collecting information before working with a client

[pigeon]

A friend was looking at several photographers to do some work for him. He mentioned filling out questionnaires for several of them... with some insightful questions.

He doesn't have a copy of the forms (darn!), but he did relayed some of the questions: Do you want the subject smiling? How are you going to use these photos? What do you plan to wear?

I have my own mental list that I plan to compile, and of course, Google would turn up lots of hits, but nothing as useful as that my friends here could share.

How many of you use something like this? Are you willing to share?
I promise to share (right here) the list that I plan to use after going through suggestions.

thanks,
teresa

[pigeon]

anyone?

-teresa

[dangin]

i do a bit of wedding photography and i can't say that my questionnaire has questions like that. but i do have a 2 page questionnaire about locations, poses, etc. however, for the corporate portraits that i do, i suppose that those types of questions do have a lot of merit.

so i guess the question to ask here is what type of photography are you aiming for?

[pigeon]

Good question. Portraits primarily...

-teresa

[jackiefoodphotog]

Good question. Portraits primarily...

-teresa

Yes, Teresa it depends what type of photography you are contracting out for. Whatever type you are doing though, asking these questions serves for the purpose of clarity, and helps to avoid any miscommunications or false assumptions that could pop up later in the process. Things such as what are you using these photos for, for portraits also things like wardrobe, location, makeup&hair done by themselves or a professional, etc. The questions will somewhat depend on what you shoot, but if you shoot portraits for commercial use (editorial for magazine client, etc) make sure you incorporate the answers to these questions into a contract that both you and your client sign; this is not so important if you are shooting portraits for consumer use (headshot, family portrait, etc). Hope that helps,