For Photographers-Why You Should Offer Prints & Products

This isn’t about up-selling, it’s about maintaining the quality of your work

I see a lot of blog posts teaching photographers how to sell prints and how they will make a huge profit offering this service to their clients. While profit might seem like enough of an incentive to get started, I actually want to talk about the importance of why you should be managing how your work gets printed.

I offer a wide variety of products for my clients such as prints, wall art, photo albums, custom USB’s, etc. I also never provide my clients with digital files that can print larger than 8”x10” unless they purchase the larger files (which I price according the size of the print they intend to make). The purpose of all this isn’t so much so I can up-sell; in fact it costs much more to produce products than to simply provide clients with a USB containing all the high-res images. Also, it takes a lot more time because you have to color grade the photos for printing, design a photo album or custom product in photoshop. So why do I bother selling fine art prints?

Because I hate seeing my photographs printed at Wal-Mart 🙈

Or Costco, or Shutterfly or ESPECIALLY Walgreens 😭

You all know exactly what I’m talking about. The horrible color grading, super glossy paper, incorrect cropping…it’s any photographers nightmare.

I made the mistake of giving away high-res files when I first started out.

What made me change my mind is that every time I visited a clients home I would see my once beautiful photograph, printed on a canvas from Wal-Mart and what I witnessed was a direct misrepresentation of my work.

This isn’t a pride thing. I could have easily walked away saying “Who cares, I got paid, they can print them however they want.” If I did that though, I could be potentially losing out on future clients. Why?

Because Not only will I see a bad print, but their friends and family members who come over the house will also see it.

It’s one thing to have your photos look great on Instagram, and another to have them look great printed. If people see that an image looks really good online but “doesn’t print nicely” because it was not printed properly there’s a chance they might not hire you because they don’t believe in the quality of the work. So you can see, having good prints isn’t about up-selling one client, it is about making more clients.

Your work should be impactful, and contrary to popular belief I don’t always think that impact will be made on a cell phone screen. Maybe I’m old school, but anytime I visit a gallery or museum and confronted with a physical work of art, I’m moved in ways that I cannot describe. Think of your clients home as a gallery space, and curate a timeless collection for them they can enjoy everyday.

Not all print shops are created equal.

After ordering a few samples of prints and products from different labs, I found which work best for me. These are my go-to labs for creating products for my clients:

Millers Professional Imaging:

What I love: I use Millers lab for all of my albums and books. There are so many different options for covers such as leather, acrylic, image wraps, and my favorite, personalized foil! They have a really quick turn around time, 2-3 days, and are very cost efficient making it an easy up-sell. I also order smaller products for client gifts such as accordion books through them. A lot of photographers use Millers so there are plenty of templates for albums and products on Etsy making product design super easy!

What I don’t love: Personally, I’m not a fan of their wall prints. Myself and other photographers I know who have ordered from them have seen little dents in the printing, or incorrect color grading. I’m also not crazy about their holiday cards which I argue are the MOST important product you can print because it is like sending out a personal business flyer to thousands of people! Read on to see who I use for card printing.

White House Custom Colour:

What I love: If you are looking for luxury prints, look no further. I’ve ordered custom cards, metal prints, mounted prints and more from WHCC and have yet to be disappointed. Their care and attention to detail is incredible and the customer service is 5 Star. They also provide you with a lot of resources to help you sell your products such as unbranded online catalogues. The holiday cards are especially my favorite and I splurge on quality paper when creating them for my clients. The soft matte paper literally feels like velvet! Every year I get new clients around the holidays reaching out because of the “incredible holiday card their friend sent out last year” so you know it’s not being overlooked! If all that is STILL not enough to convince you, they also give you lollipops when sending over your print 😁

What I don’t love: The albums and books. I’m patiently waiting for them to come out with more options for cover designs so until then I will continue using Millers. Also, if you are not making much of a profit off of your prints and products (which maybe re-evaluating your pricing structure is the simple answer for this) please note that WHCC is pricier than other labs so make sure you are charging enough.

Tyndell Photographic:

What I love: For the quality and price, you can’t beat Tyndell Photographic. I use this company for all my crystal rose-gold USB’s and presentation folders. I love that I was easily able to upload my logo and I only pay one time for them to create a mold for my business. Keep in mind that you are paying for each size they create, so for example I paid for the mold for USBs as well as a 2”x3” mold for folders. You can also order bags, boxes, USB cases and more. The pricing scale is based on how many of each product you purchase so I usually evaluate how many sessions I have booked per quarter and order based on that. Be sure to check out their starter packs for premium pricing options.

What I don’t love: The shipping time 😕. It usually takes about two weeks to get the products in so if you know you have a bunch of sessions coming up during busy season and are running low on your presentation products I would order ASAP to get them on time. No client wants to wait weeks on end to receive their products.

