Ever since we first laid the foundation for ShootDotEdit in 2007, we have strived to achieve one goal: Empower wedding photographers to focus on doing what they love by providing professional photo editing services and building a reliable outsourcing platform that they can trust. By doing this, we didn’t just want to lessen the post-production workload or ensure quality and on-time delivery, but we also wanted to encourage them to create a healthy work-life balance! We aim to make a wedding photographer’s life and job easier. And in the process of doing so, we have created an incredible wedding photographer and vendor community that encourages every member to be their best, and to pursue getting what they want in their lives and businesses.
ShootDotEdit is a business built by wedding photographers to serve wedding photographers. Our customers are why we exist. On their behalf, we will continue to understand and meet their needs through constant innovation and improvement of our services. And, in the wake of who ShootDotEdit is trying to be, and how we are seeking to serve, we reached out to some of our longtime customers and asked them to reflect on their journey with ShootDotEdit. In this article, we bring you those ShootDotEdit customer reviews.
ShootDotEdit Customer Reviews: Thoughts on Outsourcing
1. Robb McCormick Photography
Robb McCormick of Robb McCormick Photography shared that before outsourcing to ShootDotEdit, his wife had been handling everything for his business – from invoicing, contracts, and conferences to editing, blogging, and emailing. But, eventually, they both decided that outsourcing would be the best way to give them some time as a couple and relax, and that’s when ShootDotEdit came into the picture.
Robb emphasized on the need to outsource and further shared, “I think it’s just so important to, first, do stuff that you really want to do because you’re going to be happy and passionate about it. Second, for anything [that] you don’t like doing, if you have to do it, outsource it. I mean, just outsource it. I’m at a point now where I would rather make 20% less a year and have more time for my family and just be happier in general and not get burned out. And that comes from outsourcing all the stuff that I don’t want to do, whether it’s a job or whether it’s the editing or the culling.”
He added, “The great thing about ShootDotEdit, the reason I like ShootDotEdit so much is that you guys do 80% of the heavy lifting and I get to do the 20% of the fun stuff at the end. And I found that over the years it’s so hard to sit down and edit a wedding without getting burned out 10 times. I have known you guys forever [now]. I’ve been with you even before you had style match or culling and it was rough at the beginning but you have come a long way and I’m really glad that I stuck with you for so long.”
2. Sara France Photography
Sharing her thoughts on outsourcing, Sara France of Sara France Photography shared, “I’ve had a relationship with ShootDotEdit since the very beginning. I’ve found that when you’re a one-woman show, and you’re doing everything yourself, you can choose to outsource and find people who have chosen those professions because they’re gifted at that and lean on them. So really, the thing you should be focusing on is the unique piece that you bring to the business. I am the most useful to our business when I am inspired but also when I’m working on the business and not in the business.”
3. Infinite Loop Photography
Jerry Cantave of Infinite Loop Photography also began his journey with the DIY lifestyle. “I used to do everything in-house – culling, straightening, and cropping the images. And I shoot pretty natural. I don’t like to apply filters, and I like to get it right in camera. So even though my editing efforts are very small, in situations where the lighting is inconsistent or the color shifts, editing is still required.”
Jerry added that he soon realized that despite needing minimal edits, editing was still “Taking too much of my resources when I could have been focusing [on other things in my business] like social media or marketing. So, after partnering with another company for a number of years, I wanted to look for other options. And it was at that time that I got an email from ShootDotEdit that said, ‘Hey! Come and check out what we have.’ And I signed up for the first couple of months just to see how it was. And I had a very good conversation with the team, sharing where I came from and what my needs were. And I have been with ShootDotEdit ever since.”
Suggested Read: Fast 5: Save Your Sanity With Outsourcing
4. Salt and Pine Photography
Joe and Darryl Ann Geske of Salt and Pine Photography said, “It was quite a learning curve. We both like to be in control of everything. And so giving up a little bit of that control to ShootDotEdit at first was a real struggle, but ultimately gaining that control because of a consistent outcome was a big win.”
5. Photography by Orlando
At first, outsourcing photo editing can be a tough decision for some photographers. Orlando Oliveira of Photography by Orlando had a similar start. He began by paying an in-house editor to edit his wedding photos for him but quickly realized that “it was definitely more expensive.” And that’s when he started looking for professional help and, after some research, found ShootDotEdit. He shared, “It took me forever to get on board with you guys because it took me so long to let go of the editing. But now that I have, it’s freed up so much time for me.”
He added, “If there’s something that doesn’t make you money, let someone else do it. Moreover, why not give it to people who do it better. If I’m sitting there designing an album for a week, I’m not doing social media. I’m not out networking with other businesses or planners. It was a waste of time.”
Related Read: Nail The Client Experience: Featuring Orlando Oliveira
How ShootDotEdit Helps Your Photography Business?
1. Consistent Outcome
While reflecting on how ShootDotEdit helped his business, Orlando Oliveira of Photography by Orlando shared, “The editing got way more consistent with ShootDotEdit. I can sit there and edit very consistently, but I can’t edit an entire wedding because I am the one out shooting. So definitely when I saw how consistent the editing with ShootDotEdit was, it was a no-brainer to use the service.”
Natalie and Brandon of Studio N Photography had a similar experience. They shared, “We couldn’t have gotten through our seasons without ShootDotEdit. You have been a huge, huge part in getting our jobs out on time and just getting our consistency down, and we really appreciate our relationship with you.”
