Kids soccer games = $$$ ?

[ScottsGT]

I've been throwing around the idea of starting a website where I can upload photos I shoot at my daughters soccer games. Basically, the ideas is to post the photos with a water mark, if the parents want to buy any, they can pay via paypal then they can access a non water marked image for download. Not interested in selling prints at this time, just the digital image, and they can do whatever they wish after they pay me for it.
What would a good asking price for hi-res images?
Another thought I had was to advertise my services for one game, to photograph one kid, and only one kid for a set fee. Then give the parents a DVD of all of the images during that one game. I was thinking something like $100 for the one game with DVD of the images. A photographer that was booked for all day on a soccer field could make $800+ a day.
Or maybe have all the parents chip in on a package where I shoot the entire team for one game, and each kid gets a DVD of images?
Now, my fears....Posting someone else's kids on a public web site. I'm thinking this might open a whole new can of worms. Maybe hand out some business cards with a password for them to access?
Our local Soccer assn. has hired photogs for the team/individual posed shots, so I would not even consider stepping on their toes. But they offer nothing along the lines of action shots. And with the images I got today with my 7D, I can see a money maker here, with the proper setup, business format and website.
BTW, one of the hired posed shooters is a friend that we could probably go in on this together with a little planning.

Thoughts? Pricing?

[int2str]

I've been throwing around the idea of starting a website where I can upload photos I shoot at my daughters soccer games. Basically, the ideas is to post the photos with a water mark, if the parents want to buy any, they can pay via paypal then they can access a non water marked image for download. Not interested in selling prints at this time, just the digital image, and they can do whatever they wish after they pay me for it.
What would a good asking price for hi-res images?

That's completely up to you. Think about what it costs you do do this and add markup that makes it worth your while.

Another thought I had was to advertise my services for one game, to photograph one kid, and only one kid for a set fee.

I very often shoot around 200+ frames per youth soccer game. Depending on the kid, out of 200+ I may get as little as 2-3 "good" images per kid. I usually follow the ball and in soccer nobody is guaranteed playing time or getting the ball... And if a kid that doesn't get the ball very often actually DOES get the ball, he may be blocked by other players etc. At the youth level, very often I get 20-30 shots of one player and 2-3 of another.

What I'm trying to say is that if you're being paid a fee to photograph one particular child in question, you may not have much to offer to the parents at the end of the day, based on my experience.

And with the images I got today with my 7D, I can see a money maker here, with the proper setup, business format and website.

Care to share some examples?

Thoughts? Pricing?

Good luck!

[ScottsGT]

Started a thread under sports.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=837061

[Kleppy]

Being an hobbyist and a parent of a youth soccer player (personally) I'm not sure about the idea.

But I'm a cheapass.
I won't even pay for more than a few photos on photo-day, let alone action shots of my kid.

I say try it, don't hold back, but be weary that there are many people like me because kids and sports are expensive for parents.

[PhotosByEric]

, but be weary that there are many people like me because kids and sports are expensive for parents.

That's for damn sure!!! We signed up the twins for tball this year. $160 to register and $200+ on supplies (balls, gloves, bats, a tee, uniforms, cleats etc) and we haven't even played a game yet. But seeing them having fun at practice and being so excited about upcoming game days makes it worth it.

[ScottsGT]

Being an hobbyist and a parent of a youth soccer player (personally) I'm not sure about the idea.

But I'm a cheapass.
I won't even pay for more than a few photos on photo-day, let alone action shots of my kid.

I say try it, don't hold back, but be weary that there are many people like me because kids and sports are expensive for parents.

But considering you are on a photography forum, I would expect that you would not be willing to pay. But hand the parents a business card with a web address so they can look for free, and they might get hooked when they see little Johnny getting a goal. Think about it. How many games have you been to and seen someone walking around with a $3K camera outfit? It's mostly P/S cameras from the side lines. We all know how good that works out!

That's for damn sure!!! We signed up the twins for tball this year. $160 to register and $200+ on supplies (balls, gloves, bats, a tee, uniforms, cleats etc) and we haven't even played a game yet. But seeing them having fun at practice and being so excited about upcoming game days makes it worth it.

Until you pay for high school cheerleading, you don't have a leg to stand on! LOL!! To start out you have to cough up about $1200 just to be on the squad to cover team expenses. Then there is the tumbling classes at $50 a month and competitions you have to drop $5 per person to get into, Daughter always wants a T-shirt from the event at $15 to $25 a pop, dinner out on the way to out of town events, 70-200 2.8L IS lens for the low light in the gymnasium, 580EX II since the 2.8 is just not enough, 7D for higher ISO,......

[jcpoulin]

Couple things....much depends on your region and market. Some sports, or parents of children in these sports, are willing to pay some....some are not. I've made some money with soccer ( see my site) , mostly cover my kids games, parents know to go to my site, they check it out and I make some sales....Low volume. Last night, I shot for a specific parent for hockey...mostly because the group covering the event was horrible and he knew my work was good. I could not have gone to the venue, taken a bunch of shots, and marketed them because I was not the photog for the site....although he didn't bother showing up for this game! The real money is actually in sportraits..individual and team picts....once a system is had...can run through kids pretty good. My Katate portraits make me some decent cash. I set up a studio at the dojo ( place of karate) and kids come in by appt. Low key, easy to get a shot!
Sports photography is difficult, tough to get the ideal picture....of the point of impact, the shot on goal.....the perfect move. Much depends on the sport and your knowledge of it! Even then...goals happen away from you, player is facing wrong way , etc. Work on narrowing down and isolating the athlete. Your other thread....neither picture would sell. Shoot at 2.8 and crop. Watch backgrounds....everything that distracts from the athlete is a visual loss! Shoot portrait orientation sometimes.
Equipment....my 300 @ 2.8 is a must! I use 2 bodies...one with 70-200 , the other with the 300 +/- a 1.4. Both with my 1D3's....but I just got my 7D and will try this out in the spring!

