My Editing Strategy
Lesson 18 from: FAST CLASS: Get Started with Lifestyle Family PhotographyElena S Blair
My Editing Strategy
Lesson 18 from: FAST CLASS: Get Started with Lifestyle Family PhotographyElena S Blair
Lessons
Class Introduction: Get Started With Lifestyle Family Photography
04:11 2What is Meaningful Lifestyle Family Photography?
03:06 3Settings for Shoots
06:48 4Light, Composition & Location
09:40 5Why Connection is Important
13:20 6Session Experience
08:12 7Family Preparation
09:10 8How to Get to Know Families Fast
09:46Considerations for a Photograph
03:34 10The Family Session Workflow
07:28 11Shoot: Start Standing
05:39 12Shoot: Money Shot & Siblings
04:59 13Shoot: Laying Down
04:15 14Shoot: Mom & Dad Alone with Child
06:41 15Shoot: Movement Poses & Everyone in The Frame
03:57 16Additional Shoot Considerations
02:50 17Pricing & Business Strategy
12:00 18My Editing Strategy
04:44 19Image Gallery Delivery
08:32 20Finalize The Client Experience
04:58Lesson Info
My Editing Strategy
So, this is another one that just kind of always blows people's minds. I, this year, it's been, next month will be one year that I started outsourcing my editing (gasps), and (laughs) it has changed my life. And so, I'm gonna tell you how I got to this decision, I'm gonna tell you why I think it's amazing, and I'm gonna tell you that I think is funny, that family photographers don't do it very much. So wedding photographers outsource all the time. A lot of my friends are wedding photographers, and they've been doing this for years, they've been outsourcing editing. So, what I will say, though, I'm gonna back step a little bit. If you're new to this, you do need to know how to edit. So I edited my own stuff for nine years, okay, so you do need to know what you're doing with editing, you have to be able to grab an image and edit it, whether you use Photoshop or Lightroom or whatnot. So I was editing my own stuff, and I'm a very fast editor, anyone that has, that's seasoned in edit is usu...
ally very surprised, they do a lot of batch editing, and I don't to any retouching unless there's like something super obvious. I'm not real picky about that, I like it to happen in camera, where I create my art is with that connection, use of light. Editing is now where it's at for me. I have a good friend who spends like six hours per image, but that's because she does this really high-end boudoir photography, and she is selling that one image, almost like a painting, very different than what I'm doing, and she loves it. So if you like editing, and you wanna do that, super. Me, hate it, and editing was starting to suck that passion out of it for me. I was getting to this point, so it was last year in April, and I was pretty much booked for the year, I was booked comfortably for the year, and I was drowning in editing. I had a really busy month for newborn photography, and I was like, oh my gosh, I have nine, I was talking to a friend of mine. get your photographer besties, they will save your life, and I was on the phone with her, and I was like, I have nine shoots in my queue right now, and I am like I'm gonna lose my mind. And she's like, have you tried the Image Salon, this is who I use for weddings, and they're friends of CreativeLive, which is really cool, I got to meet them last week. But she's like, I've been outsourcing my family work, too, and it's blowing my mind, and I was like, no way, I can't afford that, that's gonna take a huge cut out of my profit, I don't think I wanna do it. Well, I looked into it and realized that it was only gonna cost me like 30 to $50 per session, just depending on how many they charge you per image, depending on how many images you give them. And so, what I did, being business-minded and thinking about how much I'm gonna make per year, and I said, okay, if I, and I was at a point where I was turning away sessions for the year. So if I book, I don't remember what the number was at the time, but I was like, if I book five more sessions, I can make up, it will make sense because that will pay for the editing for 20 sessions or whatever, it was a like a ton of sessions, right? And I ended up booking, being able to book way more sessions because I was no longer editing them. I had my biggest year of profits last year because I actually took more sessions because I had the time to do it. It changed my business. It was like, it changed my life. (laughs) I don't like editing. So some people do. Like I said, that's your thing, great, like there are some talented editors out there. Now, I got my girl. So the Image Salon, I'm gonna tell you how they do it. I hope I got, maybe I'm gonna... So the reason that I outsource is A, I don't like editing, OK, I don't like it, there's no secret. I know how to, I know how to edit, I know how to use all the stuff, but I'm a super simple editor work as well, and my work is very clean, so I'm not putting a lot of stuff on there. It has given me my life back, it literally has given me my life back, and it has given me the opportunity to explore other things in my business. So I'm able now to work on other projects, more teaching, more photography retreats, lots of different stuff because I have time. The amount of time that you spend editing when you're a digital photographer is big, it's a lot, okay? So, the Image Salon is fabulous. I just upload my images, you get one editor, so you work with the same person all the time, they learn your style. If she does something that I'm like, this is a little warm, she send it back, and they fix them. They blow my mind, and they're probably better at editing and I am. So as a businesswoman, and when you get to that point in your business, if there's something that someone can do better than you, and you can make more money doing something else, outsource, okay? And like I said, I took more sessions last year than I thought, I was going to, and I ended up making a ton more money because I started outsourcing.
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Ratings and Reviews
Katie Rivers
This was a great class! So much great information packed into such a short amount of time. I also LOVE Elena Blair. I would love to meet her after taking this course. She is so confident and fearless in her work and that is so inspiring!
Brooke Emery
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