AIPP Journal - May 2017 by Pt 78 Pty Ltd

Issue 251

May 2017

Publishing Your Own Photo Book Hiring Help For The Studio Understanding The APPA Scoring System RAID Drives And How They Work

CONTENTS 4

How Does The AIPP Move Forward? Peter Eastway spoke to AIPP National President Vittorio Natoli about the challenges of planning for a new look Institute - the one we already have and the one we aspire to!

Publishing Your Own Photo Book Within the AIPP ranks are several photographers who have successfully married their photography with the publishing world. Some self-publish, others work with a publisher, but rarely are their books just a collection of their best shots. A book needs to be something more.

Cover

Steve S c a l one APP M.Photo g. 2016 AIPP AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

The Book Production Process Summary So, you’re interested in producing a book! Where do you start? What do you need to work out? What are the steps and procedures a book publisher would take to produce a book?

AIPP JOURNAL is the official newsletter of The Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). Editor Peter Eastway APP.L, FNZIPP, Hon. FNZIPP, G.M. Photog., Hon. FAIPP, FAIPP Disclaimer The information provided in the AIPP JOURNAL and associated publications is made in good faith, but is general in nature. Neither the editor, the publisher or the AIPP accept responsibility for or will be under any liability for any recommendations, representations or information provided herein. The AIPP JOURNAL presents information, opinions and suggestions for subscribers to evaluate in coming to their own decisions in the light of their own individual circumstances. The information should not be relied upon without readers first obtaining independent advice from their own financial and legal advisers. Unless otherwise noted, all articles are written by Peter Eastway. Publication The newsletter is published 10 times a year – monthly with November/ December and January/February being combined. The AIPP JOURNAL newsletter is published by Pt 78 Pty Ltd, ABN 75 003 152 136, PO Box 351, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097, Australia. Phone: (02) 9971 6857; Fax (02) 9971 6641. E-mail eastway@betterphotography.com Quietly celebrating 25 years of publication.

AIPP Membership Contacts Suite G.03, 171 Union Road, Surrey Hills, Victoria 3127 Phone: 03 9888 4111 E-mail: admin@aipp.com.au

Book Profits: Are They Worth It? When you sit down and do the mathematics, selling out a print run of your new book can look very profitable, but the real question is, what happens if you don’t sell out?

ISSUE 251 / MAY 2017 22 26 30 32

Hiring Help: What You Need To Know So, you need an assistant for the day or someone to shoot a job for you? Great! How do you pay them? Do you withhold tax? What about super? What about insurance? Hiring help is part of the job - here’s how to do it properly as a professional.

5 Judges, 1 Score! How Does It Work? If you’ve watched the judging online, or even better, attended the Epson State Awards or APPA in person, you’ll enjoy it much more if you understand how the system works. And so will the judges! Here’s why!

Ken Drake - Queensland Epson PPY The 2017 AIPP Queensland Epson Professional Photographer of the Year is Ken Drake with a portfolio of masterful pet and animal portraits.

Photo Studio: Why You Must Systemise Portrait photographer Glenn Addison APP AAIPP of Gap Studios knows how important it is to systemise all the roles and procedures in your studio if you’re to build a reliable business that consistently produces profits.

AIPP Management: Facebook Community Where do we start with the Facebook page we all love and hate! Ashley Karakatsanis asks Peter Myers what’s the Facebook Community designed to do - and how is it working?

AIPP: Dealing With Discrimination

Capture One In 6 Steps Are you looking for an edge over other photographers? Have you compared what you’re using now (ACR or Lightroom) with Capture One? Many photographers love the way Capture One treats their files and it is just as easy to use as Lightroom

While ‘discrimination’ might initially raise issues of race, religion or gender, it equally applies to discrimination against people with disabilities and, as a professional organisation, the Board is putting in place procedures and policies to ensure the AIPP remains inclusive.

Understanding RAID Drives If your computer crashed today, what would happen to all your files? Do you have a backup? Do you know an archive isn’t a backup if you don’t have a copy? What is a RAID drive? And why is RAID the best solution for storing our valuable images and videos?

NEWS

Airbnb and Uber. Call it a technological move

different issues and usually there are several

or a generational shift, but things are different

interest groups with polarized points of view

today and so more than ever, professional

about what needs to be done.

photographers need to differentiate themselves

as service providers.”

For every decision made, there are members

who agree and members who don’t, so it can be a challenge navigating the Institute in the

DROP IN STANDARDS

right direction.

Many established photographers believe that the quality of professional photography has

TAGS Busine s s Pro fes s i o n a l i s m

FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE

dropped with the influx of part-timers.

