Trackday Pics - Variations in costs
Discussion
There are some which offer you all of the pics of your car and the "random" ones on a memory stick for £20 an then there are others that charge £10 to 'set up' a CD and then it's £2 a pop on top...
I'm not usually a picture buyer but as I've gotten older I'm starting to like seeing the car as much as I can, and the kids like having pics of the car as well...
I'm not usually a picture buyer but as I've gotten older I'm starting to like seeing the car as much as I can, and the kids like having pics of the car as well...
No, I don't think they're a rip off! These are usually professional photographers who have invested large amounts of money into the equipment in order to provide the service. Most of the photographers I've bought images from seem to use the Nikon D2X digital SLR camera which is a £2K camera not including the lens, which can be more than the camera itself. They usually have several cameras, then there's the computers equipment on top of that. They must have to invest tens of thousands of pounds in equipment!
Most photographers charge £30 for a CD with 40 high-resolution images on it; I don't think 75p each for quality high-res images is a rip-off!By high-res, I mean approx 1mb - 2mb per image of up to 12 million pixels, which is good enough to be printed up to A3 poster size.
Printing them with any kind of ink jet printer is expensive. If I want prints I take them to a local chemist who has a proper Agfa printer that prints digital images onto proper photographic paper. 8" x 6" prints were about £1.60 each last time I had some done!
Most photographers charge £30 for a CD with 40 high-resolution images on it; I don't think 75p each for quality high-res images is a rip-off!By high-res, I mean approx 1mb - 2mb per image of up to 12 million pixels, which is good enough to be printed up to A3 poster size.
Printing them with any kind of ink jet printer is expensive. If I want prints I take them to a local chemist who has a proper Agfa printer that prints digital images onto proper photographic paper. 8" x 6" prints were about £1.60 each last time I had some done!
Dont get me wrong, I'm not begrudging them an honest wage for an honest days work, I am all too familiar with the price of photo equipment.
timarnold said:
Most photographers charge £30 for a CD with 40 high-resolution images on it; I don't think 75p each for quality high-res images is a rip-off!By high-res, I mean approx 1mb - 2mb per image of up to 12 million pixels, which is good enough to be printed up to A3 poster size.
that kind of cost I could live with... but £30+ for 15 pics it starts to get "too pricey" IMHOHave to say I'm often disappointed with the lack of creativity shown. I've got dozens of pictures of my car whizzing along, but only on a handful of occasions have I thought that the photographer has created something special. I know it's not easy but all too often they don't even get a sense of motion into the picture or make the most of the background or setting.
It's worth bearing in mind that to do photos at a trackday they will probably have to cover wages for two or three people, fuel costs, any CDs etc that they use and very often a payment to the circuit for permission to be there. They then have ongoing costs of transport, camera kit, insurance etc.
Seems to me that you need to sell a fair few discs every day to pay for all that.
Seems to me that you need to sell a fair few discs every day to pay for all that.
PetrolTed said:
Have to say I'm often disappointed with the lack of creativity shown. I've got dozens of pictures of my car whizzing along, but only on a handful of occasions have I thought that the photographer has created something special. I know it's not easy but all too often they don't even get a sense of motion into the picture or make the most of the background or setting.
I think they do seam to go for the safe options and make sure they have a few reasonable images of each car. I can understand that. The best pics I've had of me on track have been from race / sprint meeting and asking on the photography forums as you tend to get images from enthusiasts who are aiming for a few very good images rather than 100's worth selling.
kaese said:
After my last track day, I bought 60 high res images (~2-3mb) for £20.
I thought that was pretty good value - one my first Driving 'Experience' Day, I paid £20 for 5!
see.. thats what I'm talking about. Were the 5 you bought first 12 times better than the last lot? I doubt it.I thought that was pretty good value - one my first Driving 'Experience' Day, I paid £20 for 5!
Nurburgsingh said:
kaese said:
After my last track day, I bought 60 high res images (~2-3mb) for £20.
I thought that was pretty good value - one my first Driving 'Experience' Day, I paid £20 for 5!
see.. thats what I'm talking about. Were the 5 you bought first 12 times better than the last lot? I doubt it.I thought that was pretty good value - one my first Driving 'Experience' Day, I paid £20 for 5!
I was at a track day at Pembrey a few weeks ago and the photos were £45 which I though was very expensive, I did another track day just one week later [with a different organiser and photography company] and they were £25!!
I was surprised by the big difference, the £25 photographs were of better quality and more of them [61 in total]!
I was surprised by the big difference, the £25 photographs were of better quality and more of them [61 in total]!
anonymous said:
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How's about next time you write "and" (sic) article that you write as part of your business that pays your mortgage, upload it to the internet for anyone to grab rather than the peeps who paid for it. Let the global world of the internet copy it , paste into their own articles, pass it off as their own, and generally gain some benefit for zero cost to them for your effort, experience, time and expenditure on equipment.As you say, in the end it's about perceived value. Peeps generally don't appreciate the effort that goes in to capturing a great photo or writing "and" great article.
mattdaniels said:
Peeps generally don't appreciate the effort that goes in to capturing a great photo or writing "and" great article.
But as PetrolTed pointed out above.. Trackday pics are a bit "samey-samey" I dont think I've ever seen one that would fit into the "great photo" catagory.anonymous said:
[redacted]
Are you dancin? 
It's a fair enough point. I know a few trackday photographers, I've taken a few pics myself. It's not an exact science. I wonder what would happen if there was a similar thread regarding actual driving "I hired an instructor for a £20 session....I paid gazzillions for failed <insert racing series here> driver to instruct me all day and yet the £20 session was better" type comparison going on.
PetrolTed said:
Have to say I'm often disappointed with the lack of creativity shown. I've got dozens of pictures of my car whizzing along, but only on a handful of occasions have I thought that the photographer has created something special. I know it's not easy but all too often they don't even get a sense of motion into the picture or make the most of the background or setting.
nature of the beast though surely... and you get what you pay forI imagine these guys have to crank out a lot of shots to make it pay, and fair play to them. If they're only getting 30 quid for a CD then they are hardly going to be providing 'special pics'.
Also, there's always the argument that if they could actually provide 'really special' pics, then they might not be at a trackday at all but instead on a poster shoot for say BMW out in San Francisco earning about 10 grand a day.
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