We’ve been quiet here over the last week. I had blog posts on all kinds of special topics scheduled, but I postponed them and they will be starting back up tomorrow. I was in not one…but TWO car accidents last week. I’ve never been in any so having two back to back was kind of scary. Not only where they only a day apart, but they happened in the same exact location on the street in front of my house. The first one wasn’t so bad, but the second one was huge. I had a lot of injuries to recover from and I’m still recovering from them, but feeling WAY better thanks to taking a lot of time away from the computer. I still have a lot of clean up to do from this accident, lawyers, and insurance and court and all kinds of icky stressful stuff that people shouldn’t have to deal with. Neither accident was my fault and the bigger accident which caused all the damage the driver was uninsured – which is just plain no fun.

Thank you guys for all the nice messages on Facebook and I do apologize for not getting an explanation to you sooner. I have fallen behind and I’m still trying to catch up on answering your emails! Those of you that have memberships can look forward to several new tutorials this week to make up for some lost time last week.

Anyways, just wanted to say thanks and that things will resume as normal tomorrow! Yay! I really appreciate you guys giving me the time to recover.

Carrie

1. Be Comfortable – This is the most important tip of them all. If you wear something to a photoshoot that’s not your usual style or fit and you’re tugging, pulling, adjusting, etc. your discomfort is going to show in the photos. It’s important that you feel comfortable with what you’re wearing.

2. Create A Color Palette – I always tell my clients to pick a color palette before shooting and often times we end up going with what their wedding colors are since I primarily shoot weddings. I typically like to work with colors in pairs and not go the “matchy” route where everyone wears the exact same color and style of outfit, but instead go with the coordinated outfits that look natural. For example, lets say you have a family of 4 and they pick their two favorite colors as peach and navy blue. Maybe mom could wear a peach sundress, dad could wear jeans with a navy blue button up shirt and the kiddos could wear a combination of colors with different articles of clothing in those colors. They could be solid or patterned. This sort of set-up works for me very well and provides a cohesive look to the photos without doing the whole everyone wears jeans and white t-shirts thing.

3. Test Outfits Prior to the Shoot – It’s always good to try on outfits and see how they look and feel before coming to the photoshoot. That way there are no surprises when you get there…like a hole in the armpit of your shirt.

4. Bring Options – Sometimes I don’t know what outfits I want until the day of, or I have a few outfits I like, but I can’t narrow them down. This happens to clients too and it’s good for them to bring a few different options that you can help them narrow down.

5. Accessorize – An outfit can go from drab to dynamic just by adding a tie, a bowtie, a fedora hat or for the ladies some scarves, earrings, awesome necklaces, bracelets, headbands, etc.

6. Think about Texture – Accessories and patterns add texture to an outfit which is one of the elements of art and can help you create a balanced, interesting photo in your final composition. As long as a pattern is done in moderation it can be incredibly successful in photos.

7. Avoid logos and wording – There’s something about a photo where everyone is dressed up except the teenager in his Hollister t-shirt that changes the look. Unless it’s something purposeful like a sports jersey I like to keep clothes limited to solids and patterns. No worded t-shirts or sweatshirts.

8. Instead of being Matchy-Matchy with outfits, be Matchy-Matchy with location – I love it when the clothes match the location. A rustic outfit in a rustic environment or a sleek fashionable outfit in the city. Sometimes I even love the juxtaposition of the two. Whatever you do when advising your clients or getting ready for a photoshoot yourself consider where you are being photographed and imagine what would look best there.

7. Shoes are the Best Part – Okay it’s a flat out no that unless you’re doing a fitness session, please don’t wear sneakers. There may be a few other exceptions too. Wear shoes that are cute, fit your look and are comfortable. If the shoes aren’t comfortable to be wandering and standing around on for a couple hours bring flip-flops or other shoes you can change in and out of depending on when you’re shooting or when you’re walking to a new part of the location.

Lately I’ve been using Pinterest to style shoots for my clients. I create a board for us to share, add my client to it and we start brainstorming ideas on an overall theme for their photoshoot. Pinterest is a great place for us to pick out a theme and start pinning images to go with that theme because we can both see the images and get some great ideas.

