Jump to content

when parents want to buy your prints


terri1

Recommended Posts

I've just shot my first high school football game (JV). I put small photos

(600 on the long side) online for the parents to share with friends and

family. Now I've had requests from a couple parents to purchase enlargements

on some of them. They are decent photos, but nothing professional at this

point. <br>

<br>

I love shooting sports, and it would be nice to someday make a little extra $$

doing it. What is a fair price range when just starting out though? I am

also thinking about printing them initially at someplace like Walmart or Costco

to keep costs down both for me and the parents. Not to be totally cheap, but

I recently enlarged a photo (8x10) for myself both at Walmart (for about $5 or

so), and at Bay Photo Lab (around $20). There was no significant difference to

my eye - only to my wallet. <br>

<br>

If anyone has done or is currently taking sports pics for parents, I'd

appreciate your thoughts. Thx :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terri,

 

I have been taking youth sports photos for 3 years or so and selling them on my site. I too tested labs before I started. I cmpared some expensive labs to some cheap ones. I have been using Costco for three years and have been very happy with them. Any difference you see between them and most other labs is negligable if any. In my opinion, it is not worth paying extra.

 

You can check out my site at www.peterluvaas.com. I have some photos posted under football. When I started I probably charged half or a little less than what I do now.

 

Not to discourage you, but I have always found that I sell far less pictures on my site than I think I should. I have noticed my sales going down over the last year or so. I believe most of it is because so many people have digital cameras now. They seem to be happy with what they get, regardless of its quality. Maybe because they put money into the camera they cannot justify buying better pictures from someone else. It seems to be too much to get people to make the effort to purchase pictures on the web. In order to sell a lot of photos you have to have on site sales. I think people forget about the pictures if they do not buy them in person when they see them.

 

This has kind of turned into a rant that reflects my personal frustrations. Sorry about that. My advice would be to just do this to the extent you have fun with it. Just don't expect too much return for your work if you just sell on the web. I would be happy to offer my advice regarding any questions you have.

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply. Your site looks great, and I think around 1/2 of what you are charging would probably be fair for me. <br>

<br>

This is just weekend & evening fun. I work F/T and my photography time is limited, but I can see how it would be frustrating to do this for a living. You're right - everyone has digital cameras now! <br>

<br>

I like your option to order digital files on CD (that would be a lot less work for me - haha!). You've given me some good info with which to start -- Thanks!! Terri

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Terry -

Even though everyone has computers equipped with MS Word, not everyone is a writer, nor

are they an accountant because the computer has Quicken. Likewise, not everyone with a

camera can make good photos.

 

I'd just encourage you not to undervalue your product. Even if this was your first attempt

and even if photograhy is "only" a hobby for you, the parents came to you because they

like your work. Your have some not-inexpensive equipment and enough skill to create a

product with demand, so it's alight to charge market rate, or something very close to it,

rather a cut rate just because you're new at this.

 

-B

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terri, before you start selling to the parents, you need to check with the high school and booster club if it is ok. If the booster club is not getting something from it and you are not shooting for editorial, they may ask you to stop or not to sell at all. Also, you may want to verify that the school does not have a contract with a company like Lifetouch for action photos. While they may not be shooting for sales to parents, they may be a bit touchy about you shooting a team they have the contract for, whether they have a photographer there or not.

 

Once you have the ok, you want to only sell the photos that you would not worry about other seeing, in other words, sell only what you are proud to sell. Be sure to not post or sell the missed shots, even the almost got it shots should be avoided. These reflect on your work, so if you get a slightly out of focus shot of a kid making a diving catch, you do not want to try selling it because it reflects on your work. Pricing, I would start with finding out what others in your specific area are charging. Then find out what it will cost you to print the specific sizes. I like doubling the cost of a print and then multiplying that by 5-10 depending on the league and area. So, lets say a print costs 50 cents. I will double that to a dollar then multiply by 5 (for small leagues like boys and girls club) and charge $5 or multiply by 10 (for high school booster shooting) and charge $10. I would recommend you start off by multiplying by 3 or 4 and work up from there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did something similar a couple of years ago. I took a lot of photos at a dress rehearsal for a cultural show by our church's youth group. I selected a few and printed them up to 8x12, and set up a kiosk by the front door on the night of the show.

 

The prints cost me $1.49 per 8x12 at Costco, and I sold them for $10. I made $870 that night -- of course, I donated all of it back to the church.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you all very much for your info - I appreciate it so much. I was actually contacted this week and asked for a price quote to shoot the rest of the season. Though it was flattering, I don't have the time this year, and I also would like more experience shooting football and a pro lens or 2 before committing to that. I have no feel for the flow of the game after only 1 time. <br>

<br>

Carl, you have a good point about picture quality. I did post some pics that I wouldn't care to print, but at that time I thought people would just be emailing to absent grandparents & sharing online - I didn't expect requests for prints. I'll be much more selective next game. <br>

<br>

I decided to attend what games I'm able for the remainder of the season, get more used to shooting football, sell at a very reasonable price what the parents like, and perhaps I'll be ready for something bigger next year. <br>

<br>

P.S. KL - what a great story! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In addition to making sure that you don't step on the toes of the booster club or high school authorities, beware of parents who don't want their children photographed. I'm not sure, but if you are engaged in commercial, as opposed to editorial, photography, then you may need to have a model release for everyone in the picture. This is one reason why I am hesitant about putting sports photos on the web.

 

Nonetheless, I do shoot photos of my kids' soccer games at the YMCA. I also get the e-mail address of other parents on their teams. Later I load the best photos into a Kodak EasyShareGallery.com album. From there I send an invitation to those specific parents to see photos of their kids and their teammates. The nice thing is that only people I notify can find these photos, which protects every kids' identity.

 

Three things happen afterwards. First, parents forward my e-mail notification to other relatives, especially far-away grandparents, which brings them joy. Second, computer savvy parents copy the photos off the Kodak website, which is possible but not easy. Third, parents and grandparents order prints from Kodak, which is very easy and cheap. However, I never got paid for any of this photo sharing.

 

More recently, I setup a Kodak marketplace gallery, which allows me to refer people to a semiprivate website (not readily accessed by search engines) where I get a cut of each print sold. Kodak does all the printing, shipping, and paperwork, while I get a check and tax forms for the IRS. Once I doublecheck legal issues, I plan to drive business to my Kodak marketplace gallery through e-mail invitations and by handing out cards with the internet address. Hope this helps.

 

By the way, the entire Kodak setup has been free, because my first digital camera was a Kodak and because you have to buy some prints every year or they wipeout all your photos. They have great products and coupons, so buying some photos or mugs once a year is easy to do. Even if you don't have a Kodak camera, you should be able to get a free account.

 

Good Luck,

Jason Jimerson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't worried about the kids photos online, because they can only be seen by invitation anyway & invitation only goes to the parents. Interesting info, Jason. I'll look sometime and see what that Kodak thing is all about. Thanks for your response -
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...