Most likely, you’ve already checked Facebook at least once today. Once you woke up, on the bus, during your coffee break. You’re not alone in this, with over two thirds of the UK registered on Facebook. With such a huge user base, naturally businesses are stacking up their ads. You too can use Facebook ads to reach the right people for your school and nursery photography – and for less money.

Before you get into this, take a look at our article about organic marketing, Facebook Without a Budget, for your first intro to Facebook marketing.

Coming soon:
Social Media Marketing For School and Nursery Photography III: Analysis and Optimisation of Facebook Ads

Why should I pay money for Facebook ads?

Facebook is the biggest and most well-known social network across the globe. The users represent every different background, age range, and interest groups. Regardless of which target group you want to reach, you will be able to find it.

Facebook collects the data of every user for use in ad targeting. This data is your goldmine. You have the possibility to target users according to their location, profession, family relationships, interests, and more.

These can also be users who would ordinarily not even know about your services. The mother of a four year old, for example, can stumble across a nursery session while scrolling through her newsfeed.

Under ideal circumstances, you should make the most of organic marketing alongside paid ads on Facebook. Although organic marketing is of course free, organic reach on Facebook is rapidly decreasing because of Facebook changing its algorithms to promote content from people you know rather than businesses on your newsfeed.

One of the most important arguments for Facebook ads is that they are very reasonably-priced in comparison to other advertising avenues. An advert in a magazine or a daily newspaper would cost quite a bit more.

Create campaigns on Facebook

For a successful Facebook ad, you need proper preparation and structure. For the best result, follow our checklist to make sure you don’t forget anything.

Step away from the ‘Boost Post’ button

If you already have a business page for your school and nursery photography and have already published a few posts, you will likely already know the ‘Boost Post’ button. This would naturally encourage you to promote posts simply by clicking this button.

We would recommend the opposite. If you follow this link, your post will be promoted with certain preferences that you can’t change. You cannot choose the placement of your ad, such as which social platform it is displayed on. The post will simply be boosted automatically across Facebook’s connected networks: over Facebook itself, Instagram, or external apps and mobile sites compatible with Facebook, like Yahoo or Forbes. The ad will use default settings from Facebook and you will waste some of your budget unnecessarily.

Be sure to take on board some of Facebook’s tips on successful posts, but prepare the ads themselves in the Ad Manager. This way, you can manually customise your targeting options far more easily.

The First Steps…

The Ad Manager is the best place to create Facebook ads. You can find it via your business page. This is where you can begin to build a campaign.

A campaign collects together all the posts that you create for a specific marketing purpose. Within the campaign, there are various different groups of posts. You can use them to target different demographics and set alternative options to your post’s best advantage. You can read more about this later in the ‘Creating an Ad Group’ section.

In these groups of posts, you can create your own posts. There are various different forms of posts you can create, which we explain later in the ‘Ad Posts’ section.

To create a new campaign, simply click on the green ‘Create’ button under the campaigns tab. For first time users, using Facebook’s Guided Creation at this point can be a great introduction to the ways in which your target groups can be designed.

Aims

First off, Facebook asks you what the goal of your campaign is. Just like in other areas of marketing, you need to be clear from the beginning on what you want to achieve with your campaign. This will then affect how you tailor your Facebook ads.

Options to choose from:

• Brand Awareness: getting knowledge of your school or nursery photography brand out to more people
• Reach: widening the net of people that might interact with your page
• Traffic: the number of users who visit or interact with your page
• Engagement: interactions with posts
• App Installs: not so relevant for school or nursery photographers
• Video Views
• Lead Generation: you can then collect contact data from new customers who are interested in school or nursery photography
• Messages
• Conversions: users who have engaged with your post for a particular purpose, such as to download a pricelist or visit your website
• Catalogue Sales: this could also apply to other product sales
• Store Traffic: this would most likely refer to studio visits in your case

Naturally you might say, “But I want to achieve all of these things!” Ultimately, you can. But in a single Facebook campaign, you need to decide on just one. It makes far more sense and is much more effective to focus on one specific goal within one campaign. This way you can create posts with a more effective and direct message. You can always alter the aim of your campaign later on.

For all campaigns that rely on or include data from outside of Facebook, like traffic data from your own website, you need to connect Facebook Pixel to your website. Otherwise, Facebook won’t know what’s happening on your site. You can find out everything you need to know about this process in this step-by-step introduction.

Creating an Ad Group

Once you’ve named your campaign, the next step is to create an ad group within your campaign.

Target Group

You can of course run an ad on Facebook that appears for all users. That would be extremely expensive however, and not particularly effective, as you would reach a lot of people who have no interest in school or nursery photography. Ultimately, it equates to a lot of wasted money.

For this reason, the detailed targeting methods are extremely useful.

Targeting refers to the specifications on the target group that your campaign will reach. As previously mentioned, Facebook regularly collects information on the activities of their users and can therefore sort them into countless different groups. For example, users who have schoolchildren between the ages of six and eight and/or live in London and/or use an iPhone.

In the target group menu, you can first divide up your target groups by region, age, gender, and language. With detailed targeting, there is also the possibility to split them further according to interests, habits or demographic characteristics.You can also exclude certain traits from your target group.

Important: Instead of choosing ‘Everyone in this location’, be sure to select ‘People who live in this location’! Otherwise, your post will be sent out to tourists as well as inhabitants, wasting your money and exposing your content to irrelevant users.

Target Group Overlap

Try to make sure that you have as few overlaps between your target groups as possible, so that the same users don’t end up in several target groups. This will create unnecessary costs for you and overexpose your content to the same people.

If you create posts for both target groups, they will be forced to ‘compete’ with each other on Facebook. You will then be competing with yourself. As posts are often switched out according to what costs the most, it can create unnecessary costs. Both of your costs then essentially out bid each other and quickly drive the costs higher (read more about this in the ‘Budget’ section).

In the target group menu options on Facebook’s Ad Manager, you can double check for any overlaps. 75% overlaps, like in the example above, can be problematic. To correct it, you can use the recommendations from Facebook to exclude certain users from your groups.

Placement

The next step is to decide which devices your posts will be visible on and whether they should only be published on Facebook or on Instagram as well.

It makes sense to create different posts for use on mobile devices and desktops. On a small phone screen, photos are of course smaller and there is less space for text.

Choose the option ‘Edit placements’ instead of ‘Automatic placements’, so that have greater control over your ad placement.

Budget

Now comes the most important question: how much can you actually spend?

You should be aware from the start that there is no one-size-fits-all marketing budget for school and nursery photography. How much you spend will depend on your own individual goals and target groups.

It is best to start with a small amount and test out how different types of posts go down with Facebook users. £10 can already be enough to find out whether your ad posts are on the right track. With that knowledge, you can then raise the budget for posts that work well and cut it off for others.

In the budget menu, you can choose between a daily budget and an overall budget.

A daily budget of £10 means that the average daily cost that you pay for your ads will amount to around £10. That includes a fluctuations of 20% per day in either direction. Despite this, you will not pay more than £70 per week.

With an overall budget, you just set the total costs for the duration of the campaign. There are no fluctuations and it can often be the best choice for school and nursery photographers. Facebook optimises the allocation of budget, meaning you spend less and the Facebook algorithms take care of the best timing of your ads.

Clicks or Impressions?

There are two different ways that your Facebook ad account will be charged. Per click (Cost per Click or CPC) or per 1000 impressions (CPM). One impression means that a user has seen your ad.

If you click on ‘Advanced settings’ in the ‘Budget’ section, you can then customise what the goal of your ad groups is under ‘Optimisation for ad delivery’. For example, one option is interactions with the post. Facebook will then make sure your post is seen by people who interact with posts regularly. Depending on what you choose as the goal for your ad post, Facebook will sometimes choose the most logical payment method to suit your purposes.

More often than not however, you can simply do this yourself. Do you want lots of people to see your posts and aren’t so bothered about clicks and conversions? Then it makes sense to pay for impressions. This is often cheaper as well. If you’re all about getting people to click onto your website however, then you should pay per click.

Bids

The system of post creation on Facebook works, in principle, like an auction house. Every time that a user is presented with an ad on Facebook, a type of auction takes place.

All posts that reach the target group are compared with each other in terms of quality, relevance, expected action rate, and bid level. The bid is the amount of money that you are prepared to pay for a click on your post, for a thousand impressions, or for a conversion.

Your budget goes up against the posts of other users. You’re bidding against one another and the one whose ad performs best in the aforementioned categories wins. This all happens automatically. Your budget will not be exceeded, of course.

The best option is to choose the automatic option of ‘Bid value’ for your bids. Facebook then sets your bids so that your goal is most likely to be met, for if you only wanted to generate interactions with your post, for example.

Choosing your own bidding options is not always possible for every post. Depending on the content, Facebook will sometimes make the choice for you.

Ad Posts

Now it’s time to create the actual post that will appear on your audience’s news feeds later.

The more, the merrier!

It is advisable to create several posts per group to test out different variations against one another and to give Facebook more options for optimisation.

You could create identical posts with different pictures, or compare an emotional message with a more rational one. By analysing these variations after the fact, you can explore what works best for your target group.

