Wow, you can almost separate the full time pro's from the part-timers, just by their comments. my worthless entry:
Since we are focused on pricing and not really nitpicking quality, let's look at this example:
The Picture People. Free sitting fees. Prints are $18 for 1 8 x 10 or 2 5 X 7 or 8 wallets. So total cost of getting little Johnny's picture is $18 + tax. (
The Picture People - Products: Sizes & Prices)
How do you compete with that? If you do as Rodeoshooter says, (No offense, bud, you know, I got nutin' but love for you homie, not brokeback mountain love though
) you will have one customer per year, one that didn't know to go to the mall.
The argument would not shift to quality, after all the local one at my mall uses a 20D with a Pocket Wizard and a soft box in the ceiling. Some acne ridden teeager is doing the shooting. They snap a max of 3-4 shots and voila a picture comes out with flat lighting, bad composition. But is sharp and bright. Most people out there would not be able to tell the Picture People's prints from one from a "real" photographer. Even if they did, would they pay 4-5 times more for it? In other words, would they get the value? If they are independently wealthy, have a trust fund or own a few oil wells, I would think they would shop for quality even if it means spending $100 for the sitting and $80 per 8 X 10. After all, you are capturing their image. Then you have 99% of the people, people who struggle to provide food, clothing, gas in their vehicles, etc. for their families. If they saw your ad and found the out about the Picture People, guess where they are going?
It is not much unlike offering the big gorilla cameras, the 1Ds3. Wow, that's nice and settling for the 1000D...but that one only costs $499 (or whatever it will sell for), instead of the $8K for the gorilla. Car stereos, Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, always have a big gorilla product, which everyone will be awed, and then people "settle" for the chimpanzee. Cars, etc.
I think the biggest advantage of the "professional", "real" photographers, would be a captive audience. On site as in weddings,etc. where these Mc Donald's type photogs don't venture. You have a captive audience they have to buy at least the first print from you.The other thing a friend of my did with a 20D was going to the balls around town. Where many retired, etc. people go to have a good time to do some ballroom dancing, etc. and he shoots, prints their photos out from his printer and charges them $20 for a 4 X 6. However, post business, would be tough, and I understand why many photogs here have stated that they are not concentrating on that business. After all with Costco and Ritz and Walgreens, etc. offering prints for way less and with equal quality of reprints, many would scan or print the pics from CD at the Kiosk or send it through the net. Yes, that's a copyright violation, but how many of our potential customers would care, unless they get caught and you sue them (Which makes you look like a tool, suing customers, is generally not a good practice or something you want to be known for.). How many make copies of their netflix DVD's? That should tell you people are looking for a free or cheap lunch when they can get away with it.