funcrunch

<p>Brad - Great Market Street shot. Fun to see so many shots of my beloved San Francisco on here.</p>

<p>It's been a busy week for me, with five days in a row of concert shoots, one of which I was performing in myself (had to get my husband to shoot that set!). Here's a shot from one of the Sunday night bands, at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco.<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/12101870-md.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Canon 5D Mk II, 85mm f/1.8, 1/125, ISO 1600</p>

<p>I would add that you should have your domain name as your e-mail address as well, instead of just using gmail or yahoo. I find an e-mail coming from joe@greatphotos.com to look more professional than joe@gmail.com.</p>

<p>And I'm not personally convinced that gmail is "the best the Internet has to offer", by the way. For mission-critical applications such as e-mail and web hosting, I prefer to use a paid service, as then there's a higher level of accountability if something goes wrong.</p>

<p>Zenfolio actually has quite a few products available besides prints, and with the new business premium account even more available through Mpix Pro (though not enough to get me to upgrade to that level, personally). The new shopping cart lets you arrange products into categories and sort them however you like, which helps (hopefully) reduce the overwhelming factor for clients.</p>

<p>But if you still want to offer from multiple vendors then yes, it sounds like you will need to make a custom pricelist. Though you could also offer them through Zenfolio as "self-fulfilled" products, and show the prices without revealing the source.</p>

<p>I use and recommend Zenfolio. $100 a year gets you unlimited storage and full e-commerce capabilities. They have a free trial period. If you decide to go with them my referral code is DUQ-C5J-MB8.</p>

<p>Great shot Praveen - very little motion blur. The lighting must have been cooperative. Not that f2 hurts either! :-)</p>

<p>This Monday I spent a good part of the day at the U.S. Courthouse in San Francisco, at a community gathering against Proposition 8 (which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry in California) followed by a viewing of oral arguments before the court of appeals. I've been documenting this fight since Prop 8 first passed.<br>

<img src="http://funcrunch.zenfolio.com/img/s1/v21/p914253219-3.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70 f/2.8L at 51mm, 1/400 at f/4, ISO 100.</p>

<p>I use and recommend Zenfolio. You and your clients can order prints and image downloads directly from the site. They have a free trial period; if you decide to go with them, my referral code is DUQ-C5J-MB8. </p>

<p>Here's a pic from a concert I shot in San Francisco the night before Thanksgiving. All of the band members seemed to like this one, based on my selling reports and their Facebook postings ;-)<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/12034353-md.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70 f/2.8L at 70mm, f/2.8 at 1/50, ISO 1600</p>

<p>Slight correction/clarification to Marios' post: Unlike the other stock agencies, Alamy does not edit for content, only for technical quality. So even if they already have thousands of photos of sunsets, they won't reject your sunset photos as long as they meet their quality standards. Of course, that doesn't mean that you'll sell any necessarily. ;-)</p>

<p>I use and recommend Zenfolio.com, which has customizable templates and a shopping cart. I used to use Smugmug, but got discouraged by their frequent downtimes. If you decide to go with Zenfolio (they have a free trial period), my referral code is DUQ-C5J-MB8.</p>

<p>A father-daughter moment from a family portrait shoot in San Jose a few weeks back:</p>

<p><img src="http://funcrunch.zenfolio.com/img/s8/v12/p991550991-3.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70 f/2.8L at 70mm, f/4 at 1/320, ISO 100.</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone for the detailed and helpful responses. I'm definitely going to do more research on my local BNI chapters before deciding whether to join. I found out that a former co-worker and fellow photographer is a member of another local chapter, so I'm planning to meet with her to find out her experience (though I wouldn't be able to join her chapter).</p>

<p>Just tweeted this out. Good to see that the majority of the commenters "get it" at least. </p>

<p>A friend of mine is president of a local BNI chapter, which I went to check out today. I'm intrigued by the concept and the structured method of getting more referrals, but the price is quite steep for my currently-limited means. San Francisco has a whopping 20 chapters though, and more than one have an opening for a photographer.</p>

<p>Do any of you have experiences - positive or negative - with BNI or similar networking organizations that you'd care to share?</p>

<p>Late this week as I was troubleshooting a web site issue for hours (ugh). Here's a tight crop from a shoot of some Dia De Los Muertos dancers in San Jose this Halloween day.<br>

<img src="http://funcrunch.zenfolio.com/img/s10/v17/p711910295-3.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70 f/2.8L at 70mm, 1/800 at f/4, ISO 100, and a fortuitous reflective water puddle.</p>