Building a Post

A post on Facebook consists of the following elements:

Publisher

The publisher of your post is always your Facebook page. That means that many users will click on this publisher name and then see your page. Make sure that you have already put some work into your organic marketing. Your site should be up to date and have many interesting and relevant posts.

Text

Pay attention to the size and complexity of your text. In any case, you should always include the most important information in your first 80 characters. Otherwise it will spill over into the ‘Read more’ section of the post. Just 30% of Facebook users click on this extension. Make sure your important points come first, so that you don’t lose out on 70% of your audience.

Preview Image/Video

The photo of your post should be a real eye-catching image, so you don’t get lost in the milieu of colourful pictures on Facebook. An impressive photo that has an emotional effect on the user is ideal.

It is also important that you don’t have too much text on your images. 20% of the image as text is the maximum. Otherwise, Facebook reduces the reach of your post or, in the worst case, doesn’t run it at all. With the Facebook Text Overlay Tool, you can check how high your text percentage is.

Instead of a picture, you can always post a video or a slideshow of images as well.

Link Text

With this method, you don’t need to include a link to your site, but rather just a short description of what the user can expect to find at the end of your link. For example, for a school or nursery photography website, you could use a special offer or something similar.

Call To Action (CTA) Button

The CTA button encourages the user to complete an action of your choosing. It is an essential part of your post. Without this splash of encouragement, many Facebook users won’t lift a finger, quite literally, and will simply keep scrolling.

You can use various different forms of the CTA button. Be careful not to be too pushy with this function. A ‘Find out more’ button can be received better than a ‘Buy now’ alternative.

Comments Section and Likes, Reaction, and ‘Share’ Buttons

Ads can of course be commented on, liked, and shared just like normal posts. You should therefore stay up to date with the comments section of your ads. After all, Facebook measures the interaction rates and publishes more of the ads with the highest engagements. Negative reactions damage the rating of your post.

With Facebook’s carousel format, you can also include several photos videos, or CTA’s in one post. You can find plenty of useful information or design recommendations in Facebook’s own guide for Facebook ad posts.

After you have finally created your campaign, your work is not quite done. Now is perhaps the most interesting part: analysing the result of your ad campaign. In our next article, we will take a closer look at this process.

Do you have tips, questions, or suggestions on the topic of Facebook ads? Share them with us and the GotPhoto community in the comments of the Facebook post of this article.

Social media is everywhere nowadays. It offers a huge pool of information and data that you shouldn’t leave untapped when it comes to marketing for your school or nursery photography business. From one person scrolling through their feed during their commute to work to another lying at home on the sofa watching cooking videos, everyone is involved somehow. Our social media platforms quench our thirst for light entertainment through casual exchanges and discussions – and let’s be honest, also satisfies our nosy side.

This applies not only to targeted ad campaigns, but also to so-called organic marketing – in other words, marketing without a budget. Such strategies are therefore available to users from all walks of life. For more insight into marketing strategies specifically for school and nursery photographers, take a look at this article with nine pro tips for school photographers.

Next week:
Social Media Marketing in School and Nursery Photography, Part II: Facebook With a Budget

Facebook – the Forefather of Social Networks

Facebook is the platform where everything started, and even today is still number one when it comes to the number of users. Facebook has between 40–50 million active users every month in the UK alone (as of February 2019) – that’s more than two thirds of the total population.

Furthermore Facebook is also generally the most well-known. You can find users from every generation, from schoolchildren to grandparents. It’s a veritable marketing paradise. The different targeting options make it possible to focus on target groups according to the tiniest of details. You want to reach women in their mid thirties, who have children and are interested in school and nursery photography? Not a problem.

Organic marketing refers to the art of reaching users without spending any money. When social media marketing first came to be, this was still quite easy to do on Facebook. In the last few years however, the organic reach for Facebook has sunk lower and lower. Nowadays, you can’t achieve as much  without spending money.

Nonetheless, organic marketing is the cornerstone of a good social media presence. It all comes down to the relevance of the content. The right combination of organic marketing and Facebook Ads is the secret. In this blog post, we will outline some useful tips and tricks on how you can promote your school and nursery photography on Facebook.

The Business Page

The fundamental first step for a successful social media presence is building the business page. Under no circumstances should you use your private profile for business purposes. Not only is it impractical for marketing strategies, it breaks the official Facebook User Agreement.

Facebook reduced the number of potential friends for a private profile to 5000. That means that you would be limiting your reach from the start. Moreover, you can’t advertise your posts from a private profile. You can find further information and instructions to do with setting up a Facebook page on the Facebook help page.

It makes sense to advertise any photography services that are not related to school photography on a separate page. The more sites you have, the more work you might have to put in, but your customers will get a clearer sense of your specific focuses. Otherwise, you might come across as a ‘jack of all trades’ photographer. Having a clear distinction helps to build a real sense of professionalism.

What Should I Post About?

Social media marketing is no longer a hidden secret. There are countless companies from all over the world piling up on Facebook. Every day, Facebook users are confronted with numerous posts and adverts. Amongst this onslaught of information, it’s important that your posts stand out. Your audience needs a reason to follow your page and regularly read your posts.

Infotainment

First of all, you should of course post interesting content. Constantly posting ads drives fans away; put simply, it’s irritating and doesn’t suit the general vibe of social media. Instead, give your followers a laugh, something to think about, or something to discuss.

The aim of social media marketing is the so-called ‘Infotainment’, or information in an entertaining format. This could include, for example, posts that combine funny images with relevant text or that express your opinion on a topic that generally interests you and has something to do with school or nursery photography.

Offer Variety

Keep your followers sweet by giving them concrete rewards for following your page. Try offering small but exclusive deals to your Facebook followers, or run competitions on your page. You could also post links to wallpaper downloads of your photos or exclusive workshops. In doing so, you are also generating more traffic to your website.

What Do My Posts Look Like?

When a user scrolls through their newsfeed, you have just a split second to grab their attention. Make sure your posts are visually appealing and laid out neatly.

Keep It Aesthetic

A good photo is the backbone of a good post because it catches the eye of someone scrolling through. As a photographer, your own work is the best source for high-quality images.

Naturally, you need to get permission to publish the photos from whoever is in them. If it’s a photo of a child, you definitely need express written consent from the parents. Don’t rely on verbal consent!

In case you have difficulties in getting permission to publish customer photos, ask friends and family if you can photograph them. Do your best to avoid falling back on stock photos – but that goes without saying in your profession, of course.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Social media is no place for novels. Posts should be short and to the point. With long text, readers will often lose interest quickly. Concentrate on the most important bits of information and express yourself clearly. Ideally, visitors will be able to see everything important without having to click ‘Read More’. The less work for the user, the better.

You can also use emojis. They stand out from the text and attract attention on newsfeeds. But remember: less is more. Too many emojis can seem unprofessional. You can attach a ‘feeling’ or ‘activity’ or share your location – the options are endless.

Apps Are Your New Best Friend!

Using Facebook on a mobile device is growing ever more popular; indeed, Facebook has spent a lot of time optimising the platform for mobile use. That means that you should definitely make sure your posts look good in their mobile formats, as well as desktop. Photos can often look different, and you’ll likely be able to see much less text per post.

Hashtags

Hashtags are a popular and useful tool on Instagram – you’ll likely have encountered them before. You can put a few key words to do with a certain theme with no spaces in between after (you guessed it) a hashtag. You can then even follow specific hashtags on Instagram and then relevant posts will show up on your feed.

With Facebook, hashtags are not so widely used. Hardly anyone uses them to search for content or themes, so it’s difficult to target people, which is their main purpose at the end of the day.

Posts on Facebook with too many hashtags often actually get a much smaller reach. Users can even, in the worst case, be put off a post because of hashtag overuse. Use them in moderation; for example, you could attach a certain hashtag to a marketing campaign or competition. In any case, you can then use it to track the success of your campaign.

The Right Timing

When?

The most interesting of posts still won’t have the desired effect if you decide to post in the middle of the night. Choose the times when your Facebook followers are most active. You can use the Page Insights Tool on Facebook to track user activity across different days and times. Try to always post during prime times when most of your fans are active.

How Often?

To keep the attention of your followers, you should try to post once a day, or at least every other day. The fans of your page should be getting regular updates from you.

Plan Posts

Not to worry though, you don’t need to be setting alarms every day to make sure you hit that perfect posting time. You can plan posts for later with Facebook’s scheduling tool or even use an external tool. There are a wealth of social media management platforms that can help with scheduling and managing:
– Sprout Social
– HootSuite
– Buffer
– HubSpot
– Sendible

Engagement is the Key to Success

The success of school and nursery photography in organic marketing on Facebook is based on engagements with your posts. This number is often more important than your total number of followers. Only through your engagement rates can you see how and even if your posts are actually seen.

This could be a real issue, due to Facebook’s way of filtering posts. So as not to overload users with too many posts, Facebook chooses posts to show individuals specific content based on their interests and interactions. That is considered a valuable service to Facebook users, although it does mean that content from low interaction sites almost never reach their fans.

View It As An Exchange

Giving your followers engaging content certainly does the most amount of good for your organic marketing. That way you get clicks, likes, comments, and, in the best case, shares. Ask questions and encourage discussions.

