I am taking photo as a hobby but I realise that some hobbyists are doing freelance photography, with so many of these people, would the local photography market be saturated? Want to heard some views from gurus and veteran professionals in this business. Thank you.
Do you think photography biz market is saturated?
- Thread starter noobie
- Start date
It depends on which segment of the market you are referring to. There are a lot of people hawking their services for wedding and event photography than those doing landscape or architectural. Many factors such as demand and low entry barriers contribute to this phenomenon.
I don't think Photography biz market is saturated... If it is too saturated, I don't think anyone will be interested to start earning money from freelancing perspective... and obviously, they see some opportunity.
Of course, the market has become more competitive.
More and more clients nowadays are exposed to images and with advance of internet, it is easier for them to find images that they like... In turn, they will shop for the images that "speak to them".
If one's images can be seen anywhere... same prop, some lighting, same pose, same look, just different face, one will face with lots of stiff competition and will be forced to use price as "selling" point.
There are still a lot of opportunities in photography business market as long as you are "selling product that people are buying..." sound terribly easy but it is definitely challenging but certainly not impossible.
Regards,
Hart
Of course, the market has become more competitive.
More and more clients nowadays are exposed to images and with advance of internet, it is easier for them to find images that they like... In turn, they will shop for the images that "speak to them".
If one's images can be seen anywhere... same prop, some lighting, same pose, same look, just different face, one will face with lots of stiff competition and will be forced to use price as "selling" point.
There are still a lot of opportunities in photography business market as long as you are "selling product that people are buying..." sound terribly easy but it is definitely challenging but certainly not impossible.
Regards,
Hart
It depends on what kind og photography you are referring to. In some cases, the market is not saturated with photographers but with clients who doesn't see the need to pay for good services.
when everyone is competing on price, yes its saturated. its not oligopoly liao, its monopolistic comp.. low barrier to entry, lots of sellers, near perfect information, then again despite being so many sellers, they are interdependent and vary their prices based on their rivals like an oligopoly. tbh singapore is too small to take nice photos conveniently.. u probably have to sneak into some restricted zone to take photos ppl nvr seen b4
Looks like there are many econs students here.
There are many photographers within popular sectors these days. E.g. wedding, events, modelling etc. It may not be saturated yet, but there are really many out there. So to the client, more photographers = more competition = cheaper pricing. So why should they pay that much for your supposedly "good service?"
the demand of photography is always there.. and different types of customers/clients demand different types of things, and have different levels of photographer serving such kind of demand.
some type of photography demands is just temporary, like makeover look, it was a IN thing during the late 80's, you can find at least one shop doing it in major shopping malls, tho now it is not popular, but you still have somebody doing it..
some of the photography genre is evergreen, like weddings, private events, corporate events etc, and it has lots of opportunity, so it is rather easy for newcomers to enter, but to excel in this area is not as simple as it look, many people tried and won't stay long. for every 100 newcomers, only a hand full of them will stay after a few years.
so everywhere is already saturated, people will come when they see the potential profit, people will be gone once they made no profit.
some type of photography demands is just temporary, like makeover look, it was a IN thing during the late 80's, you can find at least one shop doing it in major shopping malls, tho now it is not popular, but you still have somebody doing it..
some of the photography genre is evergreen, like weddings, private events, corporate events etc, and it has lots of opportunity, so it is rather easy for newcomers to enter, but to excel in this area is not as simple as it look, many people tried and won't stay long. for every 100 newcomers, only a hand full of them will stay after a few years.
so everywhere is already saturated, people will come when they see the potential profit, people will be gone once they made no profit.
eroding supernormal profits... dammm... but u nvr know who are the good ones or who are the ones who say they can but nvr do b4
i wonder if photography is still an honourable profession... with the influx of all kinds of ppl, one can only imagine the once proud image of a photographer (smth like the ppl shooting for nat geo) is now gone... i saw a guy smoking with a dslr... wonder who will buy when he tries to sell it 2nd hand
Cheesecake
Senior Member
have a specialty, a niche area.
