cjbryant

I do some local youth sports and I do not really like the online selling. I do it just because I get a few orders from it, but I get more orders by selling onsite. I set up a tent and a few computers during the last few weeks of the season. Parents stop by the tent, view the images (sorted by team), then choose which ones they want to buy. I have samples of posters and other items that I try to sell. It seems to work well.

 

The reason I dont like the online only method, is because too many people forget to go online and look at the pictures and/or purchase. More people stop by the tent than visit online.

I would only do it if I were paid by the hour. In my particular case, I charge $100 per hour for any freelance type work. I would not work based on commission (% of sales) because there is no guarantee on how much that will be. They may sell 1 picture which wouldnt make you much.

I would think with this approach you will find a lot of parents "forgot" their money at home. It might work if you send the prints home with the students and let them send the order back if they want something or send the print back if they dont.

 

The large companies typically do this for their spring sessions. They make up identical packages (ex 1 8x10, 2 5x7, 8 wallets...)for each student, mail them home with an order form and the parent sends back what they do not want in the package and pay for those they keep.

 

I do not see how showing up with a print and trying to sell it to the parent that day will be all that successful. It might be if you notified the parents that they can purchase on a specific date, so they will come prepared to buy.

Not sure if Manual mode is for you just yet. You need a better understanding of how shutter speed, aperture and iso speed work together to produce an image that is exposed properly. Use the automatic modes for now (P, AV, TV) and watch how the camera meters different scenes. This will give you a better understanding on how each element is brought together for the exposure. You will then be able to switch to manual and know what changes need to be made for different scenes.

 

Why do you want to shoot on manual anyway? It doesnt automatically make you a better photographer. In fact, I know that several famous photographers shoot on automatic modes (AV, TV and P) and produce stunning images. You can do just about the same things on those modes as you can on manual by using the exposure compensation slider to lower/increase shutter speeds.

I would check with the school on insurance and background check requirements. I know here in Florida, if we do ANY work with the schools and students, we are required to have at least $1 million in Liability insurance and to have a background check.

 

As far as settings on the camera, it will vary depending on light. I personally wouldnt shoot in the shade. What we try to do is get in an area that represents that sport. Practice shooting in full sun with the flash used as fill. We shoot on the track for the track teams, on the basketball court for basketball, etc. It helps bring in elements of that sport into the picture. Also feel free to use props (hurdles, balls, etc.) to add elements to the image.

 

Another thing with sports is that the coaches can be very impatient. We find that a lot of them do not like using a lot of time for their team pictures. They feel it takes away from practice time. In any case, try to get your work flow set to be as fast as possible. Think of what pose you want to use ahead of time. I would think you could do the team and individual images within 30 minutes. Not everyone will order the individual pictures, so only shoot those that order. Do the prepay method and only shoot those that paid for the individual. This way you get done faster and everyone is happy.

 

As for lenses, you will need a wider lens (35mm, 24-70, etc)for the team pictures. If you do not have one, rent one. There are several online rental places that you can rent from and get within a day or two. The 70-200 will work well for the individual pictures.

Here in Florida (north of Tampa), the commission is around 40% of TOTAL SALES (not net profit). We do a small private school (300 students) that doesn't require a commission as they did not like the national companies. We have inquired about the local public schools, but most of them do not really want to meet with us. They are happy with their 40% from the national companies.

 

However, in order to oust the national chains, you must offer the school a better product, less hassle, and more value. The commission % can vary if you can provide a faster service and much more organized. We are currently in the process of getting more gear to do 8-10 setups. This way we will be able to finish an entire school (1000+ students) by noon, something that most likely cannot be matched.

 

Another thing that will be positive in the eyes of the school is the speed in which you return the orders. With digital you should be able to get everything back to the school within a week at the latest. Keep it organized otherwise it will not work well. It is a must to keep track of each student and keep them in order. Otherwise, you will not match-up the orders properly, creating a huge headache.

 

It is almost impossible to do any size school by yourself. You are just asking for trouble. We use 3 people for 300 students to make things run more smoothly. I shoot the students (tethered to laptop), my wife collects orders and stamps each with a counting stamp (1,2,3, etc) and the other person organizes the line.

 

We have each student enter from the right, sit down, I take 2 pictures and then they exit left. As they leave the stool, my wife grabs their order form. We require each student to turn in a form, even if they do not order. This way we have a name for each person that corresponds to an image number.

