Some nice photos. Some good action and they all look sharp.
A few suggestions for next time:
1. Post about half that amount - I have to be honest I barely looked at the last half. And number the shots it's easier to reference when providing feedback.
2. You need tighter crops. You've got great action but a lot of uninteresting deadspace in most of these. Crop it out.
3. Most of the exposures are good but there are a couple where the face is still in a good amount of shadow. If you're going to post them in a public forum that's like your portfolio so it's worth a little bit of time to fix them up. I can understand not spending time on a photo for gallery unless you have print delay set and you can fix it then. But posts are like a portrfolio so to me, anyway, it's worth a few extra minutes to correct those things (same thing for crops by the way - i can understand leaving things a bit loose for client viewing but on posts, crop it down).
Overall, really good work here. The above points are very easily done - you've got the tough parts worked out already. Great job!
Great feedback
Thank you very much for the feedback. I wanted to crop them, but thought for here I would show the whole frame since this is how they are posted on SmugMug for the players.
Yes the lighting is a problem at some of these games. Some games are at high noon and others starting as late as 4pm.
Thank you for the positive feedback, it feels good to hear. I have posted over 1200 pictures for the team this year, but sold only a few 4x6's to one parent via SmugMug. Most of the parents love the shots, but no one is buying.
I never thought I would make a lot of money from these games..but I was hoping for more than 13 4x6's
:deadhorse
I have posted over 1200 pictures for the team this year, but sold only a few 4x6's to one parent via SmugMug. Most of the parents love the shots, but no one is buying.
I never thought I would make a lot of money from these games..but I was hoping for more than 13 4x6's
Welcome to the wonderful world of shooting on spec (speculation). You've found some of the difficulty in trying to shoot action photography. Here's what I've learned:
1. Several buyers will wait until the end of the season to buy. Why buy early until they see all the product you have?
2. Many will NEVER buy. In large part many parents just don't place a lot of value on action shots. This is augmented by the fact that there is often another parent taking shots and giving them away for free. Given a lot of value isn't placed on action shots to begin with they'd rather have a free snapshot than pay for a frame-quality photo.
3. Action photos are about obsessed parents with disposable income. So, where do you find obsessed parents? Typically in more pay-to-play environments: gymnastics, equestrian, travel teams. Rec leagues you are hoping the team in question has an obsessed parent. When parents are shelling out $300-400 a month you KNOW the parents are obsessed. AND you know they have disposable income. You need both.
4. Web based sports sales are TOUGH. Parents are on to the next event and tend to forget about the last one. You've got a big challenge just getting them to go to your website. Then they have to go through your galleries. If they're not organized by player it's even tougher. Then they find some shots but they're not sure so they plan on coming back but never do because they're on to the next thing in their life. I have also found in my community some people are turned off by ordering over the internet - some people just don't like to do that. And now, I think any more than a couple photos and you're into $5-6 in shipping costs. That's a lot if all someone wants is a couple 4x6 photos.
What's the answer? I wish I knew. Some markets are just good - I see some photogs putting out much worse quality than you're doing and they have great sales because parents there love action shots. Other markets it's tough. The first thing to make sure of is that all the parents KNOW about your product. Email lists are great if you can get them. If not, cards and flyers. A free 8x10 at a follow-up game isn't a poor idea - other parents will see it and get interested.
All I can say is my community is very much like yours. People here balk at $4 4x6s which are ludicrously under-priced. But there are so many parents with dslrs now giving away work for free it's tough. And the parents that DO buy buy 4x6s for scrapbooking. My biggest sales by far are for gymnastics or swimming - sports where parents can't get close to the floor/deck and where it's difficult to impossible to get good shots with digicams or even dslrs with kit lenses.
I'll even give you an example within my own family. My sister has 2 young children - 11 & 9. The oldest, a boy, plays baseball and basketball but is not a great athlete. My sister doesn't even care if I take photos or not - she won't even order them at cost. If I print some for her they gather dust on the countertop. BUT, her daughter is in gymnastics. She's become obsessed with the gymnastics thing - my niece was in a program that kept her from competing for the last year and a half - just practicing. She'll now start competing at level 5 or 6 (can't remember which). Anyway, my sister can't wait for me to get competition photos and she's going to hook me up with other parents as well. Conversely, when my niece played softball my sister could care less about photos from that. Go figure - it isn't even JUST about the parent or JUST about the kid it's about a parent's obsession with a sport.
