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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
11-12-2016, 10:30 PM
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Thanks Winder. Good to know. I'll go check out ebay to see what kind of kits are available. We're just talking um... what's the term, strobe? lights with the light stands, right?
Am currently trying to set up online prints with zenfolio. Have you had any experience with them?
Trying to sort out sizing for digital downloads is giving me a headache.
One of the customers suggest exporting at 1800x1200 as the standard for people to download.
I cropped my shots based on what I thought looked best. Some of them are square, and some of them are non standard sized rectangles.
If people get the choice to purchase their print in either 4x6 or 8x10 or 5x7, then doesn't the nature of the cropped image change? How do I ensure that the image always prints out the way I want it too?
Am I missing something?
And how do I determine whether the 1800x1200 is the same as a 4x6 or 5x7 etc? Maths is not my strong point....
ETA: I've played around a bit with a ratio calculator, and I think I may be able to answer my own question... to simply to decide on one set size for all images. It's the only thing I can think of. So if I have lightroom crops set to 8x10s, and that's the largest size I'm offering for them to purchase, then I should also do the 4x5 smaller sizes and let the wallets be whatever crop it has to be. The diference is less than an inch. It should be 3.125" but the wallet size is actually 3.5. So I imagine they'll be enlarged a little...
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
11-08-2016, 09:57 PM
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Thanks so much for your awesome advice! I feel less sick about my initial pricing and how much work I put in now. Your photobook idea is awesome!
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
11-08-2016, 04:10 PM
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Thanks Brian. You have a point :)
Yes, I am also trying to be more brutal when culling. Easier with your own photos as opposed to photos of someone's child.... but I guess the same theory does in fact apply.. :cool::lol:
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
11-08-2016, 02:50 PM
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Ok. So put them up the extras without the option to buy? Just so they get an idea of what else i can do?
I'll go take a look at website gallery options.
The candids are all done - no going back in time!
I also don't have the same amount for every child, so not 100% sure parents will think that's fair. Although i guess i could do family specific albums..
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
11-07-2016, 11:28 PM
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Thanks everyone for your comments and encouragements. It helps to hear from everyone and it's enlightening to know what everyone is doing too.
My customers are parents of kids who want special pics of their kids. Preferably the ones who prefer candid and 'lifestyle' type. Not just the posed shots. Having said that most of my shots that I took ended up being posed. They were the quick and easy ones. The more candid shots I really had to work for. Ironic, really. But it's what I take. And it's been an interesting lesson taking the posed stuff. It was surprisingly more easy than I thought. Directing eager to please pliable children who want their photo taken are a dream. :lol: Then there's the ones you need to run around for.
Yes, my plan was to get my name out there using these photos and then sell real portrait sessions to the parents.
I have a portfolio of my daughter in candid lifestyle poses. As well as a lot of the keepers that I took of the kids at preschool. But I was thinking of just giving the 3 best of the ones I took to each parent.
I spoke to the preschool today and we talked about me doing more 'canned' posed shots and being more efficient on the whole. I explained to her how at the end of the day I was going to be lucky to make $15 an hour doing this. She was understanding and supportive. Which was good. She also suggested I talk to the parents at the christmas bbq to gauge interest and see if they were happy with their shots and get some feedback for next year.
I use a af280t atm for when light is bad. It does the job when needed (in areas when chasing the kids inside when the windows are too far away), but the reset time drives me crazy. And I'm using eneloops!
I've used it maybe for 3 of my sessions with the kids, and they've done the job. But they have a room at the back with a floor to ceiling window, and the shots from there work much better. So I think next time I'm going to just confine my shooting to there.
I did that this morning for my final child (one while they were playing, one crawling through a tunnel and the third just standing in front of a kid's kitchen area. They did the job. I didn't sweat it and try to be too arty. She was my last subject, and I had lots of errands to run in town today. I also decided that I would stick with the 3 shots, and really, I need to be more efficient. The images look ok to my eye.
I don't have permission to use the images I took this week to put on my website. I guess I could ask for referrals and see if I could do it that way. What you're suggesting is not to give the best cream of the crop shots in the portfolio. That's a gamble, isn't it? Is that too much upsell? They've already paid the $50 and now you're holding the best stuff for ransom? No? Am I overthinking it?Save
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
11-07-2016, 10:23 AM
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So I've been kicking around here for a while, taking photos of everything and anything, doing SIngles In for the last 3 years, and generally shooting for close to 10 years or so (my goodness, has it really been that long?!).
Got started into children's photography documenting my little girl three years ago and caught the bug hard. She became my muse. I'd take my camera with me to play dates etc and start documenting her interacting with her friends. I found the candids I took the most satisfying. Grabbing the look of joy or laughter as the kids played.