However, one aspect many members forget is

that the Board gets to see all sides of an issue as

standard is ‘okay’, but not what it used to be in

part of its governance process.

terms of lighting, composition and posing.

If a proposal is suggested, the Board looks

Continued Vittorio, “Of course, the standard

at both the pros and the cons before making a

at APPA has never been better, but it’s the day-

decision, no matter how obvious the outcome

to-day work we’re talking about.

is to some members!

posing that we did in the past nearly as often

One aspect the Board cannot ignore is

“We don’t see the lighting techniques or the

the fundamental change in the underlying

today.

membership of the AIPP.

Once an organization of predominantly

don’t understand the value of what we provide

full-time, self-employed photographers, the

as a profession – and that people will pay more

majority of our members today are part-time.

for a photographer who provides a better

product or service with a difference.”

Explained Vittorio Natoli, “We have to accept

that the world has changed with things like

With automatic cameras, the technical

“Similarly, many part-time photographers

What the more experienced photographers

SAVE THE DATE

25 -27 AUGUST 2017 TH

APPA awards dinner | August 28th Entries open | July 10th Entries close | August 10th

MELBOURNE PARK FUNCTION CENTRE 5

C H A R M A I N E H E Y E R A P P. L G M . P H O T O G . I P. B .

NEWS

are noticing is that there is less of a difference

business is the value of a client to my studio,

between what a part-time professional

to the point that bringing in new clients to my

photographer is offering his or her clients, and

studio became the most important task.

what the clients can do themselves, given they

own the same equipment and, sometimes, have

find clients who appreciate our work and are

similar skill sets.

prepared to pay us for it.

“As professional photographers, we have to

“This is our biggest job.

RE-SELL OUR SKILLS

“We need to look at what it costs us to find

However, Accredited Professional

a new customer. Let’s say that it costs $200 or

Photographers don’t have to be full-timers.

$400 in advertising and marketing to bring in a

new customer.

Many are part-timers and while they have

met the basic standards required for APP, if

the profession is to survive, Vittorio suggests

to be spending $1500 to $2000 with us to make

that we need to re-sell the concept that a

it worthwhile.”

professional photographer’s pictures are better,

and show this difference to our customers.

might be just the one assignment to recoup

our investment, while for a commercial

“We have to demonstrate that we produce

“If this is the case, then that customer needs

For a wedding photographer, there

better compositions, better lighting, better

photographer or video producer, there might

posing, better print quality and so on. Our

be half a dozen jobs a year which require us to

photography and service has to be significantly

develop a long term relationship.

better so the difference is obvious.

is not to price yourself at the bottom of the

“The new part-time professional

photographers also have to decide whether

“The trick to engaging with these clients

market, but to add value to what we produce.”

they want to earn a casual fee that tops up their main source of income, or if they want to earn

ADDING VALUE

the majority of their income from photography.

“I think this is the point at which the AIPP and

If the latter, they need to develop relationships

the profession finds itself today.

with their customers and within the industry,

and improve their quality.”

what we provide?

“The key issue is how do we add value to “To do this individually is much easier than

CLIENT VALUE

to ensure we all do it as a profession.

“One of the things I realized after a few years in

“Adding value requires education of all of

â&#x20AC;¢

Erin King APP

NEWS

our photographers, full-timers and part-timers.

where everyone with a car is a taxi driver, and

We need to show them what their time and

everyone with a camera is a photographer.

their professional abilities are worth.”

members need and we think that is more

Obviously, as a group, we can’t all be offering

“Our role is to identify what our new

exactly the same thing. Yes, we can all offer a

education about photography technique, more

higher level of quality and service, but within

education about how to find new clients, and

these standards we need to be offering a range

what the value of a client really is if you educate

of different products and services that are

them properly.

required by the market.

to re-touch their work or make prints, how are

“For many of us, we need to find a niche in

“However, if photographers are not prepared

which we are appreciated.

we going to add value?”

“Essentially, we need to become an expert in

There are a lot of issues Vittorio and

a particular genre.

the Board are dealing with and, as always,

suggestions and ideas are gratefully received.

“Initially, our new part-time members may

need to do exactly the opposite, diversifying and taking on any commission they can find so they build experience and expertise.

“I understand this, but in time they will

probably need to develop a specialization which allows them to command a fair price for their work.”

BECOMING A SPECIALIST “I realise that becoming a specialist can take years to achieve and that’s the challenge the Board is dealing with.

“How do we build our part-time members’

confidence? How do we help them develop a higher standard of work that clients are prepared to pay for?

