Archive for Framing
Six Myths about Starting a Framing Service
Posted by: | CommentsBefore I get into the six myths about starting a frame service, let me tell you that I have observed photographers who are letting thousands of dollars a year in additional revenue walk out their door by not offering some level of a framing service.
I have heard all of the myths, excuses, or fears and I can assure you that they are easy to overcome.
“I can’t afford it.”
Many of the frame corner samples and mat corners can be free and you need less than $100 in tools to get started.
Your first frame sale should pay for the cost of the Photographer’s Complete Framing Guide and you will continue to profit every sale you make for as long as you are in business.
“I don’t have time.”
You already have the customer in your studio! It costs you nothing to market to them as a framing client. The time you spend will result in additional sales with only a little more effort.
“I hate math.”
Math is not my favorite thing either. But I have five tips that should help you.
- I make sure I am not hungry before I start. I have learned that I get impatient and make more mistakes when I am due for some fuel.
- I make sure that I am not frustrated with something or someone else.
- I make sure that I have uninterrupted time.
- I tell myself that I can do math. Positive thinking gets me a lot further than negative.
- I double check my figures. If I am in doubt or too tired to think clearly, I simply come back to it another time.
“I am not perfect.”
Well, goodness sakes neither am I! I do not even consider myself a perfectionist, but I have my clients fooled.
It simply takes a few right tools and a little knowledge to produce a beautifully framed portrait.
Custom matting is often cut by hand so it is never perfect. It must be good, it must be neat, but it will not be perfect. You can, however, order your mats pre-cut from your frame vendor if you decide not to tackle cutting mats yourself.
“I can’t sell.”
I have been inviting my clients to look at frames for more than twenty years and have made it easy for you to get started in my manual available today. I share exactly what I say and when I say it to successfully plant the seeds for a sale. You will not feel like you are selling.
“I don’t have the space.”
You don’t need a lot of dedicated sales space. You can start with a small selection of frame corner samples in a box, drawer or on the wall. You don’t even have to carry any inventory. What could be an easier way to add thousands of dollars to your income?
I will show you the fast and easy steps you can take right now! Get the Photographer’s Complete Framing Guide now. It is available as an instant download so you can get started right away. Find out more right now and be making more money next week.
Are you Letting Thousands of Dollars Walk Out the Door?
Posted by: | CommentsYou are if you are not selling frames in your portrait studio.
I have heard countless stories from people who have never gotten around to actually framing their portraits that they purchased from a photographer. Not only are photographers letting thousands of dollars walk out their door, think about all of the artwork just sitting around, unframed, and not hung in people’s homes.
I used to work at a studio that sent out 8×10 images in an envelope. Larger portraits were simply wrapped in paper and leaned up against the wall. It felt so cheap. Our best sales attempt was, “Do you want a frame with that?” People just took their photographs home this way, who knows how long these went unframed. Or worse yet, if the images were framed properly.
I frame at least 95% percent of my portraits that are 11×14 and larger.
I have a plan for making sales and therefore I can make sales. A last minute, “oh by the way, do you want a frame for that?” has not ever been very effective.
My plan includes a few of the following sales tips from my Photographer’s Complete Framing Guide, for fast and easy sales:
- Make sure you have great looking framed samples on the walls. Your
clients will want what they can see so hang your favorite frames up. - Point out your frame displays at key points of working with clients. Have a plan when you will plant the seeds for a sale. Mentioning your framing service more than once builds awareness.
- Suggest the frame that will look good on their final portrait. I like to pick out one or two combinations of frames and mats before my client arrives.
You can learn more about my comprehensive framing guide by clicking here. I explain my entire process step by step just as I do it at my studio everyday.
I feel it is our job as photographers to help our customers go home with a portrait ready to hang on their wall and enjoy. Who is better than you, the artist, to help your customers? Do you really want someone less skilled picking out the final presentation for your photography?
It is easy to have a small selection of frame corners to show, a few simple tools, and a sturdy surface to work on. It can also be easy to sell frames without sounding salesy if you have a process for planting the seeds for that sale. Don’t let all of those sales walk out your door.