<p>Still waiting for client approval on posting the family portrait I did this past weekend, so meanwhile here's something from earlier in the month. Detail of a jungle gym in Junipero Serra Park, San Bruno, California. Shot during my lunch break from photographing my husband's outdoor laser tag event (wish I could make those shots public!).</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/11865555-md.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70 f/2.8L at 34mm, f/4 at 1/1000, ISO 100.</p>

<p>Some photo hosting sites like Zenfolio (which I use) will add the watermark for web viewing only; when the photo is purchased, whether digital or print, the watermark does not appear. How large to make the watermark and where to put it is a point of debate. I've drifted toward making mine more prominent as I've been aggravated by Facebook users cropping it out and using images without payment or attribution, but now I'm considering going the more minimalist route as I've realized determined people are going to crop/clone them out no matter what I do.</p>

<p>Jeff Z - Thanks for the kudos. My experience is more in web development than design; back-end stuff. For people completely unfamiliar with web design and HTML, I've heard good things about Squarespace and Wordpress. Zenfolio gives you enough options to make a decent site on its own, but I prefer to have a site hosted on my own, separate from my shopping cart site.</p>

<p>Jeff S - I respect your opinion and understand about musicians not having much money, being the daughter of pro musicians and friend of many more (and an amateur musician myself). However, I've decided to draw a hard line on pricing for my own business, as all the musicians I shot for free or very cheap when I was starting out now expect me to continue to give them something for nothing, and I'm simply not doing it anymore.</p>

<p>I think giving away low-res watermarked images is fine in principle and I do allow this for my own shots, but I've had Facebook users crop out the watermarks, or even clone them out if i put them through the middle. Not cool. I point it out to them when I see it and sometimes they understand and other times they argue. Understandable, but still aggravating.</p>

<p>I would quote her a price for licensing the photo. There's no reason you should be obligated to provide it to her for free. If you don't have an online shopping cart solution where the person can pay and then download the digital image or order prints, now might be a good time to find one. I use Zenfolio for that purpose.</p>

<p>As far as "do it for the exposure": I could see bands getting potential business that way as "What was that song that played during last night's episode of Latest Hit Show" etc. is popular water-cooler conversation. But are most viewers really going to go to the trouble of finding out who shot a photo that is hanging on the wall during a scene in a TV show? It's not like deliberate product placement with a recognizable consumer item.</p>

<p>I agree with everyone who has said you absolutely should have your web site URL on your business card. Don't make it harder for prospective clients to see your work.</p>

<p>My card also has my business e-mail address and a Google Voice phone number that forwards to my cell, so I don't have to give out my personal cell phone number to strangers. </p>

<p>Having white space on the back for writing is a good idea. On my business cards, the photos I'm showcasing are on the front and the back has my contact info with only a small photo of myself (holding a camera, naturally).</p>

<p>I like <a href="http://moo.com">moo.com</a> for business cards. You can upload your own full designs for both the front and back, and you can have a different design on every card which is great for showcasing different kinds of work. I recommend the full-sized cards for professionals rather than the popular mini-cards, though I've ordered both. They have a template you can download to show the safe areas for bleed etc.</p>

<p>Agreed that you should go with fewer images as they will be small on a standard-sized business card.</p>

<p>I wouldn't bother with the Facebook logo; having your own web URL is more useful and you can link to your Facebook page from there.</p>

<p>I would definitely include the phone number; if it is far from your current service area then including your current location is not a bad idea. I should consider this when I resign my own business card, as my business number is slightly outside of my service area.</p>

<p>Tom - Do NOT volunteer to shoot a wedding for free, even for a close friend. Weddings take a huge amount of work, before, during, and after, and you will likely be resentful if you aren't compensated for your time.</p>

<p>My first wedding shoot was for a good friend and former boss. I charged probably a quarter of what the job was worth, but I did charge, and the couple was happy to pay it. I did throw in a free engagement shoot however.</p>

<p>As far as specific details on pricing, there is no fixed/correct answer on that I'm afraid, but others with more experience than I have can chime in.</p>

<p>IANAL but I've been researching the issue of model releases since going pro two years ago. From my understanding, it is fine to display your photographs of people in your portfolio, online or off, without having model releases. However, if you are using said photos for promotional purposes - such as a business card, flyer, or poster advertising your business - you should have a release, as it implies that the subject(s) of the photo endorse your work. I have releases for the people in the photos on my business card for that reason. Yours would appear to be a similar case, but again I am not a lawyer or expert on the subject.</p>