“In many ways, the photography profession

is just like the taxi industry dealing with Uber,

vittorio.natoli@aipp.com.au 0400 418 888

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V i t t o r i o N a t o l i A P P. L G . M . P h o t o g .

EDUCATION

Publishing Your Own Photo Book Within the AIPP ranks are several photographers who have successfully married their photography with the publishing world. Some selfpublish, others work with a publisher, but rarely are their books just a collection of their best shots. A book needs to be something more.

Ken Drake

Many photographers see a book of their

(photographers who are already very famous),

photography as a milestone in their careers.

you’re unlikely to find a huge market for your

While it’s one thing to have your photos

book.

‘published’ online, it’s quite another to see them

printed in a real, paper-based book.

topic or a theme that is of interest to as wide a

range of people as possible.

And while books generally might be moving

To be successful, your book must have a

into the digital realm, there remains a strong

market for the photography book on paper.

someone who manages very nicely with a

People still like to pick up a real book, turn real

collection of his best photographs in a range

pages, look at real photographic quality.

of different books – but Ken’s photographs

are (generally) all about the landscape in a

However, the overall market in Australia

is quite small. Making money out of books is

You might reference Ken Duncan as

particular location.

challenging, but definitely possible if you know what you’re doing.

SUBJECT FIRST People will buy a book of Ken’s Australian

TAGS M a r k eti n g B o o k p u bl i s h i n g

BOOK TOPICS

landscape photographs because they are

However, before we look at the practical side

interested in Australian landscapes, not

of putting together a book, what should your

necessarily Ken himself. Ken has become

book contain?

famous in his own right after he published his

first books.

The first thing your book should not be,

if you want to be a commercial success, is

Similarly, AIPP Master of Photography

a collection of all your best photographs.

Ken Drake’s recent book Fur-Ever Loved is a

Please don’t take this as an insult, but unless

portfolio of his work on the one hand, but more

your name is Ansel Adams or Annie Liebovitz,

importantly it is a book about dogs and the

Fur-Ever Loved - A Letter To My Dog Published by New Holland Publishers Australia, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find Ken Drakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new book Fur-Ever Loved in bookshops around the country with a RRP of $29.99. A portion of the sales will be donated to animal welfare charities via the Zoo Studio Foundation.

EDUCATION

Richard Bennett Photo by Alice Bennett

thoughts of their owners.

author or photographer a mere 10% of sales,

Ken’s brilliant photographs are just a part

People talk about a publisher paying the

of the idea behind the book and what makes

but the percentage and what the percentage

it sell. And Ken is the first to acknowledge and

is based on (retail, wholesale, print run, sales)

understand the difference between a portfolio

varies depending on negotiations and so there

book and a book with it’s own theme.

really isn’t a ‘standard’.

“I view this book as more the work of my

Suffice to say, your income earning potential

wife Beck than me”, Ken explains.

is less if you work with a publisher, but so is your

loss potential!

“Sure, I took the photos, but the book

is Beck’s idea. She drove this project from

beginning to end.

with thousands of unsold books in their garage,

usually because they haven’t mastered the sales

“I think there are lessons for pro portrait

Photographers who self-publish can end up

photographers to take from it, not so much

and distribution side of publishing.

from the photography angle, but how

important it is to understand the emotion

chairman of APPA, Richard Bennett, is the

behind the photos, the subjects and the stories.

master of self-publishing books of his

Beck really gets this and it is all through the

photographs.

book.”

most of Richard’s books have focused on his

Books on pets and animals appeal to a large

The AIPP’s past national president and

A consumate photographer and publisher,

market segment, so Ken is well positioned to

home state of Tasmania and over the years,

take advantage of people who are interested

he has built up associations with local book

in more than just good photography. Many

and tourism retailers: in other words, he not

of the people buying his book will no doubt

only produces the book, he has developed a

appreciate his high standard of photography,

distribution network to sell it.

but that won’t be the reason they purchased

the book.

publisher of photography. Producing a book

This is the key to being a successful

on a topic that is popular and having a way to

PUBLISH OR SELF-PUBLISH?

distribute and sell that book to a wide audience.

Ken uses a publisher. A publisher is experienced

in book production, photo selection, editing,

his latest book, From Cape To Cape, appealing

printing, distribution and marketing. They bring

to the tourist and outdoor markets, and

a lot of expertise to the process, but at a cost.

photographers as well.

Richard understands this very well, with

From Capte To Cape Self-published by Richard Bennett, you can find his new book in stores across Tasmania, or you can purchase a copy directly from his website for $69.95 plus $15.00 postage and packaging within Australia. www.richardbennett.com.au

EDUCATION

to choose from.

it might be tempting to quickly grab some files

and put them together, a properly produced

book designer for advice.

