What to do off the wedding season?
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Wedding photography, unlike other types of photography, is a seasonal business, as most of the orders come from spring to autumn. For many photographers it is a hard time as it brings no earnings, yet it also has some advantages. Off the season one may rearrange his/her business and spend more time promoting his/her own brand.
A list of ideas of what you can do, below:
1. Ensure greater visibility on the web, publish your works in new places. When organizing the wedding of their dreams, the brides seek inspiration on many popular blogs, such as: https://junebugweddings.com/wedding-blog/ and other similar. Publication of finished materials (reportages / engagement sessions photos / wedding sessions) in such places is a perfect opportunity to present yourself to a wider audience. It is about the people from outside of the community which you have managed to gather on your profiles in social media. If you only show your photos on your own blog – you only reach people that already know you.
In my view, this game is about a continuous acquisition of new fans who would later become my clients and invest money in my photos. It is worth to use Google to search for wedding blogs on which it would be good to publish your works. Look through first 10 search results for the entry “wedding blog” in search of pages that match your aesthetics.
http://photonesto9671.timeforchangecounselling.com/what-to-do-off-the-wedding-season
2. Organize your own blog entries
Read the posts you uploaded some time ago. Start from the oldest ones (perhaps they contain some typos). Maybe some photos do not longer match the image you want to promote on the web? The overview of presented photos is particularly important as most couples will review your photos “cool”. So far, you are just another photographer from the Internet for them.
Remember, that at the first stage (those potential clients) had not (yet) fallen in love with your work. I bet some of your posts were made in a hot-head mode. That’s normal. The photographers have an emotional attitude to their photos. When you finish that – check the archives too. It is quite possible that there are some stories among the unpublished ones that deserve public presentation. It is a good idea to refresh the old posts by re-working the photos (if you think that you have made progress in this respect recently) or add new captions to old photos.
3. Overview of the tools you use
During the season there is no time to search for novelties and test alternative tools. Who does not know that: “it’s September and the clients from June did not get their photos yet”.
Instead of watching another series on Netflix you may look the Internet through to find better or cheaper solutions. That’s exactly how I found Photonesto (www.photonesto.com), a stunning gallery of photographs which unlike the others, does not require subscriptions and costs me absolutely nothing out of season. Moreover, the tool itself is fully professional and really easy to use.
That is why I highly recommend you to visit their webpage, www.photonesto.com. If it comes to other tools worth recommending then check the Photomechanic (https://home.camerabits.com/), a tool for super fast photo selection.
4. Sending the photos out
Today, every single company has a fan page on Facebook and Instagram. We all need a big number of photos. A photographer has plenty of them. Choose some favorite companies
from the last season and send them some shots from the weddings on which you had worked together.
5. Joint photo session
You are usually shy. You are wondering how to make some contacts with great wedding industry companies. The easiest method would be to organize a joint photo session. The
photographs that you take would then go forth. That would be something like the legendary “2 in 1”. You will make some new connections and at the same time you will promote your
photos in a viral style.
6. Wedding fairs
Perhaps it is worth to log out from the Internet for some time? Wedding fairs may be a perfect place to acquire a large number of customer in a short time. There is no better
occasion to perform a training based on the conversations with the clients. During just one day you will take several dozens of them.
7. Meetings with other photographers
Meeting other people working in the same industry may be inspiring. The network among the photographers may be of great importance in the future. There are plenty of opportunities in which it turns out to be useful. It is a good idea to take part in various types of photographers meetings or other events organized by large companies offering the equipment.
8. Take part in workshops / conferences
I am sure you already do it. Apart from the knowledge itself – taking part in wedding photography courses means a large dose of energy for the upcoming wedding season. The best ideas are born while listening to other photographers. In recent years, the training offer has been really extensive. Sometimes it’s even hard to chose.
What to do off the wedding season?
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comments (0)
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Wedding photography, unlike other types of photography, is a seasonal business, as most of the orders come from spring to autumn. For many photographers it is a hard time as it brings no earnings, yet it also has some advantages. Off the season one may rearrange his/her business and spend more time promoting his/her own brand.
A list of ideas of what you can do, below:
1. Ensure greater visibility on the web, publish your works in new places. When organizing the wedding of their dreams, the brides seek inspiration on many popular blogs, such as: https://junebugweddings.com/wedding-blog/ and other similar. Publication of finished materials (reportages / engagement sessions photos / wedding sessions) in such places is a perfect opportunity to present yourself to a wider audience. It is about the people from outside of the community which you have managed to gather on your profiles in social media. If you only show your photos on your own blog – you only reach people that already know you.
