At our preschool/daycare, we normally have a professional photographer come in and take pictures of the children. The past couple of times this specific company has come out, they must have sent a newbie out because the pictures were not good, back drop was just horrible (kind of reminded me of the "old time" fall backdrop that I'm sure we have all been photographed in front of), and the photographers were not patient with the kids. My boss decided that she was going to bring in a private photographer to take pictures. Well of course, I volunteered. With that being said, what would be the best approach? I'm thinking I should send notes home stating that I will be taking pictures of the children. If parents are interested, sign and return the form. I will then take the pictures and give them a disc with 4-5 edited images and a release to have them printed out. I don't want to waste discs by taking pictures of kids who's parents won't buy them. Also, how much should I charge for this! I will be doing the pictures while at work. But parents will still need to purchase the discs. I did cap and gown pictures for my class last year and the parents paid $5 per disc. Al of my parents but 1 bought them. One more thing, should these pictures be "school" pictures (with school related props) or fall (outdoors, maybe a bale of hay, on the play ground, etc)? I'm drawing a blank. Please help!! Thanks in advance!!!
Many years ago, my son's preschool had a photographer come and they shot the photos on the playground. Best shots ever. The kids were kinda posed but still having fun. Not rigid. Would a CD work better than just uploading the shots to Dropbox? Saves some expense.
Good for you! Maybe see if you can do both scenarios and find package options to offer that you feel honor your time and talent. Best of luck and have fun!!! Then the kids will shine :)
@danette I don't have Dropbox. Not sure how that works. Can parents print from dropbox? I have PLENTY of blank discs already so wouldn't have to buy those. I'm just trying to make a little extra money since I will be doing the more difficult work at home.
My favorite school pictures of Hunter were taken outside in a flower bed.
depending on the ages of the children you might want to limit how many venues you use. could you set up a private page so they could see the images then they could purchase the disc if they liked them. you would still have to do some work I suppose that you might not get paid for. I like the idea of less posed standard school photos. just photographed our kindergartners for the end of the year video and I believe the parents would love to have some of the photos...they came out that good! best of luck!
$5 sounds very cheap. School photos cost way more than that and are usually pretty terrible. If you're going to give them 5 photos I would be charging at least $25 for it.
@danette@mabrown@jackies365@kiwichick@brigette Thanks to everyone who gave their advice and comments. I appreciate all of them. I will sit down with my boss and try to work out something. With the other company that used to do them, we would have to get parents to sign a permission slip before their pictures could even be taken. The slip furnished by the company not us.
To give you an idea, I just paid $39 for a package for my 3rd grader that had 1 - 8x10, 2 - 5x7, 4 - 3x5 and 8 - 2x3 (wallets). I know full well that these pictures will be pretty awful (as in my kid will have an unnatural, forced smile - or possibly a grimace - and the "backdrops" are just photoshopped in and rather blah, not that the actual quality will be awful), but the grandparents still expect them. ;)
I would happily pay $15 for just one decent image on a CD (or digital download) that I could print in the sizes that I need for my preschooler.
It wouldn't matter to me if one of the teachers was the one taking the pictures, I'd still expect if there's a formal photo thing (i.e. not snapshots of random activities in the classroom) that I'd have to pay for a professional quality "school photo".
Dropbox is free up to a certain amount of storage space (should be more than sufficient). You then provide a link to each parent. I'd have one folder for each child so that its private. The parents would then need to download from there and print from anywhere they choose.
To get dropbox is free for limited space, and if you find a fellow user and use their invite link that person gets a boost to their free storage space. And I am shamelessly putting my link here: https://db.tt/7UD4P4hw
Hi, I own a preschool and we have a local pro photographer come in and take school pictures. She's seen my work and wondered why i don't do it my self but she appreciates my business (or the opportunity for business). Quite honestly, her pictures are great and my parents love them. Heres what she does. We set up a day (or two) for school pictures about a week prior to that day, I send home an order sheet (supplied by her). Parents order and pay before seeing pics. They can always order more and I know if a parent was really unhappy she would reshoot. We do "posed" school pictures on the playground so its a natural background but still looks like a school picture (sitting on a stool) She charges way more than $5!! It's probably comparable to public school pictures (which are horrible) but parents are ALWAYS happy!!! Good luck!!
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My favorite school pictures of Hunter were taken outside in a flower bed.
I would happily pay $15 for just one decent image on a CD (or digital download) that I could print in the sizes that I need for my preschooler.
It wouldn't matter to me if one of the teachers was the one taking the pictures, I'd still expect if there's a formal photo thing (i.e. not snapshots of random activities in the classroom) that I'd have to pay for a professional quality "school photo".