Optionally, you can talk to a publisher or

book requires a little bit of planning.

PRELIMINARY BOOK DESIGN

TAGS B o o k p u bl i s h i n g

REVIEW THE CONTENT

Before a book was fully designed and printed,

To begin, you need to come up with the idea or

publishers would create a dummy book with a

theme behind the book and then decide if you

mock cover and the first dozen or so pages of

are creating the book to sell at a profit, or to use

the book completed (the rest would be blank

for self-promotional purposes.

pages). This dummy would then be shopped

around to get feedback from bookstores and

If the book is to make a profit, you may

need to compromise some of your aesthetic

distributors.

ideals. Really arty books can appeal to other

photographers and artists, but might not sell as

books, whether we’re going to approach a

strongly in the general marketplace. So, who is

publisher or self-publish. A dummy sets the

this book for – you or your customers?

scene for all the work that follows, especially the

design. And, of course, a dummy can change.

Next, you need to work out what the book

This is also a good approach for our own

will look like and how it will be printed. Will it

be large or small, landscape, portrait or square?

think we can design our own book really well,

Will it have 50 pages, 100 pages or 300 pages?

just like we take photos, but book designers

Is it a hard cover or a soft cover? Is there a dust

will generally disagree with us and rightly

jacket and so on.

so. The majority of photographer-designed

books are amateurish and suffer accordindly.

If you don’t have much experience with

As photographers, it can be tempting to

book designs, a morning spent at your local

If you’re not trained as a designer, then at least

bookshop will provide you with a range of ideas

hire a deisgner to produce the overall look of

â&#x20AC;¢

T r e v o r F o o n A P P. L M . P h o t o g . I I I

EDUCATION

the book, even if you do the final layout work

someone other than yourself, or the person

yourself.

you have writing the book for you. And the

book must be proofread after the design is

Typically, a designer can provide you with

sample body pages (including layout grid,

completed – there’s nothing worse than typos

typeface and font selection), a number of

in a printed book!

sample covers, and the design files which are usually created in Adobe InDesign, including

PHOTOGRAPHS

paragraph tags, ready for layout and adaptation.

Naturally, the photographs you provide for

printing must be exemplary. Generally speaking,

So at this stage, you have the skeleton of

the book. Now it needs to be filled in with

you will need to convert your RGB files into

photographs and words.

CMYK (unless you are using a short print-run press like an Indigo) and this can be an art in

HOW MUCH TEXT?

itself. The conversion process depends on the

It can be tempting to say your photographs

CMYK profile the printer is using. However, this

don’t need captions or explanations because

shouldn’t deter you from producing a book –

they speak for themselves. Generally this is not

you can find advice or people to do the CMYK

true.

conversions for you.

Photographs can greatly benefit from a

My process is to do a standard CMYK

context and usually that context is provided

conversion into the CMYK profile specified by

by words. However, the words don’t have to be

the printer, then to slightly lift the highlights

extensive. For a book of landscape photographs,

(but not the whites) on the composite channel,

an introduction about the area and a series of

and clip the blacks a fraction on the black

short location captions is possibly enough.

channel. However, this is for my printer and it

may not work for yours. If in doubt, have a few

So, what text do you need? Before giving the

designer your final book, you need to prepare:

test pages printed and ask the printer for advice.

• Cover title and sub-title

• Contents

and fully edited before you give them to the

• Introductions

designer.

Make sure your photos are all spotted

• Captions • Extended text, notes, interviews, travel notes, background information, manifesto.

Note that all text needs to be edited by

BOOK LAYOUT So, you have all your text and photos ready, what order are they going in?

â&#x20AC;˘

Mariela Carraturo

EDUCATION

Designing the page order and working

(including the cover and dust jacket), you’re able

out how many pages are required can be an

to create the print-ready PDF that most printers

iterative process. Often you will start with a

use for printing. Again, there are usually specific

rough idea of how many pages are required

settings for how this PDF is produced. This is

– say 96 pages plus covers – and see how the

generally just a matter of entering the correct

photographs fit. You might find you need more

parameters into the PDF generator and is not

pages, but remember that this will increase your

difficult, once the parameters are supplied.

printing cost, even though you might not be

able to charge more for the end product. On

and in a few weeks or months, your completed

other occasions, fewer pages might produce a

book returns.

From here, you send the file to the printer

more compact and definitive book.