Enter Into the Discussion Yourself

When someone comments on your posts, don’t stay in the background as a silent observer. Reply to comments from your followers and discuss topics with them; at the very least, like their comments. The users should feel like their contributions are read and appreciated.

Facebook Groups

Facebook themselves have said that they will be placing more and more emphasis on the Group function in future, to combat the cluttered newsfeed that so many struggle with. There are so many Facebook groups that you can join about all sorts of topics, including photography in general and even school and nursery photography specifically. In our blog post about resources for school and nursery photographers, you can find a few key examples, but we would also recommend hunting some out for yourself according to your specific interests and disciplines. You can then not only exchange experiences with other photographers but also come into contact with potential customers, depending on what sort of groups you join. Parent networking groups are a great example. Customers often posts in such groups when searching for photographers.

If you create your own Facebook group for school and nursery photography, you can then connect it with your Facebook page. You can find a step-by-step guide in Facebook’s Help Centre.

With groups, you can often reach a wider range of people, and combining it with your Facebook page is a match made in heaven. You can also create a secret group, which only includes your customers. This way, you can offer them special offers or discounts that are only visible for your customers.

Life Can Be Hard For Businesses Sometimes

Some critics have claimed that Facebook is not the ideal place for business marketing, but is only in it for their advertisers. Facebook’s method of filtering relevant posts for its users exemplifies this.

This tactic means that businesses might find it harder in the future to reach their audience. It is therefore more important than ever to foster engagement and discussion with your followers who might have your posts filtered from their newsfeed.

That’s another reason why paid advertising by Facebook can be useful alongside organic marketing. You don’t have to invest huge sums of money. With just $20 or even less, you can reach a surprisingly large amount of people. As a supplement to organic marketing, you could definitely consider it as an option.

If you still have questions or queries about organic marketing without a budget on Facebook, comment below so that both we and our community can see them. You can also leave a comment on the Facebook post of  this article and ask any questions on our page.

In an increasingly digital world, a school photographer’s website acts as the online face of their business. That’s why it’s so important to make sure your website not only looks good, but reflects your company values and vision well.

To help you find the best look for your site, we have collected together some of what we think are great examples of school or portrait photography websites. Naturally, this list is not exhaustive but it covers a wide range of styles and formats. Browse through to pick out your favourite features and get some behind-the-scenes tips from the photographers themselves.

Not all websites in the following list adhere to our three recommended points. Nonetheless, we liked the examples and are sure that you will too, or that they will help inspire your future ideas.

It is naturally all down to subjective opinions and no two people ever think exactly the same. These websites represent different styles that we found attractive. Be inspired by their different approaches, colours, features and gallery options…

School Photography Examples

Carmel Jane Photography

What we love: As a company that works in various different fields, Carmel Jane’s site clearly shows their diversity and makes it easy for users to quickly access the information relevant to them. This is vital in retaining the attention of browsing customers, who might otherwise get frustrated with a confusing site and simply click away. In addition, the website instantly conveys the personality of the business by stating their values and company culture on the homepage. Not only does this give visitors important information on what to expect, it also cements a clear image of their brand identity from the offset.

What they say: “We used a fantastic design agency who really worked with us to create an intuitive site that showcased all the different types of photography we do. As it is a WordPress site, we can now make additions and alterations in-house at no charge.”

Happy Days Photography

What we love: This company immediately incorporates different forms of media on their homepage, featuring an animated video that outlines their USPs. They also have a neat layout that alternates between text and photos, which helps to inform prospective customers quickly whilst also showcasing their best features. A monochrome colour scheme ties the whole site together well, putting special focus on the images as the main source of colour on the page.

Kleine Augenblicke

What we love: A clear and clean design gives a super professional edge to otherwise highly creative photos. The navigation bar is placed unusually at the bottom of the page, putting even more focus on the images themselves in the centre of the page, and encouraging the user to read through the whole page by breaking up traditional website structure. They also break the mould with lowercase typography that adds to their unique branding and ties in with the school photography industry at the same time.

What they say: “For us, it’s important that the design for the website reflects the style of our photos: light, clear, flowing, and focused on the important things.”

Kleine Leute Ganz Gross

What we love: The style of this site fully embraces the playfulness of child photography. Incorporating branded doodles and graphics on top of images of children gives it a homey yet still professional feel from the very first click. It also establishes very clear branding, especially when taken in contrast with the photographer’s other portfolio site. Both have a strong emphasis on branding and follow a similar structure, but also show how just a few graphics or stylistic touches can make a real difference in the type of audience you will attract.

What they say: “Nursery and family photography compliment each other perfectly. In a simple environment, the child is at the centre, and when it’s fun, the rest comes naturally. Cheeky, informal, child-orientated, and lively. I always look forward to the various new personalities and the trust that builds between us in such a short time.”

Kleine Pünktchen

What we love: Janine Wienieck’s Kleine Pünktchen is a great example of a professional website for a school or nursery photographer. From the first glance, Janine’s branding is clear and the visitor forms an emotional connection from the automatic video on the homepage. After a quick scroll, the visitor reaches her portfolio. The majority of the featured children wear black and white stripes, one of the main characteristics of Kleine Pünktchen. Together with the alternating black and white background, it creates a unified overall atmosphere to the website. What we particular like is the FAQ question and the contact form at the bottom of the homepage.

Nicole Zausinger Fotografie

What we love: The mix of black and white versus colour photos filling the entire screen gives instant access to images once again, yet also keeps the user’s attention by changing colour frequently. When looking at further portfolios, clearly marked as family or school, the collage effect of showcasing the images further strengthens the classic and aesthetically pleasing atmosphere of the site. The simplistic background is really complimentary of the range of photos from Nicole here.

Portraits by Lisa

What we love: The heart of school photography is all about the images, and no one shows that better than Lisa Seidel of Portraits by Lisa. Her leisurely slideshow of child portraits rolling in the background of her homepage gives an instant taste of her skill as a photographer. Her categories for further information are then clearly marked and written in a chatty and personable style, giving a sense of the woman behind the photographs as well. Lisa’s logo is always in the top left corner of every page, giving a sense of continuity and increasing brand awareness no matter where you are on the site. Overall, we love her strong branding and the seamless integration of photos into the site alongside the text

What they say: “School photography is a perfect medium for me – I want everyone who steps in front of my camera be seen. I want to create a beautiful image of your unique and lovely face – and how it’s changed from year to year; and I want to encourage parents to purchase printed images.

“Digital copies tend to stay on hard drives, be forgotten, and die with the computer. Printed portraits are archival and bring joy. Prints in your home and sent to grandparents and other relatives reinforce to children that they are important and loved. So, I set out to make images in schools I’d be proud to sell as fine art portraiture. Images parents love.”

Sophia Johnson Photography

What we love: The handwritten logo gives instant personality to this simple design, and the fullscreen imagery is used to break up important sections of text. The website is also predominantly written in the first person, directly addressing the prospective customer or website visitor. This enhances the personal edge conveyed throughout the site and reflects the highly intimate and personalised nature of Sophia’s work, as a seniors photographer.

Family Photography

AdasGold Photography

What we love: A clear entrance page makes visitors stop and take notice of the initial message. Here, Adas has used one large image and minimal text to make this especially clear. Simply listing specialities makes it easy for prospective clients to access what they’re looking for and promotes a professional atmosphere from the beginning. On entering the full site, a simple side navigation bar leaves plenty of room to enjoy the stunning images of this photographer.

What they say: “As a natural light photographer, my shoots take me to so many different places, so no shoot is alike. I love that my website allows me to present that versatility without compromising on quality, giving my website visitors a true glimpse of who I am as a photographer through clean design and easy-to-navigate galleries.”

Anna Fairs

What we love: Many photographers have multiple business streams, and Anna does a great job of clearly differentiating between hers here. Visitors can click on the relevant image and heading to navigate to the part of the website that suits them. Not only does it avoid confusion, but the layout is highly aesthetic. The collage patterns break down further to give a wider insight into Anna’s portfolio when you get to the school photography portion of the site.

Anna Weinhold Photography

What we love: The watercolour header of Anna’s site here is a stunning and unique feature that really accentuates the images below and keeps a consistent theme throughout the site. An introduction to Anna is also grounded on the homepage, keeping her identity closely tied to her business, reflecting the intimacy of portrait photography. Furthermore, each section of her gallery has its own handwritten title, highlighting the individual dedication of the photographer to each section of her business.

Anne Deppe Photography

What we love: The tiled layout of the gallery seamlessly groups together the photos into one cohesive style, best demonstrated with the long-scroll structure to the site. Anne’s different photography categories are clearly labelled in the navigation tab, once again demonstrating the importance of easily differentiating between different types of work for multi-skilled photographers.

Augenscheinlich Fotografie

What we love: The unusual font chosen by Micha and Cindy here gives the whole site a personal touch and emphasises brand continuity throughout, without detracting from the gorgeous images. Each gallery gets its own description that emphasises the benefit to the customer and the personal attachment of the photographer to each job. This intimacy is backed up further by a scrolling carousel of testimonials, reinforcing the message with quotes from customers themselves.

Desertbloom Photography

What we love: The three column layout here means that the visitor gets instant access to a range of images, covering both seniors and families. Furthermore, the images chosen reflect the ‘Desertbloom’ branding, reinforcing the company identity from the very beginning. A muted colour scheme throughout the site means each page blends smoothly with the next, helping create consistency even between pages with different structures.