The real money is in competitions / tournaments with on-site printing. Either find those companies in your area and see if you can get stringer work for them or if you really want photography to become your full time gig - start your own. I personally can't go that route as I have a 2 year old son who takes a lot of my time so I can't commit to any type of league or event schedule. But if you want to make better ROI for your time, that's the way to go.
Comments
A few suggestions for next time:
1. Post about half that amount - I have to be honest I barely looked at the last half. And number the shots it's easier to reference when providing feedback.
2. You need tighter crops. You've got great action but a lot of uninteresting deadspace in most of these. Crop it out.
3. Most of the exposures are good but there are a couple where the face is still in a good amount of shadow. If you're going to post them in a public forum that's like your portfolio so it's worth a little bit of time to fix them up. I can understand not spending time on a photo for gallery unless you have print delay set and you can fix it then. But posts are like a portrfolio so to me, anyway, it's worth a few extra minutes to correct those things (same thing for crops by the way - i can understand leaving things a bit loose for client viewing but on posts, crop it down).
Overall, really good work here. The above points are very easily done - you've got the tough parts worked out already. Great job!
Thank you very much for the feedback. I wanted to crop them, but thought for here I would show the whole frame since this is how they are posted on SmugMug for the players.
Yes the lighting is a problem at some of these games. Some games are at high noon and others starting as late as 4pm.
Thank you for the positive feedback, it feels good to hear. I have posted over 1200 pictures for the team this year, but sold only a few 4x6's to one parent via SmugMug. Most of the parents love the shots, but no one is buying.
I never thought I would make a lot of money from these games..but I was hoping for more than 13 4x6's
:deadhorse
1. Several buyers will wait until the end of the season to buy. Why buy early until they see all the product you have?
2. Many will NEVER buy. In large part many parents just don't place a lot of value on action shots. This is augmented by the fact that there is often another parent taking shots and giving them away for free. Given a lot of value isn't placed on action shots to begin with they'd rather have a free snapshot than pay for a frame-quality photo.
3. Action photos are about obsessed parents with disposable income. So, where do you find obsessed parents? Typically in more pay-to-play environments: gymnastics, equestrian, travel teams. Rec leagues you are hoping the team in question has an obsessed parent. When parents are shelling out $300-400 a month you KNOW the parents are obsessed. AND you know they have disposable income. You need both.
4. Web based sports sales are TOUGH. Parents are on to the next event and tend to forget about the last one. You've got a big challenge just getting them to go to your website. Then they have to go through your galleries. If they're not organized by player it's even tougher. Then they find some shots but they're not sure so they plan on coming back but never do because they're on to the next thing in their life. I have also found in my community some people are turned off by ordering over the internet - some people just don't like to do that. And now, I think any more than a couple photos and you're into $5-6 in shipping costs. That's a lot if all someone wants is a couple 4x6 photos.
What's the answer? I wish I knew. Some markets are just good - I see some photogs putting out much worse quality than you're doing and they have great sales because parents there love action shots. Other markets it's tough. The first thing to make sure of is that all the parents KNOW about your product. Email lists are great if you can get them. If not, cards and flyers. A free 8x10 at a follow-up game isn't a poor idea - other parents will see it and get interested.
All I can say is my community is very much like yours. People here balk at $4 4x6s which are ludicrously under-priced. But there are so many parents with dslrs now giving away work for free it's tough. And the parents that DO buy buy 4x6s for scrapbooking. My biggest sales by far are for gymnastics or swimming - sports where parents can't get close to the floor/deck and where it's difficult to impossible to get good shots with digicams or even dslrs with kit lenses.
I'll even give you an example within my own family. My sister has 2 young children - 11 & 9. The oldest, a boy, plays baseball and basketball but is not a great athlete. My sister doesn't even care if I take photos or not - she won't even order them at cost. If I print some for her they gather dust on the countertop. BUT, her daughter is in gymnastics. She's become obsessed with the gymnastics thing - my niece was in a program that kept her from competing for the last year and a half - just practicing. She'll now start competing at level 5 or 6 (can't remember which). Anyway, my sister can't wait for me to get competition photos and she's going to hook me up with other parents as well. Conversely, when my niece played softball my sister could care less about photos from that. Go figure - it isn't even JUST about the parent or JUST about the kid it's about a parent's obsession with a sport.
The real money is in competitions / tournaments with on-site printing. Either find those companies in your area and see if you can get stringer work for them or if you really want photography to become your full time gig - start your own. I personally can't go that route as I have a 2 year old son who takes a lot of my time so I can't commit to any type of league or event schedule. But if you want to make better ROI for your time, that's the way to go.
Thanks John for all the great tips. I appreciate the help.