Well, the question is whether there's a possibility to realize enough sales (even at $5) to make it worth it. Part of the issue is, it's just no real work for you to do this (of course).
You also have to be careful in how/when you drop prices. When you set a precedent, people may start to expect it.
Personally, I'd probably give that a shot. You've got nothing to lose (IMO).
I don't know about the price drop,
It's obviously opposite of what I mention above.
What about a notice out to the same customers letting them know that the images will be going into "archive" shortly at which point the prices will go up.
Or a coupon, I buy domain name every now and then and I am constantly inundated with coupons from Godaddy. I often think, why don't they save themselves the trouble and just drop the price. But I'm sure they get a decent percentage of sales where people don't use a coupon, and they probably get a few because of the coupon.
Bill, have you thought about the long term possibility that charging 1/3 of your usual for a few days will encourage people to wait before ordering. The result being greatly reduced profit? It's the old theory about a sale.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
I agree with most everything that has been said so far. The bad economy and “good enough” photos from whomever seem to be the biggest downer for spec sales. I have not necessarily seen an increase in parents with a new dslr or an increase in people giving away their photos for free. I think a lot of families are cutting their budget and “luxury items” like photos are taking a hit. With people getting used to poor res photos and video like you tube, reader photos to magazines, etc, “good enough” is more and more acceptable.
I am in a bit of a different situation than most as I cover sporting events that my kids are participating in, so I save a bunch as I would be there anyway – and with 4 kids 11 and under all involved in sports, I keep busy. I mainly shoot soccer, basketball, and softball – at the rec leagues where the only “full-time pro photogs” are the T&I guys.
My remedy to increase sales has been to offer extras and talk to everyone at an event. Collages and personalize photos (digital scrapbooking) are big sellers for me, kids love having their names on their photos. One of my best spec remedies is what I call “Purchased Galleries” which I treat like a photo cd sale. I get a base pay upfront and I upload their photos to a SmugMug gallery with no price mark ups – collages and personalized photos can be added to the gallery for a little extra. Parents are able to download files and order prints whenever they want. Parents have commented that they like the SmugMug gallery features, out of town family can see and get photos without having to duplicate cds and mail them out, and parents can get to their photos when they are ready to add them to albums, make prints, etc (I hear this one a lot!). I also do a bunch of “specials” and “packages” to increase sales. Expiring specials is a great excuse for me to send friendly reminders to parents to buy photos. Especially with shooting on spec, there is a lot to be said about building relationships with coaches and parents - and talking to everyone. I rarely just go and shoot a team without having them request me to do it, if they are not even going to take time to respond to an offer to shoot, then they rarely find time to even look at the gallery.
The goofiness with shooting on spec is (for me anyway) that there are vary rarely a sales trend from event to event. One team will just buy just prints, another the whole gallery, usually it is a combination of both, another just collages, some teams most everyone buys something, and some teams are a complete bust. All in all however, my overall sales have been increasing as I add more products than just photos.
Look around, buying patterns are changing.
Recently I have concluded that spec sales of events will continue to shrink because of the new digital products on the market and the new ways images are used in today's culture. Cheap point and shoot cameras and cell phones cameras are getting better and better. Now more people have personal blogs and photo sharing sites, where they upload "good enough" images to show what happened at the beach, 10k race, or road trip. The new version of windows has a Snipping Tool which makes it very easy to grab a watermarked image off the screen for personal albums, Facebook use, or emails to friends. On line sales are going to continue to shrink just like the local newspaper. So what do you do? To respond to the changing business landscape I will continue to shoot spec on the events that make a sure profit for me, sure, but I am branching out to do more work that is paid in advance.
...but I am branching out to do more work that is paid in advance.
I'm going to try that route as well, but what I'll be doing is pre-selling vouchers good for the future purchase of goods on my site. And I'll give a small discount for those willing to purchase a voucher ahead of time.
