Methods to selling sports photos?

TonysTouch · Feb 20, 2013

Pretty much any printer will hook up through a USB port. The more important thing would be to have a somewhere to plug into or one that has an independent power source.

KmH · Feb 20, 2013

For on-site printing, look at dye-sub printers.

imagemaker46 · Feb 21, 2013

I'd look into some companies that are already doing on site printing at sports events before investing in anything. The guys I shot for were running 3 flat screens, a desk top, laptop 2 high end printers, and had 3 people working the booth. They also had a spare of everything, roughly $15,000. This was a simple setup. I have seen other photographers running 6-10 flat screens and all the hardware that goes with it, $25,000+

In your case, sitting at a desk with a laptop and printer, while trying to shoot as well, not going to happen, if people can't look at the photos within minutes of an event ending, they will walk away. The photos you shoot will have to go on the screens unedited, which means people will see all the crap as well. It's not an operation that you should consider jumping into without really doing your homework on. Dropping 25k on camera gear is one thing, that's the easy part, setting up to sell is where it becomes work. Unless you start making some very serious money, you will be needing new gear long before you've recovered what you've just spent on gear.

happyf33tz · Feb 23, 2013

Very true. I have plenty of friends that would work the booth with me though. But having all that to invest in is just not going to happen for me. I am dead broke after all my investment in equipment. Maybe I can look into getting a printer that prints on location and borrow a good sized tv to use at a local high school I have connections with and see how it goes from there. If it starts to make a difference and I start getting business, then that would be awesome. I really feel like the reason parents are not buying, is simply because they forget after leaving. Maybe printing on site and having the photos ready will make a difference? I'd have to teach a friend or two on how to properly edit photos though via Lightroom. I'll look into a good printer.

Tony S · Feb 24, 2013

High shcool is a tough sell. Parents are just not that into getting pictures from every game. Now set up at a tourney for 3-5th graders and you will do pretty good. I shoot tons of highschool stuff and end up with over 65 events throughout the school year, hand out hundreds of business cards, and other ways of reaching my intended audience. It hardly pays for itself, showing up on speculation that you hope will create sales is not going to work. Mom and dad are happy with the cell phone or video that they take, or that one other parent who spent the money on a decent camera and gives the pictures away.

One thing I noticed is your pictures are way too big on your website, even taking a screen shot, putting it into a new image in Photoshop and cropping out the rest of the page resulted in an image size of 898x602 pixels, or 12.472x8.361 @ 72ppi. Those make prints that parents are happy to steal, even the ones with copyright marks on them. Yes, they look nice in the larger size, but they are so easy to take for free. Keep them to smallish sizes and tougher to get a decent screen shot image of.

here's an example of one of them taken as a screen shot and then cropped down... lots of parents and kids would love printing this out, using it in a slide show or posting it to Facebook.

imagemaker46 · Feb 24, 2013

Tony S said:
High shcool is a tough sell. Parents are just not that into getting pictures from every game. Now set up at a tourney for 3-5th graders and you will do pretty good. I shoot tons of highschool stuff and end up with over 65 events throughout the school year, hand out hundreds of business cards, and other ways of reaching my intended audience. It hardly pays for itself, showing up on speculation that you hope will create sales is not going to work. Mom and dad are happy with the cell phone or video that they take, or that one other parent who spent the money on a decent camera and gives the pictures away.

One thing I noticed is your pictures are way too big on your website, even taking a screen shot, putting it into a new image in Photoshop and cropping out the rest of the page resulted in an image size of 898x602 pixels, or 12.472x8.361 @ 72ppi. Those make prints that parents are happy to steal, even the ones with copyright marks on them. Yes, they look nice in the larger size, but they are so easy to take for free. Keep them to smallish sizes and tougher to get a decent screen shot image of.

here's an example of one of them taken as a screen shot and then cropped down... lots of parents and kids would love printing this out, using it in a slide show or posting it to Facebook.

Good point on the web site, I had a look and thought the same thing. It may also explain why he isn't making a lot of sales, although I don't expect too many are being lifted.

1hawaii50 · Feb 26, 2013

I've been shooting high school volleyball and basketball for the past 2 years...everyone wants it for free, but nobody wants to buy. I sell very little, but I'm getting shots of my daughter playing, so I've got another vested interest anyway...

imagemaker46 · Feb 26, 2013

It really is difficult to understand. As a parent if someone had great pictures of my kids I would want them. Maybe it's just a photographer thing. I had a friend that wanted pictures of his kids playing hockey, I went out and shot great pictures of his kids and then he didn't buy any, and I didn't give him any of them. I couldn't figure that one out. At another event that I was shooting for a client I had a parent ask if I would shoot some pictures of her daughter, I gave her my business card and shot a bunch, posted them to my web site and let her know they were there, figuring nothing would sell, and she ended up dropping $300 on the pictures I posted. I wish I could find all these parents.

I just can't figure it out.

KmH · Feb 26, 2013

1hawaii50 said:
I've been shooting high school volleyball and basketball for the past 2 years...everyone wants it for free, but nobody wants to buy. I sell very little, but I'm getting shots of my daughter playing, so I've got another vested interest anyway...

Selling requires applying some marketing and salesmanship principles/skills.

