Would you pay for these?

[Ham]

Preamble needed.

Miss Ham was planning on  getting some pro shots done of the children (as she had the previous year) and I suggested I'd have a go, which she was happy to do (and she's been very happy with the results). I lashed out almost £10 on a background, and a few more ££ on some cheap studio lights, the shoot itself was substantially sub optimal for many reasons and there's no question that the results themselves are massively amateurish, and can be easily ripped apart for many reasons. Some can be adjusted by additional time and care (eg focus and background issues) some are more challenging, such as my cheap lights low output driving slow shutter speed. No question that a professional would look askance at the quality, one reason I'm posting this here rather than in a photography aligned forum.

Despite that, I'm actually quite pleased with the results and think there's something there that could be improved. And, of course, I'm exceeding biased because IMO these kids have severe cute overload.

However, I've been mulling over ways of maintaining some sort of income in (pending, mebbe 18 months) retirement and kids' photoshoots might be an option, it could be local, no massive outlay needed to startup (yes, I COULD get better lights), obviously no massive earner, but could bring in additional funds without a permie job.

So with all that in mind, would you pay for photos like these?  How much?

[mike]

people pay for worse!

Making money out of photography is not so much about the pics or the technical specs of the camera as it is the dealing with people, the online marketing and building a brand and the sales conversion rates.  If you're happy dealing with strangers and their wonderful kids then definitely worth giving it a go - the marketing bit is critical though, and probably the bit I found hardest. That and the issue that people buying a service like this can be a nightmare, and one bad review on google will kill the business.

[Mrs Pingu]

My friend's sister had a photography business for a while. She gave it up after one too many bridezilla experiences though.

[Ham]

Ain't that the troof!

I'm acutely conscious of the poor technical quality of these shots, I'm not thinking of it as much as a business as an extra revenue source (the main premise after all, is that I would have zero cost), the advertising would be social media/word of mouth. Miss Ham is useful in this respect, her Instagram got several hundred likes for the photo she put up and she is a PT specialising in post natal, and my intent would be to allow the customer to choose whether or not to buy the photos at the end, to avoid argument. OK, reduce. I figger that if it is local, each session would be about 2 - 3 hours, with added post production if they are paying. which seems to suggest around £150-£200, so I'm interested in people's thoughts.

[perpetual dan]

I just looked at a random local photographer, to get a sense of whether £200 seemed plausible. She was charging £150 for the shoot, then a minimum spend of £300 on prints. Which was more than I (with no experience of this) expected.

My impressions from being interested in photography are that:
- you need to like kids and they like you
- same but the parents
- you probably need enough equipment to dispel the “I could do this with my phone” impression. A strobist type setup isn’t so costly, compared to most of photographic stuff.
 - decide whether you’re making a studio people come to, or you go to them, or set things outside (another local to me seems to be combining photos with a nature walk, which might be a clever ruse to avoid the awkwardness of the school photo posing experience).
- be able to advertise, find a way to get a reputation and portfolio to sell yourself with.

[Ham]

Some valid points there

I just looked at a random local photographer, to get a sense of whether £200 seemed plausible. She was charging £150 for the shoot, then a minimum spend of £300 on prints. Which was more than I (with no experience of this) expected.

While I might graduate to the pro approach if I was good enough, giving the customer the images for a cost seems a cleaner way to do business and reflect a simple "service for payment" model.

My impressions from being interested in photography are that:
- you need to like kids and they like you

I'm OK with kids and, since the age of 5, I have developed and perfected the ability to talk like a quacking duck. This is a superpower when it comes to communicating with toddlers.

- same but the parents

Meh. I've dealt with the public before, my expectations are low, and the limited investment in time and zero in materials limits the risk.

- you probably need enough equipment to dispel the “I could do this with my phone” impression. A strobist type setup isn’t so costly, compared to most of photographic stuff.

Multiple SLR bodies and lenses, along with studio lights ticks that box. They won't know that the setup I have will make pro shots more challenging, and it isn't impossible that I might upgrade to a decent flash setup, but I can't really do that or justify it on the basis of expected income. The softboxes I have give a good if somewhat low level of light, the catchlights in the images I did, with the overall quality of light and shadow show that.

- decide whether you’re making a studio people come to, or you go to them, or set things outside (another local to me seems to be combining photos with a nature walk, which might be a clever ruse to avoid the awkwardness of the school photo posing experience).

I will NOT be inviting random mothers and offspring into my home. Any local shoot will have easy outdoor options should they want, as we are very well situated for parkland.

- be able to advertise, find a way to get a reputation and portfolio to sell yourself with.

That's down the line, the immediate pool of contacts through Miss Ham would provide a comfortable jumping off point.

[geraldc]

You don't need that much photography kit, we spent an obscene amount of money on new born baby photos, and the photographer had less kit than I have, however they had a rapport with newborns that was scary, she could swaddle and make a newborn fall asleep pretty much instantly, she just had Canon 5ds and an 85mm lens and an off camera flash.  She did however have portable backdrops and lots of cute stuff for kids to be placed on and in. 

It's all social media and referrals for this sort of thing.

[Ham]

The one thing I found out with my limited experience is that speed is all, you have a very narrow window of opportunity to capture the moment, so two bodies one with a 90mm fast lens, one with a short-ish fast zoom would be my choice, and likely stick to one or the other for any sequence.  Backdrops I have, food of various types would also be involved, I'd also focus (heh!) on those that can sit up and older, as I doubt my ability to interact with newborn. And they aren't impressed by quacking.

[Jurek]

We need a short, but informative, video demonstration of the quacking of which you speak.
Otherwise it is just your word 

[Ham]

https://recorder.google.com/share/49a164b9-f761-4f6b-bd82-150834b52256

[Jurek]

https://recorder.google.com/share/49a164b9-f761-4f6b-bd82-150834b52256

ETA
I can do the same.
And also, Sonar.
I do kids parties, Bar Mitzvahs, weddings, school reunions...... etc....

[Ham]

With great power comes great responsibility.

[fruitcake]

Perhaps you could offer the service to a couple of family / friends in exchange for detailed feedback in the form of a questionnaire. You'd have them score various aspects of the service. iff their feedback is objective and specific enough, that may indicate areas you'd need to improve.

There are people who'll pay £200 and double that for a set of portraits and it's how you find those people. Once you have bright, even lighting in the studio, I'd say the kids need to have a good laugh during the shoot and the portraits will largely take care of themselves. After that, making sales is mostly about the 'viewing room' experience, about which there are handbooks for photographers.

[Beardy]

Late to the party, but I’ll answer anyway

I’d definitely not pay for pictures like those. I think owning pictures of other peoples children/grandchildren is very strange and anyone that does so needs to be questioned closely as to their motives. 

[Jaded]

  

[Polar Bear]

They are very warm, family pictures of a type that I would have paid for when my children were of that age.

I was expecting a 13th image following on from the last image of the little girl delivering a right hook to the boy.  She seems perfectly lined up for it ...  🙂