After freelancing as a full-time Photographer for almost 5 years now, I have had my share of experiences.
Through the years I have come across different kinds of clients and people.
To be honest, things are quite smoother when you work with big clients. But you have to first work with your share of small clients to reach that stage.
Table Of Contents
Big Clients & Small Clients: What are the differences?
Knowing what they’re looking for
Small clients: Often, small clients aren’t sure what they’re looking for.
They might not have a set theme or a color palette they want to work around.
I’ve had people send me random top-notch product photos from Pinterest as references for a project.
Naturally, when a client shares the best of the best product photos from anywhere on the internet, the charges for that kind of deliverables will be high.
And as a result, a small client often ends up not working with better photographers because they don’t share references for exactly what they’re looking for.
Small clients often say, “we’ll know what we’re looking for when we see it.”
This is a major red flag.
Think twice before agreeing to work with them.
Don’t agree to a project or share your quotes before knowing what has to be done.
After all, how can you calculate the cost of the work if you don’t even know what the job is exactly?
Big Clients: They know precisely what they’re looking for.
This is because they have a dedicated team who analyzes every single thing.
What kind of images do they need, who are their competitor brands, the aesthetics that would match their brand identity, etc?
You will receive a very thorough creative brief from them, which makes it easy to estimate the cost of the project.
Also Read: 7 Photography Client Red Flags You Should Look Out For
Creative freedom
Small clients: Small clients generally don’t offer a good level of creative freedom.
They can get into the real nitty-gritty of things and try to keep their suggestions above your creative ones.
Big clients: They’re not just hiring you because your work stood out to them, they’re hiring you for you.
They understand and respect the fact that a photographer is an artist and they require their own space to function.
Giving an ample amount of creative freedom ensures that the photographer can give the client the best results with out-of-the-box ideas.
Level of trust
Small clients: They will constantly remind you of the huge investment they’re making in working with you and how important it is that you get everything right and understand their needs.
This is totally fine upto a level at which you’re made to feel intimidated by it.
Small clients might even ask you to go ahead and build a mood board, pitch your ideas, ask for your previous work that is the same as their ideas, and tell you that they can pay more if your work is up-to-the-mark.
Every client will be willing to pay more if your work is astounding. But if they say that out loud, it is kind of a red flag.
Big clients: Big clients trust that you will get the job done.
The benefit of hiring a good photographer is that you will definitely get great results even if there are some unseen obstacles on the shoot day.
A great photographer’s experience in the industry makes them better prepared for anything that can come their way.
Also Read: 5 Essential Tips For Product Photographers
Respecting each other’s time & boundaries
Small clients: They will call, text, and email you at any hour of the day and multiple times.
It’s best to restrict work to emails only and WhatsApp for more real-time updates.
Small clients will rush you to get the job done quicker not understanding that good things take time and creativity isn’t a switch that can be turned on and off.
There is a considerable amount of ideating that is necessary along with hundred other things before the shoot day.
I’ve had clients text or call me about the images from the shoot before I even reached home from the studio!
Big clients: They won’t bombard you with emails.
You can easily send them the low res dump from the shoot 2 days later after you’ve unpacked and have rested enough.
They won’t ask you to get things done quicker unless absolutely necessary due to some mishaps. And they’d be happy to pay an extra fee to put their project a priority for completing it earlier than the decided date.
Payments
Conclusion
These are merely general statements about small and big clients. They’re certainly not true for every potential client out there.
It is quite possible that you will come across small clients that offer your creative freedom and big clients who intimidate you into reducing your quotes.
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