The Photographic industry is constantly evolving in todays modern world. From copyright, rights management, enhancement, retouching and file conversion there’s quite a lot involved. This section has been developed to evolve with the industry and better explain what’s involved and help clients achieve exactly what they are after.

The single most important part of the photographic process is the clients brief. It's imperitive that you can give your photographer all the information possible regarding your ideal shoot. That way you will both be able to develop a result that is of a high standard of artistic merit. If you put detailed ideas and thoughts into your brief then your photographer will be have a clear vision of which direction to guide your shoot.

Andrew shoots in RAW format. This technology is a brilliant addition to my technique as it allows the shots to be post-processed in a non-destructive manner. Editing images shot straight to JPEG actually degrades the image quality as the JPEG format is inherently a compressed file. The compression works by subtracting colour detail that isn’t needed to reduce the file size. The final result can be blocky, crunchy jpeg artifacts that destroy the impact of the image. The beauty of the RAW format is that it’s uncompressed and totally avoids this problem. It also allows you to edit the images temperature, Tint, Exposure, Contrast, Saturation and much more..The finished image is then exported to Tiff or Jpeg. More information can be found below in the links to Bruce Fraser's in depth explanation of this new technology.

It’s essential that all of your images are colour corrected and print ready. Before digital this process was all done in the darkroom straight from the enlarger to the print surface. With digital however we are able to enhance with extreme precision and pay greater attention to the details. Post Production is usually charged at an hourly rate on top of the photographers fee and is often outsourced to another supplier. The time needed is dependant on whether the you need whole image adjustments or detailed selective retouching.

Retouching is an essential side of the fashion and advertising industry. Modern retouching is now a refined art. One of the best examples of retouching can be seen with quicktime - here in Dove’s commercial on modern beauty. Generally it includes detailed selection methods and starts off with blemish removal, detailed colour work, facial restructuring, and can end up with drastic improvements to the point where you won’t recognize the original image.

Licensing is an additional cost that usually depends on the use of the images. Normally licensing comes into play with higher end commercial, advertising, and heavy promotional usage. Generally if they are used for advertising the cost of the licensing depends on the size of campaign. Just as music is licensed to radio stations and royalties are collected by artists the same applies to images. If this wasn't the case anyone could take advantage of an image and use it for a global advertising campaign, bypassing the photographer, who would miss out on the business created with their artistic vision. Clients are granted the right to use the photographs in agreed media, within the territory and for the period set out by their agreement. Any extended usage must be with the written consent of the Photographer and will be subject to a further fee. The Licence generally cannot be transferred without the Photographer’s written consent.

If there are questions and suggestions regarding the above contact me anytime at mail@andrewmaccoll.com - Back to the top

Resolution is probably the most important thing every client needs to take into account. It will effect how your shots are able to be used. If your shots are being used online, in brochures, and for print media resolution is not a major issue. Usually an 8-10MP camera will cover all of this. For anything else though such as double page magazine spreads, posters, bus shelters, billboards etc you'll need to consider something higher. This will come in the form of a high end Canon 1ds mkiii which is 21MP or a 39 MP Hasselblad. The other alternative is to shoot on film and drum scan. Of course the larger resolution needed the more the photographer will charge depending on camera hire, or camera expense. When digital backs range from between $30-$60k it's understandable. So it's definitely something to consider when booking your photographer and keep in mind your future usage of the images before you shoot.