This ‘plan’ is often done as a visual grid

PRINT RUN

of pages and is variously called a ‘grid’ or a

Printing a book takes time, especially the

‘pagination’. It becomes your planning checklist

binding process. It is best not to rush the

as you tick off each page when it is completed.

printer as this can impact the quality of the final product.

FINISHING WORK

The layout process can involve several review

proofs before printing, but these days, proofs

stages. National Geographic in Washington had

are often made on an inkjet printer and are not

a whole room with a shelf around the walls onto

exactly the same as the finished print job.

which the layout pages were placed, allowing

the editors to see the flow of the magazine from

are you going to store them? How are you

beginning to end. Whether they use the room

going to sell them?

the same way with a digital workflow, I’m not

sure, but the process is the same: look at and

side of the equation ahead of time. Some

adjust the flow of images and ideas through the

photographers store the books in their garage

book to make the most of them.

and each week or month, contact their

bookstores and replenish supplies. This can take

The same applies to your layout design. As

It is usual for a printer to provide you with

So, how many books do you print? Where

Hopefully, you have worked out this

the real elements are loaded, there may be a

a lot of effort over several years.

need to tweak the design to accommodate

them. This is quite usual.

to sell some or all of the books for them, only

selling a few online themselves.

Finally, when the book design is completed

Other photographers engage a distributor

â&#x20AC;˘

Matthew Everingham

EDUCATION

To work professionally with books, you need to

an agreement with a distributor before you

ask: Who is your market?

print the book as distributors can be choosey

about what they sell. They might not take your

It is rarely good enough to publish a book

of your best photographs. While people

book on.

might be polite enough to compliment your

photography at an exhibition or on Facebook,

60 to 70 percent of the retail price of your book,

you need to give people a reason to open a

which quickly changes the mathematics. This is

book. A good cover design will help, but a

where book publishing can be difficult.

title like ‘John Smith’s Best Photos’ is unlikely to

inspire them.

but only sell 1000, then each book sold has

actually cost you $30. Now, if your retail price

Unless you’re famous, photo books need

A book distributor and a bookshop can take

If you print 3000 books at a cost of $10 each,

a theme or a story. The book itself can be

is $40 and you lose $26 to the distributor and

just pictorial with few words, but some

bookshop, you’re only earning $16 per book

photographers partner with a writer, giving their

sold. There is no profit at this stage.

book more depth and wider interest.

However, the biggest problem with book

better if you sell all 3000 books, but even so,

publishing is distribution. If you have two or

is the return good enough to make a living?

three thousand copies of your book in your

How many books do you have to sell to earn a

garage, how do you get rid of them? Most of us

full time wage? And how much time have you

can sell a hundred books to friends and family,

spent taking the photographs, designing the

but shifting thousands of copies is a lot more

book and producing the printing files?

difficult.

exclusively from book publishing. Fortunately, if

The answer may be a book distributor who

Of course, the mathematics can look much

Few photographers earn their living

will get your book into a range of bookstores

you don’t make a profit on the book, it can still

around your country, but make sure you have

be looked upon as a great self-promotion.

BOOK SALES â&#x20AC;&#x201C; HOW THE NUMBERS MIGHT WORK...

Self Publish

Third Party

Self Distribute With Distributor

Publisher

Assumptions Number of books printed

3000

Retail Price (per book)

$40

Cost to print (per book)

$10

Percentage paid to Book Stores

40%

Percentage paid to Distributor

25%

Percentage earned as Royalty

10%

$120000

$ 12000

less Print cost

-$ 30000

less Book Store (and Distributor)

-$ 48000 -$ 78000

Gross Profit

$ 42000

$ 12000

Income

$ 60000

$ 6000

less Print cost

-$ 30000

less Book Store (and Distributor)

-$ 24000 -$ 39000

Assume 100% Sales @ $40 per book Income

Assume 50% Sales @ $40 per book

Gross Profit

$ 6000

-$ 9000

$ 6000

Income

$ 75000

$ 7500

less Print cost

-$ 30000

less Book Store (and Distributor)

-$ 30000 -$ 48750

Gross Profit

$ 15000

$ 7500

Assume 50% Sales @ $50 per book

-$ 3750

Assumptions: Books are sold on a sale or return basis. If no sale, no payment to book shop or distributor. Profit can be improved if you sell books directly (no bookstore or distributor percentage). Print cost includes layout, design, pre-press, photography etc. These costs can be significantly larger of course. You are unlikely to sell all the print run, so look at 50% sales to see what your risk is. You can also consider a higher book price, but if the price is too high, will people still buy your book? Why would you use a book distributor? Because the fee you pay should increase the number of books you would otherwise sell, so while the profit results for a distributor might not look as good with these simple examples, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell the full story. A distributor can be a good idea.

