- Yes, I look terrifying
and you're probably wondering to yourself
Chris, why do you have ND filters on your eyes?
Well they say ND filters are like sunglasses for your lens
and I just lost my sunglasses.
This is really creepy.
I look like,
I look like I could be on the cover of a Netflix horror film
or some hipster person at Coachella.
Either one, could go both ways.
Yeah, that was, that was a mistake.
But on a segue way talking about mistakes,
today we're gonna be talking about the most common mistakes
that photographers make on paid shoots.
These are things that I've done,
stories of other friends who have worked on paid shoots,
as well as some other stories
that I've heard in the industry.
So make sure the next seven tips,
don't do this on your next paid shoot.
Tip number one,
have the right gear and prep the gear.
Fun story and the reason why I actually got Mercedes-Benz
is because the previous photographer
actually forgot to charge his batteries
and went with the client to a McDonald's
and had to wait there for 30 minutes
to charge the batteries.
Imagine being there with Mercedes-Benz as your client
and you're just waiting at a McDonald's,
eating a McDouble while the batteries are charging.
Yeah, they're never gonna hire you again
and that's the reason why I got offered that opportunity.
So please make sure you charge your batteries
and have enough batteries on set.
Buy more than you need.
You can buy those cheap Chinese knock-off batteries.
Buy like 10 extra one of those
just so that you're not in that position ever.
Imagine you lost Mercedes-Benz
because your battery wasn't charged.
At least you got a McDouble but, like, bye Mercedes-Benz.
So yes, charge your batteries,
have the right amount of gear.
Tip number two, communicate deadlines.
Setting expectations on deadlines is so key.
On the early stages, you're very eager
and you want to get jobs done very quickly
but sometimes it's just not realistic.
Whether your gear breaks down,
whether you're stressed out that day, things happen
so set a bigger timeline.
If you think you can get it done on Tuesday and it's Monday,
say you'll get it delivered by Wednesday or Thursday.
Give yourself a buffer period.
Fun story about me,
I thought that I'd share one of my failures
in this instance.
I actually left an edit to the last minute
where that night at three in the morning,
I was so tired, I was trying to finish the edit,
I emailed the client at 3 a.m. in the morning.
I was like sorry, I can't get the edit done.
It's just too much work for poor old Chrissy over here.
It's too much.
And then they just never hired me again
because they received an email at three in the morning.
So number one, send emails during working hours
and number two, don't ever do that to a client ever.
Make sure you set a buffer period
so that if things go wrong,
you can actually get the job done on time.
So deadlines, communicate proper deadlines.
Tip number three,
sending invoices before the project is completed.
Now it's okay if you send a down payment,
you've agreed upon that upfront,
but if you send me an invoice
before the full project is completed,
(grumbling) nothing bothers me more than that.
So what I would recommend is set expectations.
Say I need 40% upfront
and then the remainder once the project is completed.
But if you send some middle invoices
before we've agreed on that arrangement,
that just bothers people, it kind of upsets them,
and it probably will increase your chances
of not getting hired again.
So do not send an invoice before the project is completed.
Mistake number four, editing with your style
versus the style that suits the project.
For example, let's say I was hiring you
to edit some car photos and it came back
and you manipulated all the colors
and the color of the car was completely different
but it was like that's your normal style.
The client is not gonna be happy with that
so be versatile.
Understand what is actually appropriate for that client
and you will get hired more often.
Mistake number five is attitude.
I feel like I don't even need to tell you this
but be excited when you show up on set.
Have some good energy.
Don't be a downer.
You could do good work but if you're a downer,
people don't like to work with people
that are depressing or not excited
or have this weird attitude or are lazy.
So make that when you show up on set,
be ready to be helpful, be eager to do good work,
and be excited and positive.
You're more likely to get hired because of that.
Next mistake, saying no.
Do not say no.
If your client is making a request
but you can't do it, don't say no.
Say here's an alternative of what we could do.
If they really want to go with the other way,
do your best to try to accommodate.
If you say no just flat out,
there's a good chance you probably won't get hired again.
Obviously say no if it's within reason.
If they're like hey, cut off your leg
and then swing the leg as a baseball bat for the shot,
don't do that.
That would be very bad.
So say no when it's appropriate to say no
but at the end of the day, if you can make it happen
and there's an alternative, do that.
And the last mistake is charging for hidden costs.
I hate when I receive an invoice
and there's a line item that we didn't agree upon.
Let's say it's transportation
and the person charged $200 extra for transportation
but they didn't mention it upfront.
That stuff is annoying so communicate that ahead of time.
Don't make that mistake after the fact
because that annoys the client
and they're less likely to want to work with you.
So always communicate every single line item upfront
and then that way there's no miscommunication
when you send an invoice.
All right guys, that is the end of our list of mistakes.
Just speaking candidly for a second, we're human,
we're gonna make mistakes,
but hopefully these tips will allow you
to avoid these mistakes
and then you don't have to learn the hard way.
So if you guys liked this video, please press like.
It's right down there.
It's calling out for you.
It's like like me.
I need a like and you're all like I'm gonna press it.
And then you're like thanks, thanks for liking me.
You should like the video, subscribe,
hit the bell to be notified for future videos,
and we'll catch you guys in the next one.
Also write a bunch of other mistakes
that people have made in the past
so that we can have a whole giant list
of things that people can avoid
and hopefully everyone is just making money
and is super excited and they're throwing money in the air
and you can buy yourself sunglasses
and you don't have to wear ND filters
meant for drones on your eyes.
So on that note,
peace.
(electronic music)
This is a mistake.
I shouldn't have done that. (laughing)
I think I actually might have ruined it
with the eye juice from my eyes.
Eye juice, that's not a fun thing to say.