2. Allow Clients to Pin Photos

I want my clients to feel as though they’re invested in our photoshoot and it’s not just my own ideas and style. With the popularity of Pinterest a lot of users are seeing great photo ideas and it inspires them to book a photoshoot, then when they’ve booked they want to re-create these ideas. Of course, I’m all for being unique and I want my clients to book me because of my style, but I really want my clients to feel as though their opinion matters. When I create a shared board on Pinterest and let my clients pin their photo ideas it doesn’t mean we have to take every photo to heart and re-create it, but it makes them feel as though they are being heard and that their ideas for their photoshoot are as important. Rarely do I ever re-create an image on Pinterest and I make it clear to clients upfront that we may not be able to do so. However, sometimes we get to the end of a session and I’ve taken all the photos I want and offer them the opportunity to let me know what they want and we might take a few of their photo ideas and do them. If they’re not my style I just won’t post them on my website or social media.

3. Pin Your Favs to Attract Ideal Clients

As a wedding photographer I have a wedding board I like to pin to on my Pinterest account. It’s not for any sort of planning (I’m already married). It’s just cool wedding photos and decorations that I like. When a potential client is exploring my website, if they come across my Pinterest and see these photos they will know that’s my style, and if they like that style it’s a great way to put out there that these are the types of clients you want to work with most. Anything you can do to attract your ideal client is a great way to start getting quality clients who want you for your style.

4. Pin Your Own Blog Posts

I pin images from my own blog posts to help build traffic and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If someone is using Pinterest as a search engine they might come across an image of mine they love and who knows? Maybe they’ll book me. Even if they don’t, it promotes “clicks” to your website/blog. The more people are clicking to view your blog – the better your SEO marketing is. Google and other search engines register these clicks as popularity and will rate your website higher and consider it more relevant. That way when someone searches for a local photographer online your website will show up higher in their search results.

5. Find Inspiration

Sometimes the stuff I see on Pinterest is a tad cliché, yes, but there’s also some gems to be found. Even cliché ideas paired together can create something unique. I like to be inspired and I think Pinterest is a great way to do it.

6. Pin Buttons on Your Blog or Website

Put buttons on your website or blog that invite visitors to pin your work onto their pinboards – hello more traffic!!

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Talk from Behind the Camera

My favorite thing to capture are candid photos. So when I’m explaining a pose to my clients I’ve always got my camera up to my eye, and only take it down for a brief second or two if I can. The more you can talk and explain behind the camera the more candid moments you’ll catch. Sometimes explaining a pose can be fun and silly, clients will laugh and giggle as they get cozy and these are the most natural moments to catch. That’s why you want to have your camera up to your eye even during the transitions from one pose to the next.

Get to Know Your Clients Before the Shoot

One of the most popular questions I get is how to make your clients comfortable with you at the photoshoot. I honestly believe that having your clients feel comfortable around you and your camera all starts before you even take their photos. If your first time meeting them is at their photoshoot they’re going to be nervous and shy because they don’t know you and there’s not always a lot you can do to fix that. Getting to know my clients prior to the shoot is some of the most important time I spend as a photographer. I feel that in order to capture clients naturally they need to feel comfortable and trust me. They should feel like they already know me.

That’s why I do a consult with all my clients before a photoshoot, so we can get to know each other. That time is invaluable to taking better photos later. During the consult we really focus on them, and talking about their story and who they are. After a consult I like to friend my clients on Facebook. This gives me a chance to get to know them, look at their profile, comment and like things they share. By participating on their Facebook they’re more likely to participate and watch mine. It’s such an easy way for them to get to know me and for us to develop a relationship. By the time we get to their photo sessions it’s like we’ve already been friends for awhile and we know the latest and greatest about each other’s lives. All the stress and tension of being photographed goes away and we can have a great time.

Ask Questions

Inviting your clients’ input at a shoot is great. I like to ask them questions about what’s going on in their life in between poses so we can get to know more about each other. I also like to ask them questions about the photoshoot itself. Does this pose feel comfortable? Do you like this spot? Etc. Make sure that you are inviting your clients’ input and showing them you care about their opinion and that the photoshoot isn’t all about you and your vision.