In my view, this game is about a continuous acquisition of new fans who would later become my clients and invest money in my photos. It is worth to use Google to search for wedding blogs on which it would be good to publish your works. Look through first 10 search results for the entry “wedding blog” in search of pages that match your aesthetics.
https://xippusc83x.wixsite.com/photonesto7533/post/what-to-do-off-the-wedding-season
2. Organize your own blog entries
Read the posts you uploaded some time ago. Start from the oldest ones (perhaps they contain some typos). Maybe some photos do not longer match the image you want to promote on the web? The overview of presented photos is particularly important as most couples will review your photos “cool”. So far, you are just another photographer from the Internet for them.
Remember, that at the first stage (those potential clients) had not (yet) fallen in love with your work. I bet some of your posts were made in a hot-head mode. That’s normal. The photographers have an emotional attitude to their photos. When you finish that – check the archives too. It is quite possible that there are some stories among the unpublished ones that deserve public presentation. It is a good idea to refresh the old posts by re-working the photos (if you think that you have made progress in this respect recently) or add new captions to old photos.
3. Overview of the tools you use
During the season there is no time to search for novelties and test alternative tools. Who does not know that: “it’s September and the clients from June did not get their photos yet”.
Instead of watching another series on Netflix you may look the Internet through to find better or cheaper solutions. That’s exactly how I found Photonesto (www.photonesto.com), a stunning gallery of photographs which unlike the others, does not require subscriptions and costs me absolutely nothing out of season. Moreover, the tool itself is fully professional and really easy to use.
That is why I highly recommend you to visit their webpage, www.photonesto.com. If it comes to other tools worth recommending then check the Photomechanic (https://home.camerabits.com/), a tool for super fast photo selection.
4. Sending the photos out
Today, every single company has a fan page on Facebook and Instagram. We all need a big number of photos. A photographer has plenty of them. Choose some favorite companies
from the last season and send them some shots from the weddings on which you had worked together.
5. Joint photo session
You are usually shy. You are wondering how to make some contacts with great wedding industry companies. The easiest method would be to organize a joint photo session. The
photographs that you take would then go forth. That would be something like the legendary “2 in 1”. You will make some new connections and at the same time you will promote your
photos in a viral style.
6. Wedding fairs
Perhaps it is worth to log out from the Internet for some time? Wedding fairs may be a perfect place to acquire a large number of customer in a short time. There is no better
occasion to perform a training based on the conversations with the clients. During just one day you will take several dozens of them.
7. Meetings with other photographers
Meeting other people working in the same industry may be inspiring. The network among the photographers may be of great importance in the future. There are plenty of opportunities in which it turns out to be useful. It is a good idea to take part in various types of photographers meetings or other events organized by large companies offering the equipment.
8. Take part in workshops / conferences
I am sure you already do it. Apart from the knowledge itself – taking part in wedding photography courses means a large dose of energy for the upcoming wedding season. The best ideas are born while listening to other photographers. In recent years, the training offer has been really extensive. Sometimes it’s even hard to chose.
A few tips on how to handle family sessions
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Family sessions are one of the hardest. The kids often don’t want to have their photos taken, and their idea for photos is definitely different from the one of their parents. Moreover, interrupted play, as a lady with a camera came, or the necessity to put on not necessarily comfortable clothes and constant reprimands of the parents do not really help here. Here is what you have to know for such a session to be successful:
#1 Do not force
First of all, never ever force a child to do anything. Especially to pose, to do what he/she doesn’t want, etc. Encourage, try in hundred ways, yet do not force. If you dream of a pose but the child does not want to cooperate… well, let it go then. Change the dream. Change the pose. Change the attitude. Why? Just not to discourage the child. That is my motto. What we really want is a customer who gets back and is satisfied, right?
#2 Parents’ trust
https://colynnur0a.wixsite.com/photonesto2772/post/a-few-tips-on-how-to-handle-family-sessions-1
Second of all, inform the parents to let you do everything freely, in accordance with your own idea, if possible. That is, ask them not to say “look there”, “look at the lady”, “look in the camera”, “come on, smile” every 5 seconds. Oh dear… put yourself in the child’s place – that just can’t be nice. Let that be just
your part. And they? Their help is priceless when you ask for it. Instead of that, build a relation with the child / children from the very beginning of the session, and as I say “go with the flow”. Observe children’s behavior, what you can persuade them to do and what not to, how to outwit them, how to make some jokes with them, etc.
