This question came from a struggling portrait photographer in Ann Arbor, MI.

My customers mostly buy small prints, mainly 5x7 and 4x6. I'm having a hard time getting them to buy 8x10s.  What am I doing wrong?

When I got this question I already knew the answer. I asked the tog what she charged and her answer confirmed my suspicions:  $50 for 8x10,  $25 for 5x7 and $15 for 4x6.

The reason this tog is struggling is because her print pricing is designed to sell small prints!  Why spend $50 for an 8x10 when you can spend the same amount and get two 5x7s?

In marketing there's a term we call "climbing the ladder".  To sell bigger, you've got to make your clients climb the ladder. If the ladder is too steep, they won't climb.

This means that the larger print should be just a little bit more expensive than the smaller print, making the smaller print seem like not such a good deal (the corollary being that the larger print seems like a great deal).

So if you charge $50 for an 8x10, try charging something like $40 for a 5x7 and $30 for a 4x6. Why buy a 4x6 if a 5x7 is just a bit more? And while you're at it, why not just spend $10 more and get the 8x10?  That's what "climbing the ladder" is all about.

I take this concept a step further with my own pricing. I make the price differential between my 5x7 and 8x10 really small. How small?  Try zero!

I simply charge one flat price for any size print 8x10 or smaller.  My clients choose the size based on their needs, not based on price. In other words, I never make anything less than my full 8x10 price. Problem solved.

We'll be discussing this and many more sales, marketing and pricing topics at my February 27 "Building a Profitable Portrait Business" workshop in Seattle.

because every post needs an image:

Laurence Kim Workshops

Building a Profitable Portrait Business - February 27 - Seattle WA:  2 seats left

Location Lighting 101 - March 20 - Vancouver BC

I filed this post under the "strictly business" category rather than the "kids and families" category because it's about making the sale.

Parents buy images because they love their kids. They want to see clean, clear images of their cute, happy and smiling kids.  

So put away that tilt/shift lens.

Leave your 24mm at home.

Don't even think about using that fancy action you're so in love with - you know, the one that uses the high-pass filter and turns people orange.

Stop trying to put vacant, pouty facial expressions on them.  

Don't tilt your camera.

Don't cut off their heads at the neck like you sometimes do with your brides and grooms.

Stop thinking "cool". Stop thinking "cutting edge". Start thinking "cute".

If you want to make good money on child portraiture, then take clean, clear images of happy kids. Even better, take pictures of siblings happy together. Parents are used to their kids fighting. A picture of their kids loving each other will bring tears to their eyes and have them reaching for their wallets. If you're not a parent yourself, then you probably don't understand this - but just trust me on it.

To do this you've got to be engaging. Be fun. Be funny. Shoot fast. Capturing happy kids is much more important than having the perfect light or perfect background.  

Is there a market for blurry b&w images of the backs of kids' heads looking out the window taken with a 45mm tilt/shift? Yes, maybe one set of parents out of a thousand. If you want to target that market then be my guest.  

Let's review.  telephoto lens + happy kids + clean processing = nice sale

Location Lighting 101 Workshop

Seattle, WA  

January 23, 2010

one seat left

LK Workshops

....is getting better.

Here is a quick scan of Theresa's official school photo. I like it, so I bought a few prints. This is not your typical flat lighting on a mottled blue canvas backdrop. I can even see shadows/highlights on her face.  Even the camera position is correct for a headshot - level with the nose.

Not bad for school photography, which is generally recognized to be at the bottom of the photography food chain.

What's going on here?  Photography is hot!

Back in the stone age (the 1990's) most people I knew didn't even own a camera. When they did take pictures (which was rare) they bought a disposable cardboard camera from the drug store.

In this first decade of the 21st century, everyone has a digital camera. Now with millions of people taking pictures, it's inevitable that many of them have gotten serious. Combine this with the internet and sites like Flickr and you've got an explosion. Do you know how many DSLRs I see at a typical wedding? Guests with 1 -Series cameras?

There are many sites (like the one you're reading now) where you can find lots of information to help improve your photography. Lots of forums and "groups".  Joe McNally's "Hot Shoe Diaries" was an Amazon best seller. Crazy.

The other day I was cruising through the "creative commons" area of Flickr looking for examples of bad portrait photography to use on an instructional blog post. You know what?  It wasn't easy!  Most of the images looked pretty darn good.

Chase Jarvis puts together a photography get-together and hundreds of photographers - most of them amateurs - show up.  

What does all of this mean?

It means that your competition - both professional and amateur - is getting both more numerous and better. Here in Seattle there's probably two new photography businesses opening up every single day. That's not an exaggeration.

Everything else is easier too. Equipment is better. Software is better. Instruction is better. You can buy a very attractive, clean and modern template website for $100. Everyone's using the same actions. New photographers (many of whom with backgrounds in the high tech industry) who know SEO get their websites on the front page of Google within a year of opening their business.