Give Positive Feedback

There’s nothing like being told how to stand, feeling awkward and hearing silence from behind the camera before moving on to another pose. Make sure to tell your clients how awesome they’re doing. If they know you think they’re doing great they’re going to feel more comfortable in the next pose and so on.

If It’s Not Working, Change It

Sometimes I try certain poses or areas of a location and it doesn’t work. I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I sometimes have a tendency to pose and keep taking photos even if something isn’t working – hoping something will change. If a pose or area isn’t working, put your camera down and tell the clients, “hey guys this isn’t working as well as I thought, but you’re doing great – let’s try something else instead.”

Set Expectations

At the end of the photoshoot we usually go over the terms of what is going to happen next. I talk about when their photos will be done and tell them it was great. I set expectations so they know what to expect next and they don’t feel like I’ve left them hangin.’

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1. >Members Area<

2. Online Classes 

You can sign up for any of these classes >here<

• Having an Awesome Website - This class is all about helping you find the words and set up your website for the best results for your business! The class is happening tomorrow evening!
• Newborn Photography – Next week’s live online class is going to be all about newborn photography!
• Free Q&A Session: June – June’s free photography Q&A is filling up! Make sure you grab your spot so you can be there live and get your business and photography questions answered!

3. Mentoring - I’m so excited, a few mentoring spots have already filled up for June, but I may have room for one or two more. If you’re interested in doing a mentoring session you can sign up right online. I’m booking sessions for June and July!>Mentoring<

4. Online Workshops 

You can check them out >here< This is your last chance to register!! These workshops start this week!

• Online Wedding Photography Workshop – This is a 6 week online workshop with a small group of other wedding photographers. We talk about every aspect of weddings inside and out. Marketing, breaking down the wedding day, posing, organizing, being official, customer service…the list is long! The next workshop is this summer.
• Taking Better Photos Workshop – I had a couple of photographers ask questions about my before/after photos post I did awhile ago. We were talking about how to take those next steps to take better photos. This class goes beyond learning manual to talk a lot about composition and the artistry behind photographing. It’s a 4 week course beginning in June!

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1. Which Images?

The most important thing to consider when choosing images for your photography portfolio online is what the client sees. Your website is a marketing tool above all else. I think it’s important to only put photos up on your website of the types of clients and situations you want to photograph. Not every client of yours will be your ideal client although they  may still be wonderful. It’s important to only show the types of clients and style of photograph you want to photograph because it will help you attract those types of clients. For example, let’s say you love photographing clients who want to do vintage inspired sessions, but you did book a client who wanted to do something super modern. They were wonderful clients, but weren’t your ideal client. If you put those photos up on your website you are advertising that’s the type of photography you want to do and may attract more of those clients, despite not wanting to photograph super modern stuff.

2. How Many Images and Galleries?

I like to have 3 easy galleries. One for weddings, one for a featured wedding (that shows a whole wedding day in 30 or so images), and a portrait gallery. Too many galleries can be overwhelming, but how you set it up depends on your business structure. I keep galleries down to 15-20 photos, except featured wedding galleries. I assume people are looking at those to get a better look at a wedding as a whole and I include more photos to give a good look at the entire day’s story. I think 15 is a great amount to leave visitors wanting more. If you blog too you’ll be able to have more images on your blog and things that people won’t have seen on your website.

3. Blogs

I like to blog each of my sessions and weddings individually and show them off. I usually end up sharing anywhere between 20-40 images on my blog. I love this method as a way for visitors to see more in-depth into my portfolio and get a good idea of what an entire session looks like. I also love using >Blogstomp< to get images ready for blogging super fast. It allows me to pair some together so the blog posts aren’t as long. Although, I admittedly really struggle narrowing down my blog choices sometimes.

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Back when I was starting my business I photographed for free. I did lots of free sessions. I thought it was more important to focus on learning and regular practice then getting a profit at that time. It paid off. I spent over a year of my business doing work for free. Sometimes it was a struggle, but I’m so thankful of all the people who allowed me to photograph them for free and put up with my hideous photos. If it wasn’t for them and allowing me to practice on them I wouldn’t have learned as much and I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today (which is still learning new things).

Basically I wanted to write a blog post about when to do free shoots, what you can use them for, and some of the business aspects behind the scenes while you’re doing them.

