Dance/Karate Studio Photography Questions

[Destin]

Hey all, I'm looking to expand my business into doing class/individual portraits for dance and karate studios in my area. There are many small studios who don't have professional photos done annually, so getting my foot in the door shouldn't be terribly hard. I'm not worried about getting the quality of the photos down, I'm confident in my abilities there.

My only questions with this are in the workflow of it.. Does anyone have experience in this area?

My niece's dance studio has a photographer who puts out order forms before the photos are ever even taken. Each form has an individual order number, and he has a bar code system to somehow link them with his tethered shooting setup. Is there software for this? Where would you get bar code order forms?

My thinking was more simple: Order forms with individual order forms, and then just take a photo of the order form at the start of each student's portrait session. .A bar code system seems unnecessary But at what point do you take orders? Before hand? Afterwards when you provide proof sheets/galleries?

 

[tirediron]

You can get bar-coded or sequential forms from any printer, Staples, etc, and I believe that several of companies that offer software for bulk shooting also provide the forms. That said, IMO, this is a way to maximize profit at the expense of quality. When I do T&I work, each person that I photograph gets a "ticket" with a QR code and link to a preview gallery. They review the images when they're posted and choose what and how many they want. This ensures that the client gets what they want. In my experience, while it is some extra work, it tends to result in larger orders since people don't have the "What if I don't like them...?" thought.

 

[astroNikon]

You can get bar-coded or sequential forms from any printer, Staples, etc, and I believe that several of companies that offer software for bulk shooting also provide the forms. That said, IMO, this is a way to maximize profit at the expense of quality. When I do T&I work, each person that I photograph gets a "ticket" with a QR code and link to a preview gallery. They review the images when they're posted and choose what and how many they want. This ensures that the client gets what they want. In my experience, while it is some extra work, it tends to result in larger orders since people don't have the "What if I don't like them...?" thought.

What online software are you using for this ?

 

[tirediron]

I'm not... I do it hand-draullically by setting up a specific web page, and uploading LR galleries.

 

[Destin]

You can get bar-coded or sequential forms from any printer, Staples, etc, and I believe that several of companies that offer software for bulk shooting also provide the forms. That said, IMO, this is a way to maximize profit at the expense of quality. When I do T&I work, each person that I photograph gets a "ticket" with a QR code and link to a preview gallery. They review the images when they're posted and choose what and how many they want. This ensures that the client gets what they want. In my experience, while it is some extra work, it tends to result in larger orders since people don't have the "What if I don't like them...?" thought.

@tirediron This workflow would be easiest for me the way I'm set up with my website on Smugmug. Once your customers see the proofs online, how do you accept orders? Do you have them place orders online, or do you have them fill out order forms and return them to you?

Obviously online sales would be hands down the easiest here, however in my experience you make exponentially more money with in person sales.

 

[tirediron]

For this sort of work, it's almost all done via e-mail. I've found that the younger customers (late 30s & younger) prefer this, while my older customers (60+) prefer in-person proofing and sales.

 

[Designer]

Here's just a thought from a know-nothing potential customer. Your assembly-line approach is good to get your foot in the door, but you should always be ready to promote a private studio session. Those class picture type of photos are O.K. for a child's bedroom wall, but if they want something for the family album or to send to grandma, they should go to your studio with a hairbrush and get some keepsake photos.

Also, do the owners of the dance and Tae Kwan Do studios demand a cut? What percentage do they get?

 

[Destin]

For this sort of work, it's almost all done via e-mail. I've found that the younger customers (late 30s & younger) prefer this, while my older customers (60+) prefer in-person proofing and sales.

Thanks! That's actually really helpful.

I'm just trying to nail down the finer details of the workflow and figure our the most efficient way to do things.

 

[Destin]

Here's just a thought from a know-nothing potential customer. Your assembly-line approach is good to get your foot in the door, but you should always be ready to promote a private studio session. Those class picture type of photos are O.K. for a child's bedroom wall, but if they want something for the family album or to send to grandma, they should go to your studio with a hairbrush and get some keepsake photos.

Also, do the owners of the dance and Tae Kwan Do studios demand a cut? What percentage do they get?

Some online sources say they get 10-12%, some say they don't. My approach would be to not give them an actual financial cut, but rather to give them the instructor portraits, and class photos for free to use in their studio. I'm not opposed to giving them a cut, but I'd rather give them product with a high perceived value (but less financial value to me).

 

[CCericola]

I did this for many years. We used barcoded software. We used both Photolynx and Timestone. Both are 1 year licenses that you must renew. We had several photographers and spent around 5K a year. So that might not be the most cost effective route if you don't have several schools scheduled each month.

The barcodes are linked to a spreadsheet the school had to provide you before the shoot. The file had the name, class, contact info, etc.. for each dancer so there was no need to collect the info on picture day. Really, unless the school is 100+ students. The barcode software is really overkill.

Before the software we were film and just did prepay envelopes. Numbered the envelopes as we took the photos and marked what roll of film they were on. In the digital age you can still do the prepay envelope just mark the image number on the envelope. (I just put the first image number of each dancer because I took several shots of each)

We picked the best pose and printed a package and matched them with their group photo. Another way is to shoot the school, upload them to a gallery and provide the school with a login and password to give to the parents. The drawback is some parents don't want other parents to have access to their kids pictures along with everyone else. I have done a password protected gallery for each family. It is time consuming but doable.

As far as commission, pictures do act as a fundraiser for dance and sports so most schools do expect a commission. It is anywhere from 5 - 20%. I just calculated that margin into the package prices so I was not losing any money.