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Category: For Photographers | View all recent posts |
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For Photographers Workflow series pt 9: Client & Vendor Database |
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| Today I'm continuing my series for photographers in which I share tips for organizing and systematizing your workflow. And when I say "workflow," I don't mean it in the narrow sense of post-processing. I mean the entire customer experience and set-up of our businesses. If you're just joining us, click below to get caught up on the series so far!
Part 1: Systematizing is cool! Part 2: Culling Efficiently Part 3: Color Correction Part 4: Delegating & Outsourcing Part 5: Workflow Checklist Part 6: Using a Calendar for Reminders Part 7: Using Signatures for Email Templates Part 8: Organizing your Emails Today's topic is not ultra-glamorous (and let's be honest...what about workflow really is?) but it IS a crucial part of building your business into a well-oiled machine that is well-networked and efficient. A business is only as good as it's connections, and keeping track of the clients, planners, vendors and venues you work with over the years is foundational to your workflow at countless junctures. We use four different tools or platforms to keep track of our network: Address Book for Mac -- This program comes free with all Apple computers. It's a basic program that keeps track of your contact info. We have lists in our Address Book for each of the following: 2nd shooters, clients, associate clients, wedding planners, photographers, publication, vendors, and venues. Address Book works in concert with Mac Mail, so if you have a contact stored in Address Book, you can start typing a name in the "TO" field of a new email, and the email address for that contact will populate. You can also compile contacts into a list in Address Book and type the name of that list into the "TO" field of an email in order to send out a mass email to a specific group. Emma -- We use this program to send out branded email newsletters. If you want to sign up for my monthly newsletter, you can do so here. I will be talking more about my monthly newsletter later in this series. On Emma, we have databases for each of the following: clients, associate clients, photographers, vendors/planners, and wedding guests. ShootQ -- This is powerful studio management software that we use primarily for our associate photography program. Through it, you can track and follow-up with leads, send contracts, charge credit cards, and send emails. It can also be used as a database for clients, vendors and referrers. Facebook -- There's no escaping the fact that Facebook has become a powerful networking tool. It pays to be friends with your clients and fellow vendors. It's free. It's powerful. And it's where the people are. Regardless of which tools you choose to adopt to keep track of your client & vendor database, the important thing to remember is that you need them to facilitate connection. It doesn't matter if you use these tools or other tools. Just pick what works for you and build the upkeep of a client and vendor database into the systems of your workflow. Remember back in Part 1 of this series when we talked about the importance of systematizing? If you don't build the upkeep of your database into your workflow for every client and event, you will find yourself in a hot mess wishing you had the contact info you need at your fingertips a year or two down the road. We use our Workflow Checklist to systematize the addition of clients, planners, vendors, and venues to our database. After a wedding is booked, one of the items on the checklist is to friend those clients on Facebook and add their contact info to both Emma and Address book. After the wedding, there is an item on the checklist that has us update all the info for the vendors we worked the event with in Address Book as well as friend them on Facebook if we haven't already. It's important to keep vendor/venue/planner contact info current because it helps facilitate other portions of our workflow, like efficiently delivering images to those we work with. We use the notes section in each Address Book entry to keep track of a list of which weddings we work with each vendor and planner, so that way, when they request images from us in the future (usually because they misplaced the ones we sent to them right after each wedding) we can easily compile images from all the weddings we have worked with them and send them on efficiently. I hope you've found this post helpful! If so, I would appreciate if you'd pass it on through Facebook or Twitter using the buttons below. To purchase my Workflow Checklist or find out about more resources I offer photographers, click here! |
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For Photographers Album design tips & examples from Align |
| Hey photographers! As most of you know, I have another company -- Align Album Design -- that serves photographers by designing their albums and facilitating the proofing and revision process with their clients. For those of you who are shooting a ton this summer and are feeling behind and overwhelmed with your workflow -- definitely consider Align! We are super-fast and very affordable, so I feel like we are an ideal solution for busy photographers.
But even if you have a great set-up for keeping your album designs in-house, check out Align's blog for great album design tips and tricks! Some recent posts include: Manage Your Client's Expectations for Album Length Simplify Options for Your Clients The Power of Empty Space |
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| There is also a category on Align's blog for recent favorite designs. So if you're feeling low on inspiration, or just like admiring amazing weddings, make sure to check them out! Some of our recent favorites include a wedding in NYC, a wedding complete with fire-breathing at the reception, and a fairy tale wedding at a castle in the UK. I can't believe what talented clients we have at Align -- their work is stunning!! |
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For Photographers Workflow series pt 8: Organizing your emails |
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| This is a partial screen-shot of my inbox. Eek! I'm going to be talking about email organization today, and I wish wish wish I could show you a clean inbox. Unfortunately, although I do aspire to this ideal, I rarely reach it. BUT! Hopefully you won't mind me sharing with you a few tips I've found helpful, despite my short-comings.
