January 19, 2009

I wanted to tell you all about our bundle discounts. Their pretty simple, but can save you a lot. The Seim workflow is lead by Power Worflow2, but is meant to co-exsist with the other effects like B&W Presets and then finish up with actions like Creative Essentials and Hollywood Effects. Bundles are a great way to get more Lightroom presets and  Photoshop actions for less.

All you have to do is add multiple items to your cart. Then add the promo code BUNDLE and it will give you 15% OFF your entire instant order. Any combination of two or more products is eligible for this so you can grab a couple packs, or the whole Seim Effects series. Have fun… Gav

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January 16, 2009

By Gavin Seim:  Being a fabulous photographer is great, but if you want to pay the bills with your passion you have to make sales and take great images. Here’s some great content from PPS and some other great sites to help out. I’ll be updating this post as I find great content on how to market and sell to your clients and a few posts dealing with shooting itself. If you know of some great articles on selling, post em up in the comments. For more good stuff see the Best Of Pro Photo Page

Good reads.

14 Steps To A Successful Sales Presentation:
Another good Ziser post. Fourteen steps David uses in his presentation to help him make great portrait sales.

How to Logo & Brand Your Images:
Branding is important and if you’re sending portraits out the door without it you’re throwing away money.

Selling to an out of town client:
Another Ziser classic. Full of tips on how you can keep sales high, even when you can’t meet in person.

The Portrait Consultation: Part1, Part2 A multi part series from David Ziser (we’ll update it as he publishes them). Selling a portrait is not just about getting a session booked. It’s about selling large prints and making the session profitable.

Large Wall Portraits. Why the 8×10 is stealing your thunder.
One of the host hotly discussed and perhaps the most valuable marketing articles ever on PPS. The ideas may be bold, but they absolutely work. whether you choose to listen or debate them is up to you. Join the discussion.

Copyrighting Your Images: It’s a part of the business that we tend to avoid, but it’s important and once you get the hang of it it becomes easy.

20 Ways To Appreciate Your Customers:
Can’t go wrong making happy customers.

Podcasts…

Pro Photo Show #60. Not Wearing Pants: A good episode overall, but starting at 1:34:10 we start getting into standing out and being something more than a weekend warrior. Then we move right into selling large portraits and how key it is. Be prepared for a few Gavin rants.

Pro Photo Show 53: This episode is a favorite and it’s full of good stuff. The whole show is well worth a listen, but starting at time index 44:28 we’re joined by Kevin Swan. Listen through to the end because the longer he talks the more you’ll glean.

Pro Photo Show 51: Another fun roundatble. At time index 52:33 guest photographer Scott & Adina Hayne talk about the marketing they used to build their wedding business in record time. This is also where they share info on leveraging Facebook to held build your business.

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January 14, 2009

Here in Minnesota, the wedding season slows down quite a bit this time of year.  Why?  Let’s just say I woke up to -18 F this morning and leave it at that.  Now is a perfect time for those of us working in “cooler” locations to take a moment to wrap up any loose ends from 2008 and get refreshed for the 2009 wedding season.  I suppose “refresh” could refer to mind and body but I’m mostly talking about your business literature and images in this case.  Let’s focus on the latter for this week’s tip.

Start sifting those “Wow!” shot gems out of the hundreds, thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of images you and your staff snapped off last year.  “What do I do if I have like 250 great shots picked out?” Well then I would suggest going into your closet, pull out your “World’s Most Awesome Photographer” T-shirt, put it on, pat yourself on the back and get your butt back in front of your computer ‘cause you’ve got more editing down to do!  Be tough on yourself.  Pick out what you think are your ten to twenty best “Wow!” shots from 2008.  Much like Kevin Kubota touched on in PPS Episode #47, select the images that best represent the kind of shots you truly enjoy doing and want to do more of.  Choose the images that best define you.

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January 7, 2009

It seems that lately there’s been an abundance of gloom when it comes to business talk. Some think paid photography is going to be a thing of the past in years soon to come. I say that no matter what business you’re in, supply and demand dictate your market. That’s the most basic principal of economics. Some of the best innovation can come from the competition of slower economic times.

Some say Photography won’t stay profitable because everyone’s a photographer now that there’s digital. I say guess what? In 1966 anyone could buy a great camera. The fact that lots of people have great digital cameras has little to do with whether you can sell photography. Consumers who were lousy with film in 1966, are generally lousy now with their 15 megapixel digital cameras. As to so called weekend warriors. They either become real pro’s, or learn that making a business profitable is harder than they thought and bag out.

Is your supply of paying customers down? Time to increase demand for your work. Analyze what you have vs what people want in the market you’re trying to target. Is your service and quality so good that everyone wants you, or are you just another scruffy guy with five o clock shadow, holding a camera? Pro photography is usually much more about business and relationships than taking pictures. The reason a pro wildlife photographer can sell his picture of a deer is not because it’s never been taken before. It’s because he knows how to make a demand for his work.

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December 27, 2008

The Product: OnOne Plug-in Suite 4 for Photoshop: Overall PPS Rating, 7/10
Includes Six plugins. We’ll review each separately below. Review by Gavin Seim

OnOne has given PPS a 15% off discount for readers. Use Promo Code PRPHTPC

The Hot:

  • Product interfaces have become mostly unified making them easy to work with.
  • When purchased as a suite, it’s a good value. You’ll have plenty to play with.
  • Effects and tools are effective and generally simple to use and customize.
  • Aperture & Lightroom* integration on certain apps

The Not:

  • No auto update makes in version updates a hassle and easy to overlook.
  • When purchased separately there’s STD/PRO options adding confusion and making the prices too high (not unlike many plugin companies. These so called Pro versions do not have enough extra features to warrant the cost. The full suite does include the pro versions where applicable however.

The Bottom Line:
This is a great collection of plugins. If you want to broaden your editing arsenal in one shot, Plugin Suite 4 is a great place to start. While the whole suite is the best value, all plugins can also be purchased separately.

*One thing to note is that Lightroom integration is little more than export plugins and not self contained integration in LR. This is probably due to limitation with Lightrooms support for plugins, but it’s still a  disappointment.

Promo’s and discounts:
OnOne gives PPS some specials as well. Promo code PRPHTSHW is good everyday for 10% off any OnOne product. Also thru Dec 31st, here’s a promo page that will save you $100 on the suite. Note that OnOne has no say in this review, and it contains only my honest opinions.

Individual Product Reviews:

Genuine Fractals 6: Review 9/10
Genuine Fractals is a standard among many photographers when it comes up scaling image resolution. I use it whenever I make large prints. It can quickly take those pixels and make a 300DPI file for whatever print size I need. It can even add sharpening in the same pass (though I usually sharpen separately) GF just gives something more than built in Photoshop up-conversion methods and I really like it.

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