What they say: “I specialise in clean, classic photos that capture authentic moments.”

Freya Raby Creative Photography

What we love: A scrolling gallery adds animation to an otherwise classic and simple photography website. Furthermore, Freya has incorporated the colours of her logo in small ways throughout the entire website, from font colour to highlight bars.

In The Moment Photography

What we love: A simple homepage directs visitors to the most important part of a photographer’s website – the photos themselves. A continuous carousel of images adds depth to an otherwise simple homepage and the simple navigation bar keeps the page as a whole free of clutter.

Janis Olson Photography

What we love: A sliding gallery adds animation and a sense of versatility to the photography. The personable and friendly language throughout, from ‘Let’s Chat’ to a first-person ‘About’ section ties the photographer clearly to the company identity. The layout also best highlights the stunning images by staying static around the edges, framing the photos in the centre to their best advantage.

Jaime Seymour-Newton Photography

What we love: The use of a quote in the top of the homepage breaks with traditional photography website structure and encourages visitors to stop and take in the message of the site before moving on, thereby reinforcing brand identity. The navigation bar is also minimalistic, with simple and clear options making it quick and easy for prospective clients to get to what they need. This photography website doesn’t waste time or space with unnecessary extras, but simply does that it needs to do in the most aesthetic way possible.

Kamila Burkhard Fotografie

What we love: The layout of this photography website is instantly charming: having photos already presented in frames on the homepage gives prospective customers the immediate connection to how photos might appear in their homes. This personal connection helps make sure visitors are engaged with the content from their very first introduction to the site, and is a unique way to showcase a portfolio, especially for such a family-orientated business.

Kate L Photography

What we love: The use of colour here and the integration of graphics on top of images creates a strong look for Kate’s photography website from the homepage and throughout. The personality of photographer Kate herself is also clear and well-branded, with an introduction section on the homepage. She makes the most of this personal connection by also keeping up a thriving blog, detailing personal takes on photography and lifestyle. This capitalises on the personal and intimate nature of family photography and makes the brand identity far more accessible for visitors.

What they say: “My website was the result of six months of planning and revisions with the extremely talented Ryan at Second Street Creative. For the first time in my 11-year photography career, I finally feel that my site is a true reflection of what I try to capture in my clients’ photographs – warmth, colour, and joy. Investing in the site has brought me clients who I genuinely connect with. It has improved my workflow and organisation, and it has even improved my confidence because I’m proud of the ‘virtual face’ I’m putting forward every day. Worth every penny!”

Kate T. Parker

What we love: Fullscreen photos with a navigation bar fluidly integrated into the side means the photos really are the basis of this photographer’s website. This breaks down into smaller tiles when you delve further into Kate’s galleries, offering a wide range of photos on one screen without any need to scroll. A highly aesthetically pleasing way to showcase a photographer’s range.

Kuzilova Photography

What we love: The picture-heavy scrolling pages showcase this photographer’s work beautifully, with varying sizes to the images keeping it diverse and interesting throughout. A simple header navigation bar means that there is no text to get in the way of enjoying the photos themselves. This is an especially great style of website for a creative photographer with a diverse portfolio.

Larissa Lord

What we love: Small and simple fonts keep the images as the primary focus. Larissa’s website has a gentle and intimate tone to it, not being too obvious about the business element, but rather focusing on the experience of the client. This reflects her clear emphasis on the images throughout the site. A small navigation tab at the top makes the site easy to navigate, yet the large central logo and the stunning images as soon as you enter the site mean that the homepage speaks for itself in terms of highlighting Larissa’s photography style.

Lisa Jump

What we love: The calm carousel of impressive photos as the background brings clarity to the information box at the front and centre. This shopfront style website offers a snapshot of the brand identity, inviting visitors to scroll down for further information. This reveals a more traditional website layout for easy navigation, but the unique entrance panel makes this photography website stand out from the crowd.

Tali Dovrat Lifestyle Photography

What we love: A scrolling gallery is a great way to give fast access to a diverse range of photos, and Tali skilfully uses that to her advantage on the homepage. The handwritten-style of her logo also gives a personal touch to an otherwise polished photography portfolio site. Each page has new images, highlighting the depth and versatility of the photographer’s work. There is also promotion of social links and contact information on the homepage, making it easy to connect with prospective customers from the initial point of contact.

What they say: “I feel like I’ve been photographing my whole life. Sometimes with my camera, most days with my eyes. Everywhere I look I visualize the frame. Everything is a captured moment. I love being able to see and capture fleeting moments that a second or two later would be gone. This is real life, made up of many fleeting moments and I adore photography for its ability to preserve them. My aim is to capture what is, what happens, rather than creating a fake reality.”

Do you think your photography website has something special to it? Leave a link in the comments below for the chance to be featured in a future update!

I love photographing schools and nurseries. Well, actually I love running a photography business that has volume photography at its core.

It wasn’t always like that though…

It was a fantastic time. Weddings were all about creativity and working under pressure. There is no better way to learn your craft than to sweat it out every week, performing no matter what and producing stunning images to demanding customers.

It all began when I married a wedding photographer just at the time that the Husband & Wife photography teams were all the rage. When digital and reportage style weddings had just begun to boom.

But it turned out that working with my then-husband took too much of a toll on our relationship. We got divorced. I left the family home and he kept the business.

It was a messy and difficult divorce, but it meant that I came out fighting and determined to grow my own business. So I did what I already knew and created my own wedding photography company, and began doing weddings on my own.

Two years after the divorce I got breast cancer. Then I had a whole year of cancer treatment. In the last four weeks of my chemotherapy I photographed eight weddings – it represented £16,000 worth of work; if I hadn’t done the weddings my business would have been over. I was seriously ill, had no hair and terrible joint pain from the chemo, but there was no option but to get out of bed and make it happen – it is incredible what the body and mind can do when it has to.

It was a terrible time, but looking back it was the catalyst to me being able to grow and develop a proper, scalable business.

Once the treatment was over it did give me a chance to take a big long look at what I was doing with my photography. I knew that I needed to create a business that I could pay other people to go out and shoot the photos, a business that could run without me if I got ill again and a business that would earn enough money to create a secure future for me and my children. Over the previous 10 years I had photographed almost 500 couples and I had begun to lose the love of shooting weddings.

It was time for a change.

In amongst the weddings I had two dance schools that I photographed each year and they made pretty good money. This was a scalable business idea and I knew I had to make it work.

So I rebranded, got an office and launched as a dance photography expert. I said no to any more weddings and committed to creating a volume business.

The best bit was that I created a business that reflected my personality so well. I like to do things well, but also efficiently, quickly and with a solid structure. It was perfect and it allowed me to become a business person and use my creativity to grow the business, train staff and muddle my way through sales and marketing.

I used the very basic premise of KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid. Create your look, learn how to replicate it well and quickly, then deliver. Our dance schools mums could choose any size they wanted – so long as it was 7×5 (rather like Henry Ford, rolling out his all-black Model-T Ford)

Seven years later we now photograph over 300 dance schools every year.

But it didn’t stop there.

Three years ago a local independent school asked my company, Carmel Jane Photography to bid for the contract for their school photography.

With so many large school photography companies out there it seemed a tough market to get into and I had heard it was becoming a very competitive ‘race to the bottom’ so I had never really thought about doing school photography. But I never like to say no to an opportunity so I prepped a sales pack and then pitched to the school.

I got the contract! Then had a moment of panic. How on earth was I going to photograph 1200 students, give them all individual password protected galleries, and also produce the SIMS id photos?

GotPhoto to the rescue. Being able to password-protect galleries so easily has changed my business. Along with the automated marketing options, this really pushed up the average sale.

But it takes more than just good IT and systems to grow the business. I knew that to compete against the really big companies we needed a very clear Vision, Mission and Culture statement. Defining who we were and what our company stood for would keep us on track while growing.

So I’m going to share our Vision, Mission & Culture Statement. It is our overall guiding principle and is what we refer to when making business decisions.

CJP Vision

To create a legacy of stunning memories to be enjoyed for generations to come.

CJP Mission

To become the best school photographers in the South East, offering a superior quality product, through lighting, posing and printing that parents will want to own and young people are proud of.

To become the UK’s largest dance school photography company. Known and respected by providing outstanding photography service to dance schools and dance parents.

CJP Culture

CJP has a culture of  kindness, empowerment and positivity. This reflects in all of our photos and how we treat our employees and customers.

We believe we have a duty of care to create an overwhelmingly positive experience and showcase the subject in a way that empowers and inspires them. We want to make each and every child feel special at the sitting and when viewing their finished photographs.

Communication Collaboration Empowerment

My core belief is based around the Richard Branson quote: “Look after your staff and they will look after your customers. It’s that simple.”

There has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears to grow the business to where it is now, hopefully cracking 7-figure turnover this year. Systems were learned along the way, poor hires were made and uncomfortable business decisions had to be confronted. But I love my volume business, the freedom it has given me and the ability to employ and make a difference to other people’s lives is thrilling.

