If you’re working as a photographer, customers are both the best and most challenging aspect of your business. They’re the best because you wouldn’t have a career without clients, and because it’s incredibly rewarding when you have a photo session that makes both you and them happy. In a sense, you’re giving people their memories, or at least a version of them.
Then again, there are some customers who can be a lot of trouble. They’re not as common as the good ones, luckily, but it seems like there are some people who are never happy. If you give them a portfolio with two hundred wedding photos, they’ll want two hundred and fifty. If the city won’t give you a permit to shoot photos in a historic building, then they’ll demand you sneak in and risk your business license.
IMAGE: PEXELS
Run Your Own Photography Business
[pullquote]Some requests are too ridiculous to be entertained, but there are plenty of things you can do to make things easier on both your customers and yourself.[/pullquote] Online album proofing is a great way to show your clients early versions of photos and let them weigh in with any comments or requests. When you download a related Adobe extension to your Internet browser, you can even review the comments and respond via Photoshop and InDesign.
So picture this (pardon the pun): A bride and groom return from their honeymoon and get an email notifying them that their wedding photos are available for review. They sit down together to take a look. In between the oohs and ahhs, they notice a few minor things they’d like to correct. Perhaps the lighting looks a bit off in one of the shots and they’d like it adjusted, or perhaps the angle of one of their first-kiss shots looks a bit off. Those are relatively easy things to fix.
If the bride requests that the brother-in-law be removed from all photos, well, that’s your call, but the online album proofing will at least allow you to respond to that request as quickly as possible.
Running around and taking all those photos can be hard on your camera equipment. If you need to replace or upgrade something, you can go to your local camera shop. That’s a good option if the people at the shop know you and know what you’re looking for before you even ask.
If you don’t mind branching out a bit, you can also look for merchants who buy camera equipment through wholesale liquidation sites. Buying in bulk allows these merchants to offer you a great deal on the equipment you need to keep your business up and running. You don’t have to pay out the nose for camera accessories; just look for liquidation sales and see what you can find.
A couple of decades ago, it took a lot more work for photographers to deliver their product to customers. You had to sit down with physical copies of photos and watch as customers went through them one by one to decide what worked and didn’t. Things are much different now, and that’s good. Now you can use the Internet to streamline the approval process, as well as to buy new equipment that helps you do your job to the best of your abilities.
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