I also enjoyed the challenge of grabbing the shot of her friends, and the chance to edit and process photos of children other than my own.
I'd send the photos to the parents and they started commenting that I should make a business out of it. Initially I laughed it off, but I've been toying with the idea more and more of late. And when the opportunity to do my daughter's 'preschool photos' came up, I jumped at the chance.
That's 23 kids.
It's taken about a week's worth of work, and including photo editing, I'm guessing in total it's going to be about 50 hours worth of work. (Still need to go back in tomorrow to grab 2 more kids and finalise editing)
Getting stranger kids to smile at you is harder than you think. And being constantly 'up' is exhausting.
Because I spent so much time chasing the kids around trying to grab those 'perfect' shots that I personally love (the candid smiles etc), I am now swamped with dozens of images that I'm happy with.
The downside is that I only charged $30 for a group shot (which is actually individual portraits of each child rather than them all sitting together in a group setting) and $50 for a group shot and a selection of additional portraits. I based my prices on what the previous photographer had paid. But I'm starting to wonder if perhaps what worked for a seasoned professional might not be what will work for me..
The previous photographer only provided 3 shots per child. But this was my first gig, and I had no idea if I could trust myself to grab the shots I needed, and wanted to be safer than sorry, so took a lot more than I probably needed.
It's a lesson learned.
I need to be more efficient in the photo taking (and possibly even the picture editing - although I'm using lightroom and I'm thinking I'm not that slow...)
If nothing else, if I only provide the best 3 (or 4) shots, then I'm saddled with so many others that I love for one reason or another, that will never see the light of day. And all I want to do is share and have the parents see a. the pictures and b. the work I do. Which means effectively that there's a lot of wasted time and effort happening for them just to be buried in my hard drive somewhere...
But now I'm starting to think Big Picture.
I'd like to do this again next year, but for the amount of money I'm going to make after I get the images printed, I think I'll be lucky to have been paid $15 an hour for my work. Which, if I want to turn this into a professional gig long term is not sustainable.
My husband has suggested a more tiered pricing system, and pointed out at the base level all the parents really want is 'a' picture. Not 'the' picture. If that makes any sense.
I've thought about it, and he's right, but I'm also worried that people won't be willing to pay for 'the pictures' and will settle for less. I also have an inner desire to only give you 'the picture' not just 'a picture' as it goes against my nature to do anything half cocked.. :o
Pricing wise, it probably doesn't help that I'm in a rural community and I haven't had all 23 sets of parents jumping at the packages - I've had a few decline outright due to financial reasons. I guess that just means I need to move target markets. I guess I'm just scared that I'll charge too much and won't get a chance to do what I enjoy. Because at the end of the day, I love being able to sit in front of my computer and open up a bunch of shots of happy children. It makes me happy.
So I'm thinking for next year:
- $35 for the group shot
- $60 for the group shot plus 3 images (most likely set up in one room with some props which I have found worked this time around - a tent with some books and one tunnel for them to crawl through)
- Maybe $90? for the group shot plus 5 images including 1-2 black and whites and some candids. the candids was what took the most amount of time - chasing the children around the playground, encouraging them to smile and really engaging with them as they chose their toys of choice (bikes, slippery dip etc). But also the most satisfying, as they were more natural smiles of children in their element.
Or would charging over $100 be better? Or should I have another mid level tier of say, $80 and then $120?
I'm just thinking if I was doing this outside of the school situation, i.e. a custom shoot I'd probably want to be charging around $100-$200 for an hour or two anyway... (or is that dreaming) so I don't want the price discrepancy between preschool photos and customised shoot to be too much. i.e. it has to make sense. Or is that overthinking it? I guess I'm just hoping that taking these photos will help get my name out there and lead to bigger shoots.
The parents at this stage don't know what they're getting. Just that they paid $50 and are getting some portrait pictures and the group shot. I started out with 4 images including one black and white. But am now starting to think perhaps I should drop it down to 3 images (possibly one black and white), even though the work has essentially been done. I'm just laying the images out now (using indesign before sending to the printer), and starting to realise how much time I've been spending on these photos etc.
I'm just trying to guess what the parents will think of the price hike next year and whether or not they may feel like they're getting jipped etc.
I plan to include my details along with the photo portfolio and make a point of saying 'for additional prints, contact...' to subtly upsell. But I also don't want to be in your face salesman about it.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on the matter and whether you think I'm on the right track, and any advice you might be able to give me.
...You know it's weighing on my mind when I start dreaming about editing photos and wake up with all these things running through my head at 3am and feel the need to come online to write to get it off my mind! :fedup::lol:Save |
