Shooting Sports on Spec question/assistance needed.

MichaelKirk · July 12, 2007

I am meeting with a local soccer club this month to discuss shooting for them - my guess is reguar season games...possibly a tournament(s).

I was reading the tread "First Time Sports Tournament Photography - Need (Quick) Help!"
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=63846

and am in no means ready to set up any sort of on site printing, hiring other photogs or real assistant etc. (maybe someday down the road).

Photography for me right now is a Hobby turning PT business. My time is very limited so I was thinking what might work best in my situation is offering shooting on spec for the club. By spec I mean parents can pre-order my professional photography services and purchase a "Packet" (deposit required of course) where I will photograph their child in action (minimal # of games) and prints depending on the packet they ordered - granted I know sales would be less than other ways, but I am looking to maximize my time and efficiency. Plus this way I am only shooting guaranteed sales and not pot luck.

My reason for this post is seeking others suggestions and ideas that I may be overlooking as well as if anyone else is doing this - what are some package options I should put together? I was thinking of offering 3-4 different package options as well as incorporating a "sitting" type fee similiar to typical portrait sessions.

I live in a pretty affluent area, where parents can actually use this as bragging rights that they "hired" a professional photographer so shoot their child in action! I also understand that using this approach would be most likely be slow to start, but I really think that once word gets around I would do just fine as I just seriously started sports photography in March of this year and already in way beyond anything than I expected

My thought is to make this "Spec" shooting a part of my regular services (I also shoot for my local High School and can hopefully make this a big part of my business - shooting sports action photography on spec.

Open for opinions, ideas, comments, pretty much everything
Thanks,
Michael

PictureThis! · July 12, 2007

Michael, I don't know if this will help you or not, but what I do is open my calendar for a season and let the parents 'book' a particular game. I shoot the whole game and post the edited pictures on SM. The parents can buy what they want and so can other family and friends. I hand out my cards to the parents of both teams. I haven't shot a game yet that I didn't sell any pictures. You may want to charge an event fee to book a game. Usually the teams can pool money together to cover that easily. You make money and they aren't obligated to buy pictures they may not want.

Ann McRae · July 12, 2007

I am handling this like this this year.

Previously, I would allow parents/coaches to book me, shoot and process shots and hope for sales. This did not work. I am now only going out for a 'minimum fee' (T & I or cd of shots) of $150 to $180. I figure that covers one hour plus materials in the case of T & I or three to fours hours effort for the cd.

Am in the midst of an email exchange with a parent wanting custom prints and it is leading me to believe I could potentially charge more and be successful.

Let me know if this is helpful or if you need more info.

ann

MichaelKirk · July 12, 2007

Like your idea
Ann,
I like your idea of booking a team as well.
How/where did you set up your Google Calendar and how did you incorporate it into SM - that is an excellent idea that I can see I will really need to add once I impliment this.

Agree as well for charging the minimal fee - guarantees your expenses are covered and weeds out the parents that want a photographer but may not want to actually purchase photos.

I would like to hear from others that are doing this or anything else similiar - some great ideas so far!

Thanks,
Michael

Ann McRae wrote:

I am handling this like this this year.

Previously, I would allow parents/coaches to book me, shoot and process shots and hope for sales. This did not work. I am now only going out for a 'minimum fee' (T & I or cd of shots) of $150 to $180. I figure that covers one hour plus materials in the case of T & I or three to fours hours effort for the cd.

Am in the midst of an email exchange with a parent wanting custom prints and it is leading me to believe I could potentially charge more and be successful.

Let me know if this is helpful or if you need more info.

ann

Ann McRae · July 12, 2007

Michael - see this thread for instructions on including a calendar.

My experience over the last several years is there are plenty of folk that are satisfied at looking at the photos on line, rather than having prints. Time limits to having access may also be useful.

The best thing I did this season was send out a mass email to any coach or previous purchaser. I ended up with a bunch of work. So, lesson learned, self promotion is really important. I made a really makeshift portfolio that I carry to sports fields too. That is helpful, as then people can actually see the end result.

I am on the cusp of jumping over the on site printing cliff........if anyone were to request my services for a tournament I would do it.

ann

ann

MichaelKirk wrote:

Ann,
I like your idea of booking a team as well.
How/where did you set up your Google Calendar and how did you incorporate it into SM - that is an excellent idea that I can see I will really need to add once I impliment this.

Agree as well for charging the minimal fee - guarantees your expenses are covered and weeds out the parents that want a photographer but may not want to actually purchase photos.

I would like to hear from others that are doing this or anything else similiar - some great ideas so far!

Thanks,
Michael

S. Horton · July 12, 2007

@Ann - Thank you for the link. We've struggled with exactly that problem, and this is a great solution. On the CD, if I may ask, what image size are your providing? (In other words, do you provide xxx px longest side, standard crops, tight crops, is it large enough for them to have 8x10 prints done, etc -- our problem has been runnng out of space on a CD)

@Op - What I know never works is shooting action in return for online sales speculatively. We now charge a fee of $250 / game to shoot any single game with two (2) photogs.