While I haven’t used the following companies, these are some recommendations from fellow photographer friends:

Artist Uprising

NP Photo

Design Aglow

White Wall

I hope this post inspires you all and gives you the tools you need to get started selling prints! In the coming weeks I’ll be developing an online course going into how I sell prints! Subscribe to my blog to stay updated ☺️

Family Portrait Combinations

Your guide to family portraits for private sessions and events

Often times when we think of family portraits, we automatically envision the oh-so-perfect photo of everyone together smiling, looking right at the lens of the camera. While this is obviously an essential part of any family photo collection, I want to tell you more about other combinations I aim to capture during any family portrait session and why they are so important in completing a collection.

Scroll through to see the 10+ combinations you can do with 4 people!

Every one together

Here we have an example of the “perfect family photo” I mentioned before. Scroll down to see more examples of other combinations.

Mom and the kids

Capturing each parent individually with the kids I think is an essential. Why? Because your children have different relationships with each parent, and I think it is important that both be captured. Plus, on holiday’s such as Mother’s day or Father’s day it is nice to have a nice photo of just you with your children.

dad and the kids

For some reason, dad’s are always harder to get in front of the camera! But taking a look at this image, I’m sure any dad would love to have a photo such as this with their children.

Just the kids

This one may be obvious for most of you, but having a photo of just the kids is definitely an essential part of any family collection. Your kids can look back and see a timeless and happy memory of just them and their sibling together. It is a photo they will cherish forever.

Individuals

A lot of times parent’s say “I just need a good photo of the kids together”. So why do I think it’s important to have photos of the kids individually?

Well, if I look back on photos of my childhood I have some great ones of my brother and I but I also appreciate the images I have of myself. Especially because I was at an age when everything my brother did annoyed me and I had a certain “look” on my face! (LOL I’m sure many of you know what I’m talking about!)

Looking back on those solo shots I was able to see a more authentic version of myself in front of the camera. Also, as you get older I think it’s important to be able to have solo portrait images of your childhood to be able to share.

*Another option if your really trying to fill up the album is individuals of each parent too! Just think, husbands love having a beautiful photo of their wife for their office!

Candid moments

Ok, so these to me are the most IMPORTANT images to have in your collection. You might be looking at this image and saying, “Nicolette, but their not all looking at the camera”. That’s actually the point though!
I want to capture moments where you forget I’m even there, to capture the true essence of you and your family. These are the moments you will look back on forever and smile.

Include the family pet

When client’s ask me “Is it ok if we include the dog in the picture?” my answer is YES! YES! and YES!

This isn’t just because I’m a huge animal lover and will most likely hug your dog, but I strongly believe they are family too. When I look at this picture for example it simply makes me smile and I know this family will appreciate having their dog in the photo for many years to come.

just the parents

That’s right mom and dad, I’m totally putting you on the spot with this one! The most common response I get when proposing this combination is “Oh, we really don’t need that!”

My response, “Well, when was the last time just the two of you took a photo together?”

Most common answer: “Our Wedding day”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parents, if you don’t want the photo for yourselves, fine. But I can guarantee your kids want a photo of you together just as much as you want a photo of them together!

I always say, just take the photo, if you don’t want it you don’t have to keep it but in most cases couples are really happy to have it!

More family combination ideas

The samples I’ve shown you above are what I consider essential in every family photo collection. Depending on how many children you have and if they are boys/girls here are a few more options to consider:

• Just the Boys/Girls: Mom and daughters, dad and sons, just the daughters, just the sons

• Grandparents: JUST THE GRANDPARENTS!!! Everyone always forgets this combination but trust me the family will want this one! Even better if you can get both individually. Other than that, both grandparents with entire family, grandparents with just the grandkids, grandparents with their child and the grandkids

• Grandma: Grandma with entire family, three generations with daughter and granddaughter, grandma with grandkids, grandma with their child and the grandkids, grandma with just granddaughters, grandma with just grandsons, grandma with kids individually

• Grandpa: Grandpa with entire family, three generations with son and grandson, grandpa with grandkids, grandpa with their child and the grandkids, grandpa with just granddaughters, grandpa with just grandsons, grandpa with kids individually

Fun photo combination with the dog as the main focus!

What about the “girlfriend” or “boyfriend”?

In some cases such as a family reunion or party, your children or even your sibling might have their new partner present. I NEVER want to make someone feel uncomfortable so I always take a photo with and without this person. After the session when you see the photos you can always decide if you want to keep the image with them or not. I’ve never come across a case where anyone was offended when I asked them kindly to step out of the photo, as long as they were included in the initial shot.

Filling out your questionnaire

Whenever you schedule a family photo session with me, you will receive a thorough questionnaire asking for the names of every person involved in the session, that way I know exactly who to expect. We can go through these combinations prior to the session to see exactly which ones are a “must have” for your shoot so I have a shot list ready. While these are some examples of different combinations the list is endless! Feel free to create your own combinations for the session.