As a business person I am dedicated to creating a workplace and business that values quality and customer service, and grows organically through supplying outstanding service to our customers. Being extremely ethical in our business and looking after our staff is my primary driving value.

This belief that it is possible to create a profitable business which provides great services and truly creates a better world for its staff is why I have begun public speaking and coaching. I want to work with business owners who want to challenge themselves to grow to create great businesses.

Look out for more posts from Carmel Jane in the future, all seeking to help you achieve your goals as a school photographer. Have a topic that you’d love to hear from her on? Leave it in the comments on our post about this article on Facebook, or get in touch on social.

You might also be interested to hear from another professional photographer, Erica Morrow of Slow Road Photography:

• Erica Morrow: Let Failure Be Your Superpower
• How To Make The Most Of The Holiday Season
• Pro Tips To Succeed This School Photography Season

Or otherwise, check out our bumper pack of school photography resources, carefully selected for you by GotPhoto.

Every school and nursery photographer has been there. It is all going swimmingly with each child on a shoot. But like everyone, kids can be unpredictable. Maybe one throws a tantrum, maybe another refuses to get in front of the camera. For these situations, it’s useful to have a few hidden tricks up your sleeve to make sure you still get great shots even when faced with fussier kids.

1. Take the Child Seriously

More often than not, there will be a reason behind difficult behaviour. Try and see the situation from the child’s perspective – they might be missing an adult who empathises fully with their feelings. Is there something in the environment that could be disturbing them? You can give the child the feeling of being taken seriously, something that is perfect for building a reciprocal relationship with a child even in a short space of time.

Before starting to take photos you can try asking the group of children whether they know what you are doing today and what they are about to do. Again, this puts their experience into consideration, allowing them to get more involved and alleviates any confusion or worries they might have about being put in front of the camera. Remember, the camera is normal for you, but might not be for every child.

If you need the child to do something in particular, like trying a new pose don’t be afraid to state this outright. In the same way as respecting their feelings makes children feel at ease, clear and direct instructions help them feel at least partially in control of the atmosphere.

Above all, be genuine. If you really mean what you’re doing the child will notice and feel the truth behind your actions. You will reach the child far easier with feelings rather than platitudes.

2. Build A Connection 

Some kids love to be involved and made to feel like they are in control of things. And at ease, of course. If a child begins to get fussy, lose concentration, or shift around a lot, take a step back and engage with them.

This can range from something as small as waving, smiling or asking questions. Make sure your questions are interesting. Ask what they like, their favourite memory and not just the dreary how is school question. It is about forming a bond and then the magic will flow in no time.

Every child is different, so try and have something unique to that child to comment on. From a hairpiece to their favourite hobby – every child will have something special they will want to talk about, no matter how fussy they might be behaving. Find your connection point and work from there.

Get some more tips on how best to interact naturally with children with this useful blog post on capturing a natural smile.

3. Remain Patient

Perhaps this is an obvious one, but you should not underestimate its importance. Sure, you have a heck of a busy day and many kids to get photos of, but getting frustrated will not going to help anybody.

Stay patient, make the child, along with the teachers or other kids, comfortable, and you will eventually get that perfect shot. Patience really is a virtue and if you can remain calm, you will thank yourself in the end.

Keep a positive face but don’t laugh too much or be over the top. As above, staying calm is more important than entertaining an uncomfortable child. Remember also that not every photo needs a big smile from the child; what’s more important is capturing the child in a relaxed and happy state, rather than with a huge grin.

4. Use Props

With younger children in particular, getting them to sit still for just a few seconds can sometimes be difficult. A quick way around this is to provide comfortable seats, rocking horses or anything for them to perch upon.

Equally, getting them to look at the camera can also be tricky; this is where holding toys in another hand can help grab their attention. You can even attach a visual aid to your camera to catch their eye. Once they are looking in your direction, get snapping!

Additionally, if you are photographing children using the QR code sheets from GotPhoto, you can get the children to strike a silly pose holding their sheet. This will break the ice quickly and help the child to relax prior to getting their photos taken.

5. Make Kids Part of the Process

Kids often want to feel like a part of things. Keeping them engaged and involved is paramount to getting great shots. If you are falling short here, turn the camera around and show the child their own photos. This is an instant path to success as you are involving the child in the photo process directly. When you show them their images, it can help to elicit some excitement and energy. By showing the child their own images, you are inviting them to play a role in the whole shoot.

You could even ask them their preference on sitting vs standing or other small variations in the process. Be sure to stay in control of the session, but fussier kids can often work better if they feel respected and included in the process. If they are proving fussy, getting them involved could be the key to making them happier to sit and have another go.

6. Focus on the Positives

If a child is making it particularly difficult to get a good image of them, be sure to celebrate when you do get that ideal shot! Compliment a certain action they did, or even cheer them on. So long as it doesn’t come across patronising, whatever seems natural and suited to that child is perfect. Even if you’re coming to the end of your time with the child, it will instil an idea of what is expected of them for the next time.

Positive reinforcement often works far better than getting annoyed or disappointed – and a sensitive child can tell you’re not happy even when you don’t intend to show it. Focus on the good parts of the session and they will be more likely to recreate the positives in future.

Do your work justice by getting a fair price with this handy photography pricing guide.

7. Make The Day Fun

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But sometimes there are so many technical factors to consider when you are on a photo shoot that you forget this vital aspect. If you aren’t having a good time and making sure that your subjects are engaged, then your photos are unlikely to stand out from the crowd.

A lighthearted and pleasant atmosphere will ensure you have the best chance of every child enjoying photo day. There are easy ways to make this happen such as getting down to their level, so you don’t tower above them, and simply engaging directly with them.

Remember: keeping a child focused doesn’t mean making it boring for them. Especially with fussy kids, keeping it as calm as it is enjoyable is a great balance to find for a productive photo shoot. Try not to make it feel like a stressful photo shoot, distract the kids with one of the methods mentioned throughout this article, without losing your authority as a photographer. If you get this, then the photos will flow naturally, the children will be happy, you will capture the child perfectly, and the parents will be even happier!

Erica Morrow

This guest blog was written by Erica Morrow, the owner of Slow Road Photo, a family and student portrait company in Minneapolis, MN. Erica is always on the hunt for honesty, joyful family moments, and beautiful natural light. Read more about her at the end of this article.

I naively dove head first into school photography. I assumed that once I was officially in business, I would just be able to figure things out step by step.

But the learning curve was a tailspin, and I can’t even tell you how grateful I was in those early years for patient and gracious clients who stuck with me as I made every single rookie mistake in the book.

Then another time, I did a session with a family and I just knew as I was taking the photos that they were going to be some of the cutest I had ever taken! It was in the midst of a weekend packed full with sessions, and by the time I got to my computer at the end of the weekend, I realised that I had somehow recorded over my memory card, thus erasing a huge number of photos from that particularly awesome session.

I remember getting to a session early in my career and COMPLETELY blanking on how to adjust the settings in my camera. The settings! Like camera skills 101! Guys, this was a paying client. And here I was, completely frozen and forced to fake enough to take at least a few photos that were exposed correctly enough. Of course, I came home and cried and swore I would never take another photo as long as I lived. I was officially switching careers and becoming a professional Netflix watcher.

Guys, it was bad. I had to tell the client (they were furious) and somehow forgive myself (which took way longer than it probably should have). It was another of those moments where I thought my career was ending before my eyes.

But ever so slowly, school by school, mistake by mistake, I started to be able to not only breathe normally while I was photographing a student but actually have fun doing it! The thing is, I would have never gotten there without the mistakes. Those cringe-worthy moments that make you blush still when you think about them.

But as much as I hate to admit it, I’m learning all the time that those mistakes have actually become my superpower. And your mistakes can be the same for you! I want to share with you three ways that failing has actually become the greatest contributor to my success.

I Am More Organised

You would think that making mistakes would make me shyer than ever. And at first, it did. But I started to realize with every mistake that there was help out there. I began looking for solutions to the mistakes I continued to make.

I have added systems to my workflow to help stay on top of my to-do list. With school photography, we are dealing with hundreds if not thousands of customers in a school year. It is not a stretch of the imagination to say that I was drowning in galleries and contact lists and emails. Once I found other programs to lighten my load, it was a game changer and the mistakes became fewer and fewer.

We use Slack, which is a really powerful tool for organising the work of many people on a team. I have an assistant as well as multiple photographers in my business, so we use Slack almost daily to communicate schedules, ask questions, send files, and work through our to-do lists.

I especially love that we can have separate communication threads set up for each school we serve to keep everything organised. Having all of our work in one place has helped us avoid dropped balls because we are no longer scouring through text messages, emails, and voice messages for the info we need.

We use GotPhoto to handle all of our image delivery, communication with families, and shipping. By automating the different pieces of our workflow, we aren’t recreating content and having to remember when to send things to clients, from emails to batch shipping. So that once we set the job to selling the process will be the same for every school.

Getting all of that workflow automated helps us to create a consistent experience with each school, too, unlike before where we were doing things haphazardly (and thus increasing the number of things done incorrectly – or forgot to do at all!)

No more forgetting to send out emails (which I have done) or failing to order the right size of print for a customer (which I have also done). All those little mistakes added up to frustrated clients and a discouraged me, and I’m never going back to doing it without a system that manages those details on my behalf!

