Photography

Kirk Tuck’s “Commercial Photography Handbook: Business Techniques for Professional Digital Photographers” is actually a mis-nomer: All applications in the book can be put to all areas of photography. I feel like this is the bare-bones guidelines to modern photography, with explanations of the tougher concepts and guides to where further information can be found.

Starting out, the images on the cover aren’t your high art projects, those that would be seen on gallery walls or in coffee table books. That said, with the big “c” word on the front cover, they would be photos you’d see elsewhere: in food magazines, corporate brochures, billboards, and annual reports.

Kirk goes through various pieces of information, starting off with the history of photography in the commercial sense, and wades past the star-struck admiration of the “art” into describing photography as what it really is in the commercial world: a service. We provide art to match other’s demands. That sets the tone through the entire book; as one might expect from the title, it’s all business from there.

Wading through the vagrancies of “price,” Kirk Tuck discusses early fallacies of photographers, from not planning out expenses, insurances, taxes, to the nitty gritty debate between day rates and fees. The greatest thing about this book, if you’re reading this review and going “this sounds like the dummies guide to business, not commercial photography,” is that Kirk goes and takes examples of what he does with these figures and equations and put them towards his craft. Examples include a multi-day shoot, from the bottom up in terms of figures, to a step by step walkthrough of a shoot, from the original phone call through comp comparison, to post processing and uploading to an FTP.

There’s further detail in how to discover your niche in photography; how to graduate from being starry eyed by the big black lenses and discover what it is that you really want to do, and what to expect from each industry in a general sense, be it fashion, architecture, portraiture, CEO shots down to still life work. Equipment requirements, clients you might find, who you’re going to end up shooting and where to find them, rates and expected earnings from those clients, and more are things that Kirk goes over in great detail.

There’s little tricks included as well, from billing your own gear at rental rates to figuring out routes other than the American “dream” of going to school to learn what you need and then ending up a few hundred thousand dollars in debt while trying to kick a business into gear.

Marketing is covered in great detail, being an important part of the profession. Kirk goes into great detail on the differences between traditional marketing, email marketing, web work, and touches on when all of these are appropriate, as well as not getting too caught up in the intricate details that may or may not be important with websites, search engine optimization, and mass marketing campaigns. Covering the groundwork of what is necessary while not going into an overload of detail is a common theme in this book: it’s not going to be your be-all end all, but it will be a good place to lay down groundwork.

The dirty side of self-employment is worked with as well, in terms of keeping in mind the effects of taxes, self-accounting, book-keeping, and the fun effects of interest, debt, and the IRS. All very important things that keep any business running, but are so often glossed over by the mass market at large when it comes to individual photography. Insurance, pricing structures, the difference between bids and estimates, and more are broken down in the base structures, with clear acknowledgement for minute details that the reader should consult local tax ordinances, and legal advice from those who make it their profession to know. Kirk finishes out the book by laying down firm financial strategies; these general mission ideas being much easier to understand after the base guidelines from above.

In closing, I guess that Kirk Tuck’s book really is a course introduction. It’s a basic guideline, a structure to follow, to be filled in by local circumstances, things that can’t and shouldn’t be put into a book when they change on a day to day basis. It takes the idea of an art becoming commercial from this unfathomable mystery, and making it much more easily grasped. This is a primer for those to get started with.
Rating: 4 / 5

What a great overview. This book has been extremely helpful in evaluating what I can do with what I have – since I don’t have unlimited financial resources for a start up business. I like the way Kirk details needed equipment, working environment and client expectations in the various fields of photography. I think it’ll be a time saver for where I put my focus rather than casting about by trial and error and losing precious time.

This book has also helped me think through and find a niche market to get started without needing the most expensive equipment available. Really an excellent overview to understand and then focus on this business – followed by references for further study.

The photo business can be a daunting and overwhelming business to get started in. This book brings it to a comprehensible level of understanding that is encouraging and exciting.
Rating: 5 / 5