I'm just looking for a little advice from anyone who has taken photos at an event, and then sold them to the participants. I've been dabbling in this for the last few years, from Ski Racing to Ice Skating and Dance.
It seems to me the most successful way to do this would be selling your photos right there and then at the event. Transfer them onto a laptop and let parents look through them and order right away. However I like to edit my photos and clean them up. So it's taken me anywhere from a few days to a few months to get them up on my website. By that time I have no direct contact with the parents, so I rely on the club/studio to promote the photos. This results in very few sales.
I chose Zenfolio for my website provider as people can go directly onto the site and order either downloads or prints themselves. And I do get a few sales, but not very many. Then I think about school photos that are done every year but are rarely anything special and yet so many people buy them. Should I be doing something like that to promote them? Is anyone else out there selling photos from events? I would love some advice or feedback about how I could improve the marketing side :)
It's great to be able to see the proofs the same day at the event, while it's fresh on everyone's mind and they are excited about it. Usually the photographer notes that they will be edited/cleaned up and you don't actually receive the images (whether prints or digital images) for a week or two afterwards.
The other option is to take contact info for parents who are interested and let them know you'll send out an e-mail when the album is ready for viewing and ordering online. Have a notebook with you where people can sign up to see the images. That might keep a few more people in the loop.
I haven't actually been on the sales side (yet) but I've been an avid customer of horse show event photographers. I've participated both ways, either where they have the proofs right there on site a little while after your event or else join the photographer's mailing list so I can go to their website to see them later. A month is a little long to wait, but a few days to a weekish is about average I'd say for our local photographers.
When we went white water rafting a couple of years ago, they took our pictures and sold them all to us on a portable drive before we left. Then, we could do whatever we wanted with them. It was expensive, but nice to have the pix that day. :)
I am an event photographer and mainly in dance and equestrian and have spent years working through this very problem you face..
It is a complicated answer and depends on the support you get from the people that old the event and how fast you can get the image in the hands of the people and the relationships you have with the people.
If you can get your images direct from camera, to a second person to post and then display and sell that is the ideal setup... the longer it takes for you to process the photos the less chance you have in selling...
Now having said that i sold some photos from an event I did in june last night. So a point there is keep the photos on your site.
@polarvrtx Thanks for your reply Sara. I could perhaps set up my computer for viewing the photos at a ski race, which might help as there are many out of towners present. It is something I have thought about. I live in a small town in Canada but I get my printing done at a pro lab in the states, so I then have to worry about all the postage costs involved to send prints out, which is one reason that I hesitate. But your right, even a list of email addresses would be more helpful than nothing.
@juliedduncan I've seen this done a lot, espcially at places in NZ that run adventure sports. Something about me really wants to edit my photos, as I change them a lot during the edits. But then I miss out on the sales, so its a tough call.
@agima Thanks for replying Brendan. I know there is interest in the photos but that time of delivery is definitely a factor in me losing sales. Do you edit all your photos? A had a look at your website and I couldn't see how people can buy the dance photos directly. Do they come through you with their orders?
My other issue with dance photos in studio is that I'm photographing children and their parents aren't present. I have consent forms but I need to reach the parents to get the photos sold. The studio director sends out an email for me when the photos are up, but its really not resulting in people contacting me. However when I speak to parents that I bump into in the street they are usually excited and often get back to me with an order.
I've also been making a Dance photobook from the end of year show and I presold those. Perhaps about 1/3 of the families bought them, however I didn't make much profit on those. It was just one, generic book so some girls were featured only a couple of times while others were in there a lot.
@kiwichick if you click on my online store link you will be taken to the shop where people can view and purchase from there.
Depending on the type of shoot depends on if it is locked. For me any shoot that involves minors would be locked. They car request access from the site.
See the spring zing gallery.
I also put a heavy water mark on them depending on the event, as dancers are happy to take screen ahots and use those a without paying.
Yes all my photos are edited and I never show or release unedited shots.
I work very closly with the organisers and get the to promo me as part of me being there and I also work the room. Ie give out a lot of business cards to people there.
What might pay for you is to hand out lollie bags with your details and promo stuff in there alOMG with discount vouchers and specials on family shots.
As the kids are being picked up you could be standing at the door thanking them and handing out your cards.
@kiwichick just one small thing on the edits. Depending on the event again I either do a partial edit or a full edit.
Partial means that I get rid of the crap ones, adjust whitle balance and general exposer. Then when an order comes in I fix up the other things like straighten, minor crops, clone out things I don't like , this also depens on the size of image they buy.
Write a Reply
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
The other option is to take contact info for parents who are interested and let them know you'll send out an e-mail when the album is ready for viewing and ordering online. Have a notebook with you where people can sign up to see the images. That might keep a few more people in the loop.
I haven't actually been on the sales side (yet) but I've been an avid customer of horse show event photographers. I've participated both ways, either where they have the proofs right there on site a little while after your event or else join the photographer's mailing list so I can go to their website to see them later. A month is a little long to wait, but a few days to a weekish is about average I'd say for our local photographers.
It is a complicated answer and depends on the support you get from the people that old the event and how fast you can get the image in the hands of the people and the relationships you have with the people.
If you can get your images direct from camera, to a second person to post and then display and sell that is the ideal setup... the longer it takes for you to process the photos the less chance you have in selling...
Now having said that i sold some photos from an event I did in june last night. So a point there is keep the photos on your site.
My other issue with dance photos in studio is that I'm photographing children and their parents aren't present. I have consent forms but I need to reach the parents to get the photos sold. The studio director sends out an email for me when the photos are up, but its really not resulting in people contacting me. However when I speak to parents that I bump into in the street they are usually excited and often get back to me with an order.
I've also been making a Dance photobook from the end of year show and I presold those. Perhaps about 1/3 of the families bought them, however I didn't make much profit on those. It was just one, generic book so some girls were featured only a couple of times while others were in there a lot.
Depending on the type of shoot depends on if it is locked. For me any shoot that involves minors would be locked. They car request access from the site.
See the spring zing gallery.
I also put a heavy water mark on them depending on the event, as dancers are happy to take screen ahots and use those a without paying.
Yes all my photos are edited and I never show or release unedited shots.
I work very closly with the organisers and get the to promo me as part of me being there and I also work the room. Ie give out a lot of business cards to people there.
What might pay for you is to hand out lollie bags with your details and promo stuff in there alOMG with discount vouchers and specials on family shots.
As the kids are being picked up you could be standing at the door thanking them and handing out your cards.
Partial means that I get rid of the crap ones, adjust whitle balance and general exposer. Then when an order comes in I fix up the other things like straighten, minor crops, clone out things I don't like , this also depens on the size of image they buy.