Monthly Archives: March 2015

6 Alternatives to Price Discounts for Family Photographers

I follow a range of family photographers and their portfolios via Facebook. Commonly I see many of them offering price discounts to encourage new clients to book now. Do you take this approach? I am going to offer you a different approach and will show you 6 alternatives to price discounts for family photographers.

But first, why might price discounts not be a good idea for your family photography business in the long run?


Sale

Continuous price discounting will attract very price sensitive clients. Is this the type of client you want?

As photographers, our skill and the quality of our work increases over time. Typically our costs go up over time as well, as we upgrade to new equipment, new computers, and costs for insurance and other necessities rise. So, unless we want to work a lot longer hours in future, our prices need to increase over time as well.

So why is price discounting not such a good strategy?

  • Price discounting focuses your clients on your prices and not on the quality of your work. I don’t know about you, but I want my clients to be excited about the quality of the work, how it will capture the moment of their child’s early steps, and how a large print might hang on the walls of their home for a lifetime. I don’t want them thinking about saving $50 off my usual rates. If the quality of the work is strong enough, the $50 will not matter.
  • If you are a habitual price discounter you can be sure that any clients that have paid your full rates will not be very happy. If your usual family portrait rates are $500, the client who paid $500 last week will not be very pleased when she sees the same package advertised on your facebook page this week for $350.
  • And further to that, any potential clients who follow your work will never book at your full rates as you are conditioning them to wait for your regular “Hey world! I’m on sale” posts on your facebook photography page. If you regularly discount, you are essentially cutting your rates. Is that what you want in the long term?

So how do we attract new clients now, and fill the gap in our shooting schedule, without constant price discounts?

Here are ‘6 alternatives to price discounts for family photographers’.

1. Add Value. Instead of offering price discounts, make offers which add more value for your client. If your basic package is $500 offer a ‘Summer Special’ which includes a large canvas print valued at $150 for a package price of $575. The idea here is to present a ‘value offer’ not a ‘cheap offer’.

2. Solve a Client Problem. This is one which can be adjusted for any “hard to buy a present for” family member. For example, “What do you buy your partner for his birthday? He has everything right? Surprise him with a photo of you. Booking available from now until the end of the month”.

3. Build a High Value Package. Building a high value package works in a similar way to the ‘add value’ alternative. But here we add lots of extra things to the package. Let’s show you an example – “Looking for presents for the entire extended family? And would like prints to decorate your own home too? Complete you family portrait shoot before 15 June and receive a 36 x 24 inch canvas, two 12 x 18 inch prints, five 8 x10 inch prints, and a USB of your images, all for $695”

Idea

Here are 6 different ideas for promoting your business without positioning yourself as cheap

4. Guarantee turnaround times. Most people have busy lives and often leave things to the last minute. This alternative recognizes that and helps make your client’s lives easier. “It’s not too late for the perfect personalized Christmas present! Complete your family portrait session before 30 November, and receive your prints and images by 18 December. Book now!” Note, that in this alternative there is no mention of price. It is all about recognizing people are busy and solving their Christmas present challenges. (I have found that clients who like you to solve the problem this year, will also like you to solve the problem again next year. They are time sensitive, not price sensitive.)

5. Make tailored offers to previous clients. Your previous clients are a fantastic source of future business. You have a relationship with them and they like your work. This makes them ideal to approach for tailored offers. Here is a sample email “Hi (existing client), I was looking back over my work from last year and realised that it is nearly a year since I did your family portraits. I wonder if you would like to make a record of your family’s images a year later? I currently have a gap in my shooting schedule on (XX date). Would you like to book an anniversary shoot?”

6. Discount only for your special clients. And the final alternative is for those people who just can’t resist offering a price discount. If you feel you really must do this – don’t broadcast it to the world. Don’t create the impression that you are a cheap photographer who is always offering discounts. Keep your clients focused on quality. So what do we do?

Go to your ‘special’ clients or repeat clients who you know will respond to the offer. A sample email might look like “Hi Amanda, I’ve got a booking time available next Wednesday morning at 10am. I know it is short notice, but wondered if you would like to bring the kids and do a 60 minute shoot? My normal price is $500, but for you as a loyal client I’d be happy to take 20% off this.”

Continually offering price discounts will lead you down a path of attracting clients who focus on price. There is another way. Thanks for reading 6 alternatives to price discounts for family photographers. I hope it has given your some tools to escape the trap of constant price discounting. If you would like to receive updates from Beyond Here, please add your email address in the sign up area on this page.

 

Newborn Photography Props

Today’s post on Beyond Here is from Julie and Victor at Propjar.

Propjar is all about props. They supply photography props for newborn, maternity, family and portrait photo shoots. Based in Melbourne, Australia they ship their products worldwide. For shipping within Australia – all shipping is currently free. And for international addresses, shipping is currently free for all orders over $50. Check out the Propjar website for more details. Read on for more about newborn photography props.

Silk extravaganza for newborn photography!