I have developed a more predictable flow with schools so that there is less room for the unexpected. Previously, in the early days of my photography business, I wouldn’t have thought to build in any of these tools. Now my work, my client relationships, and my peace of mind have all improved because of all of the useful tools I have put in place!

I Am Braver

There is nothing like having to stand in that uncomfortable place and own your mistake to a client. If you haven’t received the joy of this experience yet, just wait. Sooner or later, it happens to us all. And in the aftermath of those moments, we have a choice. We can either shrink back and wave the white flag of defeat, or we can give ourselves a little love and as Dory from Finding Nemo would say, ‘just keep swimming!’

Walking through situations that make us uncomfortable and getting to the other side of them builds this courage muscle in us. The knowledge that we can face difficult situations and get through them is one of the most empowering in this life.

I know that when I try something new, I’m less afraid to fail each time. And why? It’s because I have already failed. A lot. And guess what? I made it to the other side each and every time. And if a new project or school or session flops? I know I can get to the other side of that, too.

I Am More Empathetic

When I first started as a school photographer, I felt like I had something to prove. To myself, to my clients, to my fellow photographers. After photographing thousands of students, I think I’m finally starting to get my sea legs a bit. I’m realising that the longer I do this work, the more generous I have become to myself and others. I realise that we are all doing the very best we can, and believe it or not, mistakes will still happen from time to time.

Having been through my fair share of tricky moments, I know that we are all going to take our turn. Responding with empathy and compassion instead of judgment and competition can only come naturally when you are able to honestly say that you have been there yourself, and you get it.

As much as I wish I could go through life mistake free, I can’t help but be thankful for the way it has increased my capacity to understand other people’s mistakes and mishaps. And truly, this work of creating art and capturing moments should be all about putting ourselves in other’s shoes and seeing the world with empathy – even in the mess-ups.

Friends, I don’t think I will ever enjoy the feeling of failure. It’s the worst. Getting my hopes up for something and then seeing it fall through. Seeing more images finding their way to the cutting room floor instead of my client’s gallery. Sending that email and realising it didn’t at all communicate what you hoped. I get it. No one likes that stuff.

But we can choose to let those moments make us more efficient moving forward, more courageous in our endeavours, and more kind towards ourselves and others. The mistakes will still happen, but they do not have to own us. Use every single moment in your business, the good, the bad, and the oh so ugly, to strengthen you and give you the push you need to be better school photographers, business owners and humans!

And most of all: let’s stick in this together! It’s amazing what a little push of encouragement can do. As a community of school photographers, we can help remind one another that our failures are our superpowers. Now go. Try and fail and rise (and do it all over again tomorrow!)

It can be a bit of minefield sometimes to decide on pricing. Deciding on the value of your photography is a tricky hurdle for many school and nursery photographers. Am I too expensive, or selling myself short? Can I beat my fellow school photographers? Should I simply set the same prices? The value of your own photos is of course subjective, but there are certainly some guidelines that can help you find your way through photography pricing.

Price Categories

As with everything in life, there are a multitude of different options in pricing for nursery and school photography according to the situation. We’ve broken down the three most important categories for you here.

Photo Sales

This method is highly dependent on making sales. On photo day, you head to the school or nursery and take all your photos, without getting paid in advance for your travel or equipment, for example. Getting revenue from sales afterwards is then of course at your own risk.

Fixed Price

With fixed price sales, you are paid a confirmed fee for your labour. This could be anything, from three hours at a corporate event or half a day at a wedding. Family photoshoots or portrait sessions in the studio are also often settled according to these principles.

Invoice and Photo Sales

Lastly, there is a mixture of the two. In this case you would be paid a small amount in advance, to cover your travel and other potential expenses. In addition to that, you can make further profit after the session by selling more pictures.

Prom is a prime example of using this combination. Variations are often used for weddings and studio photography to win over new customers. You just need to be careful in these cases that customers do not book a large package in advance, as it could put them off any further sales.

The Five Principles of Pricing

Once you’ve decided on a price category for school or nursery photography, the most important part of the process now begins. Although the appeal and value of your work is of course down to individual taste, you should definitely be asking yourself these five questions when setting prices:

1) What are my aims?

What do I want to achieve with my product pricing? Maybe you are just beginning your career in school and nursery photographer and need to establish yourself. In this case, you need prices to help you break even.

Or maybe you have your sights set on so-called ‘competitive pricing’ to set yourself above the rest or gain new customers quickly. You should be careful in this however; your competitive prices shouldn’t last for a long period of time.

2) Is there strong demand for my pictures?

It’s only logical – to sell profitable photos, there must be a general interest in your services. When you’re focusing on a specific photography niche, you must first always check that your products are actually needed. Perhaps you have actually uncovered a crucial gap in the market and can even raise your prices!

As a rule, school and nursery photography is often in demand. But this can of course depend on regional differences as well. When there are already many photographers working in your area, you should at first keep your prices low to establish yourself in the first place.

To make sure your brand is unique and valuable to the market, developing your own personal style is vital. Check out some of our tops tips for establishing your own photography style.

3) How high are my costs?

The lower boundary for your prices is always decided by the hidden costs. Otherwise, no school or nursery photography business can survive for long. You must not only pay attention to fixed costs, but also variable ones.

Fixed costs could include the rent for your studio and office, equipment, insurance and retirement plans. Taxes are naturally also a big expense to consider. With a few tips and tricks, self-employed photographers can save themselves some money already. Small Business Taxes For Dummies takes a light-hearted and clear look at taxes and offers some handy tips, particularly specialised for small businesses.

Variable costs includes, as the name might suggest, all costs that can vary from time to time. For example, in nursery and school photography, travel costs are a common variable cost. In addition, compensation for your labour, such as during preparation, shooting, and post-production, can also come under this bracket.

4) What do my fellow photographers earn?

Before you decide on your prices, it is always a good idea to take a look at what else is going in school and nursery photography. Get an impression of the offers of your competition. A bit of easy internet and social media research can be extremely helpful. You can also find more information at industry-specific trade-fairs, like SPAC, SYNC, or TPS. Sometimes you can even find out a lot about competitors just from speaking to your own customers.

5) How do I calculate my prices?

Only after the general factors have been considered can you calculate the exact price. Here are three different techniques to help you out:

• Cost orientation: the easiest approach. The previously calculated costs are simply added to industry-standard mock ups. However, there isn’t much room for the perspective of the customer here. This can mean that prices don’t quite match expectations or demand.
  
  
• Competitor orientation: with this method, you use the prices of fellow nursery and school photographers as a yardstick. Prices can be set either the same, higher, or lower. What you decide depends on whether you want to establish yourself in a new market or create an image of quality through higher prices. This method is relatively easy to use, however it can mean you focus too much on other people’s costs, rather than your own.
  
  
• Customer orientation: here, you would try to make sure that the customer gets the best possible prices. The prices should then reflect the value of the products for the customers. To find out this value you might need to undertake time-consuming surveys and test, but the end result is more than worth it.

All of these techniques have their own advantages and disadvantages. You should base your decision on your own personal preferences and requirements for school and nursery photography.

Price Differentiation

All the steps up until now should not result in one final price, but rather in different price variations. Tastes can of course differ in the end. For different customers groups and order types, you need different prices. Different price strategies in schools and nurseries can often make you far more profit than a single fixed price, for example.

Not All Customers Are the Same

As far as different customer groups are concerned, the price should be differentiated according to various factors, such as income or the region in question. In different cities, there are normally different base prices, for example.

Base prices are the prices that a customer might use to orientate themselves for a specific product. They can then get an idea of whether a specific offer is too expensive or too cheap. Such base prices are common in school and kindergarten photography, just like in the supermarket or drugstore. You can use them for your pricing.

More Is Always Better

People often behave irrationally and end up spending more when trying to save money. You can already see the effects just by looking at all the special offers available in the supermarket. To profit from this psychological phenomenon, you should offer package prices or volume discounts. Here are a few examples of the sort of packages you can offer in school and nursery photography:

Top tip: For every product package, also show the amount the customer is saving next to the actual price! The customer will then be motivated to make a purchase by the possible savings. Just be careful not to go too high with reductions. Big savings of 75% or similar can quickly give the impression that the original price was too expensive in the first place.

Single downloads or package downloads can also be included in the offers and have a major swing on whether people spend more money.

Volume discounts are another possibility to push customers towards even more orders. If they order more than a minimum order value, the customer can then benefit from a fixed amount or percentage reduction, for example.

Sales in nurseries are often more successful with fixed reductions, whereas at prom, percentage savings work well. The minimum order value should be calculated strategically, approximately halfway between the small and medium package prices. Relay discounts are also an option. This means creating several discount levels depending on the order value. With GotPhoto, you can use a feature that allows you to create time-limited and personalised vouchers for volume discounts.

Don’t worry about low package prices and volume discount! Although the prices might be lower, the order quantities will increase.

When a customer notices that the prices get higher and higher after just a few pictures, they might get put off quickly. They could then abandon the purchase early due to fear that they will soon exceed their budget.

With low package costs and volume discounts, the customer is excited by the savings and will potentially spend more money than they originally planned. In the end, the main thing is the total revenue at the end, and not how much you could have made with higher individual prices.

