Photography Hints and Tips
Finding customers
- Your work is your best advertisement. In time, most of your new
customers will be recommendations from previous happy
customers.
- Keep your website fresh with your best pictures.
- Use Google Maps to promote
yourself locally. It’s free.
- Do your homework before advertising. There are plenty of
publications keen to take your money. Few will deliver results.
Call other photographers who advertise (preferably not local
competitors) to see if they have had any results.
- If you shoot weddings and events, get friendly with venues,
caterers, flower arrangers etc. Send them a CD / DVD of shots they
can use for their own publicity. Include leaflets and cards for
them to provide to their future customers. Offer to do the same for
them if you like their work (but not if you don’t).
- To get started, be prepared to undercut the market. The
objective is to build a reputation to get recommendations flowing,
but it can take years to become your main source for new
business.
Keeping customers
- If you shoot weddings, send personalised anniversary cards to
remind customers to use you for baby portraits. Later you might do
the same to suggest children and family group shots.
Things you must do
- Decide on your niche, eg weddings, lifestyle (kids etc),
commercial etc., and develop a reputation for excellence in
it.
- Keep calm and positive, even when clients are making life
difficult for you.
- If something goes wrong – and it often will – give your clients
something extra.
- Always shoot ‘raw’. Although these larger files will require
more disk space and take longer to download, you can do much more
post-processing to show off your talent.
- Always back up everything, offsite if possible. Terabyte drives
cost less than £100, but don’t rely on them (or your computer)
always to work.
- Allow enough time for every job. 1 day’s shooting can mean
another 3 days in client meetings and processing.
- During an event, stop and think hard about what your client
might want and that you might have missed taking so far. Write them
down and make sure you have enough time and light remaining to
check them off.
- Use the best lenses you can afford. Avoid cheap makes. The
optics may not be durable or high enough quality. The faster the
lens, the longer the shooting time available if you’re
outdoors.
Things you must not
do
- Don’t use large data cards. You can’t risk losing all your
pictures if it fails or you lose it. Use several smaller cards
throughout the shoot. They’re cheaper too.
- Don’t accept commissions to do work that’s beyond your
capability. ‘Giving it a go’ risks wasting time and money,
upsetting clients and potentially even risking legal action, let
alone hurting your all-important reputation.
Things to be cautious about
- Don’t leave your equipment lying around. Ideally use an
assistant if you can afford it, or carry your gear in a backpack.
Ask the venue if they have a safe room to leave stuff you don’t
want to carry around. Some photographers use lockable cases, but be
careful – the whole case might walk.
- Be careful buying cheap equipment from abroad. You may find you
haven’t bought what you thought you’d bought, and there may be
issues with warranty. If it’s very cheap, there’s probably a
reason.
- If you don’t need to take credit cards, don’t offer them. They
can prove expensive.
Other tips
- Make sure you get paid up front. Take a deposit, perhaps 25% on
booking, 50% just before or at the start of the event or session,
and the balance before you release the pictures. Post samples of
the shoot on a website or blog to excite clients who want proof of
your standards before they’ll pay. If you don’t demand payment up
front, one shot the client doesn’t like can result in them
withholding payment.
- Always aim to thrill and excite clients. Give them a surprise
they weren’t expecting such as a printed mug or tee-shirt included
in the package your deliver. It also helps to overcome possible
problems with anything you deliver.
- Keep pushing yourself to try new ideas and techniques. Each
shoot should be 80% ‘safe’ shots, 20% experimental. Don’t be afraid
to try something that doesn’t work.
- Consider second hand cameras and lenses from trustworthy
sources. It’s unlikely you’ll need the latest specifications. Most
of the functions of today’s digital cameras, you’ll never use. And
unless you’re planning to produce very large prints, 10 or 12
mega-pixels should be more than enough for most jobs.
- Make sure you’re familiar with picture manipulation programmes
like Photoshop and cheaper alternatives. Familiarise yourself with
‘Actions’ for Photoshop. Try developing your own.
- If business is strong, be selective about who you work for.
Your priority is to maximise the quality of your work, so accepting
commissions you know are likely to prove problematic may prove
costly in the long run – and you won’t enjoy them as much.
- Read blogs posted by well known photographers, eg
www.jasminestarblog.com. You’ll pick up many great ideas to try
out.
Useful Services
www.kubotaimagetools.com –
Photoshop ‘actions’
www.gettotallyrad.com -
Photoshop ‘actions’
www.annabelwilliams.com -
lifestyle photographer (one of the biggest in the UK) offering
mentoring and courses
www.couturebook.com – wedding
albums
www.graphistudio.com - wedding
albums
www.queensberry.com - wedding
albums
www.sim2000imaging.com -
wedding albums
jeffascough.com - UK's top reportage
photographer (seminars announced on his blog)
www.swpp.co.uk – The Society of
Wedding and Portrait Photographers. Popular annual convention and
exhibition in Hammersmith
www.sislp.com – The Society of
International Sport & Leisure Photographers
www.sittp.com - The Society of
International Travel & Tourism Photographers
www.simpp.net - The Society of
International Media & Press Photographers
www.sicip.net - The Society of
International Commercial and Industrial Photographers
www.sisep.net – The Society of
International School and Event Photographers
www.jasminestarblog.com –
Well-known blogger
www.thebschool.com - Beckers
school for photographers