Archive for photography
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.
How to answer the question, “How much is it?”
Posted by: | CommentsThere are more choices for finding a photographer these days so help your callers out. Help them get through the uncomfortable moments of opening a conversation they may not know how to do.
Last week I shared an experience I had as being a new customer myself that helped me understand what it must be like for a new person calling a studio for the first time. You can read that here:
http://barbgordonphotocoach.com/business/customer/five-tips-for-understanding-your-new-prospects
Even though they may start with the question of how much you charge, it is not necessarily the question they are really asking.
The salesman in the horse feed booth at the fair could have helped me out by asking some fact finding questions to get me talking. Since I did not know how to start shopping for new horse feed, I needed some help but I was unable to verbalize that at the time.
The salesman could have asked me questions like:
- What kind of horses do you have?
- How many do you have?
- Are they varied in ages and jobs that they do? As there are different feeds based on the amount of physical energy they exert.
- What are you currently feeding them and how is that working?
All of these conversation starters would have been more helpful to me.
So as a photographer your conversation starter questions for a new prospect can be very similar. But first, ask permission not to answer their question right away with a statement like: “I would be happy to answer that question [about pricing] for you. Before I do, may I ask you a few questions first to get an idea of what you are looking for?”
- How many people are in your family?
- What are the ages of your children?
- Do you have a family hobby? Something that we could use to tell a story about you as a group?
- Do you have a location or style in mind?
- Where are you going to display your portrait? (This question also sets you up for planting seeds of a wall portrait sale.)
All of this discussion delays the “how much is it” question. You have time to build some rapport and get to know your prospects needs without focusing on the cost first. They will quickly find out how much you care about them too. You will also get the information you need to more accurately answer their pricing question, which, as you are discovering, really isn’t the real question anyway.
In order to get the prospect to move from a being caller to an actual booking, I offer a consultation in the studio. This is a low pressure invitation for more information so they may discover that I am indeed the photographer for them. At the consultation we look at images, discuss clothing options, and pricing. Personally, if someone does not want to invest an hour of their time to take this step, they are not a good customer for me and I let them go.
© 2012 Barb Gordon Photo Coach | Gordon Photography & Gallery, Inc.
Portable Moulding Prop for a Quick Change
Posted by: | CommentsMoulding that is light weight and moveable gives a background a seamless transition from a painted background to the floor.
I actually won this prop! I have used it more than I thought I would. It works great when I want to use the hard wood floor or if my background is too short to cover the floor.
Since my studio is white with white moulding, this dark brown moulding gives me a totally different look.
The moulding I won came with brackets and magnets to stand it up but mine balances just fine. As long as the children are not too active, you don’t want it falling on them!
Just fold the canvas under and back, pull it as smooth as you can and bring it as close as possible to touch the moulding and it can look just like a wall.
Sorry, I can not tell you what company it came from. I just went and checked the back and it was not marked. But really, go to the local home store and buy an eight foot piece of big moulding and paint it or stain it any way you want. Do a few colors of wood. It is a fast way to change your look.
You don’t have to worry that you might not be a good painter or wood stainer. This moulding is not the focus of the photograph, the child is. You may shoot at a wider f-stop and not have the background in focus anyway so don’t be a perfectionist with your staining. Just get it done and get to photographing!
© 2012 Barb Gordon Photo Coach
Spring is so fun!
Posted by: | CommentsI have spotted the most gorgeous male pheasant near our house. 
I have seen him a couple of times. My husband, the hunter, told me that they are more colorful in the spring. I am glad I keep a camera in the car! I stopped on the road to grab this shot. All I had time for was to put it on program, lower the window, and shoot. It isn’t tack sharp so I should go on foot one day and see if I can get closer.
Do you have a favorite spring time photo subject?
How to Put Your Logo on Your Images
Posted by: | CommentsI am not a Photoshop expert or guru but I can help you with this one! Like many things in Photoshop, there is more than one way to do this but here is one way.
Make your copyright mark difficult enough that most people will not want to spend time taking out your logo in Photoshop.
If you can use a Gif format, that is perfect for the web. A Gif format is less likely to be reprinted as the quality is great for the web but it is not good for printing.
If you are interested in more information about copyright and trademarking, please join Professional Photographers of America, www.PPA.com as they are the premier association for professional photographers.
- Open the image you want to put a logo on in Photoshop
- Make a duplicate of the image (in case you make a mistake you are not working with your original file.)
- If the image is going on the web, resize it smaller so it uploads fast, won’t look too good if someone prints it, but looks fine on the web. I use about 3×5 at 72 dpi.
- I have made an action in Photoshop for resizing my images since I do this often.
- Type your name or studio name.
- Select the Type Tool and type your studio name in black in your desired font.
- The layers palate will automatically put the text in. You can see in photo #1 that my top layer says © www.GordonPhotography.Biz
- With the rectangle tool, draw a box the shape of your letters.
- This layer should be underneath your type layer.
- If you need to resize it, Cont T will bring up the handles to let you resize it.
- Change the color of your box by clicking in the box that is colored in the layers palette.
- You can see in photo #2 mine is white already. (It is the second layer and it is called shape 1.) Select white which is color #ffffff and hit OK.
- Also make sure that this box color layer is the layer in between your text and image
- Reduce the opacity of the Shape Layer to around 45%.
- Then save as a jpeg or gif for use on the web.
You can also use a logo on a transparent background on a layer above your image layer. Mine looks like this. This logo, however, would be easy to crop out of the picture so it may not be a good choice for the web.
Your image is now ready to load on to the web!
Another great idea: Save your logo overlay separately in layers as pdf in case you wish to make changes. Make an action to open your saved web logo fast. Having this action will keep you from having to start all over each time you wish to mark a photograph.
Another Milestone in my Career
Posted by: | CommentsI was one of eleven professional photographers who earned the Business Impact Zone Degree (BIZ) from Professional Photographers of Iowa (PPI) at this year’s PPI Winter Convention.
Earning the BIZ degree involves a four day training class and the submission of a business plan.
PPI is the first and only state offering a business program such as this.
Iowa photographer Aletha Speaker, also a 2012 BIZ degree recipient, is responsible for getting this business program into action. The program has also been supported by four sponsors: American Color Imaging, Christian Photo, Colormaster Inc., and JB Frames & Design.
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
