FAQs

We are the corporate arm of brand CandidShutters and specialise in creating stunning visual content to empower brands to connect more effectively with their customers. As best branding and campaign photographers and videographers, we aim to create inspirational visual content to showcase your marketing prowess.

Our forte lies in corporate event photography, video production, brand films, employer branding photography and videography, corporate documentaries, CSR & ESG videos, testimonial videos and all marketing content development. 

With offices in Mumbai & Gurgaon, we have more than 12 years of experience in visual content creation and have full time, in house team of photographers, cinematographers, graphic motion artists, animators and film editors. 

We have offices in Mumbai and Gurgaon in Delhi NCR but are available for shoots across the globe.

To see our office addresses, click here.

Between Mumbai and Gurgaon, we have a team of 22 members. The shoots, edits and designs are all done by our in house team members.

With our in house team we can shoot in and around Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Gurgaon, Manesar, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and other areas of NCR. With the help of our associates, we can cover Kolkata and some cities of Orissa. For other cities, we travel from Mumbai/Gurgaon. For more details please refer to our travel policy (ref. point 5 below).

For locations outside Delhi NCR and Mumbai (and outside Kolkata and Orissa, in specific cases), air travel, local travel in your city, local stay (home stays preferred) and food arrangements for the crew are required from your side. The quote which we share with you does not include travel/stay/food component (TBL is over and above our shoot charges) and is only valid for the city/cities mentioned in your proposal.

We can either make the travel bookings ourselves and charge you on actuals or the bookings can be done at your end. Please note that at times due to our availability in your city  because of our prior assignment or otherwise, we may not charge any travel fee (please check with us for your case before making the travel bookings. Food, local travel and stay will still be required).

Please also note that at times we may need local travel and stay even for locations within Delhi NCR and Mumbai if your event locations are far from our offices. Its always best to refer to your proposal mail for your specific case. Food for the whole crew during the course of the shoot is required in all the shoots which we do, irrespective of the location of the shoot (i.e. within Delhi NCR, Mumbai or outside these regions).

We use Sony A7S III, Sony A7 4/ Sony A7 R5, Canon R5/R6 (mark I and II), 1DX II etc. throughout for candid photography, traditional photography, traditional videography and candid cinematography.

Apart from that we use zhiyun crane 2 gimbals, ronin mx/s gimbals, glide cams, cine sliders, fig rigs, go pros, dji mavic pro 2 drones. FPV drones, wireless radio triggers, filters, studio lights, AD 200 pro and of course the best in class lenses such as 14 mm f/2.8, 16-35 mm f/2.8, 24-70 mm f/2.8, 70-200 mm f/2.8 IS, 100 mm f/2.8 macro, 24 mm f/1.4, 50 mm f/1.4, 35 mm f/1.4, 24-105 f/4L IS among others.

But an old saying remains true, its the photographer, not the camera.

Depending upon the type of shoot, we do carry specialised lights (modern sophisticated flashes, ring lights, stand lights and other forms of studio lights). 

For corporate events, it is very important that you invest in good lighting (particularly face lights) at the venue as light plays a key role photography and videography services.

During the storyboarding process, we ask for your decor and setup pictures so that we can give our inputs, wherever required, in terms of what type of lighting will be suitable. To help us further enhance the beauty of the output, we carry our continuous and strobe lights.

As a part of CandidShutters.com, we have been shooting corporate events, films and documentaries since 2012, however, due to ever growing work profile and the need for a specialised and separate division catering to corporate requirements, we came up with CandidShutters Media as a separate brand name and candidshutters.media as separate website only recently.

As best branding and campaign photographers and videographers, we have worked with biggest of industry leading brands to emerging start ups and government agencies.

As we are all about tailor made solutions to suit your business’s needs and requirements, our pricing is also customisable depending on the requirement and scope of work. However, one uniform offering across our association with your business/brand would be ‘An experience and output worth much more than your investment’.

You will receive GST invoices for all the payments made to us.

