First paid job - OVERWHELMED!!!

[roanjohn]

Originally Posted by mkh

Hmm... I wonder if the forum could establish some sort of standards agreement that we could all agree to adhere to? This could benefit us all and help stop pricing from going down.

Any ideas? Think people would agree to it?

Good IDEA!!! That would've been a good baseline for me when I priced my prints.

Ro1

[roanjohn]

As I'm typing this message............I just got my first order!!!! YIPEEEEEEE!!!!

I feel good!!!

Ro1

[R1 Kid]

Good luck roanjohn! Your off to a good start. I know enough has been said about setting a good price for the photos. My most recent experience with this is: I priced some church friends a very good price on some photos. I made enough to cover my time and matterials and be happy with myself (enough to get the Spyder2 Pro software and put some in the bank). I also had enough room to cover any mistakes. Example nobody noticed the little girls nose had some drainage going on. I didn't, the parents didn't, my wife didn't, nobody. Till we got the pics back. She wanted a 10x13 of her also so when I ordered the 10x13 I ordered her some free wallets to make her happy. Believe me she was happy.

My whole point to all that is. Charging enough for the photos made the difference between her being ok, and her being very happy because I had room to suprise her with some freebies. A very very small price to pay for a repeat client base.

Hey man you make me want to go stir up some ballerina business. Great photos, and again Good Luck!

[mkh]

BlooDog - quite posting replies and go finish your story.

[Muunstruk]

First of all - you did a great job! Love the photos and with the cloning tool you can add to the top and bottom as you please, so size is no problem.
Totally agree with you on big C in the middle of the picture.
Not only is you money on the line with folks who steal your work online, but also YOUR REPUTATION!
They rip you off, make cheap BAD prints with the 72 dpi web resolution on a cheap printer and then tell folks YOU took the photographs.
I have seen my work butchered like this and this really hurts you all the way around.

Keep up the good work,

Renate

PS: Be careful with the pdf idea, I with my Mac have a way around this... though I won't tell...

[dkord]

Hands and feet. You can get away with it with kids but if this was a semi pro or pro dance troop they would have a fit. You talk to a dancer, especially ballet and one of the things they comment on is how the hands are posed, the other is the position of the feet: You can't crop them out.
The overall lighting was good. The copy right in the middle is ok, depending on who you're talking to; I would of given it more opacity, it looks too heavy handed.

[roanjohn]

R1 - Thanks!!! You've actually inspired me..........I gave the first one to order a free 8 x 10!!!!

Bloo - Great idea!!! hahahahahaha!!!

Renate - So true!!! Most definitely wouldn't want my pics butchred like that!!! Now this even reaffirms my decision to put those big watermarks.

dkord - will watch for hands and feet in the future..............most definitely. The copyright logo was actually from a Scott Kelby book...............so he's to blame for the heavy handedness of it.

UPDATE: I finished printing my first order..............and I must say, it looks GREAT!!! I hope the mom will be happy when she sees it. She ordered 2x 4by6, 10x 5by7, 2x 8by10 and a wallet.............a grand total of 74 USD!!!! hAHAHAHAHA!!!

Now.............how do I pack this thing?? Gotta buy some Manila envelopes tomorrow.

Thanks a lot for all the tips guys and gals!!! I've learned so much from this forum and from all those who have PM'ed me (you know who you are).



Ro1

[Andy_T]

Roan,

great job

I think the parents will really enjoy the shots!

Best regards,
Andy

[Ikinaa]

Originally Posted by Bloo Dog

I can see blue_max's point of view. The huge copyright symbol might strike some folks the wrong way. A discreet copyright notice in the corner will convey a different image of the photographer. i think that when Roanjohn moves up in the ranks he might want to rethink the large copyright symbol. If you're really making money, the loss of a hundred over the course of a year won't make that much difference.

My attitude has changed through the years regarding image theft. I have become quite cynical about the expressed intentions of customers. In the last two years as a wedding photographer, I got fewer and fewer reprint orders because of the ubiquitous scanner.

While I can see that a 72 dpi image doesn't amount to much, there's a principle involved.

One thing which I suggest is that the photographer charge a nominal fee which is refunded with the order. (A couple of bucks). That way, the person who can live with a low res image will pay for it.