 

Hope this helps

I can work on a few for you as well. Most of them seem to have not been properly white balanced. Email me and I will provide you with an address you can send a CD to. Again, no charge.

I have been looking all over but could not find the answer that I was looking

for. Maybe someone can help me...

 

What is the lifespan of the 430 ex flash (how many flashes)? When (if) the bulb

does go out, is there a way to replace it?

 

 

Thanks

 

Curtiss

Hi all,

 

I was wondering if I would be able to use both a pc sync flash and a hot shoe

flash at the same time? I recently bought the cheap ebay wireless flash kits and

wanted to use them along with my Canon Speedlights. Would it hurt the camera if

I used them both at the same time? I am currently using 20d's... Thanks

Hello everyone. I have a quick question. I have been getting a lot of calls

lately for dates that I am already booked. I just tell the person who calls that

I am booked and give a few names of people to call.

 

But I have been thinking. What if I use my reputation to get the calls, book the

wedding and then hire someone else to shoot it for me and give me the images on

CD? Obviously, I would tell the bride that I would not be the one shooting, but

I would be the one fulfilling the orders and album. Also, I make an agreement

with the other photographer about the use of the images. Has anyone tried this?

If so, has it been successful for you? Thank you for your help.

I can see how people can live off of $500 weddings. If you look at what most of them offer, they pretty much just offer the CD/DVD of the images and leave it at that. Thats roughly $4 per wedding. If they offer proofs as well, that will eat up some of their profit, maybe $100 or so.

 

Now lets look at equipment...

 

They can get by with Digital Rebels ($700 or so each) or similar prosumer SLR's. As many know, its not the camera that makes the pictures. Thats $1200.

 

Lenses: Renting lenses is an option, but a very pricey one. If they were to get 3rd party lenses they could save a few hundred dollars. Lets say they get a 28-70 and a 70-200 (both 2.8) and a backup.. $2500

 

Computers: They most likely will skimp on the computer part of the business. In fact, I use an emachine (owned by Gateway) that I have upgraded and saved about $400 by doing so. We will say $600 or so for the computer. $500-600 for software... $1200 total

 

CF cards: Sales occur all the time and you can pretty much buy them for nothing now if you find the right sale. I recently bought 2gb cards from Best Buy for $35 each.. 6 2gb cards $210

 

Equipment costs: $5110

 

Now if they do 40+ weddings a year at $500, they will have at least $20,000 in sales. It wouldnt be too hard to get 40 weddings at that price in a fairly populated area. Now what many of these places do is hire other photographers to do weddings for them... Now here comes the tricky part...

 

If the owner hires them as an employee, he must pay income taxes, Social Security taxes, etc for that employee. Now if the owner hires him as a subcontractor, the photographer would be responsible for the taxes, not the owner. However, I believe that the subcontractor can only work for the same person 5 times per year, otherwise they are considered an employee.

 

So if the owner does 40 weddings a year, hires subcontractors to do 40 weddings a year (at $250 per wedding) the owner would pocket roughly $30000 per year. Not too bad, but certainly not enough to live on alone. Thats why many of them have other full time or part time jobs to supplement the photography income.

 

 

So it can be done..

A little excited???<div></div>

We used to rent lenses for weddings from www.rentglass.com. We now started our own business in renting canon lenses called lensrenter.com. I also know of lensprotogo.com and rentcameragear.com. There seems to be a large number of places that are beginning to rent gear in addition to the large companies such as Adorama.

 

There seems to be a very large number of people who rent lenses for special events that cannot justify spending a $1000+ on a lens they will only use a few times.

I was wondering if anyone knew where I could find the wax paper type envelopes

that Mpix uses when they ship prints to you. I have been trying to find some so

that I can use them to send prints to my clients, but my search has been

unsuccessful. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I do not know anything about them. However, I do own a rental business that is similar, www.lensrenter.com. I also know of Rent Glass (www.rentglass.com) and lensprotogo.com. It looks as though a lot of companies are starting to offer this service at various prices. It is an excellent way to try a lens before spending quite a bit of money on it. It is also good for photographers who need a certain lens, but would not use it enough to justify buying one.

I need some help or suggestions. I recently dropped my 70-200 L IS into a pool

with my 20d attached. The lens does not seem to work. The 20d works fine after I

dried it out, however the lens does not work for some reason. All the rings turn

as they should. I can use it in manual, just cant use the AF or IS.