Ann McRae · July 13, 2007

Hmmm, I am not sure if I will be able to put all shots onto 1 cd (last yer I ended u buring dvd instead). I have promised to include all shots that I edited - some are cropped alot, some not, but all with a 2:3 ration for expected printing at 4x6. My mantra is 'shoot tight, crop tighter' so I do try to follow but also always crop 2:3 - you can print 4x6 and 5x7 an 8x12 without any further work this way (provided there are enough pixels to allow this). I will provide instructions regarding pixel size and abilty to print large.

I thin your approachof 2 photogs is great - I often go back to a second game to get the one kid I couldn'/didn't follow or mixed up with a teammate. Wouldn't have that issue with a second photog on the opposite sideline.

ann

S. Horton wrote:

@Ann - Thank you for the link. We've struggled with exactly that problem, and this is a great solution. On the CD, if I may ask, what image size are your providing? (In other words, do you provide xxx px longest side, standard crops, tight crops, is it large enough for them to have 8x10 prints done, etc -- our problem has been runnng out of space on a CD)

@Op - What I know never works is shooting action in return for online sales speculatively. We now charge a fee of $250 / game to shoot any single game with two (2) photogs.

com3 · July 14, 2007

off topic, yeah, but holy wow! what a FANTASTIC shot, dude!

http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/popular/1/164228439/Large

MichaelKirk · July 14, 2007

Thanks...
Com3,
Thanks - I really have alot of panning shots.
Not sure if you saw, but here is the like to my "Sports Portfolio" gallery - some of my better shots from this year.
http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/gallery/1991458#P-1-15

Michael

com3 wrote:

off topic, yeah, but holy wow! what a FANTASTIC shot, dude!

http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/popular/1/164228439/Large

S. Horton · July 16, 2007

This one is very interesting -- muliple shots combined?

http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/gallery/1991458#168582081

MichaelKirk · July 16, 2007

Sam....
Sam,
That shot and a few like it were a spur of the moment shot. I was getting ready to leave the race and had 5 or 6 shots left on my card. Waiting between riders I was browsing thru the camera menue and noticed the option for making multiple exposurs on ome image so I thought what the heck - gove it a try and then leave. So there you have it.
I think reading the manual and with a bit of practice I could get some pretty decent shots using this option.

Michael
www.MLKimages.com

S. Horton wrote:

This one is very interesting -- muliple shots combined?

http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/gallery/1991458#168582081

SDJames · July 17, 2007

S. Horton wrote:

What I know never works is shooting action in return for online sales speculatively.

Yep, I did it just because my son was playing...two birds with one stone. I got some buys, but not relative to the time invested.

Ann & S., I like the fee ideas. Since my son's game, I've thought about approaching other teams. Thanks all for the ideas. Great stuff.

S. Horton · July 20, 2007

@michael - cool!

@SD - I did the same thing during the learning period. Tried one as a favor for another team, great buzz, lots of hits on the site, zero sales. Sales came from competing teams; I sent e-mails to some coaches/organizers with links to the pics of our games vs. them. So, FWIW, that's how I'm getting paid this year; my son's games, I'll just shoot him.

Great thread; learned a lot.

Ann McRae · July 21, 2007

One thing I do with my own kids teams is have different pricing - basically half price compared to others. It works - I just love shooting, and this way I am not 'free' to them, because that just causes other expectations.

ann

S. Horton wrote:

@michael - cool!

@SD - I did the same thing during the learning period. Tried one as a favor for another team, great buzz, lots of hits on the site, zero sales. Sales came from competing teams; I sent e-mails to some coaches/organizers with links to the pics of our games vs. them. So, FWIW, that's how I'm getting paid this year; my son's games, I'll just shoot him.

Great thread; learned a lot.

Frog Lady · July 21, 2007

yeah, getting parents to buy from your own childs team during the season isn't easy... What I've ended up doing is shooting during the season, processing the best and printing out contact sheets w/ 16 pic/pg for the parents at the end of the season. I think a lot of them would hesitate to buy during the season b/c what if you got a better shot the next game

I typically charge $5/shot for 5-10 shots on CD or downloadable from Smugmug. This is about what the pro's charge. But if they buy 10 at $5 each, I then give them another 5-10 shots, so it works out to $2.50-3.50/shot. Most of the parents go that route. It's cheaper than what they get from the proshooters at a tournment, but I'm still getting a reasonable amount of $$ for my time and effort. I don't mind doing this b/c you know a lot of the players on the team and it is almost as much fun catching their great action as it is your own childs.

C.

Shooting Sports on Spec question/assistance needed.

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