Distribution and Pricing Advice for First-timer

Home · Register · Search · Software · Hosting · Software · Join Upload & Sell

Sports Corner Rules
Sports Corner Resource

FM Forums \| Sports Corner \| Join Upload & Sell
end

karmaportrait
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #1 · Distribution and Pricing Advice for First-timer

Hi all, I'll try and keep this brief, thanks in advance for any input!

Long story short: I'm moving to Barbados. While there I would like to make some extra income via surf photography, primarily shooting people taking surf lessons (and maybe other assignments if opportunity presents itself). I've never been paid for my photos so this is new territory for me. There are two areas I'm trying to nail down.

Distribution: Best way to get people their photos. I am thinking a password protected gallery from Zenfolio would do the job? (Thinking either Unlimited or Premium service). Basically, provide them address for the site and they can navigate to the gallery after that - have galleries arranged by date to facilitate easy location.
I'm also seriously considering getting some waterproof business cards to hand out if I'm just shooting in the water and people inquire

- which has happened multiple times already.

Pricing: The three primary surf schools on the island charge $50-$60 USD per person for a three hour session, per person. I am stuck on whether to charge per person, or rather per group, or offer choice of either. And how much? Presumably this would be to cover the entire session.
I've also considered maybe offering a small cut to the school/person giving the lessons as an incentive for them to suggest me.

2013 © karmaportrait

Jan 12, 2013 at 04:05 PM

Scott Sewell
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #2 · Distribution and Pricing Advice for First-timer

Web sales stink. Plain and simple. If you can make them work, more power to you. But they've dropped so much over the last several years it's barely worth the time to post them. I prefer to pre-sell image packages that include a set(s) of images and even an option to get a CD.

I also question the need for password protected galleries. I've never once had someone question why my galleries weren't password protected. I guess with online sales being so bad to begin with, I'm not sure why one would want to make it more difficult to get to the images (where did I write down that password, or put the business card?).

A move to Barbados sounds kinda cool!! Good luck and keep sharing your work!!

Jan 12, 2013 at 05:58 PM

karmaportrait
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #3 · Distribution and Pricing Advice for First-timer

Thanks Scott, sounds like I need to clarify.

I wouldn't be doing sales via the web, that is shoot and then hope people buy later. I would be paid up front for my time and then people would use the site (or eventual distribution method) to get their photos later. The password protection would be so people could only access photos I took during their session and not see photos from everyone else's time.

Jan 12, 2013 at 06:29 PM

Grantland
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #4 · Distribution and Pricing Advice for First-timer

I negotiate a fee and get paid upfront and then after the shoot I upload the finished pictures to an online site where they can download the pictures. And if they need/want to print the pictures they can use my site and I make a little more money off the print sale(s).

this approach works great for me.

grant

Jan 12, 2013 at 08:40 PM

Chad Bassman
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #5 · Distribution and Pricing Advice for First-timer

Grant and Scott have provided very good info here... Grant, I like the idea of allowing customers to download the pictures themselves vs burning dvd's. Care to share how you do this?

Thanks,
Chad

Jan 14, 2013 at 07:16 PM

end
FM Forums \| Sports Corner \| Join Upload & Sell end