Our work hours start from the time we reach your venue and end at the time we leave. We do count whatever hours we are asked to wait in between even if we are not shooting.

The final cost (as mentioned in your confirmation mail/pro forma invoice) is calculated basis the schedule/requirement which is told to us at the beginning (during the finalisation process).

Any changes in the requirement or extension in the timings or duration will be charged over and above the total amount, for eg. if the initial schedule says that events will get over by 12:00 hours  and if they get extended and end by 5 am then there will be extra charges.

50% of the confirmed amount is what we charge when you book us. Do remember that the booking is confirmed only once we get the payment in our account. The remaining 50% is payable on the day of shoot (or as per mutually agreed payment terms).

Please remember that we will start editing your photos and videos only when we have realised all the payments as per the payment terms. Any delivery timeline given to you will therefore get extended if there is a deviation from those terms.

In our company’s history we have never come across a case where cancellations have happened. However, incase they do; we demand 100% payment as we would have blocked the dates, crew and equipment for those dates and hence it's a complete loss for us.

That’s the easiest part, just browse through our pictures and videos and then click here to contact us and we will take it up from there.

Find this all confusing? Never mind, give us a call at 080804 70280 (India and rest of the world) and let’s talk.

The process:

1. You email/call and convey or fill the form and send us your requirements. We work out a proposal and mail it across to you.
2. You go through the proposal and finalise.
3. We share a contract with you with all the details and deliverables, timelines and payment terms and a pro forma invoice.
4. You raise a purchase order, pay the advance and we block our dates.
5. We share a questionnaire with you and start the storyboarding process. We understand your references, your requirements etc. so that we know what exactly we have to shoot and deliver.
6. On the day of your shoot, we arrive and carry out the shoot. You pay us the remaining payment.
7. We raise and send you the final GST invoice.
8. Within the stipulated timeline, we edit your photos and films/videos and deliver the output to you.

For us, knowing your requirements, your preferences, your style, your music taste, your event schedule are as important as the shoot itself.

To make sure that all of us are on the same page, we came up with the concept of storyboarding (otherwise normally used in commercial film production) sometime around 2013-2014; a first in this industry.

Before the shoot, we share a small questionnaire with you to kickstart the process.

A regular communication between you and us (responses, questions, suggestions etc.) leading upto the shoot and post that during the edit phase ensures that our deliverables exceed your expectations.

Whether editing is done on the photos and videos which we shoot or they are delivered straight from the camera, depends upon your requirements and the kind of package you choose while signing up with us. Let us know your preferences while signing up and we will deliver accordingly.

1. Candid photos: During the edit process, the best of the photos are shortlisted and colour correction is done on them. The scope of edit is limited to enhancing the colours, minor cropping and putting different tones only.
2. Cinematic films and highlight films: Best of the shots are selected and put on a timeline. Carefully selected music is put and the visuals are matched with the audio bed. Colour correction is done on the final output to enhance the colours.
3. Traditional videos: Best of the shots are selected and put on a timeline. Matching music is put. Text titles are put in the beginning.
4. Traditional photos: Best of the shots are selected and given to you. No colour correction/enhancement is done.

Please note that some shoots require specialised edits and hence will have a different scope of work (the same will be mentioned in your confirmation email).

If you do not opt for edited photos/videos then the raw data can be given to you on the shoot location itself or online through our cloud based delivery system (in compressed format) or in your hard drives/SSDs depending on the payment and delivery terms as per the confirmation mail.

In case of edited photos and videos the following are applicable:

Your edited photos/videos will be made available to you online through our cloud based delivery system, within the stipulated timeline as given in your confirmation email.

For full resolution final data and raw data delivery we require that:

1. You provide us with at least 2 blank (Western Digital or better) hard drives/SSDs when we arrive for the shoot.
2. Your entire raw data will be stored in these hard drives or SSDs along with their backups (yes we will give you the entire raw data - all the photos and videos which we shoot).
3. The edited material will be stored in these hard drives/SSDs as well.
4. Post the completion of edits (once the online delivery has been done), all the hard drives/SSDs will be returned to you (free delivery within Indian territorial limits and delivery charges on actuals outside India). These hard drives/SSDs will contain all the raw data as well as all the edited media in full resolution. Multiple drives shall ensure backup to safeguard your data from any hardware failure.