© 2012 Barb Gordon Photo Coach
End the Rippled Print Effect
Posted by: | CommentsI have been in customer’s homes who have 11x14s in frames under glass and the images were rippling. This is not very nice to look at and yes, they were done by a “professional.” Why is this? The images are not dry mounted to a substrate to support them. Over time they start to look wavy like the image shown here.
Most studios usually dry mount images that are being matted and framed. But how are you handling your 8x10s? Did you know they are large enough to ripple and wave as well? I found an 8×10 in my own home doing the same thing; it’s the one in the picture.
One draw back to mounting 8x10s can be the thickness. Some people do not take out other images in the frame and simply put new photos in front pressing them in all together. (Ick!)
Once I stumbled upon a frame that did not have a deep enough rabbit to accommodate the thickness of the mounting material. This is quite rare so do not let this concern you, it did only happen to me once. If you do run into a problem, simply reprinting an 8×10 and not mounting it is very inexpensive as well as nice customer service. But before you do this, educate your customer by showing them a sample of a rippled print. They will be glad to have you mount all of their images.
A fun way to demonstrate the value of your services and educate your clients all that you do for them is to have a rippled print on hand to show them. (Of course you are remembering to cover the cost of this in your prices, right?)
I have been mounting images so long that I have forgotten to point out this valuable service to my portrait clients myself! In addition to the great photography, it is important that they know what an awesome product they are buying.
Be sure to use quality products that are acid and lignin free. If you do not have a dry mount press, you can order images mounted direct from your color lab.
Meanwhile the rippled 8×10 I found at my house did mount very nicely even after all that time. Just thought I would check that out.
Promotion Blunders
Posted by: | CommentsSince we talked about promotions in our December’s F2.8 Protégé Club call, I thought I would share an excerpt from the framing manual I am putting the finishing touches on. This doubles as a promotional idea and a mistake that I made to help you avoid the same problem.
As a promotion to high school seniors one year I wanted to offer a free 8×10 frame with a qualified purchase. The first part of this mistake is that no one cares enough about a frame. A free frame, no matter how cool it is, is not going to get someone to select your studio over someone else’s so why bother with it as a promotional effort.
A better use of a free frame is as a thank you gift for a purchase, bundled within a package, or to use when an organization requests a door prize.
Anyway, because I am the type who likes to be prepared, I ordered thirty frames, at a great price, so I would be ready when the clients started coming in. I never needed thirty frames. I could have waited to order frames after I started getting the bookings and knew that people were actually coming. Maybe only ordered ten at a time instead of thirty. Even if the price wasn’t quite as good on fewer frames I would have been ahead. Now I am looking at a pile of frames on a shelf three years later. This was not a money saver at all nor did it bring in the clients.
I also made a similar error with a bunch of 5×7 frames I ordered for a promotion I did to drum up maternity portraits that was to lead to future child and family sessions. The idea with this promotion was that the new mom to be would receive a gift of a framed 5×7 of her choice from her session. I asked my current clients to let me know if they had a pregnant friend and I would send them a gift with their compliments. I got a few names but no response from this promotion directly. Again, more frames on my shelf.
If you want to buy some frames, I still have plenty, I can share!
Add Framing to your Services
Posted by: | CommentsProfits of course. I average $10,000-$14,000 a year in my low volume studio selling frames. I carry no inventory so there is no money tied up in products waiting to be selected like in a typical retail set up. There is no waste then of stocking items you can not sell.
Framing is a service to your current customers.
Why send your clients somewhere else to finish the job you started? If you make it convenient and easy for them to purchase framing from you, they will.
You will have more control of the final presentation.
You know the final image will look great if you have input in the final selection of the materials and colors.
Framing clients can become portrait clients too.
You can advertise to the general public for your framing services if you wish to too! I have framed posters, documents, certificates, and needlework. These people will get to know you as a photographer as well. They may become new portrait clients.
Getting your photography studio ready to add a framing service is fast and easy to do. Many of the supplies are even free. You don’t need a lot of space, and you do not even have to carry any inventory. What could be better?