Nikon's entry-level dslr - the $700 D5000 - has better image quality than it's top-of-the-line $5,000 professional dslr from just 2 years ago (Nikon D2x).  I kid you not.

Better, better, better.

So what are you going to do about it?

You can do the same thing you've always done.  Or you can step up your game!  You've got to work on your craft.  

• buy a new piece of gear and learn how to use it - see if it makes you change the way you take pictures

• attend a few workshops (a self-serving piece of advice for sure, but that doesn't make it less valuable). learn first hand how someone else does things.

• work on your marketing

• grab a few models from ModelMayhem and set up some shoots to try out new ideas/techniques

• try this one:  read your camera's manual from cover to cover

• never used off-camera flash before?  learn how to use it!

• use off-camera flash all the time?  put your strobes away for a month and learn how to creatively use natural light.

• waste too much time reading photography forums and surfing the net?  go for a week without it. disconnect your computer from the modem. allow yourself 1/2 hour every day to respond to emails and that's it.

• is that 85mm glued to your camera body? grab a 24mm and shoot with that for a month.

• hate tilt/shift? great. go rent one for a weekend and take 3,000 frames with it.

• you don't like asking for the order?  try the assumptive close at your next sales session "well Mrs. Jones, it looks like since you like at least 30 images from your portrait session we're going to have to go with an album".

• grab some friends and use a point-n-shoot for a few portrait sessions. it will force you to work a  LOT harder to get professional looking images.  once you go back to your dslr your images will have improved.

• you suck at posing? great.  set up 10 sessions over the next 2 months where you pose every single shot.
  
  
  

I think you get the idea. Now just go do it!

Location Lighting 101

Seattle, WA

January 23, 2010

2 seats left

Laurence Kim Workshops

This week's question comes from Jesse Starr, a Denver based people and sports photographer:

"Now that friends are aware of my abilities, they are asking me to

do free photography for them.  I am wondering how to explain
to them that I can't give away something that costs me
time and money to do. And they don't just want me to take
snapshots with a point and shoot, they expect me to use
my full lighting setup!  Any advice?"

It's astounding to me how so many people view photography as something they are entitled to for free. Would you go to a friend who owned a restaurant and ask for $1,500 worth of free meals?  The nerve!!

Okay, so how do you handle these "friends"?

Let's say it takes you, on average, 5 hours of total work to complete one photo shoot. That includes exchanging phone calls/emails, drive time, shoot time, downloading files, color correcting, editing, etc.

Offer an exchange of services: your photography for their services.  For example, if your friend is a web designer, great!  Your blog needs tweaking.  Offer a fee photo shoot in exchange for 5 hours of work on your blog.  If they're an attorney, then 5 hours of legal work. They can do yard work, wash windows, etc. You get the idea.

Here's what you say:

"Gee Sally, I'd love to do a photo shoot for you, but there's no way I can do 5 hours worth of work for free without going bankrupt!  How about we exchange services? I'll do a family shoot for you in exchange for your help at my office for 5 hours?  I'm doing some direct mail and really need help addressing and stuffing envelopes."

This strategy accomplishes several things:

• It will discourage them from asking for free sessions in the future.
• It will make them realize what jerks they were for asking in the first place. I wouldn't be surprised if they withdrew the request and offered to pay your normal rates.
• Barter isn't a bad thing!  I hate pulling weeds - I'd gladly exchange a photo session in return for weed pulling.
• If they get indignant at your offer and turn away in a huff, GREAT!  You've just freed yourself from wasting time on an unhealthy relationship with a "friend" who just revealed themselves as nothing more than a blood-sucking leech.

Just remember that YOUR time is just as valuable as THEIR time.  If your "friend" is willing to ask for free services from you but not willing to provide free services in return, were they truly a friend?

Since I started this blog in February 2008 I've been humbled by the response - over 206,000 visitors so far!

Thanks for all the emails, too!  Many of you have asked me why I do this - posting lots of shooting notes, tutorials and gear reviews.  Well, I mainly do it because I enjoy it - I enjoy posting, and I like to help other photographers, especially those just getting started.

However, it does take quite a bit of time to maintain the blog and create new content - time that I can't really afford to take away from running my business. So I'm asking your help in supporting this blog - I'd love to keep it going for the foreseeable future.

How can you help?  It's easy - any time you need to buy photographic equipment (or in the case of Amazon, anything at all), please shop at one of my sponsors by directly clicking on one of the tiles above. It won't cost you a single penny more to shop that way, yet I'll receive a small commission that will allow me to spend time working on new content.

And with Amazon, Adorama and B&H you're dealing with the best quality vendors in the business. I get all of my stuff from one of these online stores. If you find an internet deal that's too good to be true, it is! Stick with one of these reliable vendors and you won't get burned.

Thanks again, and keep those shooting/lighting/post-processing questions coming!