#3 Manage the chaos
No one pays attention to you…? Parents are shouting at the kids, and kids, just like kids…. Don’t worry about that – that’s quite normal. Noise and chaos do not help children to focus. They’re getting out of their minds when a few people talk to them at the same time and at some point no message reaches them anymore.
That is exactly why you don’t want the parents to encourage the children to look at the camera lens. You want to have this final argument when you want all of them to look at you at a given moment. I assure you that the photos of everybody looking at the camera are highly desired. Every single family wants to have some of that kind, even if they think that they don’t want it now. If you can do everything your own way, you need to act at full power to make the child, or two children, or sometimes even three, interested. No one said that would be easy!
#4 Patience
Have patience. For children? Not necessarily only for children. Sometimes you need more patience for parents, who, for instance, check who got dirty where, what got wrinkled and who has spiky hair every 5 seconds.. I wish you only have such parents who do not fear jumping in the puddles, rolling on the grass and good fun. However, when you happen to hit on a perfectionist mother or a father who is not interested in the subject…. That’s exactly when you should use your super power – the patience.
#5 Real moments
The fifth point I shall focus on funny and spontaneous faces. If there are children who can walk and you can generally freely communicate with them on the session – offer them a crazy and unexpected attack on their parents. My permanent trick. The mother and the father are sitting backwards and you ask them to ignore what is going on around them completely. At the same time, you take the child aside and arrange what kind of pranks he/she is going to do to his/her parents. I recommend the classics – a child runs in between the parents, “attacks” them from the side, hugs madly or jumps on their back… What will the result be? I never know. Yet, in 9 out of 10 cases, that turns out to be a jackpot shot. You must observe what is happening for a while after this surprise. These are the moments which are the most real.
#6 Take care of your own shape
If you are not in a good shape and don’t like to move I may disappoint you – you will never be a good family photographer. I shall recommend you to squat, roll, jump and run with the kids – that is, to take photos and play with them at the same height. Thanks to that, you have better shots at a better level, and not always from the top. That also makes you gain in the eyes of a child. The more points you score, the more they do for you at the session. You will even persuade them to take boring poses, or at least get them tired, so that they want to hug their mum and dad at the end of the session. That’s so easy, yet we often forget about that…
#7 Variable session pace
When you happen to hit a kid, who already walks, runs and therefore runs away from the frame – do not panic. Let him run. Here comes my good advice: change the pace of the session. I recommend running / a moment of calm hugging / running / an attempt to set a family pose / running / mum with the child / running / dad with the child … all that not to get the child bored and to distract his attention. My aim is not only to avoid discouraging the kid from taking the photos, yet make him/her like that – make him/her remember that was fun with a strange, yet funny lady. And not just as a session with a photographer.
#8 Results preview
Let the child see what he/she looks like in the photo. Seriously. Of course, I am talking about some older children. I have noticed that both boys and girls are happy when they see how nice they look like. At that stage, the children are often also interested in my camera and want to take a photo. I let them do that, yet with assurance obviously. The small photographer takes a photo of his/her parents and I get more appreciated by this tiny model.
#9 Engage the family to select the photos
As you can see, the result of a family photo session may be entirely unexpected. What I have learnt making family sessions is that one cannot plan too much. That is why, it is a good idea to engage the family to select the photos. I do it in such a way: after the session finishes, I sit down and make a preliminary selection of photos, I reject blurry photo, poorly framed, etc. What is left I share with the parents in a form of an Internet photo gallery. Naturally, erything protected with a watermark.
Photonesto is a perfect tool for that. It looks great, is intuitive for the clients and allows you to make a selection and purchase some additional photos.
I rework and share the photos selected by the family. I hope that the tips presented will be helpful for you and will let you feel well in the world of family photography.
A few tips on how to handle family sessions
|
|
comments (0)
|
Family sessions are one of the hardest. The kids often don’t want to have their photos taken, and their idea for photos is definitely different from the one of their parents. Moreover, interrupted play, as a lady with a camera came, or the necessity to put on not necessarily comfortable clothes and constant reprimands of the parents do not really help here. Here is what you have to know for such a session to be successful:
#1 Do not force
First of all, never ever force a child to do anything. Especially to pose, to do what he/she doesn’t want, etc. Encourage, try in hundred ways, yet do not force. If you dream of a pose but the child does not want to cooperate… well, let it go then. Change the dream. Change the pose. Change the attitude. Why? Just not to discourage the child. That is my motto. What we really want is a customer who gets back and is satisfied, right?