some are in aerial fotography, some are in automobile fotography, some products, some food, some fashion, some industrial/commercial, some landscape/architectural, some weddings...
there might be many newbies trying to break into the various market, but, truly only the reputable and outstanding ones will be left standing.
some are in aerial fotography, some are in automobile fotography, some products, some food, some fashion, some industrial/commercial, some landscape/architectural, some weddings...
there might be many newbies trying to break into the various market, but, truly only the reputable and outstanding ones will be left standing.
The whole world has full of everything you need, in every industry.... People undercutting each other, but the other side of the world gets upperhand, some gets to keep their client still at a reasonable rate... Thing is when the photographer stops undercutting, the buyer stops looking around. Be the photography you should be, and not what you want to be.. If you're good, you'll be paid.. Singapore's already the least of the possibility that kelong happens...
Only the barely standing photography business are complaining about being saturated... There's no competition... There's only competition when one's photography is screwed up, that forces the client to look somewhere else...
Photography itself is service oriented, i hate to hate this, but it's almost like a waiter having to wait on the customer. The food on the table very much depends on how it's presented to them to even start with... Whether you bother catching up with your client, (and it's not about when your next project will be) is as important as the photography project itself.. Is the client your friend and just purely business? If it's your friend, you gonna have problems later as it progresses, if it's purely business, you'll be forgotten once there's somebody better than you.. A mix of both is ideal... Mixture by how much? That's the skill of the business...
Only the barely standing photography business are complaining about being saturated... There's no competition... There's only competition when one's photography is screwed up, that forces the client to look somewhere else...
Photography itself is service oriented, i hate to hate this, but it's almost like a waiter having to wait on the customer. The food on the table very much depends on how it's presented to them to even start with... Whether you bother catching up with your client, (and it's not about when your next project will be) is as important as the photography project itself.. Is the client your friend and just purely business? If it's your friend, you gonna have problems later as it progresses, if it's purely business, you'll be forgotten once there's somebody better than you.. A mix of both is ideal... Mixture by how much? That's the skill of the business...
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Actually, that doesn't really work in these days anymore. I really hope it works though. Reputable photographers who hold niche markets are also "diversifying" just to stay afloat. Why? Because just about anyone out there can claim to be a specialist.
How do you compete with a specialised architectural photographer who charges $80 to shoot an entire property?
I know what you meant.
Last year, someone hired an ugly looking photographer (long hair & ugly face) to take my reservist unit photo (last In-Camp-Training before moving to Main Reserve).
That photographer can't even spell October
Everyone in our unit get a photo with "Octorber 2009 MR parade" printed on it :thumbsd:
All of us stand for 2 hours under hot sun for this kind of :thumbsd: photo.
and why did you people hired him to begin with? Because he was the cheapest?
I don't think so.. A reality check, when a photographer does a cheap job, cheap meaning he undercut to get a job.. He/She, knowing that it's a cheap job, under delivers the job, and clients do know e quality of work to some extend.. So this just isn't getting any better...
If you're good in what you do, there can be people cheaper than you, but never delivering better than what you deliver in results. That way, you keep clients until you undercut somebody and history repeats again...
Reality check.....
some people are more than happy to accept sub-standard work just to save money actually. Or should I say, the failure to recognise the value of good work.
some people are more than happy to accept sub-standard work just to save money actually. Or should I say, the failure to recognise the value of good work.
nah, i really beg to differ.... It's sometimes about client education, and it's not about saying what better shots can do for them, or how the other photographer didn't shoot the job great. It's about coming up with a brief, a concept, doing some homework. It's about bringing the right equipment, or extra equipment to bring the job into the next level... thus showing more interest in the job... lil by lil you win clients... If you're unknown in town, don't expect to charge high.. Show them you can work, then you charge for it...
