With the inflation and economy as it is is a perfectly valid and reasonable reply is to say “Sorry I cannot do it for free anymore. I have to charge you X”. Because everything costs more now than it has. She cannot expect free photos every year, that is using you. Be firm and strict, you can say NO to family and is an acceptable answer.
Most professionals are hired because they have a specific style! That’s why they stand out and are hired for the look they achieve. People who hire a specific photographer or see an artist’s work they want to make sure they can expect that same outcome and consistency.
I absolutely love my style, but it took years to develop and grow to what it is now. It’s definitely my own. I don’t slap on a filter and call it a day. My style does change slightly by exposure, tones, colors based on each session or wedding based on the location, season, lighting. But I’m still always trying to achieve my certain look and editing to keep to consistency’s
Having a contract is key. I edit my contract all the time and add clauses and stuff in to cover myself in case. Don’t forget to have a model release clause in there. And a clause for your editing deadline stated. As long as it’s clear to read and understand by both parties then that’s a good start.
Communication should be on email for written evidence. If ever I speak in the phone with someone, I then email them after somewhat repeating what we spoke of and that the next steps or what it is… So it’s written down because people forget things.
I never did a welcome packet. I just spoke to them, booked them, communicated, took and sent their images. Some clients make your process easy and some make it hard. Some people are awkward to lose and some people complain over nothing. You’ll never have perfect clients every time. Make the process for booking easy for you and easy for your clients, it’ll go smoother with a short and easier process. You will learn a lot with time. I’ve been in the portrait and wedding industry for 12.5 years and I still continue to learn. I photograph 100-200 sessions a year plus 15-30 weddings. Theres so much that I look back on and can only learn from within myself and my personal experience.
You will mess up, you will have high expectations of yourself, you will make mistakes. Prepare yourself best as possible but you will mess up. As I always share there’s no handbook on how to be a successful photographer because as an artist and business owner our paths are all different. What works for one person won’t always work for someone else. Don’t be afraid to do things differently, to not follow trended, to make yourself stand out. My work flourished when I stopped comparing myself to others work.
Keep track of your income and expenses for taxes, and get a reputable CPA. Don’t attempt to do them on your own. Always have extra batteries, memory cards, and snacks with you. I have a little bag kit with a lens cleaner cloth, Kleenex, bandaids, clips, pins, etc.
A real professional won’t charge that low and anyone wanting photos for that cheap won’t receive professional images is the reality…
This is very subjective based on your subject and your goal for what you’re taking a picture of.
You can’t just use one aperture for everything. The reason for photography in manual is to change the exposure settings based on the subject and lighting. It will continuously change because your subject and lighting will change, since I assume you don’t plan to take a photo of the same thing in the same lighting forever…
Yes but then I tell them that’s not what I do. I show them full galleries prior to hiring me. I’ll shoot in my style and shoot what I know. If they want something else then they can find that with a photographer that’s a better fit.
Heck yeah!
I don’t delete anything, except if I can in camera I catch blurry or blinking photos. Generally I keep everything. I buy a hard drive about every 9 months or so depending on how much I’m shooting. I keep RAW photos from everything even weddings where I take 3000+ images. Keep it all because you never know what will happen in the future.
When you say “good enough to shoot weddings”, well what wedding experience have you had?
Weddings aren’t about pretty photos. It’s a real challenge and exhausting. Ask anyone that photographs weddings regularly like I do as a full time photographer. I wouldn’t even think about shooting a wedding until you’ve second shot at least 6-8 weddings under your belt with different photographers for a few months. You NEED to second shoot for a while to get used to what a wedding day is like. It’s important to see how others work, how they interact with guests and clients, how they handle challenging situations or random issues. When I first began in my career I helped 4 different photographers in 11 weddings for about 8 months before I shot solo. This defined my skills and career by shaping my knowledge of getting lots of weddings under my belt. I think it should be a requirement because photographing someone’s wedding is one of the hardest and most pressing jobs ever.
It’s why lots of beginner photographers only last 1-2 years in the wedding industry. It is not for the faint of heart, it truly is a whole world full of challenges. Dealing with rude clients, issues, people being uncommunicative, awkward clients who don’t pose well, people not taking you seriously, horrible lighting or weather, horrible venues or locations that aren’t scenic, crap happens all the time on weddings and you have to be quick on your feet to come up with solutions in the moment to please family or the bride/groom, editing hundreds and hundreds of images, having professionalism, being calm and respectful under stress, running around all day and trying not to forget anything, remembering to drink water making a timeline, etc. The entire process is tough from the inquiry to delivering the photos. And even after some clients like to complain just to complain and will make your life tough because they aren’t satisfied with their body or appearance. In and on and on… I would recommend this industry unless you truly want to give up your weekends with friends, your partner, family to be completely exhausted and frustrated because that’s the reality. I’ve been in this industry for 12 years and see posts like yours all the time. I say the same advice to every beginner!
