clients

Why Customer Service Might Be Your Most Important Photography Skill

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.

Why Clients Won't Like Your Portrait Photos

3 Reasons Clients Won’t Like Your Portrait Photos (And How to Fix Them)

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.

How Empathy Can Transform Your Work and Help You Connect with Clients

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.

6 Headshot Tips: Advice to Give Your Clients for a Portrait Shoot

I am an experienced corporate/commercial photographer, and I've written this article to help guide my clients into how to prepare for a headshot or portrait session. Most people don't like having their photograph taken, they find it awkward or can't stop thinking about one of their perceived weaknesses.

The Benefits of Posting My Prices for On-Location Corporate Headshots

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.

How to Deal with Friends Requesting Discounts on Your Photography

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."

How to Reply When Clients Say You’re Too Expensive

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.

Why Photographers Fail

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.

Why Retouchers Don’t Get Paid (and What They Can Do About It)

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.

The Sassy Invoice You Wish You Could Give Your Worst Clients

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!

A Simple, Fair, and Free-to-Use Wedding Photography Contract

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!

30 Things You Never Want to Hear from a Client

"We love your style! So we're going to hire you to do something completely different!" If that sentence makes you laugh, then the 30 statements in this post are going to hit home.

Tainted Love: Why Photographers Fail

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.

Fileship.io Forces Your Clients to Pay Before They Get Their Images

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.

7 Easy Ways to Lose Your Photography Clients

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."

My New Policy of ‘Untipping’ as a Pro Photographer

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.

Agree.com Helps Take the Pain Out of Photography Contracts

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.

Open Letter to Client Regarding the ‘Job Killer’ Quoted Rate

Hello Potential Client,

Regarding your last email in which you said:

“... if they (your client) saw the $700/ $1400 a day fee for the photographer they would dismiss the project immediately... (most of my client’s people make between $25 and $45 an hour)... Showing $100/hr was also a job-killer as you can imagine”.

Well sure thing. I see where you’re coming from... Let’s rewrite the quote to show the actual number of hours I will work on this job, instead of only those spent with my face in a camera. Maybe that will help.

Getting the Clients You Want: Advice from Adventure Photographer Alexandre Buisse

Commercial mountain photographer Alexandre Buisse is a natural adventurer. When it comes to rock climbing or going for his major dream client with a cold call, Alex is a brave soul with immense talent to match. His client roster includes Patagonia, Red Bull, Sports Illustrated, Outer Edge Magazine, and many more.

We talked with Alex about his experience cold emailing and calling, what he’s learned about negotiating licensing rights, and his key marketing strategies. He also lays out the three things a budding adventure photographer should do when looking to get work -- including the importance of a work/fun balance.

Why Picky Clients are a Good Thing

A new client walked into my studio with her three little children, the eldest of which had a session. The little girl was all dressed-up, but very traditionally, so after conferring with mom, we began the session. And it was one of those sessions where everything went right. Happy child, great expressions, and yet, mom was hovering, straightening an already straight bow, smoothing invisible wrinkles in her daughter's tights, "fixing" tiny details, some of which weren't even in the frame.

The Sanity of Craziness: How Your Wild Imagination Can Be Good for Business

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of years shooting personal projects as a way to get hired by the companies with whom I really want to work. When I began this process, my images were fairly tame. I assumed that mainstream and technically-correct images were better than free-form zaniness.

But then I started attending portfolio reviews, where I had the opportunity to sit down with industry buyers to find out what it is they really wanted to see. It was surprising to discover that my loopier ideas resonated more, even if they weren’t necessarily in the style of the company to whom I was pitching.

Humor: What Some Photography Clients Act Like in the “Real World”

Here's an oldie but goodie: Scofield Editorial released this tongue-in-cheek video back in 2009 titled, "The Vendor Client relationship in real world situations." It pokes fun at how clients try to bargain with creative professionals in ways that they would never do in "real world" situations (e.g. eating at a restaurant, buying a movie, getting a haircut).

Clients From Hell: A Collection of Client Horror Stories

We've all been there. Anybody who has ever done any work in the creative industry has had to deal with clients who have no understanding of basic business practices, or photography, or a little thing called payment. The above video was put together by the website Clients From Hell, where creatives can go and upload their most entertaining horror stories anonymously.

It's worth noting that the video is from the perspective of a graphic designer (as are many of the stories on the website) but many a photographer has dealt with similar problems.