Today I'm continuing my series for photographers in which I share tips for organizing and systematizing your workflow. And when I say "workflow," I don't mean it in the narrow sense of post-processing. I mean the entire customer experience and set-up of our businesses. If you're just joining us, click below to get caught up on the series so far! Part 1: Systematizing is cool! Part 2: Culling Efficiently Part 3: Color Correction Part 4: Delegating & Outsourcing Part 5: Workflow Checklist Part 6: Using a Calendar for Reminders Part 7: Using Signatures for Email Templates If you're in business and your inbox is a mess, chances are your business is a mess too. In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the importance of systematizing. It's SO important to have a system for everything workflow-related in your business, and nowhere more-so than when it comes to your inbox. SO much of our communication these days is through email, and being able to filter and organize your emails in a way that facilitates easy access to past conversations and content contained within them, is crucial to business efficiency. Clearly, I have a ways to go myself when it comes to inbox organization, but I wanted to share a few tips that have worked for me: 1 - If you're working from multiple computers using a desktop application like Mac Mail for your emails, set up your email accounts as IMAP accounts. This will allow your inboxes to sync across multiple computers. 2 - Create a folder structure in which to store and organize past emails for reference later. We create a folder for each wedding client (a step on our wedding workflow checklist) and store all emails relating to that wedding in that one folder. This helps immensely when we need to look back at a past conversation between us and the client or us and the wedding planner. We also utilize a sub-folder structure where client folders are organized by year and then photographer (in relation to our associate program). Other folders that are helpful are: potential clients (emails from leads who have not yet booked), photographers, coordinators/vendors, and "order info" (a place to store receipts and shipping info for anything purchased online). But the sky is the limit! Create a folder for anything and everything -- we have a folder for each MJ2Day workshop, for publications, and for anything accounting/tax related. 3 - Store this email folder structure somewhere online. We use iCloud. So anytime an email is dropped into one of our email folders, it is stored in a cloud online and is safe, even if our computers were to crash. 4 - Hire an IT guy to help you set this all up if your head is spinning right now -- haha! Technology stuff is not my strength, so I occasionally bring in an IT expert and pay him hourly to trouble-shoot issues or set-up something complex. WELL WORTH IT. 5 - Flag emails that contain information that you know you will want to access later. That way you can get the email out of your inbox but still easily search for it within one of your organizational folders at a later time. 6 - If you're working within a team, you can easily transfer emails that need the attention of another team member into their email inbox just by dragging and dropping. Sara and I do this often, and it gives me great joy when I can move emails from my inbox into hers -- haha! 7 - Make it your goal to keep your inbox clean at the end of each day. I know -- Do what I say, not what I do, right?? But I DO aspire to this goal even though I don't always reach it. Emails can so quickly build up and get out of hand, so if you let your inbox grow over the days and weeks, it will quickly become a debilitating obstacle to your productivity. Taking care of emails is really just a series of decisions. So in order to get through them and stay on top of things, you have to buckle down, put on your big-boy pants, and make some decisions. If some of your emails require you to complete a task, and the task takes less than 10 minutes -- DO IT NOW. If the task will take longer, and you can't get to it today, make sure it is written on your to-do list so it doesn't fall through the cracks. I hope you've found this post helpful! If so, I would appreciate if you'd pass it on through Facebook or Twitter using the buttons below. To find out about more resources I offer photographers, click here! |
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For Photographers Where are they now? MJ2DAY Alumni Michelle Boyd |
| With over 140 MJ2Day alumni now taking over the globe, I thought it would be fun to do a series on my blog to check in on past attendees and see what they're up to now and how their businesses, lives and photography have been impacted by their experience at the workshop. I've heard so many fun stories from past attendees that leave me beaming with pride at their coolness and I can't wait to share!
Today, I'd like to introduce you to Michelle of Michelle Boyd Photography -- an attendee of the January 2012 MJ2Day in Phoenix -- just over a year ago. Michelle is located in Austin, Texas and is such a gorgeous girl. I wish these photos showed off her smile because it is one that just lights up her face. But you can still see her sweet heart shining through these all the same (photos of Michelle courtesy of Shauna Maness): |
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| Here's Michelle in action -- and a shot of her smile!! |
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| We get photographers at all stages of their businesses at the MJ2Day and Michelle was a newbie when she came to the workshop. She had been slowly trying to turn her passion for photography into a business for about a year at that point. She was shooting anything and everything for experience and was struggling to bring any type of organization to her business.