Recently I have concluded that spec sales of events will continue to shrink because of the new digital products on the market and the new ways images are used in today's culture. Cheap point and shoot cameras and cell phones cameras are getting better and better. Now more people have personal blogs and photo sharing sites, where they upload "good enough" images to show what happened at the beach, 10k race, or road trip. The new version of windows has a Snipping Tool which makes it very easy to grab a watermarked image off the screen for personal albums, Facebook use, or emails to friends. On line sales are going to continue to shrink just like the local newspaper. So what do you do? To respond to the changing business landscape I will continue to shoot spec on the events that make a sure profit for me, sure, but I am branching out to do more work that is paid in advance.
And I think this trend is going to go so far as to make it so most pros can't even survive on photography alone. Most of the 'good-enough' and 'giveaway' photographers have something else paying for their photography bills. And with so many people walking around with L-glass or Nikkor VR lenses and giving away the images, the pro who needs to make money to pay for these expensive pieces of equipment will be squashed. I don't think there will be such thing a photographer making his/her living from photography in the next 10 years. There will be some exceptions, but I think the majority will be gone. :cry
Doh! He's getting more than a "good enough" shot. He has all three faces and he is right on top of the action. No distracting background, just grass, so the metering will be dead on. With his knob turned to "Action" he will get 400 ISO and reasonable shutter speed with daylight shooting. The good camera and tele glass is on the other side of the field, unfortunately. Life is not fair, is it?
And I think this trend is going to go so far as to make it so most pros can't even survive on photography alone. Most of the 'good-enough' and 'giveaway' photographers have something else paying for their photography bills. And with so many people walking around with L-glass or Nikkor VR lenses and giving away the images, the pro who needs to make money to pay for these expensive pieces of equipment will be squashed. I don't think there will be such thing a photographer making his/her living from photography in the next 10 years. There will be some exceptions, but I think the majority will be gone. :cry
I agree that the current trends and situations will weed out a lot of photographers. Certain genres of work will continue to support quality efforts such as portraits, weddings, engagements etc. but I think spec. sales are going the way of the dinosaur.
Earlier this season I vowed no more spec shooting. I will only shoot horses and riders who have reserved my time and paid a fee. The reservation fee is relatively small - but my theory is that if someone pays that fee (and it includes the choice of one digital image for personal use - low res and watermarked) they are more likely to peruse the gallery of their shots and purchase other prints or other digital images at higher rates. I'll let you know how that works for the rest of the season (which ends in mid October).
Doh! He's getting more than a "good enough" shot. He has all three faces and he is right on top of the action. No distracting background, just grass, so the metering will be dead on. With his knob turned to "Action" he will get 400 ISO and reasonable shutter speed with daylight shooting. The good camera and tele glass is on the other side of the field, unfortunately. Life is not fair, is it?
I'll bet he got a kick butt shot out of it, and for the record I don't begrudge him for it, I just thought the image fit the forum. He's a "team parent" or some kind of assistant that was allowed field access.
I agree that the current trends and situations will weed out a lot of photographers. Certain genres of work will continue to support quality efforts such as portraits, weddings, engagements etc. but I think spec. sales are going the way of the dinosaur.
Earlier this season I vowed no more spec shooting. I will only shoot horses and riders who have reserved my time and paid a fee. The reservation fee is relatively small - but my theory is that if someone pays that fee (and it includes the choice of one digital image for personal use - low res and watermarked) they are more likely to peruse the gallery of their shots and purchase other prints or other digital images at higher rates. I'll let you know how that works for the rest of the season (which ends in mid October).
I thought about a similar idea, "pay to play" sort of thing where if you buy a $25 gift card I'll take pictures of your athlete, or $5 or whatever. My fear is the process of trying to make sure I get shots of those that have paid, In an environment like a gymnastics event with 600 athletes.
