Archives for 2015

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8 Methods to Increasing the Value of Your Images Today

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Oct 20Categories: Wedding Photography Ideas No Comments

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As a wedding photographer, what is the one thing you spend the most time creating and delivering to your clients? Your images! The bride and groom seek you out and book you based on the quality of your images, and whether your style matches their vision. The images you provide your couples can help you meet your business goals by increasing your overall profit. Another way to reach your business goals is to create pricing that matches the quality of your images. How can you improve your images and make a higher profit off of each booking? Check out these eight methods and increase the value of your images starting today.

1. Shoot for your Ideal Client

Although there are thousands of couples who are looking for a wedding photographer, many of them are not in your target market. For instance, if a couple lives in a different state and you do not travel, you would not want to invest time in trying to book that couple. Or, if you are a destination photographer, but a couple wants to get married in a local location, that can also be a time-consuming process that will not help you define who you are as a wedding photographer.

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Shooting with Speedlights

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Oct 15Categories: Wedding Shooting No Comments

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Capturing the best images to tell the wedding day story for the bride and groom is one of the most important parts of being a photographer. There are many aspects to consider when shooting so you can create stunning images. Understanding how to pose your clients and learning the most advanced shooting techniques can help you develop images your clients will love. Another crucial part of creating beautiful images is having the ability to shoot in any lighting.

During some of your wedding shoots, you may not always know exactly what type of lighting you will be working with. When this happens, it is important for you to know which tools to access to make lighting your shoots easy and effective. Speedlights are lightweight, portable light sources you can use to enhance your wedding day shoot. Here are some tips to help you take advantage of the power of speedlights for your upcoming shoots.

Create Light in Any Shooting Situation

Since speedlights are transportable, you can carry them along with you during any shoot. Additionally, speedlights are flexible, which means you can choose where you want to aim your flash. Speedlights require minimal set up, and you can quickly get started shooting. Regardless of the weather and lighting conditions, speedlights give you more options for your shoot. You can use them in conjunction with the sun to even out the shadows and highlights in the image, or a speedlight can be your primary source of light.

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27 Ways to Increase Bookings for Your Wedding Photography Business Next Year

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Oct 14Categories: How to Become a Photographer 3 Comments
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No matter what time of year it is, it’s always a good time to focus on increasing bookings for your wedding photography business. Wedding photographers typically book many months in advance, sometimes even years prior. Because of this, any changes and improvements you make today could take quite a while to be reflected in your profits. We have valuable tips to share that can help you learn how to get more business each year.

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Infographic – Sharing on Social Media as a Photographer

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Oct 08Categories: Social Media Tips No Comments

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Did you know that when you post an image to Facebook, it will receive more likes and 104% more comments than just posting a status update without an image? With percentages like that, how could you NOT want to post more photos online? In fact, social media’s most valuable currency is images, which places wedding photographers at an advantage since you shoot new photos on the regular!

As easy as it is to post images on social media, it is no longer enough to just post whenever you feel like it – you need a strategy when it comes to sharing your photos! When you create a strategic approach for posts on social media, you allow yourself to stand out from your competitors. By knowing the best times to share images, how many images to post, and the proper way to tag clients in photos, you will be at an advantage and can gain maximum exposure.

Related: Top 5 Tips for Using Instagram for Your Business

So how do you stand out from the crowd and use social media to your advantage? We’ve gathered 4 techniques to sharing on social media that you need as a professional wedding photographer. To share these 4 tips, we’ve created an infographic for your viewing pleasure! We cover tagging people, the best times to post, as well as statistics and data for each section. Take a look below!

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How to Spot Bottlenecks in your Business

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Oct 01Categories: How to Become a Photographer No Comments

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When you began your wedding photography business, did you think that most of your time would be spent working on the business aspects of it rather than shooting? From scheduling meetings, responding to emails, designing albums, and ordering prints, there are numerous tasks you are responsible for! Some of these can take up a lot of time, which can result in you falling behind on other tasks (especially during busy season!). As a business owner, it is crucial for you to understand how to find these problem areas, which are also known as bottlenecks. A business bottleneck can be an area of your wedding photography business that is very time consuming and causes you to not accomplish other tasks that are also important. Bottlenecks can also be tasks that are not profitable because they cost more money than they are worth.

Even though it may be common to have bottlenecks in your business, there’s good news – once you spot the bottlenecks, there are ways to manage and eliminate them! Here are some ways to spot bottlenecks, and how you can fix them to focus on the most important tasks in your business.

Identify the Problem Areas

Before you can solve your bottleneck problem, it is necessary for you to identify what specific tasks are holding you back. There may be one main task that add hours to your workflow, or there may be several – this is okay! The most important things is that you take a clinical look at your business and identify all of them. Examine each area of your business, from answering emails to booking clients to adding your Signature Style to images.

Related: Is your turnaround time meeting your clients’ expectations?

