Put five photographers together and you’ll get five different gripes about low-cost competition. Photography is one business where there are definite lines between “low-cost” and “cheap”.

You can hire a cheap photographer, and I can almost guarantee you’re going to get what you pay for. Anyone with a modern camera like a Canon 7D or Nikon D5100 can take decent pictures and if “decent” is good enough, and sometimes it is, then there’s no need to pay more.

There are certain risks that come with cheap photographers. One being that because they’re cheap, losing one customer here or there isn’t going to concern them. So, if they have car trouble, camera trouble, or just don’t feel like showing up, they’re not going to be worried about missing an appointment. Pros are going to have people they can call on to cover for them in an emergency, you might get the assistant, but you’ll get someone. They also have spare bodies in case of camera trouble. One photographer I know has a box of spare bodies, all packed neatly into a custom Pelican case.

Someone running an honest business has to hold back money for taxes, which takes a third right off the top, health insurance, liability insurance, equipment insurance and what’s called E&O insurance, which stands for Errors and Omissions. If a professional photographer breaks or damages something, they’ll have insurance to cover the loss, the low-rent shooter probably will not have coverage and suing them will be a waste of time because they likely don’t have anything worth taking.

Low-ball photographers end up hurting themselves worse than the industry. Sooner or later the IRS will catch up to them and they’ll get hit with a bill for back taxes, they’ll break something and get sued, or some other calamity that will ultimately put them out of business.

Modern cameras make it seem like anyone can be a photographer, but the reality is quite different. You not only have to be a fantastic photographer, but you have to understand business, and charge enough to stay in business.  If you enjoy taking pictures as a hobby, just understand that getting to the level where you can make money at it, turns it into a job.