Some of these have been said to me, some of these have been said to a friend. No I'm not giving names.
"Can you just take a few quick pictures of me over here? You have your camera on you anyway!"
This one irks me so much. I've had near strangers do this to me before and honestly it makes me feel like they're just trying to get a high quality product for free. Which they likely are. But none the less, it bothers me. I have a rule for cons that I only shoot via bookings and that I don't accept bookings at a con. There are a few exceptions to this rule, so keep reading to find out some of the exceptions for free shoots and photos at cons.
"I love your photobook, how can I be in the next one?"
This could come across as super genuine, like the cosplayer wants to work with you that much, but honestly it's not for me. For my 2019 photobook I picked who went into it based upon diversity of techniques that I used, what I felt was a good range and example of my skills, and what memories I had associated with the shoot, and also just what would come out best in print. Some stuff I edited to be strictly digital, some I edited more for print, and others for both. If you want to see yourself in print in a book, try Snapfish and just make a book for you and your friends. It's a lot of fun to design and you and your friends can treat it like a yearbook and all write in it!
"I think you're over charging for your stuff"
Okay, so don't hire me. I actually undercharge for what the normal photographer does. Basically all cosplay photographers undercharge. And it's because we're giving an automatic discount to the entire cosplay community because we love cosplay and nerdy stuff just like cosplayers do. There will always be other photographers who do free shoots at cons or charge less. They'll have a different style than me and they'll not be me, but if you're more interested in a low price and not my specific style then I'm probably not the photographer for you anyway.
"I don't think photographers should charge at all, both the photographers and the cosplayers get something out of the shoot."
At cons, do you know who I offer to shoot for free? Here is a list.
Close friends who I love dearly
Something I want to add to my portfolio (ie, bodypaint, huge wigs, ball gowns, etc)
Do you know who I do not offer to shoot for free? Anyone and everyone I see in a cosplay. I'm sorry, but sometimes I'm just not into something enough to want to spend my time on it for free. I'm not huge into DC, but I'd be more than fine being hired to photograph a Batman cosplayer. I'm also not into Sailor Moon. But I'm totally okay and down with being hired to photograph a Sailor Mars. And to take it a step further, I love Harry Potter but am not super into Harry Potter cosplay, but I'd still have fun being hired to take photos of a Hermione Granger cosplayer.
"I bet I could do the same thing with my cellphone."
Okay, so go do it. I also bet you could get a picture of your cosplay with your phone. However the difference will be the quality of the image. And if that is what you want to sacrifice then I'm 100% fine with that. I'm not offended at all if you decide to ask your friend to grab some cellphone shots instead of hiring me. I cosplayed for nearly a full year before I did any shoots. I had only cellphone photos for months. And after that I only had some camera photos since I was hanging out with some friends who were shooting stuff and I helped them or they offered. You don't need nice camera photos to be a cosplayer. But don't insult a photographer by saying this.
"I really want to work with you and I love your pictures, but you're so expensive! Could you shoot me for free or for a discount?"
This is a huge insult to the time and skills that a photographer has learned to develop their style. I personally do a giveaway for nearly every con that I attend. This means that you will always have a chance, no matter how small, to work with me for free.
Honestly though, think about it. This is like going to a cake decorator and saying "Oh, I love the way you pipe the frosting but you charge so much for all of your cakes! Could you give me a cake for free or for a discount?" The cake decorator still has to buy the stuff to bake the cake and make the frosting (tools and ingredients), and then spend time on baking and decorating. A photographer has to spend money to buy the camera equipment and editing software, spend time and money to get to the con location, and then spend time editing your photos afterwards.
"Hey, let's meet up at a con! Oh, and make sure to bring your camera!"
This just makes the photographer only feel like they're worth their camera. Not even the editing. Just the camera. So please don't. And honestly if you do this, there is a large chance that the photographer will be reluctant to actually work with you if you ever do decide to hire them. If someone did this to me then I'd feel like they'd be trying to wheedle free add-ons from me the entire time.
"Can you send me all of the unedited files? I want to edit them myself."
I'm more okay with this one than other photographers, but that's because I sell the unedited files for actually a pretty cheap price and it gives me an opportunity to direct them to that and then end the conversation unless they're serious. It's rare that a photographer is going to be alright with sharing the unedited files and the reason for that is because everyone has their own style of editing and thus they photographer doesn't want someone to look at your editing and then expect that from them in either a positive or negative way. When someone buys the unedited files from me I usually ask them to just not credit me at all unless they specify that they edited the photo and make sure that it is clear to their audience.
If you do plan on asking this question though, then try phrasing it as "would you be open to parting with the unedited files? Or do you sell them for a set rate?" This opens the floor for the photographer to just say no without being put on the spot and also make sure that they are still compensated for their time and work if they do offer this.
"I know you offered to shoot X cosplay for free, but would you mind doing this one instead?"
This is something that happened to me pretty early on. I said yes at the time since I didn't know how else to handle it, and while I do think the pictures turned out nicely still, I 100% was upset at not getting to shoot a particular cosplay of theirs. At this point I'm not even sure if I want to reach back out to this cosplayer to see if I can shoot that cosplay of theirs.
It's super rude to assume that the photographer is interested in shooting you in whatever you want, especially if they reached out with a certain cosplay in mind. If you don't have the cosplay any longer then yeah that's fine, but don't agree to the shoot, then try to get them to change their mind. If you're switching your lineup then just try something like "hey, my lineup has changed and X cosplay got moved to Xday. I'll be wearing X instead, are you okay shooting this cosplay instead or did you want to change shoot times so you can still shoot X?"
In the end, this is all just my own experience and my own preferences. Every photographer is different. When you interact with any photographer just make sure to think through what you're saying.