Wedding Photography Ideas

As a photographer and business owner, you cannot do everything by yourself. Taking repetitive, trainable tasks off your list is one of the best ways for you to find success and grow your business. Outsourcing to partners and specialists is the necessary step to take for many of your tasks, and can free up your time so you can focus on what is most important for your business. But, why should you outsource, and what needs to be taken off your list?

In our Online Training, 20 Tasks You Can Take Off Your List Today with Melissa Jill, she shared why you need to outsource time-consuming tasks, and ones that don’t require your constant attention. We’ve gathered the top 5 tips from the training to use in your wedding photography business.

“The most successful people outsource nearly everything that doesn’t play to their strengths, or things they simply do not need to do themselves.” – Melissa Jill

1. Time-Consuming Tasks

Though there are many tasks you perform on a regular basis, there are a few that often are time-consuming for your workflow. One area in particular is color correction, which can take hours after every wedding you shoot. Even if you only shoot a handful of weddings each year, or you allot editing time in your workflow, you are still spending those hours on your images rather than booking more weddings, meeting with vendors, or spending time with your family and friends. How many little league games have you missed or dinners with your best friends because you had to finish editing your wedding from 5 weeks ago that you kept pushing aside? Outsourcing your photo editing needs to a company like ShootDotEdit eliminates time from your post-wedding workflow, giving you more time to spend with loved ones.

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Here at ShootDotEdit, we know you have a lot of pressures and responsibilities with your photography business that can sometimes cause you to be stressed and overwhelmed. There may be days where you feel uninspired or exhausted, and days where you feel as if you aren’t sure why you got into business in the first place. On the days you feel this way, it’s necessary to take a step back and remember what made you start your photography business. And, that’s why we have gathered 26 inspirational quotes for you to look at when you need a little boost!

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Your body matters…your camera body, that is! As a photographer, it is crucial that you take the time to know and determine which camera body is the best for you and your shooting needs. Do you know which cameras have the best sensors or can handle a high ISO at low-lit ceremony sites and still produce high quality images your clients will be thrilled to print? 

In Your Body Matters: The Wedding Photographer’s Guide to Camera Bodies, we’ve teamed up with LensProToGo to share about some of the best cameras, so you will know what to look for when searching for your next camera body!

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What do you currently have in your wedding photography gear bag? If you are first starting out in your business, you may be looking for gear to help you get established. If you have been in business for a while, but are looking for an upgrade, discovering what type of equipment is available can help you make your choice. Here at ShootDotEdit, we know that the more you know about your gear, the easier it will be to use it to create the photos your clients will love. So you can get an idea of what gear you should use (and what else is out there), Ben Hartley of Style & Story Creative is sharing a few of the pieces he uses in his photography business.

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Camera Body

Canon 5D Mark III – Our work horse. We shoot all of our weddings on these babies. The main advantage with the Mark III is in its auto-focus and its crazy high ISO capability.

Image Compliments of Style & Story Creative

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The wedding day shoot is often hectic (and stressful!) and requires you to shoot multiple moments at once. Most of the time your well-timed schedule does not go according to plan. And, wedding day nightmares do occur. If you are distracted by unpredictable moments during the wedding day, how can you focus on memorable and emotional moments?

In our Simple Wedding Day Strategies to Capture Every Moment Webinar with Donal Doherty, he shared ways for you to confidently capture every shot your couple desires. So you can reduce your stress and maintain focus during the shoot, here are the top 5 tips for capturing every wedding day moment. 

1. Prep Clients for Success

Your clients’ experience starts when they first reach out to you. This is an opportunity to set expectations for the upcoming process and to prep your clients for success. Provide tips as you discuss each part of the process, such as how to dress for the engagement shoot and ways to make the wedding day shoot run more smoothly. These tips are meant to prepare your clients so the shoot can go as planned.