Portfolio Building

When you’re starting out and want to learn new types of photography portfolio building is super important. For me, I never felt like I wanted to start marketing my business until I had a full portfolio and enough experience.

Still, to this very day, if there’s something I’ve never done before and want to try I’ll put together a shoot and shoot for free. It’s an excellent way to try out different types of photography, different styles, and get something different for your portfolio.

Trying Something New

A couple of years ago I got a few brand new lenses. They were Lensbaby creative lenses. Although they turned out to not be the right style for me, I didn’t want to test them all out at my clients’ sessions in case I didn’t know what I was doing or my clients didn’t like the images. So, in order for me to practice with these new toys I got some of my friends to model so I could practice a little.

Free sessions can be a great way to test out new gear, practice a new style, or try something completely out of your comfort zone to see if it’s for you.

Styled Shoots

Styled shoots are something I often do for free. Working with a set of vendors to put together a big shoot with a certain look can be a great way to get work for your portfolio with a style that you really like. It can help you attract the types of clients you want most. Often the photographers do work for free during these, as do all the other vendors who supply things like the planner, furniture, florist, venue, etc. Afterward I take the photos and give them to the other vendors so we can all benefit from the work we put together.

Putting together a styled shoot involves approaching other vendors. Sometimes they’re open and sometimes they’re not. Make sure to schedule a meeting to discuss what you’d like to do together and see if you’d be a good fit for a shoot.

Model Releases and Contracts

Even when working with someone for free ensure that they sign a model release so you can use the photos for your website and marketing. I also had clients who I photographed for free still sign a contract as well. It was important to me that the expectations were treated the same by both the client and I, even if the fee for the service was being waived. This helped to set their expectations on when photos would be finished, available, copyrights and more.

Where to Start Portfolio Building

If you’re still building your portfolio sometimes it can be hard to figure out where to start. Back when I started, I contacted my Facebook friends who were in relationships, expecting, etc. and asked about doing free shoots. After I had exhausted those possibilities I moved on to responding to ads on Craigslist from others looking for photographers. I also put up ads of my own when I was looking for someone to photograph. Always meet people before photographing them, if they’re a stranger it’s just safe!

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Although I consider the topic super important for me to know and understand as a business owner, it’s not something I prefer to share directly with clients. I don’t feel that these kinds of posts should be used to convince clients of the value of your work and how much money and time you put into it. If they don’t understand that they might not be the right clients for you. My philosophy is that you can’t teach someone to value something. I can’t teach my clients to value my photography the way I do – so I’m not going to try. My job is to just be a photographer and take photos of clients who are interested in my work. If people think my photography is too expensive, then they just don’t need to book with me. I don’t want to spend a lot of time justifying my expenses.

I really wanted to open this blog post with this “disclaimer.” I don’t think this is information you need to share with your clients. Keep their experiences and interactions with you positive. Don’t share this with them and use it to make them feel guilty about expecting to pay less for your services.  I see a lot of that happening in the industry – it might just be me, but it makes me uncomfortable. I try to put myself in my clients’ shoes when I see these posts being shared with clients. This isn’t intended as a teaching tool for clients, but as a resource for photographers who need help pricing their services. Just focus on you, how you can use this information personally to better your business, and what we, as a community, can learn from this.

Calculating Your Prices Based on your Cost of Doing Business

A lot of questions people ask are about pricing, where and how to price, where to start, etc. I understand it’s crazy and all economies are different. There’s definitely no one right answer for this question, but figuring out the cost of doing business can help you figure out what to charge so you can start making a profit at least.

Oh and it took me the last 5 years of reading “CoDB” online before realizing it stands for the “Cost of Doing Business.” Just thought I’d let you all know in case you were wondering like me.

The great thing about calculating your costs is that you can figure out your costs per hour, and then figure out what you need to make per hour working to make a profit.

Basically figuring out your cost of business should help you define what financial success looks like for you. It’s okay if it’s not the same for every person. Some photographers work day jobs, some work part-time jobs, and some are stay at home moms. Depending on your workload you might find that what your financial success looks like to you with your business might be different from others. Just don’t worry about comparing your success against someone else’s.

