Building my portfolio...advice please!

[kat_75]

So I'm trying to expand my portfolio. I have a lot of nature/landscape/etc type shots, but I need more portrait shots to add to my portfolio. Officially, I have one wedding, one family portrait session, and a wedding coming up. I have also taken shots as a guest at a 50th anniversary "re-wedding" ceremony, as my husband likes to call it, but I do not have a model release yet.

By the first or so of December, I'll have my new camera (Nikon D50).

With Christmas coming up, I thought to offer Christmas portraits to family members (my husband's side of the family is rather large). My mother-in-law has a huge living room with a nice fireplace and she sets up a large Christmas tree nearby, so I think that will serve well as backdrops. (If I'm lucky, it might snow.) My dilemma is, how do I go about this? I'm certainly not doing it for free. The way I see it, I have three options:

Take the pics for a donation and give them one shot.
Charge only my reprint prices and no sitting fee.
Ask for a token amount for the sitting fee ($5 or $10), give them one print, and charge reprint prices for any extras.

Whoops... a couple of those sound a lot alike. :/

What do you guys think? Any other ideas? :) Thanks in advance!

[DSanchez]

I actually use all three so to speak. I have a model release form that gets signed before any pics are taken now because I found it hard to chase people down after the fact. I've given a free 8x10 to my model for agreeing to help me build my portofolio. I've done photo shoots at my home studio and only charge for the prints requested and I offer the convenience of going to the person, something people express they like over the cheaper prices of Walmart and such since they don't travel to you. But for this I charge a $10 sitting fee (although it's more of a travel fee to cover gas since gas prices are still quite high in my area).

I know that didn't help as far as narrowing it down but I guess I'm saying you don't have to limit yourself. All situations won't be the same and you will need the flexability to be able to offer different things to different people :)

[kat_75]

That's definitely something to think about. Thanks for your input!

[four-winks]

Kat, here is what I would suggest. Let them know that you are building your portfolio, and so the sitting fee is waived. And then maybe give them a small percentage off of your full print prices, but make sure they know the full price, and that they are getting a discount. It is very hard to raise print prices on your customers later, so if they know right from the start what your prices will be, they won't be surprised later. When I started, I created a special price list for my family so they know they are getting better prices than my regular customers, but that my time and talent (I use that term loosely :)) isn't free. Just some suggestions. I hope they help! If you have any other questions, always feel free to PM me and I will help where I can!

[Hattitudes]

Kompressor here, logged in as hattitudes :)

I would think about this:
take the pics, tell them they will get one that will be free (you decide which one)
then sit them down in front of your computer (very important to have a calibrated monitor so they can see EXACTLY what they are getting).
with some guidence from you, they can pick out the ones they want and then once they pick them out, then tell them your fee for the prints.
Usually once they get a free print, they are more likely to pick out others to buy from you since the first one didn't cost that much.
*I would pick one of the top looking pics for the free one, but make sure the "by far the best" shots are avalible for a price :)
If I were you, I would order the free print at the same time as they choose others, because once they have the free print in their hands they may not want to come to look at others.

good luck

randy

[kat_75]

Robin and Randy--
Thank you so much! You have given me a lot to chew over. :)
I'll be sure to let you know how it goes, as well. :D

[SonyaL]

Your portfolio should always show what you are truly interested in for example if you are interested in doing portraits a landscape shot does not show the customer what they need to see.
Most photographers pick an area and show those in their porfolio.


Its not to say you cant show both but you shold have more of what you are truly interested in doing.