch out for are: Do they have their T&C’s on their website? Can you see a portfolio on their website (and it should be their own, not on flikr or similar) and have they done very similar work to what you had in mind? Good photographers find their niche and don’t take on a broad variety of work. A product photographer should not be advertising for event photography and vice versa. There is generally a divide in those who do work b2b and those who deal with the public.

Back to finding a photographer: When you google you should be very specific about the type of photography you need, especially if you’re looking in London. ie if you need an “interior photographer in London” that’s what you search for, not just “photographer” or “photographer in London”. There are also some good listing sites for only photographers, the sign of a good site is that it has hundreds of photographers listed and at least a mini gallery.

Please ask me if you have any questions?
(only relevant questions to this specific topic may be answered, spam is deleted immediately and will not appear on the blog)

This post was recently also posted on startups.co.uk

-Tiina