JBrown · Feb 26, 2013

The problem is your sales method. As others have mentioned the best setup is the on site view/print sales. However that is going to require at minimum one other person. If it is going to be a one man show, you have to make youre website sales friendly. I would suggest a zenfolio website. Ive done motorcross sales using mine and it worked out ok and your stuff is much better then mine.

The key is getting the person to the photos of their kid quickly and to the checkout without confusion or tedium. For example, I had motocross sorted by day, age group and rider number. If someone was looking for their kid they would have no problem finding it. I spent more time organizing the photos then I did editing them.

In the interest of full disclosure the process was so tedius I never did it again. I made a couple hundred from the weekend, but time spent was retarded and 80% of it was boring editing, organizing, and uploading. In the end wasnt what I wanted to do on my days off.

I didnt sell a single picture of a adult or teenager, everything was of younger kids. If I was you I would focus on elementary and middle school for sales. Granted they are painfully boring, but thats where the money will be IMO. Finally $3 is crazy low. You wont be selling these in bulk, for most people it will be a one time purchase. Think of every person as a one time sale and then they are out of the market.

vintagesnaps · Feb 26, 2013

I've seen the same type set up as mentioned at sports tournaments, usually for younger than high school aged participants. It seems to vary depending on where you live but don't high schools already make their own arrangements for team and individual player photos? - I'm wondering if they make those available to the families who aren't then interested in additional photos.

When I've seen photos being sold at tourneys usually there's a slideshow running of the player photos which are being printed and handed to the parents when they make the purchase.

MetroRuss · Feb 27, 2013

It may be psychological as well, the $3 price tag.

They may think you are putting no value on your work and skills. This equals no value for them. Even though its their kids and you take awesome pics.

Wtf is wrong with people these days.

How about flyers offering free digital files by email but only give them.low res pics and in the email you upsell them with the high res package with framed poster prints and the original files ie.
Now you have their email and you can send them seasonal specials for family portraits at xmas or special events, birthdays etc.

The key is to keep your name and skills in Their.mind.

After you do a dozen or more jobs hopefully you will generate some referrals.

You can offer them a word of mouth deal.
If Mrs B calls you and says Mrs A told me about you, you reward Mrs A with 25% off her next session with you as long as its over x amount dollars.

thomas30 · Feb 27, 2013

Make a new E commerce website for selling sport photos and then start online marketing with ppc. One of my friend earned alot by selling paintings by this method.

imagemaker46 · Feb 27, 2013

thomas30 said:
Make a new E commerce website for selling sport photos and then start online marketing with ppc. One of my friend earned alot by selling paintings by this method.

My entire business web site is based on high resolution downloads and prints and is easy to navigate, it really can't get any easier for people to find photos of the events I shoot. It still comes down to an over saturation of images with everyone owning cell phones, cameras etc. People aren't as interested in hanging pictures on their walls as much as they are interested in showing friends a computer screen.

rivercityphotography · Feb 28, 2013

Couple thoughts:

Try passing out 4x6 flyers at the games instead of business cards. I've had better success with flyers, maybe because they are harder to stick in a pocket and lose?

These days you need a real relationship with the people you are selling to in pretty much any industry. Almost all my sales have come from people that I talked to over the course of a few games, Parents of kids that had older kids I played on teams with, locals at a paintball field I frequented, surfers that I run into repeatedly.

The first year I was shooting and selling stuff, I shot with a Nikon D-60 and the kit 55-200 lens. The quality of the photos were not great... most not even good really, but I took the time to get to know the people I was shooting, or the parents of the people I was shooting, and we were able to do some business. Your photos are much better than mine ever were, if they aren't selling, it is time to shmooze, make deals, find a sport with more money.

I'd say put up some prices on the website. The people you become friends with will look at those prices and want a friend discount, so offer them a package. Instead of $3 a picture, ask for $10 up front, but make them a nice deal and if they buy 2, send them a couple extra shots cuz you are a nice guy. Nothing makes people respond better than feeling like they have "won." And then they have the process of doing business with you down comfortably, and you dont have to drop trousers next time you show them some shots. Make your deals face to face. They will look at your photos from one game, like them, but want a better price. So ask them the next game what they thought. They will say they liked the shots, and you will say, "well if you are interested in a couple of those, I will throw in a couple from today too." and get them to point out on your ipad the ones they liked from last game, and then surprise them with whatever shots you select from the second game.

Highschool sports are probably not going to be the best place to find extra money in people's pockets, unless it is club sports. Cali is probably different than Texas, but still. If the parents have to pay for their kid to be on the team, they have a larger investment, so what is another $10 to help them feel like that $2k was worth it for little Johnny to be on the lacrosse team.

Talk to the school, or district administrative office. They have budgets for artwork. See if they want nice pics of their current students (or maybe more likely, wide shots of the venues) to hang in the halls.

I guess that is all for now. Good luck, start schmoozing.

Edit: I took a breather and I guess I do have more. As I write this, it is kind of self motivation and brainstorming for my own career.
Oh, and wear something bright with your website on it when you go shoot, or dress up a little. I only say that because the photo in your biography section is a little intimidating. Smile broski! You are a salesman now.

Facebook. Annoying, but useful for backlinks to your site and putting your face in front of alot of people. And free. I saw a couple external links on your page, but I dont think I saw Facebook.