Joe Geske of Salt and Pine Photography shared, “I think we’ve been ShootDotEdit customers since [nearly] 2014. What changed things for us is when we realized that the big benefit of ShootDotEdit was just giving us a [consistent] starting point where we could do the creative stuff on our own and not have to spend 8 to 10 hours editing. I think a huge thing is that, as a husband and wife team Darryl Ann and I are very different [when we shoot]. We’ve got 4 cameras that all have slightly different opinions on white balance and have different lenses, and every lens has a slightly different color profile. And once we realized that ShootDotEdit could just consistently wrap all that up into one edited and delivered product, we realized that was huge. It was a game-changer.”
2. Flexibility
For Flavio Debarros of Flavio D Photography, it was the flexibility of getting the job done that worked for him and his business. He shared, “I use ShootDotEdit supplementally. I cull, ShootDotEdit color corrects. I want control. I am one of those people that spends way too much time on some things I know I shouldn’t. There are positives and negatives to that.”
3. Freeing Up Time
By outsourcing editing to ShootDotEdit, Joseph McFetridge of Love by Joe Mac shared that he was able to free up his schedule, which was of great help. “ShootDotEdit has really helped me out because I am not a businessman. So normal business tasks always take me way longer than they should. So I really need to leverage my time. And having someone to take care of the editing, like ShootDotEdit, is exactly what I need. It frees me up to connect with people more, to manage clients more, and to manage my business more because I can get lost in editing. I can spend hours and hours and hours editing. And if you have someone you trust [to outsource to] and they know what they’re doing, you can just relax. It has helped in the way that the thing I couldn’t handle or edit, ShootDotEdit does for me. And then that way, I can focus on trying to run my business.”
What They Loved About ShootDotEdit
1. Turnaround Time
At ShootDotEdit, we understand that fast deliverables make our customers’ clients happy, making our customers even more satisfied. And so we adhere to the fastest deliverable time of 48 hours. Diane Clifford of Diane Nicole Photography loves our services for the very same reason. She shared, “ShootDotEdit started helping me with the post-production [and wedding photo editing]. And when I get [my edited images] back, I’ll usually go through and do little extra cleanups – like clean up the skin and background distractions. But I’ve gotten pretty quick now. So that workflow is really great for me to be able to get pictures back [to my clients] a lot quicker. It’s worth every penny.”
2. Process
Photography is a creative pursuit, and even though you are taking images as per your couple’s requirements, there’s always some portion of work that’s your signature style. Our goal as a wedding photo editing company is to take care of the drab and dreary part of post-production while leaving enough time for you to work on things that inspire you. Robb McCormick of Robb McCormick Photography reflected on the same point when he told us, “The great thing about ShootDotEdit — the reason I like ShootDotEdit so much is that you guys do 80% of the heavy lifting and I get to do the 20% of the fun stuff at the end.”
3. Cost-Effective
Dana and Nate Dorn of Lovers of Love shared, “What I love about ShootDotEdit versus other editing companies — because we did try other ones — is you guys are a blanket cost. So we pay for the unlimited package, and we’ve taken advantage of other deals like free culling. And right now, we’re doing your three-day turnaround, which is pretty awesome! You get my babies, you get my families, you get everything I shoot for one price. As we grow in our business, I don’t have to pay more to my editing company because I’m shooting more.”
Suggested Read: Professional Photo Editing Services For Busy Wedding Photographers
Life After Outsourcing to ShootDotEdit
1. Business Growth
As a reflection of what changed after they started outsourcing to ShootDotEdit, Dana of Lovers of Love added, “Our business has grown exponentially because of ShootDotEdit… Letting go of editing has been a huge, huge push forward for us because I’m not in the darkroom — like in the dark, culling late hours at night, I am pushing our business forward. I am doing different things that actually matter to growing the business as opposed to editing.”
Terrence of Apollo Fields Photography told us, “There’s no possible way we can shoot 35 weddings a year and have Heather edit every single one of those photos. So ShootDotEdit enables us to scale our business up, and without it, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.”
2. Making Time for Self
Joe and Darryl Ann Geske of Salt and Pine Photography told us, “It’s huge to have the tones be perfect across the board because, on a wedding day, things can vary so much between when you get there at 10:00 AM and when you’re leaving at 10:00 PM. It has freed up so much time and gives it back to our relationship because what we’ve found is that we don’t choose to spend that extra time in the office.”
“My life has changed and become so much easier after ShootDotEdit. I had to understand that it’s still my work. I still have full control. This is absolutely what was best for me. It’s insane how much ShootDotEdit changed my life. I can’t recommend ShootDotEdit enough. It’s so much more important to have that successful workflow and a life outside of my business. So, I mean, ShootDotEdit was life-changing!” shared Brandi Salerno of Brandi Allyse Photography.
A Message From Our CEO
Here’s what Garrett Delph, CEO, and Co-founder of ShootDotEdit, has to share with our customers. “We get it. As creatives, every image is your baby. It’s your work. That’s your portrait. It’s your drawing. It’s your painting. But choosing to put your time towards editing instead of the more important and valuable activities that will grow and flourish your business – well, I want to encourage you to think twice about it. Does your time go toward activities that bring you opportunity and payment for the craft you love? Are you using your time to build relationships with wedding coordinators who will refer your business? Are you spending time finding leads? Are you spending time re-marketing to past customers? If not, why not?”
“Our mission is to build an integrated platform so that when you show up for post-production, you have a multitude of other services at your fingertips as well — like blogging and photo gallery hosting. Yes, we literally can do it all for you. ShootDotEdit remains innovative and ahead of the game — it’s a byproduct of our core values. It’s evolving in an ever-changing industry.”
Further Read: The Best Decision You Could Ever Make For Your Photography Business
At ShooDotEdit, we are firm believers in “Do what you do best. Outsource the rest.” And these ShootDotEdit customer reviews are just a highlight of how we are always there to support you and provide the best solutions to your problems. To learn more about how we lessen your post-production workload and help your wedding photography business, take a look at our pricing plans.