What Questions Should You Ask a Photographer Before Hiring?

What Questions Should You Ask a Photographer Before Hiring?

A photographer who's any good will be happy to answer all of these. If someone gets cagey, that's an answer too.

Can I see a full gallery from a similar event?

Not the highlights. The whole thing. You're checking consistency.

Have you shot at this venue before?

It helps if they have. If they haven't, ask whether they'll visit beforehand or at least ask about the room, the light and the timings. Walking into a venue blind on the day is how you end up with orange skin and a missed entrance.

What happens if your camera fails?

The right answer involves a second body and cards that record to two slots at once. Kit fails. It's rare, but it only needs to happen once.

What happens if you're ill?

Freelancers get flu too. A professional will have people they trust who can cover.

Do you have public liability insurance?

Plenty of venues ask for it. Council buildings, racecourses, schools. Check before they ask you.

How many images will I get, and are they all edited?

Get a rough number. Check that every delivered image has been colour corrected and cropped, not just the first thirty.

When will I get them?

Agree a date. If you need a handful the same day for press or social, agree that too.

What can I do with them?

This is the one people forget. Personal use, internal use, social media, press, paid advertising and sponsors wanting copies are all different things. Get the licence in writing. If a sponsor asks for photos of their logo six months later, you want to know you can hand them over.

Do you need a shot list?

They should ask for one. Who's speaking, who the VIPs are, which sponsors need photographing, what time the awards happen. A photographer who doesn't ask is guessing.

How do you handle people who don't want to be photographed?

Important for public events and anything with children. Coloured lanyards, a no-photo area, a clear announcement at the start. They should have done this before.

What will you wear?

Sounds trivial. It isn't. Someone in hi-vis and trainers at a black tie dinner gets noticed for the wrong reasons.