You can also take a step back from your business and decide what parts you enjoy, and what parts take you longer because you do not find joy in performing those tasks. Many times, the tasks you do not enjoy working on are the ones that hold you back the most. Make a list of the tasks that bring you pain each time you need to work on them, and document the time it takes for you to work on them as well! This will allow you to see how much time you could save if those tasks were removed as bottlenecks. [···]

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Pro Photographer’s Free Guide to Lighting and Posing

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Sep 29Categories: Wedding Photography Ideas No Comments

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If you take a step back and look at where you are in your wedding photography business, are you exactly where you thought you’d be at this time in your career? As a wedding photographer, it’s important to consistently reevaluate where you are and what you can improve on.

During your wedding shoots, how often do you test out new shooting techniques? Even if you are comfortable with the skills you have, it can be crucial to know how to use the most advanced and up-to-date shooting techniques. Additionally, understanding how to shoot in any situation can take your photography business to another level.

In order for you to grow your business and book higher-end weddings, it’s important for you to learn the science of lighting as well as the art involved in posing to deliver gorgeous imagery. If you want to stand out from other photographers in the industry, you must have all of the skillsets necessary to deliver breathtaking images, no matter what the lighting situation or subject is.

To help you master lighting and posing, we have the perfect free guide for you:

Pro Photographer’s Free Lighting and Posing Guide

Pro Photographer's Free Guide to Lighting and Posing

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Photographers, what is your morning-of wedding ritual?

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Sep 24Categories: Wedding Photography Ideas No Comments

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As a professional wedding photographer, you spend months helping your bride and groom prep for their special day. From the engagement shoot to the wedding day timeline, you take time to ensure that your couple is prepared for everything leading up to the wedding. Along with ensuring that the bride and groom are prepared, it is also crucial that you feel prepared as well, especially on the morning of the wedding!

Here at ShootDotEdit, we love to educate and help you find better solutions to growing your business. In order to feel your best before a shoot, it is important to have a consistent routine. Every wedding photographer’s morning-of ritual is unique, and we asked some of the industry’s pros to see what they do before their events. Their answers can help you better prepare yourself and have a more successful shoot.

Continue to Build Trust

Leading up to the wedding, you take time to develop a meaningful relationship with your couple. As the wedding day arrives, it is crucial to continue to build trust with them. Making efforts to reach out to them, or learning important family member’s names can make a large impact on the relationship you and your couple already have. The more they can trust you, the easier it is for them to become loyal customers!

Wedding photographer Terra Cooper has a morning-of wedding ritual that consists of reviewing the plan the couple wrote for the day, as well as making attempts to memorize names of the bride and groom’s immediate family and bridal party. She knows that the more she can talk to family members by using their first names, the more personalized the entire experience becomes.

“I go over the bride and groom’s questionnaires they sent me to make sure I have everything fresh in my mind, as well as their parents’ names. I try to use names as much as I can, because it is more personal and helps to nurture our relationship.”

– Terra Cooper

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4 Secrets to Capturing Emotion

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Sep 23Categories: Wedding Shooting No Comments

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With the 2.3 million couples who get married every year, there are many weddings available for you to book and shoot. When the wedding day arrives, there are suggested images you can use to photograph the traditional moments. What about the moments not listed on a checklist, but happen when no one is looking? How do you capture those moments and provide unique images to your clients? The key is to capture the pure emotion that exudes from your couple on this day. Here are four secrets to capturing emotion from the bride and groom.

1. Anticipate the Moments

During the wedding day, there are many sentimental and emotional moments you can capture. The best way for you to take the photos that feature these moments is to anticipate when they will happen. As the bride walks down the aisle, you know the groom will have an anxious and excited expression on his face. There is also a chance that some family members and friends in the audience will be emotional, as well.

Related: What’s your plan for shooting portraits during mid-day?

Try to capture as many special moments you can, so the bride and groom can remember how everyone felt on this day. During the father-daughter and mother-son dances, make sure to keep your camera on each pair as they enjoy their time together. It is a meaningful tradition for the bride and groom to fulfill on their wedding day, and a great opportunity to capture their candid emotions.

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9 Time-Saving Tools You Need

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Sep 17Categories: How to Become a Photographer 3 Comments

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When you start your day, what are some of the first things you tackle on your seemingly endless list of things to do? From checking emails to responding to clients and vendors, to planning your next wedding shoot, it can feel as if there is always too much happening at once. On the one hand, it is a positive sign you are so busy; it means you have clients who want to work with you and who help you grow your business! On the other hand, juggling too many tasks can become stressful and overwhelming.

If your focus is not on developing plans to continue growing your business, you may fall behind and miss your goals for the year. Therefore, it is necessary for you to find ways to create systems and plans to help speed up your workflow. These systems will then allow you to spend more time on the parts of your business that generate profit. Here are 9 Time-Saving Tools that are critical for your business and for staying on track.

Download our free Guide to learn about the best shortcuts, tools, and apps for your wedding photography business!

1. Canned Responses for Emails

Working with clients and vendors means much of your communication happens through email. Instead of writing individual emails that have the same copy, utilize Gmail’s canned response feature. Creating canned responses for emails is essential in saving time during your daily routine. Try this tool for multiple emails you send daily, such as informing clients about the status of their images. Once you create and save your canned responses, all you have to do is select the template and the correct copy appears in the email draft. Using this tool can save hours of writing and sending emails, which allows you to accomplish more of your tasks during the day.

Image Compliments of Style & Story Creative

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