If you do not provide us with hard drives/SSDs then it will not be possible for us to give you raw data. Please note that as per our data policy, we will not be able to retain your raw data beyond 8 weeks from the date of delivery of edited data.

We normally provide about 125-150 edited candid photos per day of shoot (these are the carefully selected and edited photographs from the entire raw dump). There is no upper or lower limit from our side on these numbers. The numbers totally depend on the contents of your event and how much we get to shoot. Accordingly, these numbers might vary.

The above average is for corporate events. In case of headshots, product shoots, industrial photography, school photography and other specialised shoots the numbers are different and will be mentioned in your confirmation email.

In case you do not opt for edited photos then the entire raw data is delivered as is. Again there is no upper limit from our side on the number of photos (the number of photos depend on the activities in your events and how much we get to shoot).

We do not place any upper limit on any of our films/videos. Their duration depends upon the scope of the shoot, type of shoot and your requirement.

Having said that, the ideal duration of an event film is 8-12 minutes and an event highlight film is 2-4 minutes. The coverage/traditional videos are longer and typically run into 30 minutes to 1 hour per major event (again depending upon the event duration itself).

We shoot in 4K. However sometimes (depending on the shoot requirements) we do shoot in HD as well.

Data backup is very important and has been at the core of our processes since inception.

During the shoot itself, all the captured media gets immediately backed up in two hard drives and remains that way throughout the course of the edit. 

The editing happens on a third copy. The processed output, apart from being sent online through cloud servers, also gets backed up in two hard drives for safety.

The data remains backed up till you download the edited files or till the hard drives/SSDs reach you (if you have opted for them).

At CandidShutters Media, we strive hard to deliver your photos and videos to you as per the agreed timeline. This timeline maybe different for different customers and is communicated to our customers very clearly when they signup for our services.

Once you receive your photos and videos, you will get 7 days to suggest changes (only 1 set of comprehensive changes will be entertained), if any. If we do not receive any changes by this time then we will consider that you are happy with the products (which most of the time you will be :)) and we will close the project from our side.

We maintain your raw and processed data for 8 weeks from the date of delivery of the edited work. Post that, due to space constraints, we flush out our data servers to give space to newer projects. 

In case you need raw data then do provide us with hard drives/SSDs so that the raw can be delivered to you. In case the drives are not provided to us then as per the above terms, the raw data is flushed from our servers after 8 weeks from the date of delivery of edited work.

In our line of work, you are as good as your last work and hence it becomes very important for us to share our work online on our website and various social media channels. However, we do understand that sometimes the photos and videos might be confidential or at times proprietary and hence we never publish them. In case you have a certain preference then do let us know and we will happily abide by it. 

There are two types of photography services and two types of videography services. They are relevant for corporate events and are explained below:

1. Candid photography: This service entails taking natural photographs without asking anyone to pose for the camera. These photos are the ones which look most beautiful and are shot with a mix of different lenses, angles and lights and require the service of an experienced candid photographer.
2. Traditional photography: This service involves taking posed photographs and is usually suitable for group shots, awards etc. 
3. Cinematography: This service requires the person to capture the event in a documentary style by using different lenses, positioning himself/herself in different angles and manoeuvring the camera in different styles. The output looks beautiful and requires the services of an experienced candid cinematographer.
4. Traditional videography: This involves coverage of the event in its entirety so that you get a video documentation of everything that happened. This is useful for panel discussions, speeches, awards, performances etc.

Please note that for documentary shoots, brand films, interviews, product shoots etc. the above categorisation is not valid.

Unlike other photography service providers, our USP is the strong back-up of a talented pool of photographers.

In case of unforeseen circumstances, we assure you a backup of an equally good photographer who would do full justice to your event.