ted_suss

<p>Daniel,<br>

I'm going to rely on the others to answer your technical questions.<br>

Some business questions for you:</p>

<ul>

<li>Who is paying you and are they paying for your time only or photos that are taken and to be printed?</li>

<li>IF your only income is from people paying for their own photos, then you need to either charge a fee to cover your time to be there or walk away from this. If you're relying on photo sales completely, you may do all the work and walk away with next to nothing. I've done it myself.</li>

<li>If you're being paid a fee and also selling photos to the attendees, then you'll do much better if you print on site. If that's too overwhelming for you, then take the orders on site and get PAID then and there. Otherwise you're relying on people going to your site to view and order images and they may never do that.</li>

<li>As an added incentive, offer lower prices for orders at the event vs viewing online, but my experience is that sales afterwords are insignificant.</li>

</ul>

<p><a href="http://www.hhcolorlab.com">www.hhcolorlab.com</a></p>

 

<p>You probably won't be able to not have "any" of the canvaswrap around the sides. Because it's stretched (slightly) in the wrapping, you probably won't get a razor sharp edge. Also, if your image doesn't fit the 11x14 aspect ratio, it would be best to find a company that will make you a custom size gallery wrap.<br>

In the future, it would be best if you knew the scope of the project BEFORE the shoot. It would make this part of the process much easier.</p>

<p>Chris,<br>

Backup equipment is key. If your camera body malfunctions at any point during the day, you'll have no way to photograph the rest of the day.<br>

Next, you need to speak with the officiant. He/she will let you know where you can and cannot stand during the ceremony.<br>

Together with the B&G, put together some type of list so all of you know what the expected outcome will be in terms of who is photographed with who. Typically, the couples who are the most easy going upfront are the pickiest afterwards. That's because they have ideas in their head that they assume are "normal" and assume that you know that as well. You don't want to lose good friends over the "favor" you're doing for them.</p>

<p>The "album binders" like Leather Craftsmen, etc. all lacquer their prints before mounting. This is available from most professional labs when ordering your prints in various levels of matte/gloss. It's a really good idea.</p>

<p>Just like the others, I've been dealing with this forever. Assuming there isn't a time crunch, I've always let the guests go first. Otherwise the subjects are looking everywhere and not at me.</p>

<p>The biggest drawback to you as a business person is that the couple will most likely never make and album themselves and perhaps very few prints, so they will never show off your work and you won't see any referrals. Otherwise Marcus has good advice.</p>

<p>Try <a href="http://www.mpix.com">www.mpix.com</a><br>

They'll make you a nce book and you'll get it back quickly.</p>

<p>Is there anything about he site that may be contributing to your increased sales? Perhaps ease of use for the consumer, image quality, shipping and/or payment methods? I would be careful not to "rock the boat" when things are going so well for you.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>as opposed to a civil ceremony in judges chambers or something like that</p>

</blockquote>

<p>But those are also considered weddings.</p>

<p>How do you define a Pro? Anyone who charges?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>That way the clients can still print the images themselves if they wish, but they have to license hi-res images from me in order to do so.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Julie,<br>

I think you're fooling yourself if you think your clients won't print from the low-res files. The will and when asked who took the picture, they will pass along your name. No one will ever ask them what file size they used or where they had it printed. You may want to rethink this.</p>

<p>If you want to be kind, but walk away with a few bucks, perhaps charge them $100 to $150/day as long as 2 hours don't turn into 5.</p>

<p>Try <a href="http://www.hhcolorlab.com">www.hhcolorlab.com</a> for your printing AND packaging. They do a great job and you won't be spending hours sorting and packaging which is how long it will take you. Better to spend your time marketing your business than sorting and packaging.</p>

<p>It's difficult to guide you with so much information missing. A bride & groom are typically responsible for any special expenses such as applications, fees for venues, etc. If their venue is requesting something out of the ordinary, I would let them know what's involved and see where the chips fall.</p>

<p>From my experience, you'd be best off with QuickBooks. You can create any type of product codes you'd like and also do hourly billing, multiple sales tax rates and just about everything else you'd want. The best feature is that it's the standard among accountants. I've use some studio specific softwares, but am happiest with QuickBooks. It's also the lease expensive because they sell so many copies.</p>

<p>Now that there are 58 posts on this thread, what does this really have to do with photography?</p>

<p>Carol,<br>

You would do best to have someone take the picture, even if it's just someone passing by. Chances are that you will be looking at the others to make sure they're looking at the camera. Also, notice the girl in red covering up half of the face of the man behind her?<br>

Of course, the best way to do this is to hire another photographer!</p>

<p>Sorry, but you should expect her to be concerned if your hobby is photographing other women. Wouldn't you be concerned if she perhaps played tennis once or twice a week and always with a different man?</p>

<p>Glossy will produce a more brilliant print. Also, the SONY SnapLab dye-sub printers will produce either glossy or matte finish using ONE paper so your customer can decide. You are printing dye-sub and not inkjet on location, aren't you?</p>

<p>Is your photography of women a profession or a hobby?</p>

<p>GP Abums (formerly General Products) is a long established, quality manufacturer.<br>

As a rule of thumb, mark-up for products like albums, etc. is about 2.5-3x your cost from the manufacturer. So using this factor, your overhead and other misc. are not included; only the actual wholesale price of the book. I hope this helps.</p>

<p>Ekaterina,<br>

You'll need to find out your cost on one of these albums before figuring out what to charge your client. Prices should be based on your total cost with profit built in, not on what others say. You always need to do the math and then you can determine your price.</p>

<p>Try contacting PPA</p>

<p>Elle,<br>

Are you not booking people who you are meeting with or are you simply not getting any appointments? Also, do you have a picture of your show booth/display?</p>