EDUCATION

TAGS M a r k eti n g

As Accredited Professional Photographers, we

assistant to work with you full time, you should

are expected to run our businesses correctly

outline what the job is all about, what your sub-

and in accordance with the law. This can be

contractor or employee is expected to do, and

quite a challenge on several fronts, but perhaps

what you will do in return.

the most challenging of all is simply knowing

what your legal obligations are.

not engage a lawyer to help them, as they are

concerned this is an expense they can’t afford.

In practice, only a lawyer can fully advise you

Most people when they first hire staff do

about your obligations because, depending on

On the other hand, having an employee sue

the nature of your business, the industry you

you for wrongful dismissal or a contractor not

operate in and even which state of Australia you

performing well and ruining your reputation

work in, there could be specific issues you need

could be even more expensive.

to address.

going to get specific legal advice, at least

However, in general terms there are four

However, on the assumption you’re not

main issues you need to consider:

outline the job in a letter so that you’re both on

• The contract or employment agreement;

the same page. We won’t go into the details of

• Income tax and GST;

this letter here - rather make you aware that a

• Superannuation;

contract or agreement is very important.

• Insurance.

Let’s start with the contract or the

agreement.

INCOME TAX When you pay someone, do you withhold income tax or GST? The answer depends on the

AGREEMENTS IN WRITING

nature of the agreement and this, unfortunately,

Whether you’re hiring a photographer to help

is unnecessarily complicated.

you out for an afternoon on a wedding, or an

Simply speaking, if you hire someone to act

This is general information only. We do not know your specific financial or legal situation and we are not providing you with advice. As such, this article should not be relied upon as legal, financial or accounting advice. Please use this article as a conversation starter with your own adviser.

â&#x20AC;¢

Katherine Williams FNZIPP

â&#x20AC;¢

Kristian Piccoli APP AAIPP

EDUCATION

as your assistant for the afternoon, they are an

you need to pay 9.5% super each quarter into

employee and you should withhold income tax

a superannuation fund that they nominate.

(if necessary) and have them fill in an income

You can’t just give them an extra 9.5%. And

tax declaration. Yes, even for just an afternoon.

when you hire them, you should state whether

the wage you are paying them is inclusive or

On the other hand, if you hired someone

as a subcontractor to go out and shoot a

exclusive of super (both can be legal as long as

wedding for you, then they may be considered

you state it up front).

a subcontractor. If they have an ABN, you

don’t need to withhold income tax. If they are

that superannuation is also payable for sub-

registered for GST, they will charge you GST on

contractors where the contract is primarily for

their invoice and you just pay it.

labour - and I imagine this is the case with 95%

of contracts for photographers. Again, your

In between these scenarios are lots of grey

What a lot of businesses don’t realise is

areas. Essentially, putting employees on is a

contract or agreement should specify up front

hassle because of the extra paperwork required,

whether the amount being paid includes or

but it’s your legal obligation as an employer. In

excludes superannuation.

comparison, if you hire a subcontractor, all you have to do is pay them their invoice and they

INSURANCE

look after their own income tax.

If you have employees, you must have work

There are specific issues about how much

cover or workers compensation insurance. The

tax to withhold from payments to employees or

premiums are calculated according to a formula

subcontractors who don’t have an ABN which

determined by the government and it’s based

you should discuss with your accountant.

on how much you pay in wages and super each

year. The more wages you pay, the higher the

Many businesses treat everyone they

employ as sub-contractors to avoid tax

premium.

responsibilities, but this can backfire if their

‘employee’ lodges a complaint with the ATO!

subcontractors? Strictly speaking, no, but the

Do you need work cover insurance for

question becomes whether your subcontractors

SUPERANNUATION

are really subcontractors, or are they actually

Superannuation is probably payable for both

employees? Again, another question to ask your

the employees and subcontractors you hire.

accountant or lawyer.

Employees who earn under $450 per

month are exempt from super, but otherwise

Hopefully this hasn’t put you off hiring help,

but it’s stuff you simply need to be aware of.

AWARDS

two other judges agree, the result will be quite

At APPA and the AIPP Epson State Awards, the

different.

judges’ individual scores can be seen by the

audience and this is a great move to make the

the awards is a bit like submitting your work

judging process more understandable.

to a client. In a family context, dad will love

a photo that mum detests. In a corporate

But only if you understand the process!

In many ways, having your work judged at

environment, the managing director might

ONE JUDGE DOES NOT RULE THEM ALL

approve of something the PR manager rejects.