Again, do not shoot solo until you’ve gotten some experience shooting for a few months for multiple weddings with multiple photographers.
This is quite subjective!
I’m a full time portrait and wedding photographer, and my goal is to always get the best shots I can. I have developed my brand and style over the years by practicing my skills and experience. I’ve always had an eye for art and photography/framing an image. Art and creativity runs in my family in many ways including my mom paints and my dad used to do black and white film photography. I used to want to be a cinemaphotogroaher but the film industry is way harder to get into and you have to know people and basically live in Hollywood.
Sooo I gravitated towards photography in my youth, and pushed myself out of my comfort zone to learn more! My growth has led me to know how to line up and image to try to get the most flattering image as possible. Of course my favorites so edit will differ from my clients favorites. I get a good variety of poses, candids, backgrounds, etc. so I feel I do a great job every time I go out and photograph. I get repeat clients and clients who compliment their images they receive with awesome feedback.
I purposely don’t shoot with very large lenses. I shoot with DSLRs and they’re heavy enough lol! I love them though.
My camera harness with hooks by Rose Anvil is amazing though!! The BEST harness out there!! I’ve turned it into so many photographer friends who rave about theirs and love it!! You can adjust it to fit your body, and the hooks are great to balance the weight in your hips with a belt or fannypack.
Without money involved like a small deposit people will take advantage of you. Doing this for free will make you run into this situation again and people won’t respect your time. I suggest charging extremely low amount but at least something so people take you more seriously with your time and effort. You can’t charge much because you are brand new and don’t have the skills/experience yet but just enough so you don’t feel it’s a total loss if they still do cancel.
I would still have them sign a contract stating if they X amount minutes late they will have to forgo a shorter session or you will drive away if they are late and wasting your time. Such as on my contract I have on there I won’t wait more than 20 minutes for a late client or they will forgo lighting which will make their session time shorter.
For future refer encourage for mini session for you to also leave wiggle room in between sessions in case people are late. Also let them know you have another session after theirs and so you have limited time if they are late. This will make people feel more aware of your schedule and if they are late then that’s all they get.
I also charge a $50 reschedule fee. Not much, but hey, it’s on my contract and they agree when signing. I’ve had to implement the fee many times for people who randomly reschedule for whatever reasons. I probably will increase the fee for next year to $75.
I recently started used a cheap small camera backpack after my issue with an expensive bag:
My $250-300 camera bag I used for a couple years broke, the zipper stopped clasping and I could zip the bag up otherwise my gear would fall out. So I ordered a new one and they said it would take 2 weeks to receive… they sent it to me after waiting 2.5 MONTHS on backorder even though I already paid for it! I thought I was getting scammed and so frustrated, constantly asking them for updates and they would give lame replies without a timeframe. Finally I received a new bag, and when I attempted to use it for the first time the strap ripped off. WTF!!! The company hasn’t gotten back to me (Sunny 16) and so I’m disputing it. It’s almost been 30 days and there’s been no communication back from them so I’ll likely win.
But I needed a bag so I went to Best Buy, they literally had ONE bag on display (I think Lowepro), this tiny cheap one for like $75-80. I’ve been using that little backpack and it’s been great! I’m actually enjoying it more than my expensive bag! Makes me think that “high end” camera bags aren’t worth it at all and I’ll stick to cheap bags forever going forward.
It comes with time and practice. Once you figure out your niche and style you look for the light and gravitate towards it. But it’s good to be diversified and skilled in all lighting scenarios.
I’ve been in the photography world professionally for a long time (13 years) and I know when and where good light is, I can look out a window of a car and see it, but this changes with seasons, weather, location, other factors. Since I professionally photograph weddings and portraits I tend to look for shade but not too much. My favorite is trees with light coming from behind the subject. Things like where your subject is standing can include the colors related back onto them. But if light isn’t preferable I know what to do to make up for it as much as possible.
You can’t have perfect light every time you go out and shoot. Sometimes your eye is caught by something and you try it out. Photography is about experimenting!