do you offer passport services?

msf

I was just wondering how many here bother to offer passport services.

And if you do, what do you charge?

I was curious, so I went around to walmart, cvs, walgreens, rite-aid and those that did passports could only offer us passports 2"x2", and there was no flash for the background, so the passports they did ended up with a harsh shadow on the one side *they used a point and shoot camera with on board flash off to the side*.

fredjclaus

I do passport, but do so many drug stores around my area so I don't get many calls.

dogwood

Passport photos are quite simple and the guidelines are easy to follow too. I just shot some for a friend and used a free website for sizing and making a simple to print template. Here are the details:

http://petespringer.biz/2010/03/14/passport-photos/

msf

One studio I use to work for, would get tons of work for passport and other document pictures per day. I forget what they would average, but it was usually in the hundreds. But this was in Ottawa, Ontario, right where the passport place was, well an hour away.

They had a special camera that shot vertically instead of the usual horizontal. Then they would print it with a 4x6 photo printer. The image never touched the computer. The problem with this setup is you had to get the subject the right size in camera, or you had to reshoot it. This was particularly annoying with babies.

Photoshop makes this easier for me, but for now I just take the file to walmart to get printed on the instant machine. I need to get a 4x6 photo printer. that or some 4x6 paper and ink for my canon i9100 printer.

So far ive done 4 passports this year, not bad.

ChatKat

Yesterday
Yesterday a long time client called to ask me to do one for him. That's not what I do best. There is no profit for it for me. One of the big box stores does them for $5.00 for the two correctly sized, evenly lit and spaced images.

dogwood

ChatKat wrote:

Yesterday a long time client called to ask me to do one for him. That's not what I do best. There is no profit for it for me. One of the big box stores does them for $5.00 for the two correctly sized, evenly lit and spaced images.

The big box stores charge five bucks and they look awful (on-camera flash, no white balance, etc) Double your own fee to $10 for a higher quality product, explain why your cost is higher to the client, shoot a one or two pics using off-camera flash and tethered to a computer, print 'em to regulation using free web software, and you've made yourself $10 in less than five minutes. How can that be "no profit"? The print will cost you maybe 25 cents in paper and ink (for six correctly sized photos) so your net profit is $9.75 in cash (read through the lines here).

You're not going to sustain your business on passport photos but they're so easy and quick that you'd be silly to turn down a request, especially from a long time client. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think it's a good business practice to tell a long time client you can't do something as simple as a passport photo when it will literally take five minutes of your time and cost you just about nothing.

In terms of business, shoot something simple like a passport photo and the client will remember you in the future when it comes to other photo needs. Send them to the big box store and guess who they'll remember when they need photos in the future? The big box store.

ChatKat

Pete -

Thank you for your business advice. The genre of passport photography is not apprpriate to my business model. Just because you have a camera and can do something doesn't mean it's appropriate to your business. I know how to do sports photography but it's not right for my brand.

As for the long time client, I own another business and he is not my photography client. He was actually happy to go to the big box store.

dogwood

ChatKat wrote:

As for the long time client, I own another business and he is not my photography client. He was actually happy to go to the big box store.

My apologies-- didn't get this from your first post.

For those of us who's only business is photography, I'd still say turning down a five-minute passport job is bad business. Don't know about you, but I consider $10 for five minutes of work a pretty decent wage in this economy.

kd2

I don't do passport photos, either. I agree with ChatKat. It's not appropriate to what I do and it's not the best use of my time. To me, it's not about making an extra $10 and hoping the client will remember me for future portraits. It's about using my time more effectively. The time I spend doing a $10 passport photo (which would end up taking me at least 30-minutes), could be spent doing other types of marketing which would bring me the kinds of business I really want.

I had someone ask me just recently if I did passport photos. I said I really don't do those and she was fine with that. Will she remember me for the type of work I really do? Well, I just did her son's senior portraits yesterday.

But to answer your question about what to charge? One photographer I know charges $20 here.

msf

For those that do passports - what do you charge, and how do you present your passports?

The last two I did, I charged $12 per set. I have a template that I use in photoshop with guide lines that lets me resize the picture to the proper sizes and has my information on it, but each time I go to give it to the client, I decide to go ahead and cut the pictures out for them.

For those that live in areas with lots of immigration going on, you could make a descent amount of money for the immigration photo's. I think they usually require at least 4 images, but I could be mistaken, and its usually for a large family. I did lots of these in Ottawa for the studio that I worked for The specs are a bit different so you have to be careful of that.

dogwood

kd2 wrote:

The time I spend doing a $10 passport photo (which would end up taking me at least 30-minutes), could be spent doing other types of marketing which would bring me the kinds of business I really want.

Why would it take you 30-minutes to shoot a passport photo? They aren't allowed to be retouched. So what would take 30-minutes?

Here's how to shoot (and print) a passport photo in 5-minutes:

1) Shoot two or three shots tethered to a computer
2) Upload those files (for free) to http://www.123passportphoto.com/
3) Print the file they provide (again, this service if free)
4) Voila, you have six regulation passport photos printed in 5 minutes tops
5) Collect your $10 and you're done

Honestly, sometimes I think some people here would rather complain about making money than actually make money. If a client wants a passport photo and you can do it in 5 minutes AND make a profit, why you would say, "No"?

In terms of pricing, I came up with the $10 figure because my local Kinkos charges $13. I don't advertise passport photos, but if someone asks, I use business 101 when replying, "When would you like to schedule that and how would you like to pay?"

msf

There appear to be 4 types of photographers here.