I interviewed Michelle for this post and I love what she shares in answer to the first question: Q: What is the biggest difference in your photography since attending the MJ2Day? A: Where to start?! Before the workshop, shooting and editing were two completely different entities -- they were unrelated, separate from each other. And I needed work with both. I learned to see light during the mock shoot! I had no idea that light, alone, had so much power to affect a situation and image. I also loved that Melissa showed us how she interacted with her clients -- it was so natural and effortless! I had been grasping at straws to pose my clients in the best ways possible, which was limiting their raw emotion. I was also really into tilted horizons and awkward angles. It was awesome :). I was also over-editing all my images, and had tried countless actions and formulas to figure out what "my style" was. I definitely wasn't consistent, either, even within a single session. When Melissa showed us how simple it can be to edit photographs it changed my life! After I started using light to determine how I shot, editing became a cinch and my style became much less edited, and way more natural and filled with light. I also started narrowing down what style I loved and stuck to it. I had been following WAY too many photographers and artists, but I made a decision to be more selective and to learn only from those whose style matched where I wanted to be headed. Here are some examples of Michelle's work before the workshop: |
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| And here are some examples of her work since the workshop: |
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| Incredible! Michelle has mastered the use of natural light and I love how it has shaped her photography -- creating a consistent style.
Q: What is the biggest difference in your business since attending the MJ2Day? A: Systems!! Systematize, systematize, systematize! I was really terrified of the business part of being a wedding photographer -- I could never keep anything straight, and even with my mediocre systems I was misplacing client information and feeling like a mess the whole time. I was stunned at how much Melissa loved having a business, and how easy she made it seem! I have truly fallen in love with running my business. I've since implemented Pictage and ShootQ, which have both drastically improved the way my business runs. I use email templates for common responses, have a strict blog schedule, and have solidified (and systematized) how I package all my client's images. It's so peaceful to wake up every day and know that the way I run my business is consistent. Q: What are some of your goals that you set after attending the workshop that you have since completed? A: I can't believe so many goals have been accomplished since January 2012! I went through a complete rebrand and gave my business an identity. I systematized my daily workflow, began using ShootQ, upgraded all my equipment, got officially registered as a business, began using Photojunction to design wedding albums (along with Melissa's album design templates), and completely restructured my pricing. I started to fine tune my shooting style, and have become really comfortable with my editing style, too. I realized that weddings really fired me up, while family and kids' sessions terrified me -- so I decided to specialize in weddings, engagements, and bridals. I ended up shooting 22 weddings in 2012 (including my first destination wedding!), a few of which were featured on wedding blogs, and I'm so excited for the rest of 2013 as well. I'm currently in the process of narrowing down the style of weddings I love, which I never even dreamed would be an option! But I'm excited to see where my business will be in another year or so because of that. Q: Have you made any changes to your website or branding since the workshop? A: YES. I tried for months to create my own identity, and finally realized I needed a pro! This is a screenshot from my old website to show you what it was: |
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| After the workshop I hired Shauna Maness to give my business a complete brand makeover, and we changed my business name from Michelle B. Photographie to Michelle Boyd Photography. I'm very pleased with the online presence and identity my business has taken! You can see my current site by clicking here. And here is a screen shot so you can compare the new look with the old: |
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| Later this year I will be going through the rebranding process again with Making Brands Happen, to refine my brand even better to match the style of weddings and clients that I am fired up by.
