With all of the different ways to grow your wedding photography business, we love sharing helpful content with you. To continue this, we’re excited to announce our newest guide!
Posing subjects is no simple task, especially when you’re working under the pressures of a rushed wedding timeline, imperfect lighting conditions, and subjects that aren’t models. Our Posing for the Wedding Photographer Guide was created with go-to wedding photographer poses from Roberto Valenzuela and other posing pros in the photography industry, and if you take the necessary steps to learn the fundamentals of posing and continuously practice, your images can drastically improve.
CreativeLive is our favorite resource for awesome online education for professional photographers! We’re excited to share with you that our Advocate Jared Platt will be teaching The Ultimate Lightroom CC Workflow!
In The Ultimate Lightroom CC Workflow, you’ll learn Jared Platt’s go-to tips and tricks for retouching and managing files quickly and efficiently. Jared will share insights on improving every phase of your workflow, from shooting to archiving. You’ll learn how to take advantage of the latest Lightroom tools and features, as well as become faster and more skilled at post wedding photography. Take a look at this short video to see one of Jared’s quick Lightroom tips:
When it comes to running a wedding photography business, it’s no secret in-person sales photography can be a challenging skill to master. We have shared how outsourcing your images to photo editing companies can help to give yourself free time to focus on your marketing, blogging, and networking. That free time can also be used for mastering wedding photography in-person sales! Although it can be difficult, selling your products and services is key to increasing the profit for your photography business.
After months of planning and preparing, the big day has finally arrived for the bride and groom. Before you shoot the ceremony, portraits, or the reception, you typically begin by capturing the wedding getting ready photos for both the bride and groom. Since this is a time they will spend apart, it will be exciting for them to see images of one another getting ready.
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Throughout every shoot you do with your couples, you coach them on the best ways to pose, ensuring that they look stunning in each image. When you receive your images back from ShootDotEdit’s photography editing services, you review to make sure that your clients sent a proper message with their body language that represented the wedding day. If they were slouching or leaning in the pose, the message is not as strong. Body language is the key to sending the right message, especially in photography!
This applies to you as a business owner, as well! One of the reasons your clients booked you is because they had a positive experience with you during the initial meeting. When you interact with your clients, it is crucial for you to begin creating trust. Not only does your body language increase your clients’ trust, it also boosts your confidence, which enhances the ability for you to book and sell your highest packages. Here are 4 tips for you to ensure that your body language is sending the right message.
1. Maintain Eye Contact
From the moment you meet your potential clients, eye contact is crucial! There is a balance to this, though – too much eye contact can make you come across as intimidating and even rude, and too little eye contact can give clients the impression that you are insecure or unprepared. So how do you find a balance to the right amount of eye contact? As a rule of thumb, keeping eye contact between 30%-60% of the time will help to create a comfortable atmosphere for both you and your clients! [···]
In today’s technology driven society, we are glued to our devices. As you rush to meet with potential clients for a meeting, you strive to fit in as many texts in as possible before you need to shove your phone in your pocket and be personable for the next hour. Once you arrive at the meeting, you realize something – you are blanking on what to say, and without your email in front of you, you are drawing a blank on the names of the clients you’re meeting with. As a wedding photographer, the power of communication is a crucial and necessary tool you need to develop strong relationships with clients and vendors.
“Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success” – Paul J. Meyer
Here are six communication tips for better networking connections that will help you create lasting relationships with your clients and vendors.
1. Showcase Authenticity
When you are meeting with clients or vendors, one of the most important things you can do is to be yourself. Create a unique message that represents you and your brand, and let this shine through in every interaction you have with others! Say what you mean, not what you think clients want to hear – it is important to always be yourself. When communicating, be open and honest, ensuring that you are properly representing your brand at all times. As long as you are always being authentic, it is okay if you are not booking every client – remember, you want to focus on finding your ideal client each time! [···]
After you shoot a wedding, you head home, sit at your computer, and begin the hours of post-processing work to quickly get your images to your clients. What you may not realize is that the hours invested into editing your images is time that you could spend growing your wedding photography business! Here at ShootDotEdit, we cure the pain of post-processing for photographers around the globe. Outsourcing photo editing to us means that we take care of 90% of the workload, leaving you with only 10% (adding your Signature Style). When you use our photo editing services, you are freeing yourself up to do more of what you love – shooting!
As a wedding photographer, booking clients is the lifeline to your photography business. One way to achieve your goals is to utilize luxury brand marketing to book high end brides who will pay you what you are worth.
As a wedding photographer, one of the best ways for you to get the word out about your business is through client referrals. We have spent some time sharing with you how to create a loyal following of Advocates and Evangelists, both of who will happily recommend you and your wedding photography business to friends, family, and colleagues. So how do you move clients to become True Believers, the third and highest tier of customer referrals? True Believers refer you to others because of YOU rather than what you do – they believe in you as a person. You want to make it a goal of yours to create a band of True Believers who will spread the word about you and your business!
Know Your Message
To convert clients into True Believers, you must develop a clearly defined message and live by it. Having a strong message is essential because True Believers want more than just a quality product and a sharable experience – they need a message that they can stand behind and share with their friends and family as they refer you! Taking the time to know who you are and what you and your brand stands for is the only way to develop a genuine message. Remember to make your message as specific as possible! [···]
If you ask a wedding photographer in the digital age if selling prints are valuable to their business, you may hear an array of conflicting answers. Though giving prints to clients used to be standard for photographers, advancements in technology has made it more difficult to convince clients to purchase prints in addition to digital services.
Here at ShootDotEdit, we understand the importance of growing your business. We allow you to outsource photo editing to save you time for other parts of your business, such as sales! Understanding how to sell prints to your clients will not only increase the profit for your business, but it will also allow you to reach future clients. Think of the friends and family that will see your prints in the bride and groom’s home! They will admire your work and know that they can call you if they need photography services. To determine if selling prints is worth it for your wedding photography business, here are some ways to help clients see the value in purchasing prints!
Educate Your Clients
You must provide insight to the bride and groom about the benefits of purchasing prints. It is necessary for you to discuss prints the first time you meet with your clients, so they are continuously hearing about them throughout their relationship with you. Most of them have little knowledge about photography, nor will they understand the true benefits of purchasing prints from the wedding day. When you sit down for your first meeting, explain why prints, canvases, and wall art is a must-have! They are a physical representation of the most important day of their lives. [···]