The Early Bird…

It is important to motivate customers to order as soon as possible after the photo shoot, especially in school and nursery photography. Make sure that your pictures are not forgotten. Offering a price differentiation after order time, like an early bird discount, means that parents are quicker to choose pictures. As a school photographer, you can then safeguard your sales.

But be careful that you do not overdo it with the vouchers. An unwanted “discount store atmosphere” is definitely something to avoid for any school or nursery photographer.

Price Model – Some Inspiration

For an approximate idea of ​​a final price list for school and nursery photographers, we have put together two examples for you. As mentioned, price differentiation is important to consider. You should give higher prices for nurseries than schools. The approach is entirely different, largely because you can photograph significantly more children in an hour at school than in a nursery.

In addition, you will notice that the prices are not specified in the commonly-used ‘.99’ format, and with good reason. Apart from the fact that it is questionable to trick the customer in this way, a slightly lower price quickly creates an unwelcome ‘discount counter-touch’. Instead, .25 steps can work well. They give the impression that the price has been carefully calculated, rather than standardised.

To present your price lists in an appealing and unique design, you can use design software such as Flipsnack. With the free basic version, you can create up to three free online price catalogues in a variety of personalised designs.

Am I Working Profitably?

Once the prices have been carefully calculated and set, the moment of truth comes: How do my customers view my pricing models? Will I make more sales?

The key indicator is revenue per access, which is the revenue per person accessing your shop to view the photos online.

In today’s environment of special offers and psychological buying incentives, school and nursery photography should follow suit. Carefully constructed price lists with discounts and product packages definitely pay off and mean that you don’t sell your work under what its value. You just give the customer a small but decisive incentive to invest a bit more when it comes to their own memories.

With your finished price lists tidied away, you can dedicate yourself to further preparation for the new season in school and nursery photography. With the main season coming up fast and shoots already starting to kick off, getting early admin done now is hugely beneficial. If you need some ideas and hints for this, read our blog article about a successful start into the new season.

What are your tips for setting prices? Share your ideas with us and our community of photographers on Facebook by leaving a comment on the post about this article.

Including Pro-Tips from School Photographer Tim MacDonald

Tim MacDonald

Tim and Sara MacDonald started their school photography business in 2010 when they were 28 years old. They started with two schools and one youth league and now work with over 50 elementary and middle schools, as well as 30 youth sport organizations. Read more about them at the end of this article.

School photography is of course all about the child. Every school photographer wants to capture that magical moment for parents to remember forever. All children are unique, and so every photo should also be unique. Yet for schools, there ought to be an element of uniformity running through to emphasise that community atmosphere and to showcase your own particular style. Backdrops can be a great way of linking hundreds of photos together neatly and subtly, while still giving the child enough room to express their individuality.

Where to start though? There are many different backdrop options to choose from, and each adds a different atmosphere to your school photography. We’ve broken down the various different types of backdrops to help you pick the right one to match your school photography style.

What’s What in Backdrops

All-In-One Vs. Separated

An all-in-one background does exactly what it says on the tin; one backdrop that includes a background and a floor. These are ideal for school photographers that need to be especially mobile, as they are usually easier to transport and set up, being free from cumbersome loose parts. It also means that you won’t need to worry about matching various different styles across backgrounds and floor pieces. Your all-in-one backdrop will have a seamless look that complements your school photography perfectly. If the floor is likely to be prominently in the frame, an all-in-one is your best option

So, the downsides? We all know kids can be messy sometimes, and the floor of an all-in-one backdrop can be difficult to clean, as it can’t be separated from the background. If your school photography often includes much younger kids, having a separate vinyl floor component is worth considering to avoid wasting unnecessary time on long cleaning jobs.

In the same way that an all-in-one offers a sense of uniformity to your backdrops, some school photographers might find it restrictive. Do you like to experiment with your style regularly? Then having multiple separate floor and background parts might suit better, giving you the freedom to mix and match according to your style for that particular session

Price wise, all-in-ones can be slightly pricier than buying separate parts, but seeing as you would likely need to buy multiple pieces to construct your own backdrop, the costs will probably even out in the end. Think about how much time you generally have to set up for a school photography session – if time is always tight, an all-in-one could save you a precious few seconds. But if aesthetic flexibility is your main concern, browse through your separate floor and background options

Tim MacDonald’s opinion on all-in-one backgrounds

“All-in-one backdrops can work in a preschool environment, where you are searching for multiple poses and including full length and close up pictures. I always do up close or 3/4’s, so never use full length backdrops unless proms, formals, or father/daughter events.”

Plain Vs. Decorative

Once you know your desired structure, you can start considering your aesthetic. The traditional plain background is always a trusty choice – classic, understated, and unlikely to draw attention away from the child. Also, having a simple block colour or a clean pattern will reduce the chance of any clashes with children’s clothing, especially if they are not in uniform.

If you’re looking to add a more modern splash to your school photography, there are also a wealth of decorative options that add some creative flair while still staying professional. For example, a fake room can add a classy edge to elevate your photography. Fake walls on an all-in-one backdrop can also add depth and dimension to images, even when lacking in space. For a themed shoot, such as sports or for a special event, you could even tailor your backdrop to the event; a sports stadium for team pictures or a festive scene for seasonal events.

A good compromise between the two options can also be to opt for a plain background and collect a few elements that can be attached to it. Having strips that look like skirting boards to attach to the bottom of a plain backdrop creates a similar depth as a full 3D backdrop. You could create various seasonal scenes from one backdrop by fixing snowflakes for winter or Easter eggs for spring.

Green Screen

For real flexibility, a green screen can offer you practically unlimited options. As well as of course being able to impose different colours and simple backgrounds, you can also get creative for more detailed backgrounds. This can be ideal for very specific occasions, such as particular holidays or even sports pictures. For example, you can pose a football team picture on the pitch, even if it’s not available in real life.

It also offers the chance for parents to have the same picture of their child, but with different backgrounds. This could then also help you increase sales since you are giving the parents more options to remember their favourite images of their children. So long as the child doesn’t wear clothes of the same colour, you can’t go wrong!

Size It Right

Space is often tight on school photography sessions. So you need to make sure you have the right sized backdrop. Generally, 2 metres by 2 metres is a suitable size, but if you’re also often accommodating groups, you might want to scale up to 2 by 4 metres.

Just as with buying extra decorative pieces, some backdrops can be made to be extendable or have extra floor space attached. Spending some extra time and money on these customisable options can often enable you to take on a greater diversity of jobs in the future. However, Tim’s advice is to also try and make your backdrops as portable as possible. He says that pop-ups have become great and are easily set up with one stand and a clamp.

Keep It Natural

If you’re lucky, the perfect backdrop might even be directly under your nose. If the weather is good, don’t be afraid to head outside and use the school itself as a freely available background. Be sure to test a few images out first to make sure you find the perfect lighting. Make sure you try different angles and settings, so you have everything ready to go. once you hit that sweet spot it can really add some magic.

When the weather or other circumstances push you inside, take a quick look around or ask the school in question if there is a suitable space. Exposed brick, stage curtains, or plainly-painted walls can all work well with the right angles.

Tim MacDonald says:

“I have never shot a school portrait with a provided purchased backdrop. We shoot 90% of our schools outside. We pose students by a tree and use the schools landscape as the background. We shoot 1/200 at f5 and background goes completely out of focus. You provide a professional quality portrait for the parent at a low price that the parents cannot create themselves. We made custom backgrounds with an outdoor image. We dropped it out of focus a bit to give it that same look you get when shooting outside. Always use our 70–200 mm lens for the compression.

If for any reason we go indoors, we use our custom outdoor backdrop or keep it simple with a clean modern look. And don’t be afraid to find depth – get away from f8! Experiment with shooting the subject further from the background than normal. Try six feet maybe and lower the f stop. It gives it nice depth that other school photogs aren’t doing. And if you do create your own backdrop, drop it out of focus a bit, it can make a world of difference. As far as lighting with our outdoor set up we use off camera flash with either a beauty dish or foldable softbox for portability. Bring weights!”

A backdrop should suit your personal style – read more on how to develop such a brand with our useful tips.

Where To Buy

So, you have your ideal backdrop in mind. Now is the time to make that a reality. There are various options for purchasing or even making your own backdrop. Depending on what you need, follow our strategies to make sure all goes smoothly for your backdrop creation.

Leave It To The Pros

For a polished and high-quality backdrop, you will likely want to buy from a trusted supplier. You don’t always need to break the bank, but do browse around to establish a budget, so you know that your money is going where it’s needed. If you are buying a more niche and creative backdrop that you might only use every now and then, it might be wise to find a reasonably-priced option.