#2 Parents’ trust
Second of all, inform the parents to let you do everything freely, in accordance with your own idea, if possible. That is, ask them not to say “look there”, “look at the lady”, “look in the camera”, “come on, smile” every 5 seconds. Oh dear… put yourself in the child’s place – that just can’t be nice. Let that be just
your part. And they? Their help is priceless when you ask for it. Instead of that, build a relation with the child / children from the very beginning of the session, and as I say “go with the flow”. Observe children’s behavior, what you can persuade them to do and what not to, how to outwit them, how to make some jokes with them, etc.
#3 Manage the chaos
No one pays attention to you…? Parents are shouting at the kids, and kids, just like kids…. Don’t worry about that – that’s quite normal. Noise and chaos do not help children to focus. They’re getting out of their minds when a few people talk to them at the same time and at some point no message reaches them anymore.
That is exactly why you don’t want the parents to encourage the children to look at the camera lens. You want to have this final argument when you want all of them to look at you at a given moment. I assure you that the photos of everybody looking at the camera are highly desired. Every single family wants to have some of that kind, even if they think that they don’t want it now. If you can do everything your own way, you need to act at full power to make the child, or two children, or sometimes even three, interested. No one said that would be easy!
#4 Patience
Have patience. For children? Not necessarily only for children. Sometimes you need more patience for parents, who, for instance, check who got dirty where, what got wrinkled and who has spiky hair every 5 seconds.. I wish you only have such parents who do not fear jumping in the puddles, rolling on the grass and good fun. However, when you happen to hit on a perfectionist mother or a father who is not interested in the subject…. That’s exactly when you should use your super power – the patience.
#5 Real moments
The fifth point I shall focus on funny and spontaneous faces. If there are children who can walk and you can generally freely communicate with them on the session – offer them a crazy and unexpected attack on their parents. My permanent trick. The mother and the father are sitting backwards and you ask them to ignore what is going on around them completely. At the same time, you take the child aside and arrange what kind of pranks he/she is going to do to his/her parents. I recommend the classics – a child runs in between the parents, “attacks” them from the side, hugs madly or jumps on their back… What will the result be? I never know. Yet, in 9 out of 10 cases, that turns out to be a jackpot shot. You must observe what is happening for a while after this surprise. These are the moments which are the most real.
#6 Take care of your own shape
If you are not in a good shape and don’t like to move I may disappoint you – you will never be a good family photographer. I shall recommend you to squat, roll, jump and run with the kids – that is, to take photos and play with them at the same height. Thanks to that, you have better shots at a better level, and not always from the top. That also makes you gain in the eyes of a child. The more points you score, the more they do for you at the session. You will even persuade them to take boring poses, or at least get them tired, so that they want to hug their mum and dad at the end of the session. That’s so easy, yet we often forget about that…
#7 Variable session pace
When you happen to hit a kid, who already walks, runs and therefore runs away from the frame – do not panic. Let him run. Here comes my good advice: change the pace of the session. I recommend running / a moment of calm hugging / running / an attempt to set a family pose / running / mum with the child / running / dad with the child … all that not to get the child bored and to distract his attention. My aim is not only to avoid discouraging the kid from taking the photos, yet make him/her like that – make him/her remember that was fun with a strange, yet funny lady. And not just as a session with a photographer.
#8 Results preview
Let the child see what he/she looks like in the photo. Seriously. Of course, I am talking about some older children. I have noticed that both boys and girls are happy when they see how nice they look like. At that stage, the children are often also interested in my camera and want to take a photo. I let them do that, yet with assurance obviously. The small photographer takes a photo of his/her parents and I get more appreciated by this tiny model.
#9 Engage the family to select the photos
As you can see, the result of a family photo session may be entirely unexpected. What I have learnt making family sessions is that one cannot plan too much. That is why, it is a good idea to engage the family to select the photos. I do it in such a way: after the session finishes, I sit down and make a preliminary selection of photos, I reject blurry photo, poorly framed, etc. What is left I share with the parents in a form of an Internet photo gallery. Naturally, erything protected with a watermark.
