Costing-out: Photo Shoot or Photoshop?
During a design project’s brainstorming and idea-forming stage, designers usually select images and use Adobe Photoshop to “fake” certain effects in order to get their visual ideas across. And most often, designers assume that these “faked” images will be replaced by photographs shot professionally during the development stage. But what happens when a concept is expected to go to final art within days or hours of a concept’s selection? Should the finished-looking, Photoshop-created concept be considered final art?
There have been various debates about whether it is better to use Photoshop to create an image or to take original photography. I think it really comes down to the situation one is in. These approaches may cost roughly the same or may differ drastically in cost, depending on what is involved. Original photography may involve pre-production costs, photography costs, model costs, location costs, color correction costs, and many other post-production costs. And using original photography may still require some Photoshop work. Creating an image with Photoshop involves stock photo costs and the design costs associated with a designer’s advanced retouching skills.
In addition to thinking about cost considerations, time issues may be relevant. Using original photography and designing with Photoshop may require about the same amount of time, or one or the other may require less time. Maybe it is not feasible to coordinate a photo shoot under a particular scheduling crunch, although often the time that it takes to design with Photoshop would allow for a professional photo shoot. On the other hand, an image might prove to be so difficult to create in Photoshop that time would be saved just shooting the image.
The bottom line is that each situation is unique. Hopefully, people will have enough time to think through each decision during a project’s brainstorming phase, ultimately ensuring that the final image not only represents the brand appropriately but is worth the cost and time that will be put into it.
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