Business Costs

• Office/Studio
• Phone
• Equipment and Accessories
• Computers, Hardware and Software
• Internet
• Website Hosting/Fees
• Vehicle Expenses
• Office Supplies and Furniture
• Postage and Shipping
• Education (Classes, Workshops, ebooks)
• Marketing
• Subscriptions (memberships i.e. WPPI, PPA, etc.)
• Insurance
• Health Insurance
• Legal and Accounting Services
• Taxes and Licenses
• Utilities
• Travel

Calculate

Calculate all your total costs per year. Then divide your cost by month. Then consider how many sessions on average you do per month and how much you make on each of those sessions. Comparing your monthly costs to your monthly profits will help you look at if you need to book more sessions, if you want to raise your prices, etc. You can even break this down further by the hour. You can tally up how many hours per month you work toward your business and compare that to the costs per month to see how much your business is costing you per hour and how much you are making per hour.

Personally, I prefer to look at it hourly so I can make a goal toward how much I want to make per hour.

There’s a great online calculator by the NPPA (National Press Photographers Association) you can use to calculate your business costs – I highly recommend it! Check it out >here<

Business Tools Shop – Become a Member

1. >Members Area<

2. Online Classes 

You can sign up for any of these classes >here<

• Having an Awesome Website –  During this class we are going to go through some of the factors, information, and types of photos that will help your website stand out to potential clients. If you really are struggling with the content for your website, how to lay it out and how to pick photos for it come and join us! This class is next week and we’ve still got room for more registrations!
• Finding Good Locaitons– This class is happening tomorrow night and it’s something that you guys ask me about all the time – finding good locations that work for your clients!
• Free Q&A Session – June is already headed our way – anyone feel like May went by really fast?? June’s free live online Q&A session is going to be on the 17th! Make sure you’re registered!

3. Mentoring - I’m so excited, a few mentoring spots have already filled up for May, but I may have room for one or two more. If you’re interested in doing a mentoring session you can sign up right online. I’m booking sessions for June!>Mentoring<

4. Online Workshops 

You can check them out >here< These two workshops are starting NEXT WEEK!

• Online Wedding Photography Workshop – This is a 6 week online workshop with a small group of other wedding photographers. We talk about every aspect of weddings inside and out. Marketing, breaking down the wedding day, posing, organizing, being official, customer service…the list is long! The next workshop is this summer.
• Taking Better Photos Workshop – I had a couple of photographers ask questions about my before/after photos post I did awhile ago. We were talking about how to take those next steps to take better photos. This class goes beyond learning manual to talk a lot about composition and the artistry behind photographing. It’s a 4 week course beginning in June!

Awesomesauce Store – Become a Member

What is PhotoMechanic?

PhotoMechanic is editing software from Camera Bits, Inc. You can find it >here< It’s a popular editing software for sports or press type photographers who need to cull and edit photos fast to get them to media outlets. I think PhotoMechanic is primarily a workflow based editing software. It allows you to do things like cull faster, import, export, save, sort, organize, catalog, rename and a few basic editing options on top of that. This is just a small list of its capabilities.

How Much is PhotoMechanic?

No software is free, sadly, but you can do a free trial with PhotoMechanic. After your trial is up it costs about $150 (well worth it in my opinion).

How Can It Help You?

Well I don’t even know every aspect of how it works, but here’s what I use it for. When I first import my photos off my camera I save them directly to a folder in my backup drive. I take that folder and open it up in PhotoMechanic. Even for several thousand photos from a wedding it loads instantly – unlike Lightroom. Culling in Lightroom used to be fast for me, but I was always waiting for the little loading circle to view each photo before deciding I wanted to edit it. In PhotoMechanic everything uploads instantly and all I do is arrow through my photos (really fast) and hit the “T” on my keyboard to tag any photo I want to edit. After they’re all tagged and culled I can choose to view only the tagged photos, highlight them and simply drag and drop those into Lightroom for importing. I have never been able to cull faster. The other way I use this quick culling feature is when I’m looking to cull down edited sessions to submit for publications via Two Bright Lights. Sometimes it’s really difficult to go through your photos and decide which ones to submit and being able to decide in PhotoMechanic makes submitting weddings and sessions so much faster!

Make sure you give it a shot if you really struggle with spending a lot of time editing or want to cull through your photos faster!

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