Q: Have your prices, booking rate and/or the type of clients you book changed since the workshop? A: Definitely! Before the workshop I had been booking weddings for $1000-$1500. After the workshop I did loads of goal setting and running numbers to figure out what I would need to make to keep my business running and growing, and also considering the particular market I wanted to target. My prices have increased a few times over the past year, and my collections now start at $2,800, with the average client spending about $3,500. When my prices were so low back before the workshop, I had practically a 95% successful booking rate, and then once I began to increase my collections I did notice a big drop -- BUT I began to book more and more of my ideal clients! As I've grown more, photographed more, blogged more, and shared more of the work that I truly love, I've booked brides that are more and more my ideal client, with my ideal weddings. While I have loved every wedding I've ever photographed, the ones that truly make my heart skip a beat are all outdoors, whimsical, artfully curated, and very joyful celebrations. Q: Talk about the relationships you made as a result of the workshop. What relevance do they have for your business today? A: The atmosphere of the MJ2Day was a turning point for me -- everyone who attended was so loving, kind, and had the same eagerness to learn, that it revolutionized how I view the photography industry. It is no longer a competitive place, but is instead a loving community. I learned first-hand that when you encourage and truly love your peers, you can build amazing friendships. A willingness to help each other and share knowledge is truly life-giving. I was so nervous to attend a workshop on my own, especially in a different state! Both myself and one other attendee, Jessica Sowyrda, arrived early on the first day, and decided to grab lunch together... and as they say the rest is history. Jess has become an incredible friend, and I had the honor of photographing her wedding this past February! It has been such a blessing to be encouraged by her and to know another "sister" who is growing and building her business at the same time as me. Q: Are there any other changes or exciting developments you'd like to share? A: Being able to say that I love running a business is so huge for me! Having everything systematized has allowed me to start photographing more of what fires me up, while at the same time keeping me less stressed. I've had time to teach my sweet husband (pictured below) how to shoot, which means he's now my full time second shooter. I've also been able to start dabbling in shooting film, which is digging my passion for photography even deeper. My time since the workshop has been an incredible learning and growing experience. I am so encouraged by the clients who have trusted me with a little snippet of their lives. I'm also really thankful for the encouragement of the wedding industry! I was named one of the top 15 photographers to watch out for in 2013 by Le Magnifique wedding blog, which totally blew my mind! I am so humbled and blessed by people who have supported me over the past couple of years, and I'm excited to keep learning and pursuing what I love in the years to come. Melissa, I am so thankful for your willingness to share your knowledge, and to encourage photographers all over the world. I seriously cannot say thank you enough. |
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| Thank YOU for sharing with us, Michelle! Congrats on your amazing success! I'm blown away by what you've accomplished in one short year since the workshop. I can only imagine where the remainder of your career might take you!!
If you're a photographer and would like to take your photography and business to the next level like Michelle has, join us for an upcoming MJ2Day! |
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For Photographers Photographing Group Portraits that are in focus |
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| I get asked all the time what the right aperture is to use when photographing large groups. I could answer this question, but aperture is only one part of the equation for depth of field. And oftentimes, I think photographers are using an adequate aperture but are still unable to get the whole group in focus. In this post I am going to explain why.
There are three components that impact your depth of field -- aperture, focal length, and subject to camera distance. If you want a tutorial on how each of these variables impacts depth of field, I've written that blog post here. In this post, I'm going to shed light on a simple mistake photographers often make when photographing group portraits. If you have ever looked at your images on the computer and wondered why the people on the edges of the group are out of focus, this post may clarify why. Regardless of what your depth of field is (again based on aperture, focal length and subject to camera distance), 1/3 of it is in front of your point of focus and 2/3 of it is behind your point of focus. Let me illustrate: |
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| As portrayed in the above visual aid, if I am focusing on the middle person in the group, a third of my depth of field will be in front of that person and two-thirds will be behind.
The problem arises when groups form into a typical U-shape formation with the people on the edges closer to the camera than the people in the center. This next illustration is a top down arial view (with the circles representing the tops of the group member's heads). |
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| If the photographer focuses on the middle person in this group, as is typical, they are not making the most of their depth of field. Whatever is behind the group will be sharply in focus, but the front few folks on either edge of the group will likely be soft.
Here's an example image. My lovely models are attendees from my recent MJ2Day workshop in Charlotte, North Carolina. Cute bunch, huh? This photo was taken with my 50 1.2 at f3.5 -- which should be a perfectly sufficient aperture for this size group. Note that the red box in this photo represents where my focus point was. Also note that we can't tell how cute Leslie and Melissa are because they are on the edges of the group and didn't make the depth-of-field cut. :( |
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| What if, instead of focusing on the middle person in the group, we focused on the closest person to the camera? In the common U-shape formation, that would be the person on the edge. We are using back-button focus, so we can lock onto that person and recompose. Notice how our depth of field shifts to encompass the whole group: |
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| Here's the same exact group shot with the same exact settings as the previous image. Notice where I put my focus point in this photo: |
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| And note how much cuter Leslie and Melissa look: |
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| So simple and so effective! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
If you found this tip helpful AND my visual aids superbly compelling, click here to find out about other resources I offer photographers! *Edited to add: When people get into a U-shape, I often ask those on the edges to step back so that they form more of a straight line. This allows me to use a lower aperture and still ensure that everyone is in focus. But regardless of the formation, I make sure to focus on the person closest to the camera. |
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