To show the quality of the pics, why not put one or two large pictures on your website, pictures that show the quality of your work, picture that everyone would download immediately and print out and have a good quality, but these pictures should be pictures no one wants, because they're not pictures of the kids in this class. Leave the pictures of the class with the copyright sign (nice work btw) and in low quality.
That way the parents will think : 'Hey, these pics (I'm not interested) are really good, I'll buy them (those I'm interested in)...'
Hope you get my point.
Anyone thinks that's a good idea?

I find the discussion interesting, maybe one day I'll be there too.
My daughter (6 years) is making taekwondo, last time, I took some shots of my daughter and immediately one of the parents I know came over and said 'If you got shots of my son, I'll take them'. So I took a few shots of her son (3200ISO, ef75-300f/11 (sharpest), 1/80s, it was dark), neatimage, cropping. She was really happy.
Perhaps if I convinced myself of doing it for the cash (should get a better lens)...

[roanjohn]

ANDY - THanks!!!

Ikinaa - Great idea!!! I will grant this if one of the parents would request a full resolution image from me to print............However, I doubt very much that any of these parents have a decent photo printer that will truly give justice to Canon's CMOS sensor BTW, good luck on the future purchase of the "better" lens.....hehe!!!

Ro1

[mkh]

Originally Posted by roanjohn

ANDY - THanks!!!

............However, I doubt very much that any of these parents have a decent photo printer that will truly give justice to Canon's CMOS sensor

Ro1

That's not the only way to get your print. All they would have to do is save the image to a CD (or memory card) and take it to WalMArt for printing.


Didn't you already sell a package to one person. Consult with them about using the picture of their daughter as your large sample image. Perhaps even throw in an extra print in exchange for their permission.

[roanjohn]

Originally Posted by mkh

That's not the only way to get your print. All they would have to do is save the image to a CD (or memory card) and take it to WalMArt for printing.


Didn't you already sell a package to one person. Consult with them about using the picture of their daughter as your large sample image. Perhaps even throw in an extra print in exchange for their permission.

I guess they can do that.........but WalMart prints are really crappy...........I've seen 'em...........

UPDATE: The first parent got her prints!!! She emailed me saying how happy she was..............she will show it to the other parents this weekend. I hope to get a bunch of orders (fingers crossed).

Ro1

[jacchess]

roanjohn - Great Job! My wife and I also have Dance Studio Portrait event tomorrow. It is going to be our 1st one. In addition to the portrait and group shots tomorrow, we have a follow-up portrait shoot and action shots scheduled for the 25th before and during their rehearsal recital. We too have learned a great deal from this forum. If interested, I can share packaging and pricing details we are using. I'm also very interested in developing some kind of website for our new photography business.

I would like to know what lense(s), lighting/strobes, and backdrops you used? Also, what camera settings worked for you? What kind of exsisting lighting did you have to work with?

Thanks and good luck!

[roanjohn]

Originally Posted by jacchess

roanjohn - Great Job! My wife and I also have Dance Studio Portrait event tomorrow. It is going to be our 1st one. In addition to the portrait and group shots tomorrow, we have a follow-up portrait shoot and action shots scheduled for the 25th before and during their rehearsal recital. We too have learned a great deal from this forum. If interested, I can share packaging and pricing details we are using. I'm also very interested in developing some kind of website for our new photography business.

I would like to know what lense(s), lighting/strobes, and backdrops you used? Also, what camera settings worked for you? What kind of exsisting lighting did you have to work with?

Thanks and good luck!

COOL!!! For the portraiture, I mainly usesd the XT and the 50 f1.4. The set-up was very simple...........a white paper backdrop set next to a big window..........and I used a silver reflector to bounce the light on the other side. My camera setting (if I remember correctly) was ISO 200 f2.8 and 1/350............on M mode.

For the recital (which I also shot a few weeks before), I mainly used the XT and the 85 f1.8.

Good luck!!! ANd please share your pricing and etc..........I would like to know how I did.



Ro1

[jacchess]

[/quote]

Thanks for the info. Eventually we may have those lenses to work with too.

We did it!! Went much smoother than expected. I am so glad we made the parents prepay! Now for editing and processing. I can post pkg/pricing here or email you directly.