clients

Want to know the key to finding your ideal wedding photography clients? Be true to yourself. I know, it doesn’t seem like it can be that simple but it really is.

Customers form an impression of how you did before you even deliver a single photo. While we all hope our photography is one of a kind, it is either enhanced by a positive client experience or harmed by a bad one. And that’s just one of the many reasons customer service might be your most important photography skill.

An unofficial anthem for creative professionals has resurfaced as a playful and passive-aggressive way to explain why projects cost what they do and can't be paid for in exposure. (Warning: This song and article contain profanity).

There is nothing more devastating for a portrait photographer than when a client doesn’t like your photos. You train for years, buy the best equipment possible, and come to your session with 100% dedication to providing the best possible experience... and then you get that feedback.

Should photographers sell their unedited RAW files to a client? Is there any benefit in doing so? These questions are discussed in this eight-minute video from David Bergman and Adorama.

A new photography start-up Shoott has created an online platform where clients can quickly find available, vetted photographers for brief 30-minute photoshoots and promises the shooter a $100 per hour guaranteed minimum rate.

When the COVID lockdowns hit, Raleigh-based wedding and portrait photographer Rebecca Faulk was able to keep generating some income by selling prints and rescheduling her photo shoots. That is, until her credit card processor decided to hold on to her funds...

Photographer Joseph Cristina thinks the era of "good enough" is ending, and that's great news for photographers. In a recent vlog, Cristina explains why he thinks professional photographers are going to benefit from a "return to quality" as more and more clients get burned by sub-par work.

Talented creator Daniel DeArco—who goes by "Industrial Content Director & Creative Consultant" these days—recently dived into a topic that isn't often covered for creative business owners, freelancers, or just creators in general: empathy. Specifically, how empathy can transform the work you do and help you connect with clients.

I made the uncommon decision to post my rates for on-location corporate headshots on my website. Some fear it will scare away clients before the photographer gets to explain the value in their work. Valid concern. Some want to gouge bigger clients who can pay more. That’s not the way I want to run my business.

Photographers often receive requests for free images and services, and messages from friends asking for your services at extremely discounted rates are not much better. Here's a helpful 3-minute video by Josh Enobakhare of Olufemii Tutorials in which he shares a number of ways that you can avoid needing to give that awkward "no."

No matter what industry you are in, if you’re selling your services you will inevitably come up against clients who balk at your prices. This 9-minute video from The Futur is a role-play of that very situation and will teach you some ways to respond and close the deal without selling yourself short.

Are you just getting started with your photography business, or struggling to find clients? This 15-minute video from French photographer Serge Ramelli is well worth your time, as he imparts his knowledge and experience on making bookings and getting your work printed.

I recently saw yet another story on Facebook where a retoucher got screwed by a client. It’s always sad to see this happen. Over the years, I have managed to build a ripping-off-proof on-boarding and payment workflow to make sure I never end up in that kind of situation.

Instagram may soon become a solid revenue stream for talented photographers. The app's head of business, James Quarles, has confirmed that Instagram will soon add the option to "book" a business right from inside the app.

On a recent business trip to San Francisco to help my long-time friend and talented photographer Jenn Collins on her retouching workflow, she graciously gifted me in the best way possible. She knows my sense of humor and somehow found this loose-leaf paper book of the sassiest invoices I had ever seen!

Online photography community and licensing marketplace 500px announced an interesting new service today. It's called the 500px Directory, and it allows photographers to advertise their services, show off their work to prospective clients, and get hired, all in one place.

Here’s a simple, fair, and free-to-use wedding photography contract that includes payment schedule, harassment, privacy, deliverables, and cancellations—in other words: everything you need in a professional service agreement—because Christmas!

Photographer and CreativeLive founder Chase Jarvis dropped a serious truth bomb in this short clip from one of his classes. And the bomb is this: you will never turn a $500 client into a $5,000 client... the best thing you can do is move on and find a new, $5,000 client.

To those who may hire a portrait photographer:

As I write this, a guy outside my window is painting the exterior of my house. I had a hard time choosing a color, and I hope I chose well. I’d hate to screw that up.

Recently there has been a spate of very sad, and ultimately defeatist articles decrying the “death of photography”. We have no shortage of examples. Seriously.

You've probably heard the horror stories... they go something like this: photographer gets job, photographer does job, photographer delivers images to client, client disappears without paying photographer. It's a tale as old as time, and it's exactly what a new service called Fileship.io intends to stop.

Photographer Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens made this short 8-minute video with 7 easy ways you can lose your photography clients.

"If you do these seven things, you’re going to lose your photo and video clients. I guarantee it," says Morgan. "That's right, I'm going to teach you the 7 best ways to keep your clients from ever hiring you again."

It occurred to me yesterday that the whole idea of "tips" is a bit lopsided. If someone does a great job, we give them a hefty tip; if they do a terrible job, we give them no tip. In other words, the worst thing we can do to someone who provides a bad level of service is to not give them extra money.

That's... kind of a low bar to set. It's not even carrot-and-stick -- it's carrot-and-smaller-carrot.

Nothing seems to be a more tedious task than the need to fill out paperwork. Especially if the paperwork has to be sent back and forth between you and a client multiple times. Luckily, Agree.com is a website that aims at making contracts easy to compile and sign for photographers (and videographers, designers, and more). Let’s take a moment to try out the service and is if it delivers on its promise of simplicity.