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Does this question sound familiar from your bride and groom? “How many images do you deliver from a wedding?” When you hear this, your immediate response might be to tell them a number as high as possible so they think they are getting a better experience from you. Hold that thought! Did you know that you might actually be hurting your clients (and adding more stress into their lives) when you deliver too many images? While clients might think they want 1,000 images from their special day, once they begin looking at their images, they might quickly become overwhelmed by the sea of images they have to view!

The number you choose is crucial! Remember, the experience your clients have with you does not stop after the wedding day. Their experience and overall happiness includes how many images you provide after the wedding, so it’s important for you to choose a number that will not overwhelm them or cause them stress. So, the real question is: how many images do you clients really want? Read on to discover how many images some of the pros deliver to their clients, and why they chose that number.

Less is More

When you send your clients thousands of images after the wedding day, this gives them too many options when it comes to deciding which to print or use in an album. If your clients have too many decisions to make, it becomes a stressful process for them. Not only does this cause headaches for them, it alters the way they think about their overall experience with you.

Everyone has a wish list for their business. Many of the ideas you have likely include projects to grow your business to the next level. And for you to reach your goals, it’s often necessary for you to make more money. As a wedding photographer, what are things you can do to bring home additional income that do not require too much of your time?

In our first post of this series, we discussed how to make more money by adding a photo booth to your pricing packages. Today, we’re excited to discuss how you can book mini sessions throughout the year to make more money.

Mini sessions can be something you do during the holidays or the slow season (or even when you have a bit of time free thanks to your outsourcing decisions, such as a photography editing service). You can shoot quick family, newborn, or maternity portraits for your past clients, or others who match the description of your ideal client. The important thing to note about mini sessions is you need to properly plan them and ensure they make you money, not the other way around. Here are a few additional tips to help you properly book mini sessions for your business.

Share About Mini Sessions

Since you typically offer full sessions to your clients, and mini sessions are meant to make additional money for your business, make sure you share when mini sessions become available. Send an email to your client list to provide the details, like the date, timeframe, and cost. Use your blog and social media platforms to reach ideal clients who are not currently on your email list. 

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Do you recall the moment you knew you wanted to make your photography dream into a reality and start a photography business? Here at ShootDotEdit, we know running a business is a tough for anyone, and especially as a photographer. Not only do you need to take gorgeous photos and interact with ideal clients, you also have to tend to the important tasks that keep your business running and successful. Since there are so many aspects for you to focus on, how do you know which tasks are most important and ones you can leave behind?

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1. Being a photographer is 1st being a small business owner and 2nd being a professional photographer

2. You will have less, not more, free time as a small business owner

3. Taxes are real; set aside money to pay them

4. Personality is as important as product

Image Compliments of Style & Story Creative

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How often does this happen to you? You take a look at your tasks for the month and schedule time to work on them based on their importance. Then, there are tasks you have that you know you should work on, but never have the chance to. Those tasks begin to pile up and then you have a bottleneck in your business. 

A business bottleneck is something that holds you back from completing the work you know you need to do, but are not excited about. Maybe you feel guilty about pushing it off, or maybe you just dislike doing it altogether. Do you sometimes feel like you are the only photographer in the industry that has business bottlenecks? We have good news; you are not the only one! We have a few photographers who are ready to reveal their largest business bottlenecks, and chances are – they are similar to yours!

Publishing and Sharing Images

Much of the traction you receive for your images happens after you share them on your website, blog, and social media. A few other ways to gain attention for your photos is to publish them on a wedding blog or in a magazine. Also, sharing images with vendors means your work can be in front of their entire audience (who can be ideal clients you have yet to reach). Often times, publishing and sharing images takes many steps, and if it is not currently part of your workflow, you may not get it done.

“Sometimes, I get so busy and move on to the next wedding that I forget to submit the images to a publication or share them with every vendor. It’s huge to share photos with vendors of their work because I couldn’t create those images without their talents. I want them to know I appreciate them after the shoot is over.” – Terra Cooper

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