It can be convenient to blame or praise a

that’s one reason we have five judges.

single judge for the outcome of a particular

print. How often I’ve heard an ecstatic entrant

just one score. It’s normally an average score,

praise a single judge for elevating her print to a

but there are a number of majority rules to keep

gold award. Similarly, I’ve heard many entrants

the system honest.

There are many different opinions out there and However, from five judges we end up with

criticise a single judge for not recognising their

TAGS APPA Awa rd s Rules

brilliance and scoring them below an award

MAJORITY RULE

standard.

The majority rule states that for a print to win

an award, a majority of judges must agree. A

From an audience’s perspective, it can seem

that one judge is calling the shots, but this is

couple of examples will help.

not correct.

88 80 78 79 79 = Av 81

While it’s true that a single judge can make

A print scores the following:

a comment that appears to influence the

The entrant sees the 88 and agrees

outcome, it takes a majority of judges to make

wholeheartedly with that judge. The average

the final decision. In other words, you can’t

is 81, which could be a silver award, but

praise or criticise a single judges because unless

unfortunately for the entrant, three of the

â&#x20AC;¢

Steve Wise APP M.Photog. I

AWARDS

judges have scored less than 80, the silver

indicates that the average score has been

award standard, and so the result is taken down

adjusted to reflect the majority opinion.

to 79, which is one point below the 80 required for silver.

ONLY OPINIONS

So, is this system valid? Why do we allow two

The same approach happens for silvers with

distinction as follows:

high scoring judges to be overruled by three

88 83 88 84 84 = Av 85

low scoring judges (and vice versa)?

However, three of the judges are below the

Judging is all about opinions. When you

85 score required for silver with distinction and

get five judges giving a score, no matter how

so the score read out is 84 and a silver award.

educated, how famous or how eloquently they

speak, in the end all you have are five opinions.

Gold and gold with distinction are treated

the same way - you won’t get the higher score

And each and every judge on the panel has

unless three judges agree.

an equally valid opinion, so the majority rule means the system cannot be manipulated by a

WORKING BOTH WAYS

single judge. Without the majority rule, a judge

The good news is that you won’t get a lower

could give a print 50 or 100 and dominate the

score either, unless three judges agree.

outcome. Why is this single opinion more valid

Sometimes there are just one or two judges

than the other four? It is not.

who are keeping a print down.

system. If a judge gives a score that is 10 or

For example:

83 82 81 70 79 = Av 79

more points higher or lower than the average,

then the system requires that judge to justify his

However, three of the judges have scored

in the silver range and so the score will be

or her score to the panel. The other judges may

elevated to 80 and silver award.

also have a say and then the print is re-judged.

Sometimes it’s a little more confusing than

This doesn’t mean a judge can’t score more

this:

than 10 points away from the average. This is

95 80 81 70 70 = Av 79

quite permissable and encouraged – we want

judges to be honest in their opinions. However,

Although one of the judges is in the gold

category, it only counts as being above silver

we also want the judges to understand they

and so the score would be 80 and a silver award.

can’t give a particularly high or low score

without explaining their reasons to the other

The scores are often read out as a ‘79 by

majority’ or ‘a silver award by majority’ which

There are also other safeguards in the

judges, the panel chair and the audience.

â&#x20AC;¢

Nicole Anderson APP AAIPP

AWARDS

Ken Drake - Queensland Epson PPY The 2017 AIPP Queensland Epson Professional Photographer of the Year is Ken Drake with a portfolio of masterful pet and animal portraits.

TAGS AIPP E ps o n S ta te Pr in t Awa rd s

An AIPP member since 2007 and a Master of

at the other photographers so I could see the

Photography with one gold bar, Ken Drake is

expression on the winner’s face.

no stranger to these pages, having won the

2016 AIPP Australian Professional Pet/Animal

looking at me?” and then it clicked, they were

Photographer of the Year.

reading out my name!

Now Ken has picked up the 2017 AIPP

“I remember thinking, “Why are they all

“It still hasn’t quite sunk in. It is such a HUGE

Queensland Epson Professional Photographer of

honour. I have so much respect for so many of

the Year as well!

the photographers who entered this year, I still

can’t believe I won!”

“I enter client work into the Awards because

I want to gauge it against the very best in

Ken has had a lot of success in the AIPP

Australia. I aim to put the same care into my

awards system, but he is the first to admit not

client work as I do into my award work – not

every print he enters wins an award. So how

that I’m saying all my client work is award

does he take criticism?

standard! But that is my goal.

“I always try to enter the State Awards.

negative feedback can be anger and upset, but

While there are lots of competitions out there,

after a few hours of mulling it over, I realise that I

very few have the quality of judging that the

shouldn’t take it personally and 99% of the time

AIPP provides. The Epson State Awards and

I end up agreeing with the judges.