 

Has anyone else had this happen before? Do you know if it can be fixed and

approximately how much will it cost? I have not tried to contact Canon just yet,

I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with this. Any information would be

greatly appreciated. Thank you

Patrick,

 

You may have to be careful about that. When I spoke with a few people regarding credit card processing, they said that it was illegal for you to charge your customer for the percentage that you are charged for using their card. They mentioned that the way around this was to charge everyone the same amount and just put the percentage fee into every package. I do not know if this is in fact illegal, just something to look into and be aware of.

 

I personally love using credit cards. They are very simple and secure. I use a cellular unit which can be used pretty much everywhere without the wires. It makes it easy to accept payments at wedding from guests who may want to purchase prints on the spot. I have found that many people prefer to use their cards over checks because they receive points on the same money that they would spend as cash without the points.

 

I used to not accept cards, but after I lost a $2700 event because I did not accept them, I figured the benefits outweigh the $55 per month plus transaction fees. They work well for me and I have not had any problems with cancelled payments. I believe that you run the same risk with accepting checks becasue they can call the bank and cancel the check just as easy as with a credit card. Just my opinion.

Working around him was a little difficult, however, as stated, it is possible. The biggest issue I had was when he pulled out his D70 and started taking stills of the guests and then collecting money for prints.

I was at a recent wedding and was the hired photographer. The bride hired a

different company for the videography. The person that she hired for the

videography, was also a photographer/DJ/Legal Consultant. I noticed that he

brought along his D70 setup (SB 800 and Nikkor 70-200 2.8). It was not a big

issue at first since he said that the decorator (a friend of his)asked him to

take a couple photos of the table settings, etc for her. He told me that is

all that he would be taking. No problem there.

 

At the start of the ceremony, he decided to step in front of me no matter

where I went. I didnt want to make a scene so I just moved over each time.

After the ceremony, I was starting to set people up for formals and he decided

to move them around after I set them up. I politely asked him if I could do

the setups since I was the hired photographer. He said that it was important

for him to do them since he does video of the still shots. I didnt want to

argue, so I let him do his thing and later took the couple aside and did the

poses that I wanted.

 

During the reception, I noticed that he was pulling people aside and taking

still photographs of them and handing them a card as to where they can buy the

pictures. I asked him not to do that since I was the photographer and I was

covering the still photographs. He told me he didnt think I was doing an

adequate job (in his opinion) and decided to do them himself. He also took

over the DJ's job and decided when and how the evening would go, announcing

everything that was going to happen. At this point the bride is very

frustrated with him just taking over.

 

He also takes still pictures through his video camera to use in his

slideshows. I saw a sample show from this particular wedding and noticed

several still photos that were taken by him (in his videocamera) of my setups

and formals.

 

In my contract I state that I am the only professional that is hired to take

still photographs. I also state the the videographer not be allowed to take

stills of my poses or interfere with the formals. I typically have no problems

with the videographers at weddings and we usually get along great.

 

I was wondering what you would have done in this situation. I was tempted to

pack up my things and leave since the reception was already being "covered"

but decided against it since I didnt want to upset the bride any further than

she already was.

I built a 3 sided display to look like a wall in a house. This enables the bride to be an idea of what my prints will look like on her wall. She can envision herself on her wall which helps to sell your work. It took about 12 hours and cost roughly $300 to build. I will attach a picture of it before if was done. Please excuse the quality of the image... It was taken by my mother in law's P&S camera.

 

Curtiss Bryant<div></div>

Thank you everyone for your responses. I do have one more question. I was looking at the pocket wizard setup, however I cannot find out how I would hook it up to the flashes, as neither of them have a PC Sync plug-in. Is there a hot shoe adapter that will work with Pocket wizard? Thanks

Hi everyone. I am wondering if there is a radio transmitter out

there that I can hook up to my canon 420 ex flashes and a Sigma 500

Super flash? I have the ST-E2 but I do not like the "line of sight"

requirement. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you everyone.. I liked the third one myself. On that first one, the flare is actually bubbles. They had a bubble machine going throughout the reception. Thank you again to everyone for helping. It is greatly appreciated.

I personally think that it takes away from the couple. My eye was first attracted to the blue spots in the background. Maybe you can soften the effect so that it is not as noticable... Just my 2 cents

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