What to expect at a photo session with me.

(or why I'm not charging $50 a session).

The chatter among photographers often turns to conversations on how to know what to charge for our work. The photography market is very competitive, but I choose not to compete with other photographers based on price. I believe that my pricing reflects the value of working with me.

I first "hung my shingle out" aka entered the world of paid photography about 8 years ago, specializing in youth athletics. My heart is still with sport photography but I also offer (and love doing) family portraiture. I have a full time job that I love as well, so I'm not relying on photography to feed my family and pay all of my bills. BUT I know that others do, and I know the costs associated with running a small business, and I know the value of my time. And that's why I'm not charging $50 a session.

I came across an advert for a local (my neighborhood) photographer that is charging $50 a session. Your $50 will get you a half hour of her time to shoot, and all of the edited images. In my world that half hour translates into a minimum of 3 hours of my time

Your family portrait session will include:

• communicating with you before the shoot so I know what you want, and can help you know what to expect; 
• travel to the location (if you don't come to my garden studio), 
• post processing the images because that is a critical part of what I offer, 
• creating an on line gallery for you to proof the images, 
• reviewing the images with you to agree on final picks and making sure everything is print ready and to your satisfaction. 
• creating and delivering any specialty products that you choose.

Before the shoot I'll scout the right location to make sure it will be suitable for our needs. Just last week I found that the fall colors at one park weren't really started and there was a lot of snow fencing around washed out areas of the creek. Because I checked before hand I was able to contact my client and suggest an alternate location, and we got the photos we intended to get.

During the shoot, 

• I'll work at getting the posing right, including figuring out what to do with your hands and feet, what angles to use, and how to arrange your family so that you will end up with a photo you want to print and hang on your wall. I'm not just going to plunk you all in front of a pretty bunch of colorful fall leaves, and fill the frame with people. 

• I'll interact with you and your family in a fun and friendly way so we get the best expressions we can. I'll take responsibility for getting the kids to smile and sit pretty, so that hopefully you can relax and look your best.

• I'll compose the shot to include background elements, but use an aperture that ensures a separation between you (the subject) and the background.
•  I'll watch for spontaneous, candid moments and try to capture those as well. If your willing to play in a pile of leaves or climb a tree, I'll be ready to take those images too.

After we've taken the photos, I'll spend a good deal of time on the images, starting with eliminating any that are technically flawed or unflattering, comparing similar images side by side to pick the best of the best, editing those that I will show you as proofs for:

• skin color, 
• contrast (I prefer contrasty images), 
• spot removal, 
• cropping to show you options (square vs. 4x6 vs 8x10 vs 16x9). 

These go into a proofing gallery for you to review in the convenience of your home. I'm available to consult with you on final choices and final editing. Did you want a series in black and white? I can do that.

I also create custom built posters, story boards, books and holiday cards for my clients at their request, for an additional fee to the session.

Your session fee with me starts at $300 and includes $75 credit to spend on products of your choosing from your on line gallery. Those products include regular and mounted prints products, canvas, thin wrap and aluminum ready to hang prints, and digital files. I will sell you "all of the edited images" from your shoot but my goal is to create a portrait of you and your family that you want to print big and hang on your wall. To do that requires more than a half hour of my time. I really hope that you can see the value that my experience and expertise will bring to creating beautiful family keepsakes for you. 

SmugMugPro Coupons, Events, Packages

I love SmugMug. To paraphrase Victor Kiam, I love SmugMug so much I took a job with them!

I have used SmugMug to host my photos on line since January of 2004. I love the clean, beautiful display of my photos, I love the security of the on line back up and the ability to use password protection and watermarking for my photos. I love the customer service and responsiveness I experienced as a customer, and love being able to provide the same now that I am an employee.

But, in addition to being a SmugMug Support Hero, I am still a photographer trying to earn some income from this passion of mine! Do what you love and it won't feel like work, right?

Well, three new features released in the last few months have made it so much easier for me to do what I love and increase sales, so that I can keep doing what I love.

Coupons and Print Credits - a great way to encourage sales, for sure. Print Credits are a great tool for an event photographer to use. Pre-sell prints, or print packages at your event, provide the customer a print credit and then they are able to pick and choose the photos that they want from the convenience of their own home computer. As the photographer, you've made the sale. And you have made the customers life easier by eliminating the line up and wait for your on site displays.

Packages - a great tool to combine multiple print sizes into one price. Perfect for a sport photographer, to be able to give customers a predefined package at a great price, and simplify the customer's decision making process. With a SmugMug package, you can again presell it via a print credit, and then send your client a link to their proofs, for them to pick their favorite and make their purchase!

And speaking of customers picking favorites, well enter the event marketing tool and favorites. Give your customers special access to a gallery or group of galleries by creating an event for them. This will provide them with a tool to identify their favorite photos, place those into a virtual gallery to more easily compare and choose the right shots, and then let you know which choices they made! This is another tool to make your customers overall experience easier, better, less stressful and this will translate into more sales for you!

Bravo SmugMug on the release of these features. SmugMug Pro's - you must start using these features! You will be amazed by them, and how much nicer they make your customer experience!

SmugMug Easy Customizer

While I was lying awake last night, wanting to fall asleep, I planned out some changes to my SmugMug site. My site has needed a make over for a very long time, but when I was giving a tour of it to some other local photographers last night, this hit home very hard! I had different colors on different pages, different styles and overall a fairly unattractive mess.

I decided I wanted to maintain the color scheme I have always had, to keep some similarities with the old. I knew I needed consistency from page to page.

I work at helping people use their SmugMug sites, and have a pretty darned good knowledge of how things work. However, customization still scares the crapola out of me.

Easy Customizer to the rescue. This feature was released almost a year ago, but I had not used it, other than to be familiar enough with it to help folks on their sites! Well, let me tell you, it is amazing.

Once I knew the look that I wanted, I set about creating a background for my site in PS. I had already come up with a font for the logo when I made my last watermark, and of course wanted to keep my sunflower.

The rest was easy, and I have the basics accomplished in no time at all.

There will be some organizational changes to the galleries, and to what is public and what is not. But, I am most of the way there already - check it out:

http://www.annmcraephotography.ca/