APPA provide invaluable feedback every time

which helps me grow as a photographer and I

from our successes and we haven’t actually

don’t want to miss an opportunity to learn and

failed until we have given up. Edison had

improve.”

around 1000 attempts at inventing the light

Ken says he couldn’t believe it when he won.

bulb, but he eventually cracked it. He learned

“I was standing up there with all the other

more each time until he perfected it.

“To be very honest, my initial reaction to

“We learn much more from our failures than

category winners and I wasn’t listening properly

“That’s what we have to do as

when they read out my name. I was looking

photographers, too.”

EDUCATION

TAGS L igh tro o m Pho to s h o p Co lo ur Management

I realise there are a lot of people who are big

One and by comparing the same file side-by-

fans of Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom. And

side on the one screen, you will immediately

I realise some readers might think I am pushing

see the differences.

my own barrow if I suggest everyone takes a

look at Capture One.

comparison and still prefer Lightroom, but my

anecdotal experience is that most people who

However, here’s my defence: I used to

Some photographers have done the

recommend students learn ACR or Lightroom

try Capture One prefer the way it processes

because if they got into trouble, there were lots

raw files. And in many ways, that’s what it is all

of places and people they could go to for help.

about.

There are fewer people who know how to use

Capture One.

if you know how to use Lightroom or Adobe

Camera Raw, you’ll have no trouble with

The problem was, these students

Capture One has evolved to the point that

complained that their photos didn’t look like

Capture One. The tools are generally the same,

mine, that there was something missing, and

but naturally there are small differences. Spend

what wasn’t I telling them? In the end, I have

30 minutes looking around Capture One and

put the difference down to Capture One.

you’ll have the basics down in no time.

If you open a file in Lightroom on the left of

Capture One is more expensive than

your screen, and the same file in Capture One

Lightroom and you’ll probably keep Lightroom

on the right of your screen, you’ll quickly see

anyway if you subscribe to Photoshop, but if

the differences as you edit the file. In a future

Capture One can give you better quality files,

issue, I might do a little more on what those

isn’t this something to look into?

differences are, but it’s something I encourage

all AIPP members to investigate.

of processing in Capture One, but this is just a

brief introduction.

You can download a free trial of Capture

The following illustrations show six aspects

The Capture One interface is much more modular than Lightroom and offers more scope for customisation. For instance, I design my own â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Quickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; panel that includes all the tools I most commonly use. It is very easy to set up Capture One to be quick and efficient, for you and your staff.

To set the correct white balance is identical to Lightroom/ACR in terms of controls. You can choose from a drop-down list of presets, set the Kelvin and Tint manually, or use the Pick White Balance tool to click on a grey or neutral area and establish this as a neutral point.

EDUCATION

Capture One has fewer tonal sliders than Lightroom, but the Capture One sliders seem to have more range. You can also use a curve or levels dialog to control exposure and tonality, but I find these sliders do a great job for the majority of files. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also an automatic setting as well.

Depending on the type of photography you shoot, you can choose the tools that suit you best and place them nearby. Here the Clarity and Vignetting menus are displayed and used. Capture One has four different clarity flavours, each with slightly different results.

Just as Lightroom has an adjustment brush and a gradient filter, Capture One has Local Adjustments. There are some tools in Capture One (such as the colour editor) which are superior to Lightroom, but then Lightroom has more options for its adjustment brush overall.

Once your files are edited, you can output them in a range of different ways using Process Recipes. Both Lightroom and Capture One are very good at this aspect of image processing and maybe Lightroom has the edge for better integration with social media, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a small win.

EDUCATION

and questions that your staff run through

systemise it.

during the booking process. Then your staff are

shown how to use the script, step by step, with

Systemising is beneficial because it keeps

you analysing and refining every aspect of your

your clients.

client experience, and it creates the support

structure to allow you to employ people and

expect if you or your staff follow the recipe

train them quickly and efficiently, while not

precisely.

You know the system works and what to

relying on highly qualified people who your business can become dependent on.

KEEPING TABS But how would you know if your staff were

THE RECIPES

taking shortcuts or forgot some important

A system is like a recipe and if you have a well

aspects of the recipe?

written recipe for staff to follow, you will set

them up for success so they get the same

rate, a lower average sale, fewer bookings or any

results, time after time.

number of other problems.

It doesn’t mean that once you have given

This could show up in a higher cancelation

So, part of your overall system must also

someone a procedure or script that you never

include reporting mechanisms that indicate