how to increase your portrait sales

A nice short article on how to increase your portrait sales by themoderntog.com.

Promotional Flyers

Which one(s) should I choose?







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The Cellphone Portrait

LE52Weeks-7- Option 1.jpg, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

The portrait to go with the bid set out in an earlier post.

The lighting set-up for this shot was very simple - a 430EX flashgun fired into a 60cm soft-box that was set at roughly 45 degress to the camera right.

What would you have done differently within the constraints of the assignment.

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Project 52: Assignment 7: A CellPhone Portrait

Part one of this assignment was to write a written estimate of what it is going to take to do the job of a cellphone portrait. The idea being that the image is being used for a local communications company and they want an exclusive use on the image for two years. The image "may" be used on their website. The AD just told you that they are looking at a print run of 25,000 brochures, and 100 POP display cards.

Below is how I've set out my bid.

SUMMARY OF FEES AND EXPENSES	ESTIMATE
1.     Photography Fee 25,000 Brochures (2 year UK Exclusive Rights) 100 POP (2 year UK Exclusive Rights)	£2,700 £1,600
2.     Production Crew Hair/Make up	£200
3.     Photographic Medium Process, develop, archive Prints and/or Contact Sheets (£10 each) Photo Retouching (£25p/h)	£200 £30 £75
4.     Studio Rental Studio Rental – Shoot Days (x1) Studio Craft Services (4 people, £30 per head)	£130 £120
5.     Equipment Camera	£130
6.     Talent and Casting Model	£200
TOTAL	£5,385

To get prices for the image rights I headed over to Getty Images to use their price calculator to get estimates for 2 year UK Non-Exclusive rights for the images. To change it to UK Exclusive rights, I added an extra 25% to those fees.

The actual production costs did surprise me as to how little it contributed to the overall fees and expenses of the shoot, but then again I feel I was on the lower end of pricing for models, Make Up Artists (MUA), photographers, etc. The total crew being only a photographer, a MUA, a model, and the Art Director being on site.

Is this the way you would have priced for the job? What things would you have done differently?

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

Do You Need Something For Your Valentine?

A one hour Valentines shoot is a sure way to brighten up your loved one's valentine and make a lasting impression! Whether as a gift to yourself or your loved one, my photo sessions will be a fun experience to remember.

The shoot can involve a couple of changes of clothes; the style and content of the shoot is entirely down to you. It could be a sexy boudoir shoot, a fashion style shoot, a beautiful Hollywood glamour style portrait or even a lifestyle shoot involving both you and your partner. The images can be shot in the studio, in your own home, or on a location of your choice.

All for just £30 with a free complimentary 10x8 print, and 20 web-sized images for use on Facebook or Myspace, etc. For additional prints or other creative ideas to utilise your images, please get in touch.

Head over to my Facebook Photography Page and become a fan to book your glamorous shoot today!!

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Please subscribe to the blog by using one of the links on the right hand side of the page to be kept informed of my photographic activities and interests.

Tina in a Location Portrait Session in Sheffield

I just seem to be having a run of luck of having to constantly re-arrange shoot with models. Minor things keep on cropping up to thwart our plans to shoot together. However, I finally managed to get a shoot in, after almost a month of not shooting anybody, thanks to Tina, above.

Tina has been a long term friend and responded to a call for a shoot I was doing, called "Fashionably Elegant on a Budget: 10 Items Every Woman Should Own". It is based on a newspaper article in the Telgraph newspaper. It lists a "Magnificent 10" items that every woman should have: a little black dress, stiletto shoes, matching handbag, a trench coat, a white blouse, cashmere pullover, jeans, a white T-shirt, a pearl necklace and lipstick. So far, all of the models I have worked with have not had the full 10 items so we have often improvised with other items of clothing as a substitute.

If you click on the above picture it will take you to flickr and other images from the series.

Katie on a Location Portrait Portfolio Shoot in Sheffield

Katie...XI, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

It has been a long time since my last update, mainly due to looming deadlines for the college course that I have been attending. In this post is my first shoot with Katie. It is, I think, one of her first with a photographer other than herself. As a first time model, she seemed to be very self confident in her posing, and adapted quickly to her surroundings. The images where shot in and around Whirlow Brook Park, which is quickly gaining in my liking for a place to shoot. The park has a variety of different locations on offer, ranging from a hall and it's gardens, to small lakes and ponds, wooded areas to rockerys.

Another reason for a long time between postings is a mass culling of my photostream over at flickr. I have now imposed upon myself a rule that if a photo has not gained 100 views within a month of posting, it will now be deleted from my stream. This has been done as an effort to improve the quality of my stream. I had been going along the lines of quantity instead. I feel that this has made my stream stronger in content. Please visit the stream to see for yourself.

Ginger La Rouge in a Studio Portrait Session in Sheffield

Ginger La Rouge...IV, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

There are some images that capture other people's imaginations. This seems to be one of them. The other images that are grouped with this image never quite took off like this one did. Below are some of the others taken at the same shoot. BTW, can you tell that Ginger La Rouge is a burlesque performer?

Ginger La Rouge...VIII, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.

Ginger La Rouge...XI, originally uploaded by Jon W. Howson.