[Kleppy]

But considering you are on a photography forum, I would expect that you would not be willing to pay. But hand the parents a business card with a web address so they can look for free, and they might get hooked when they see little Johnny getting a goal. Think about it. How many games have you been to and seen someone walking around with a $3K camera outfit? It's mostly P/S cameras from the side lines. We all know how good that works out!

We both know that some parents are just as happy with a P/S. I only own a SLR because I'm a self admitting control freak with issues. :lol:

I'm saying give it a go. There ARE people willing to pay. I might suggest talking to the league too, as mentioned the portraits seem to be the steady jobs and if you did the games too, you basically "own" the scene if you did both. There are also generally different age groups/leagues yeah? Even better.

[ScottsGT]

More I think about it, I'll use this season to "practice" more and see what I can come up with and then get some input from parents before putting too much effort into it. I might wander over to some of the older groups where there is a little more acton than the 10 yo girls and see what I can produce.

[HappySnapper90]

I've read several threads about selling child sports photos. The majority consensus seems to show that most parents are fine with saving very small web sized photos to their computer, even if watermarked, and sharing them via social networking sites or email instead of paying for a larger file or a print. Parents are more likely to buy the traditional posed portrait and team portrait than to buy an action photo from another parent. Parents are already paying a lot for the child to be in the sport, along with the time involved, to not want to shell out extra money.

[int2str]

More I think about it, I'll use this season to "practice" more and see what I can come up with

Good idea. That's what I did as well...

I might wander over to some of the older groups where there is a little more acton than the 10 yo girls and see what I can produce.

Hey now, don't blame the little ones ;). The action is there, you just need to "find" it. I've been shooting my sons soccer for a while now, and he's 8 as of now. This forum is a great resource for learning. You got the right gear, now put it to good use.

Here's my progression of pictures over the span of about two years:


The humble beginnings... Bad angle, bad composition, bad use of the camera gear...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_uFrS5yCiGps/SAotGJVsrAI/AAAAAAAABS0/FvYznXhZC5I/s640/IMG_0915.jpg

Then came better composition. Still bad angles, but already much better (to me) overall:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_uFrS5yCiGps/SF7lGHw7RnI/AAAAAAAACtc/NcgsPjxY6oI/s640/021.JPG

Now add better angle (lower...) and better selection of backgrounds, and you have what I think is a pretty nice picture for a P&S camera:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_uFrS5yCiGps/SSAOoH9oyQI/AAAAAAAAD0k/J94b4OsHFiQ/s640/IMG_3208.JPG

Then the DSLR era began for me:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_uFrS5yCiGps/Scr5A3cGoqI/AAAAAAAAGMo/jhDT0HMFp7E/s640/107.JPG

Getting better with the DSLR, but committing old sins (high angle):

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_uFrS5yCiGps/SqyhZkK9jjI/AAAAAAAALcw/HK_HW-DYdHA/s640/DPP_0018.JPG

And finally "today"... The right tools for the job (7D + friends), tight crops and good angle. This is where I'm currently at and am very happy about the pictures I can come up with:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_uFrS5yCiGps/S4S7ppWlPqI/AAAAAAAAONc/gU9wRzST2OU/s640/IMG_3347.JPG

NOW I feel like I'm ready for assignments (shot my first one this year) and also will likely start charging parents for images. I won't quit my dayjob over it, but I do feel these images are now of a level of quality that is worth paying for.

It's been a great journey, and I hope I'll continue to learn new things and improve from here.
And hopefully your experience will be similar!

Again, good luck!

[pworm14]

My experience has shown that cold selling action shots is iffy at best (unless you're doing onsite prints). Parents won't hesitate to drop $200+ on a bat for a kid that couldn't hit a ball even if it was the size of a VW, but then try getting them to spend $8 on a shot of their kid in action. It's tough.

I have made money uploading to SmugMug, handing out cards to get the word out, but have found that it's not worth the effort. Not that it can’t be done, but it’s really tough. I don't even bother to doing this anymore.

If I happen to be at an event, usually my own kids event, and a parent wants me to get a few shots of their kid and post them, I tell them that I’d be happy to get the shots for $20 which I will apply as a print credit. This seems to work pretty well as far as not wasting my time. Again, not a “real” money maker, but at least it something for my time/effort.

Want to make the money doing kids sports? Listen to jcpoulin here.
The real money is actually in sportraits..individual and team picts....once a system is had...can run through kids pretty good.

I’ve done a couple of Little Leagues, swim clubs, and just yesterday, a soccer league. WAAAAAY better than trying to make money off the action shots.

[JeffreyG]

The challenge with little league is getting the parents to even come look at your site. You can hand out cards like mad, but most of them will never even look.

I shoot older kids, and what I offer is a very inexpensive set to provide them an individual poster of every kid plus a slideshow for their banquet. I give out cards to my site at the banquet. This gives the connection that the shots they just saw on the slideshow are available on the site.

When you hand out the card at the soccer field, a lot of your intended customers are probably having trouble envisioning the product. They only know their own (lousy) shots. This is why they don't come to your site.

The real money is (as was noted in this thread) shooting T&I. For me, I like making some money shooting what I love, and T&I is not shooting what I love so I don't do it. It's boring.

[eigga]

I charge $275-$400 per team for portraits and game images. I typically schedue 2-5 games a Sat and stay pretty booked. The market is there if you produce something the parents want to spend $$ on on market well.