Photo's for promotion/website

[Pads]

Hi all

I've been asked by a good friend to take some photographs to be used for promotional purposes (website & leaflets initially, and possibly larger brochures at a later date) for his new business.

I have made it clear that I am no expert in this field but am more than willing to try my hand at it, so im looking for advice on techniques/settings/composition.

The business is in marble & granite making bespoke Kitchen & bathroom worktops.

With this type of photography is it just about getting as much into the shots as possible or do I still need to apply the rule of thirds and leading lines etc ?

Is there a maximum resolution I should be using for website shots, or should I take them all in the highest res and re-size the files afterwards?


Regarding any fee's for the photographs (he has asked me for a quote), i wouldn't feel comfortable charging them a set fee before even starting as it will just put pressure on me to guarantee results, but if he wants to use any of my shots should I just charge per image used? Any guidelines on to what would be an appropriate one off fee for each photo on a cd ??

Any help appreciated here. Thanks in advance.

 

[fenderstrat]

Paul,

My first reaction would be to do some research on the web by looking for similar company's websites. When you find some where the photography impresses you then that is what I would set out to emulate and achieve. Given the subject matter (worktops) I think that you have your work cut out to deliver photographs that wow. That said, if you do your research right, you will be able to deliver photos that are appropriate and adequate for the job. Once you have these "in the bag" so to speak, spend half an hour on the shoot going a bit wild and taking some chances with composition, props and especially lighting (if you can shoot in an actual kitchen then HDR can work very well with exposure inside matching that of outdoors through windows). If these are too left-field for your client than that's okay, you have the stock stuff that will please them.
Good luck and please post some images - they may not be the kind of subject that graces the cover of next months National Geographic but it will be really interesting to see what you come up with given the difficult subject matter. Any pro-photographer will have had this dilemma at some stage too.

Regarding the the web images, when I have been commissioned I simply give the client the highest resolution/size as taken and let them and their people re-size for the web (I'm presuming that you aren't setting up their website too). Fees: It's not unusual to do it for free when you are starting out (it's a win-win: The client isn't spending money on an unknown with no portfolio and the photographer is is getting valuable experience of working with clients, supplementing a portfolio and gaining exposure through photo-credits). Personally, I would ask for expenses and nothing more for now but insist on photo credits and/or links to your website for future clients.