I thought about a similar idea, "pay to play" sort of thing where if you buy a $25 gift card I'll take pictures of your athlete, or $5 or whatever. My fear is the process of trying to make sure I get shots of those that have paid, In an environment like a gymnastics event with 600 athletes.
I originally had thought about something like this but it's difficult if you're just going there to shoot anyway. My thoughts were to charge someone a smallish fee (basically for me to show up) and I'd give them x amount of time to shoot them/their kid/etc. They'd get one free print and could also buy more. I figured I could do 2 or 3 kids (at most) if they were all participating in the same game/event. I inquired with some parents and many said they thought it was a good idea but I didn't really pursue it because I got busy with other things. Not sure if they'd actually go for it once they have to fork over the money. Might give that a shot later this year.
What about a "Pay Wall"? Similar to what some news agencies are trying, you don't let them view the photos online without paying to get into the site.
The thought process is that by taking pictures of every kid and posting online without the "Pay Wall" you are essentially providing them with a free online gallery of pictures to share with friends and family and nobody has to pay.
What about a "Pay Wall"? Similar to what some news agencies are trying, you don't let them view the photos online without paying to get into the site.
The thought process is that by taking pictures of every kid and posting online without the "Pay Wall" you are essentially providing them with a free online gallery of pictures to share with friends and family and nobody has to pay.
What about a "Pay Wall"? Similar to what some news agencies are trying, you don't let them view the photos online without paying to get into the site.
The thought process is that by taking pictures of every kid and posting online without the "Pay Wall" you are essentially providing them with a free online gallery of pictures to share with friends and family and nobody has to pay.
I doubt it would work. I can't imagine most people (if any) would pay to view the photos. Look at the porn industry...
What about a "Pay Wall"? Similar to what some news agencies are trying, you don't let them view the photos online without paying to get into the site.
The thought process is that by taking pictures of every kid and posting online without the "Pay Wall" you are essentially providing them with a free online gallery of pictures to share with friends and family and nobody has to pay.
So how does the security work?
Does it take the IP address in consideration when assigning a password? OR once you get a password you can share it with friends & family?
What about a "Pay Wall"? Similar to what some news agencies are trying, you don't let them view the photos online without paying to get into the site.
The thought process is that by taking pictures of every kid and posting online without the "Pay Wall" you are essentially providing them with a free online gallery of pictures to share with friends and family and nobody has to pay.
But then you run into the 'good enough' photographer that does put all his/her stuff out there for free. Then what? You've essentially locked yourself completely out.
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A former sports shooter
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You also have to be careful in how/when you drop prices. When you set a precedent, people may start to expect it.
Personally, I'd probably give that a shot. You've got nothing to lose (IMO).
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It's obviously opposite of what I mention above.
What about a notice out to the same customers letting them know that the images will be going into "archive" shortly at which point the prices will go up.
Or a coupon, I buy domain name every now and then and I am constantly inundated with coupons from Godaddy. I often think, why don't they save themselves the trouble and just drop the price. But I'm sure they get a decent percentage of sales where people don't use a coupon, and they probably get a few because of the coupon.
How are your sales with the collages going?
Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
A former sports shooter
Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mercphoto?ref=hdr_shop_menu
I am in a bit of a different situation than most as I cover sporting events that my kids are participating in, so I save a bunch as I would be there anyway – and with 4 kids 11 and under all involved in sports, I keep busy. I mainly shoot soccer, basketball, and softball – at the rec leagues where the only “full-time pro photogs” are the T&I guys.
My remedy to increase sales has been to offer extras and talk to everyone at an event. Collages and personalize photos (digital scrapbooking) are big sellers for me, kids love having their names on their photos. One of my best spec remedies is what I call “Purchased Galleries” which I treat like a photo cd sale. I get a base pay upfront and I upload their photos to a SmugMug gallery with no price mark ups – collages and personalized photos can be added to the gallery for a little extra. Parents are able to download files and order prints whenever they want. Parents have commented that they like the SmugMug gallery features, out of town family can see and get photos without having to duplicate cds and mail them out, and parents can get to their photos when they are ready to add them to albums, make prints, etc (I hear this one a lot!). I also do a bunch of “specials” and “packages” to increase sales. Expiring specials is a great excuse for me to send friendly reminders to parents to buy photos. Especially with shooting on spec, there is a lot to be said about building relationships with coaches and parents - and talking to everyone. I rarely just go and shoot a team without having them request me to do it, if they are not even going to take time to respond to an offer to shoot, then they rarely find time to even look at the gallery.