1 - Those that are doing very well, and their time is worth money. They have a full schedule and don't have time for small change that is passports considering they are making $$$ per hour doing real portrait gigs.

2 - the same as the above, but they don't mind spending 5 minutes to do a passport because its only 5 minutes. They probably charge more than $10 for each set because they can.

3 - Those that don't have a ton of business, but they would rather spend their free time working on marketing and hoping to get more big gigs, hoping to make more in the long run than they would have if they had of taken the time for the passport.

4 - those that don't have a ton of business, and don't mind making some quick money doing passports.

A real studio can probably charge $20 or more per set, and people may go for this because they believe the pictures will turn out better than if they got it taken at walmart or cvs or some place like that. Better lighting conditions, etc.

You cant blame those that don't want to spend the time to do a passport, if they consider their time worth to much for it. Its their time.

ChatKat

Not complaining
I am not complaining. If it's your business model to lose money doing something that makes you feel good, by all means feel free to take whatever walks in the door. My rate is higher than what I could make for a $10 shoot - even if it was 5 minutes. It's not worth it to me to do that.
Why you feel that what is right for you should be right for all of us and our businesses is beyond me.

My studio is very boutique like. There is a difference walking into Walmart and Target and Nordstrom. You wouldn't go to Nordstrom for your Passport photos. My clients are mostly women who have a discerning taste andthey wouldn't come to me for passport photography because they know that isn't what I create. My studio has a theme to it.

dogwood

ChatKat wrote:

If it's your business model to lose money doing something that makes you feel good, by all means feel free to take whatever walks in the door.

So making $10 for five minutes of simple work is losing money? Perhaps you misunderstood. I don't pay the client-- they pay me

kd2

It would take me 30 minutes because I don't have a retail studio where things are already set up and people can just walk in.

ChatKat

dogwood wrote:

So making $10 for five minutes of simple work is losing money? Perhaps you misunderstood. I don't pay the client-- they pay me

Yes. Just because you have cash for doing something doesn't mean you aren't losing money. This kind of thinking is the root of the problem for many in the industry.

Let's say you do that all day long - can you pay your rent, mortgage payments, taxes, social security, reserves for new gear, advertising, save for your retirement and fund a modest lifestyle.

There is no profit in doing that. Even if it's what you say is cash in your pocket.

dogwood

ChatKat wrote:

Yes. Just because you have cash for doing something doesn't mean you aren't losing money. This kind of thinking is the root of the problem for many in the industry.

Let's say you do that all day long - can you pay your rent, mortgage payments, taxes, social security, reserves for new gear, advertising, save for your retirement and fund a modest lifestyle.

There is no profit in doing that. Even if it's what you say is cash in your pocket.

OMG -- I wish I could shoot passport photos all day long! At $10 for five minutes work, that would be $120 an hour. For a 40 hour work week, that would be $240,000 a year (assuming two weeks off each year). I could definitely survive on that!

ChatKat

dogwood wrote:

OMG -- I wish I could shoot passport photos all day long! At $10 for five minutes work, that would be $120 an hour. For a 40 hour work week, that would be $240,000 a year (assuming two weeks off each year). I could definitely survive on that!

If you can greet a customer, have them sign paper, shoot them, upload and process in 5 minutes - by all means.

I suggest you buy a new watch that keeps better time.

dogwood

ChatKat wrote:

If you can greet a customer, have them sign paper, shoot them, upload and process in 5 minutes - by all means.

I suggest you buy a new watch that keeps better time.

ChatKat, you're right, I just timed it and turns out it only takes two minutes for this type of photo from start to finish.:D

Here's your two-minute workflow:

Get the customer in front of your camera, shoot two photos, that's it. They actually shoot one photo at Kinkos, so you've already done double what the "competition" does.

Shoot your photos tethered to a computer as jpegs (which I already do for all my studio work), no need to process those. Select the best one, and upload it to 123 Passports via the web. That whole upload/process via the 123 site takes 20 seconds to create six regulation passport images.

Print them. Depending on the speed of your printer, you'll be done with everything in two minutes. And still have time to chat or greet your customer.

BTW: Kinkos doesn't have customers sign anything for passport photos. What is there to sign? The customer handles their own passport application. The idea here is that you just provide them with a regulation sized photo to send with that application.

msf

dogwood wrote:

OMG -- I wish I could shoot passport photos all day long! At $10 for five minutes work, that would be $120 an hour. For a 40 hour work week, that would be $240,000 a year (assuming two weeks off each year). I could definitely survive on that!

Well you'd have to guarantee the 12 customers per hour, 96 per day, but even at 1/4 that, its still pretty good income. : ) At that kind of pay you could hire an assistant or two to greet the people and deal with the money while you do the camera and processing magic.

But you have to keep in mind this isnt for everyone. Good thing about photography is there are many different areas so if you enjoy one part of it, you dont have to work with the other parts.

And if you can make $1000 for a portrait that takes up your day, then I can see why someone would want to pass on the passports because they are chump change compared to the $1000. I dont know if many here are making that $1000, im just using it as an exagerated example.

Plus there more to life than work and profit.

ChatKat

Average Sale
One of the photographers that I study with locally has an average portrait sale of $4000-6000. One of the photographers I took a MasterClass from last year at WPPI has routine sales over $15,000 - not commercial work - portrait work, It's not every day.