Newborn Photography

Propjar daffodil silk swirl being used as a basket stuffer. Image copyright Kelly Gladwin.

The current trend in newborn photography is creating organic images, whether it’s in gorgeous neutral tones or with splashes of bold color.

A lot of the products used to create these images are very hard to clean, and some, in particular synthetic products, can be very harsh on baby’s skin.

Natural silk is the solution!

Silk is super soft and squishy, and gives a gorgeous natural, organic feel to images. Not only is it very gentle on baby’s delicate soft skin, but it always amuses us how parents just can’t get enough of touching the silk and exclaiming with ooooh’s and aaaaah’s.  And because these little clouds of softness can be gently hand washed after each photo shoot, you’ll be able to use them many times over. As a newborn photographer, you will know just how much cleaning is involved after a newborn shoot. To have a product that cannot be cleaned properly can become a real headache.

Newborn photography

Propjar snow silk swirl being used as a wrap. Image copyright BeccyRose Photography.

We highlighted in our maternity photography props post that building a bond and rapport with your mum-to-be client, and understanding what she’s comfortable with, was critical for building a relationship that can lead to follow up business, such as newborn photo shoots.

The same applies to the parents of your newborn client. Making sure baby is comfortable and safe with whichever props you choose to use to capture this special moment, will help you in building this bond and trust with the family.

Newborn photography

Image copyright Jamie Lee Photography

If you’re able to do this, you’ll be remembered when it comes time for baby’s one year old birthday cake smash, toddler portraits, family portraits and any other photo sessions the family may want.

Image copyright Emily Clare Photography

Image copyright Emily Clare Photography

If we can leave you with one tip, it’s that in business, it’s far easier and cheaper to sell to existing clients who are also fans you’ve connected with, than it is to find new clients. That’s why connecting with your fans / clients is so important to building a thriving and sustainable business.

At Propjar we’ve created a range of silk props available in 22 colors.

Our super soft silk swirls can be used as a wrap, layer, or basket stuffer.

Combine the nest with layers such as the Propjar stretch wrap. Image copyright Jamie Lee Photography.

Combine the nest with layers such as the Propjar stretch wrap. Image copyright Jamie Lee Photography.

The versatility of the Propjar silk nest allows has proven to be a real hit with photographers and their clients. These nests come with a removable cover, with extra covers available to purchase, so that you can change the color of your nest to suit your theme.

Look at those gorgeous eyes! Propjar silk swaddle sack being used with a silk nest. Image copyright Siobhan Wolff Photography.

Look at those gorgeous eyes! Propjar silk swaddle sack being used with a silk nest. Image copyright Siobhan Wolff Photography.

Because this soft nest ring makes it easy to pose both newborns and older babies, you’re able to give parents who may have left their newborn photo shoot a bit late to still get wonderful memories of baby. The posing options are endless. Use it as is on an old wooden floor with character, or perhaps a posing faux fur. Or anything else your creativity allows.

Thank you Julie and Victor at Propjar for this post for Beyond Here. Newborn photography props can assist in creating outstanding images. If you are looking for a great source of those props, please visit the Propjar website.

5 Tips for Making Images of Fast Moving Animals

This morning I visited one of my favorite wildlife photography spots – Yarra Bend Park in suburban Melbourne, Australia. It is about 20 minutes from where I live and has a colony of thousands of flying foxes. If you’d like more details about where to find Yarra Bend Park, please see this post.

I was there for about 1 hour and made a wide range of flying fox images. Here are 5 tips for making images of fast moving animals.

Flying Fox

Fast shutter speeds are required for fast moving animals

Tip 1 – Continuous Focusing Mode

When an animal is moving quickly, getting it in focus is key to a successful image. Use continuous focusing mode on your camera to track the animal as it moves, and to give you the best chance at an image in focus.

Flying Fox

Increase ISO to help with fast shutter speeds. This shot was taken at ISO400.

Tip 2 – Increase the ISO

To allow a fast shutter speed you may need to increase the ISO setting on your camera. In the images posted here the ISO ranged from 400 (for the images shot against the cloudy sky) through to 1250 where I was shooting against a dark green background.

Tip 3 – Fast Shutter Speeds

The combination of continuous focusing mode, ISO, and fast shutter speed will give the best chance for sharply focused images. In the flying images here I have used 1/2000s for the majority of these images.

Tip 4 – Expect Lots of Failures

When animals are moving quickly you will have a large number which are out of focus or not well composed. Don’t be upset, this is normal in wildlife photography. You will find that your percentage of good images increases with practice.

Flying fox

Be alert for the opportunity to shoot strong images when the animal stops

Tip 5 – Look for Strong Images When the Animal Stops

It can be tempting to only shoot the animal as it is moving. Resist this urge, and create some very different images when the animal stops. The flying foxes roost in the trees given an excellent opportunity for images as they hang upside down.

Thanks very much for reading 5 Tips for Making Images of Fast Moving Animals.

Flying fox

Practice will increase your percentage of successful images.