The goofiness with shooting on spec is (for me anyway) that there are vary rarely a sales trend from event to event. One team will just buy just prints, another the whole gallery, usually it is a combination of both, another just collages, some teams most everyone buys something, and some teams are a complete bust. All in all however, my overall sales have been increasing as I add more products than just photos.
Good luck out there everyone!
Recently I have concluded that spec sales of events will continue to shrink because of the new digital products on the market and the new ways images are used in today's culture. Cheap point and shoot cameras and cell phones cameras are getting better and better. Now more people have personal blogs and photo sharing sites, where they upload "good enough" images to show what happened at the beach, 10k race, or road trip. The new version of windows has a Snipping Tool which makes it very easy to grab a watermarked image off the screen for personal albums, Facebook use, or emails to friends. On line sales are going to continue to shrink just like the local newspaper. So what do you do? To respond to the changing business landscape I will continue to shoot spec on the events that make a sure profit for me, sure, but I am branching out to do more work that is paid in advance.
I'm going to try that route as well, but what I'll be doing is pre-selling vouchers good for the future purchase of goods on my site. And I'll give a small discount for those willing to purchase a voucher ahead of time.
A former sports shooter
Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
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Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
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People who don't sell their photos take bad photos. Maybe - maybe not...
The cam is not a P&S, he may know what he is doing.
I agree that the current trends and situations will weed out a lot of photographers. Certain genres of work will continue to support quality efforts such as portraits, weddings, engagements etc. but I think spec. sales are going the way of the dinosaur.
Earlier this season I vowed no more spec shooting. I will only shoot horses and riders who have reserved my time and paid a fee. The reservation fee is relatively small - but my theory is that if someone pays that fee (and it includes the choice of one digital image for personal use - low res and watermarked) they are more likely to peruse the gallery of their shots and purchase other prints or other digital images at higher rates. I'll let you know how that works for the rest of the season (which ends in mid October).
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I'll bet he got a kick butt shot out of it, and for the record I don't begrudge him for it, I just thought the image fit the forum. He's a "team parent" or some kind of assistant that was allowed field access.
Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
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I thought about a similar idea, "pay to play" sort of thing where if you buy a $25 gift card I'll take pictures of your athlete, or $5 or whatever. My fear is the process of trying to make sure I get shots of those that have paid, In an environment like a gymnastics event with 600 athletes.
Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
I originally had thought about something like this but it's difficult if you're just going there to shoot anyway. My thoughts were to charge someone a smallish fee (basically for me to show up) and I'd give them x amount of time to shoot them/their kid/etc. They'd get one free print and could also buy more. I figured I could do 2 or 3 kids (at most) if they were all participating in the same game/event. I inquired with some parents and many said they thought it was a good idea but I didn't really pursue it because I got busy with other things. Not sure if they'd actually go for it once they have to fork over the money. Might give that a shot later this year.
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The thought process is that by taking pictures of every kid and posting online without the "Pay Wall" you are essentially providing them with a free online gallery of pictures to share with friends and family and nobody has to pay.
Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
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I doubt it would work. I can't imagine most people (if any) would pay to view the photos. Look at the porn industry...
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So how does the security work?
Does it take the IP address in consideration when assigning a password? OR once you get a password you can share it with friends & family?
I don't know, I'm just tossing out ideas, I don't know how it would be implemented or whether anyone would go for it.
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Ooops, I thought it existed, pretty good idea tho'