There is much to teach and share about adding a framing service and my framing manual has it all. It is up to fifty pages and it is almost ready! I will send a special announcement out when it is.
Three Profitable Ideas for your Studio
Posted by: | CommentsThree Revenue Streams to Add Profits
Here are three ideas that compliment a photography studio business model to increase your offerings of services you can provide.
Photo restoration
Many people have single copies of old family photos. Many of them are worn, torn, faded, or damaged. Why not offer a restoration service?
Genealogy is a popular hobby and easier to do with the internet. People can create digital family albums and accompany their family tree with images. Some of these images needed to be restored. Bring the past back to life by restoring those treasured damaged photographs for your customers.
With a good scanner, photoshop skills, and some time, this is a service that you can offer. Better yet, sub-contract the work out to a qualified digital artist. This will create more profit for you but not tying up your valuable time doing the art yourself.
Offer restoration promotion in your slower months of the year to generate cash flow and new customers.
Video Services
As a photographer, you already have a studio full of backgrounds, a computer, and knowledge of lighting, posing, and color. Consider adding video services too. I have found that I don’t get enough light out of the modeling lights of my studio flashes and I am in search of affordable video lighting, but I have done quite a bit of video clips.
Recently ‘Fusion Photography’ has been used to define a new and developing type of photography that integrates video clips into picture slide shows. The Canon 5D Mark II camera made this become so easy. It is important to note that Fusion is not videography. The videos are often very short and contain little to no sound from the subjects. An easy way to produce Fusion is with Animoto. www.Animoto.com is a popular online company that automatically produces beautifully orchestrated, completely unique video pieces from your photos, video clips and music.
Working with video is much more time consuming than working with still photography. Be sure to consider this when pricing your services.
Framing Services
Don’t send your customers else where to get framing done on the portraits you created. They will need frames anyway so why not benefit from the sale yourself? Offer framing at your studio and add hundreds to thousands of dollars to your income.
This can be done simply using all ready made frames or with some training and experience you can offer custom framing.
Again, do a special promotion on framing in your slower months.
Diversifying can either be a distraction or a compliment to your business. Be sure to pick what works best for your strengths and your studio goals and objectives.
If you have other profitable revenue streams you would like to share, please email me at coach@BarbGordonPhotoCoach.com
Leading Lines of Composition
Posted by: | CommentsTwelve Elements of Composition
Tips for Remarkable Photographs
Part 12-Leading Lines
Solitude
This is one of my favorite images. I was photographing a high school senior boy on his horse by the barn on his farm when I happened to look to my right and saw this horse perfectly set up! The only thing I can think of to make this image even better was to photograph this at a later time of day with the long shadows of evening.
This photograph, called Solitude, combines so many elements in one image. The more elements in a photograph the more interesting the image becomes.
We have already discussed the Rule of Thirds in lesson number two. The horse is standing in the left third of the image.
It is also helpful that the horse is leading your attention into the photo with his head rather than directing your eye out of the image by looking to the left. We discussed this in lesson ten.
The fence coming into the image and drawing your attention toward the horse is an example of leading lines. The fence takes your eye right to the horse. This is a strong compositional element you typically have to really search for. You may need to change your shooting position to make the most use of it. The fence would loose its leading line effect if I was to shoot straight into it. It would become flat and just part of the background. A leading line needs to run in at an angle. I love the fact that it ends at the horse and does not go clear to the left side of the image. I think it is stronger this way.
We really have not discussed framing yet either. This is a good example of it with the tree above holding your eye in the image. As it fills about a third of the frame, it gives us a second rule of third element.
The light color of the horse pops from the scenery without being too contrasty. There is plenty of detail in the highlights and shadows making this an ideal image for my wall decor line.
About Barb
Barb Gordon, of www.BarbGordonPhotoCoach.com, is a Master Photographer, Photographic Craftsman, and Certified Professional Photographer with the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) to which she has belonged since 1984. She is a nationally published and award winning photographer, entrepreneur, speaker, and author including being published in the prestigious PPA Loan Collection 2006, PPA Showcase 2003, twice named Iowa’s Top Ten Photographer of the Year, and 2010 Iowa’s Master Photographer of the Year.