Photonesto is a perfect tool for that. It looks great, is intuitive for the clients and allows you to make a selection and purchase some additional photos.
I rework and share the photos selected by the family. I hope that the tips presented will be helpful for you and will let you feel well in the world of family photography.
How by slightly tweaking my sales model I increased my earnings by 60%
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http://photonesto-brilliant-photo-gallery-4413.245662.n8.nabble.com/how-by-slightly-tweaking-my-sales-model-i-increased-my-earnings-by-60-tp42.html
I'm a photographer specializing in family, baby and pregnancy sessions. I have my own
studio where I work. Some time ago, going through posts published on one of the Facebook
groups for photographers, I came across an interesting discussion and decided to make an
experiment related to it. Let me tell you about it below.
What to do when a client wants to buy more photos than he previously ordered?
The discussion was about photos not included in the package the client buys before the
session. A photographer asked about the best way to sell them if the client asks for them
after the session. If such situation occurs, she doesn’t have enough time to go through the
unprocessed photos again. What’s more, her computer doesn’t have enough space to keep
all of them.
A fellow photographer replied that when she sends a gallery from the session to the client, in
addition to the photos selected as part of the package, she also attaches unprocessed
photos in case the client wants to buy them. If this is the case, the client chooses which
additional photos he wants, he pays for them, and she processes them and sends them
back. That way, she doesn't waste time dealing with photos that won't be sold.
My experiment
Inspired, I instantly decided to implement a new sales model. Until now, my offer included
two types of sessions, which differed in duration and number of makeovers. I gave each
client a different number of photos, depending on how good our cooperation was. But I have
always committed to provide a minimum of 10 retouched photographs in high resolution.
My experiment introduced two fundamental changes: I began to specify the number of
photos the client will get as a part of the package and I gave clients the opportunity to
purchase additional photos. I admit that I had great concerns about what my clients will think
about the new sales model. I was worried they will think I am trying to take advantage of
them or persuade them to buy something they don’t really want.
My price list before and after the experiment:
My work pattern after making changes:
1. The client chooses the package and we arrange a photoshoot.
2. The client pays a deposit or makes a full payment; I take pictures.
3. I make a preliminary selection: I reject shots that are out of focus, poorly cropped and not
suitable for further work.
4. I put a watermark on all the unprocessed photos and send them to the client.
5. The client selects photos as part of the package and decides on additional photos.
6. I process the chosen photos and send them back to the client.
The tool I chose for my experiment
It turned out it was not an easy job to find a tool that would support my new way of working.
Most online platforms for photographers don't offer the features I needed, such as adding
watermarks or sales and photo selection options. Those that offer them, usually are not that
user friendly. But I found Photonesto, which gives all these options, is very intuitive and
offers a clear summary of each order.
Results of my experiment
In order for the experiment to give reliable results, I decided to perform 20 photoshoots in
the new model.
The results are included in the table below:
The prices from the table differ slightly from the price list presented above: some of the clients participating in the
experiment are my regular clients with whom I negotiate prices individually.
The results were fantastic: 90% of my clients chose to buy additional photos, which
significantly increased my profit! Interestingly, also the clients were positively surprised
by my new offer. Most of them said it was honest and they were happy about an option of
choosing photos themselves and buying extra photos if they liked them. This is yet another
proof that it’s worth setting a just price on your services and investing in professional
solutions!
Summary of the increase in sales profit after the introduction of the new model:
More sales, transparent price list and clear rules of cooperation
The increase in sales profit by over 60% (by PLN 6,810) is a lot. There is not much one
needs to add to that. And yet I will. Because this experiment showed me two important
things: that it is highly valuable to draw from other photographers’ experiences and that one
needs to constantly improve own business strategy.
Thanks to a conversation I accidentally came across, I completely changed the way I work.
What’s more, I decided to stay with this new model for longer. Apart from the financial
benefits, it has many other advantages. Firstly, I give my clients a clear price list and
manage their expectations well, because the terms of cooperation are set at the very
beginning. Secondly, I save my time as I only deal with photos that clients liked and paid for.
I don't waste time on photographs that I will never sell. In addition, this model works well with
those tricky clients who might want to get more photos for the same price. With a clearly set
price list and a good program for selling photos, this is not an option at all. My new sales
model protects both my clients and me. And it gives me confidence that I offer the best
service I can.