On the other hand, one you use every day might require a bigger budget, to make sure the quality can stand up to everyday wear and tear. Here are some of our favourite options to suit a range of budgets and styles

• If you’re unsure whether you prefer creative or simple, all-in-one or separate, Etsy has it all. As a marketplace site, the prices can also be very competitive, and sellers often offer customisable options to suit your needs. However, you should also be careful not to be blinded by a seemingly good deal – check reviews and ratings from other buyers to make sure that you don’t waste your money on a sub-par backdrop.
• Kate Backdrop is a more specialised online platform that caters to practically every taste, from simple textured backgrounds to ornate and fantastical themed backdrops. If you really want to add some luxury to a shoot, they also uniquely supply hand-painted canvases for a higher price. Although likely too heavy for a standard school photography session, for a special occasion or private shoot, it could add some extra value to your services.
• Backdrop Source is perfect for simple and lightweight backdrops. If you are often on the move, then look no further. They are also particularly well-suited for collapsible backgrounds, ideal for if you prefer separate parts to your backdrops but still want to remain relatively mobile. With the additional opportunity to customise designs for yourself, they can act as a great means to create something truly unique for your school photography brand.
• Looking for something with more flair? Studio Backdrops has you covered. With the ability to shop by theme, it is also perfect for finding a specialised backdrop, such as for Christmas or an events session. They even have a dedicated kids section, featuring some fun cartoon backgrounds that can add some humour to certain sessions.

Be sure you’re capturing those special moments with kids on your photoshoots with our ideas on helping kids to smile naturally.

Harness Your Inner DIY

At the end of the day, a backdrop is often no more than a large piece of material. If your needs aren’t too complex or you have a particular knack for hands-on projects, it is entirely possible to make something yourself and save yourself some money. Hardware and fabric stores sell large amounts of materials, from vinyl to canvas, cotton to polyester, for remarkably cheap.

Tailor it yourself and affix to a clothing rail or hang from a loose shower rail, and you have a makeshift photography backdrop. If you can’t find the perfect pattern or colour, consider even going for plain white and investing an afternoon with a can of paint to perfect your vision. If you’re not an instinctive DIY-er and need someone to talk you through the process more carefully, this tutorial shows you every step of the way

Tim MacDonald says:

“I urge everyone to either create their own or choose a unique backdrop (Keep it natural, not too crazy). Start branding your company with your style. Backgrounds play a huge part in that.”

Sharing Is Caring

Want to avoid spending too much money but also not confident in your DIY skills? There are various opportunities to find secondhand backdrops. Take a look in local photography communities, such as memberships in the area or Facebook groups. Many photographers, not just school ones, change up their style and find themselves with obsolete equipment that might be perfect for you. eBay is another obvious place to scout out secondhand dynamite, but just as with Etsy, be sure to check reviews before you buy to avoid potential scams

Some photographers are even open to sharing less costly equipment like simple backdrops amongst each other for free for the short-term. If you have a single shoot that requires something specific, you could try and ask around in your community to see if you can borrow something suitable. You might even have something that you can lend in return – online school photography communities can sometimes benefit from communal use

With these options and tips available for you, we hope you’ll be able to create the perfect backdrop to suit your school photography.

Be sure to share your backdrop plans in the comments on our related Facebook post, or tag us in your images on social media!

School photography often comes down to just you, the child, and your camera. At its foundations, that’s all you need. But there are many other areas where you can improve your skills and knowledge to offer your customers an even more polished experience.

We have handpicked some of the best photography resources to be of particular help to school photographers. From community groups to specialised podcasts, there is something to benefit everyone.

Take Your Place Amongst Friends

There is no better way to learn than by taking or even giving photography advice to others. Being amongst other photographers is not only fun, but can also lead to sharing ideas, tips, or advice amongst one another. The collective mind is a great place to bounce new creative directions or strategies off other like-minded school photographers.

Heading to events or becoming a member of relevant groups is an ideal way to integrate yourself into such environments. Even if not everyone there is a school photographer, being around other portrait, event, or volume photographers provides crossover for your own photography work.

Experience a Show

A major event to note in the UK is The Photography Show (TPS). Running for six years now, this annual trade show caters for photographers big and small, from various disciplines. Supported and endorsed by various different photography groups, there is no better place for British photographers to get to know both each other and the top business names on the photography circuit. It takes place every spring but stay alert – tickets go on sale the previous November. Head along with some business cards, a smile, and be ready to network.

Looking further afield across Europe, photokina offers access to an international and diverse range of photographers. With the same aim in mind of providing a space for all photography disciplines as TPS, photokina places special emphasis on keeping up to date with the most modern developments in multidisciplinary imaging. With a wide variety of exhibitions and events, you will certainly leave with inspiration to carry you even higher within school photography.

American-based SPAC (School & Sports Photographers Associations) also hosts their European trade event here, giving you a taste of the USA’s largest convention. In this way, you can get a sense of even more international professionals. You could even fly across the pond to experience SPAC’s home event, SPAC USA in Las Vegas. With greater exposure to different forms of volume and portrait photography, you can make sure your school photography business is the best possible version it can be.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work – Join Associations

To keep you connected with other photographers throughout the year, it’s worth considering joining relevant organisations in addition to attending an annual event like TPS. The British Institute of Professional Photographers (BIPP) offers access to exclusive courses, legal advice, and even booking opportunities through their search function. For smaller photographers, accreditation from organisations such as BIPP can be helpful in adding an edge of credibility. This can aid in pushing your school photography business to greater heights.

Similarly, the Association of Photographers (AOP) aims to help professional photographers reach their full potential. As a non-profit, their membership fees go back into helping photographers go further, with a special focus on business and legal advice. If you love your work, but sometimes struggle with the hardline business side of school photography, they can be a valuable source of information. From business templates to photography advice to handling tricky customer questions, they have all a growing school photography business could need.

Explore Facebook Groups

These means of getting to know other photographers and access valuable photography resources are great, but it’s not always possible to attend every event in person or pay for membership to every group. A way around this is to carry on networking – but virtually.

Not only can this be a great way to keep up to date with news and developments within school photography, but it can fit neatly into your life without requiring a whole weekend of networking or a monthly membership fee. For example, joining a Facebook group exposes you to other photographers of a similar ilk.

Your engagement from then on is completely up to you – you can be as active or as passive as it suits.

Get Started …

• For a dedicated school photography community, School & Preschool Photography is a great first port of call. Share services, ask for photography advice, or help out another school photographers with their own problems.
• Looking further afield across the globe, School Photography is an international community offering a similar experience. Getting input from other cultures is a great way to keep yourself ahead of the game and make sure you are providing the best possible service to your customers.
• Virtual Photo Club and Practical Photography Talk are really useful for more general photography technique questions or updates. If you want group input on equipment or photography technicalities, then they are your best bet.

With so many groups to choose from, there is sure to be something to suit you. Scout around and see which community you feel most at home amongst. At the end of the day, social media should be an integrated part of your day for your business, so be sure to pick the groups that add value to your photography.

Photographer Role Models

School photography is a form of art transformed into a thriving business. At the end of the day, even the most business-like school photographer is still a creator and a photographer at heart.

For this reason, it can be helpful to reinvigorate your creative side by getting inspiration from photographers outside of school photography. Your school portraits could become even better if you mix styles and incorporate ideas from other realms of photography.

Something as simple as following some key people on social media, or subscribing to their newsletters helps let some of their influence trickle into your creativity without you having to invest much time at all.

Get Inspired …

Joe McNally has a special talent for using lighting creatively to place a spotlight on his subjects. His images are understated, but stunning. Take a look at some of his images to see how he does it, or even consider attending one of his workshops across the globe.

For something more artistic, Ciro Galluccio’s images focus on the small details of a person to illustrate their character. The Italian photographer’s Instagram feed is also an excellent example of building up a theme and sticking to it, creating a concrete image of the brand.

There is plenty to learn and take inspiration from both of these photographers, despite not being school-orientated. These photographers are great sources of inspiration for developing a unique photography brand, as you can see through their individual and specialised portfolio.

Alternatively, if you want to see inspiration from a professional with direct experience in photographing children, look no further than Kate Parker. Her portfolio is packed with stunning images of children and young people.

Her book, Strong Is The New Pretty, is great introduction to her work, with 100 pages of gorgeous images showcasing the strength of women and girls. There can be no better example of how to use child and school photography to promote positive messages.

It’s also important to remember that as much as you are interested in getting to know other photographers, they would also be interested to hear from you.

If there’s ever a photographer you particularly respect or admire, try dropping them an email and ask a question about their technique. Photography is a social business – take advantage of the possibilities networking can open up.

For some great role models from the world of school photography, take a look at this list of inspiring school photographers from around the globe.

Learning Never Stops

Everyone has their own style of school photography but there are some common tips and techniques that can help any school photographer to excel. Make sure to keep an ear to the ground for new styles and techniques that can help keep your school photography fresh over the years.

Learning should never end for a school photographer; rather, see photography as a skill you can carry on honing throughout your career.

Read All About It – Books

Having a calm moment with a book is a great way to brush up on photography techniques or business skills that might otherwise get overlooked. We collected together some dedicated books that can offer advice on virtually any avenue of school photography:

• Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography – a boxed set of all things digital photography. You’ll be clued up on every aspect of modern photography at the end of this in-depth exploration.
• The Photographer’s Guide to Marketing and Self-Promotion by Maria Piscopo – this text acts as a more business-minded guide to photography, helping any school photography business owner to best promote their existing skills and services.
• Social Media Marketing for Digital Photographers by Lawrence Chan – another business-orientated read, but this time more specialised. Don’t get left behind in the expanding world of social media with this practical guide, specifically for photographers.
• What They Didn’t Teach You In Photo School by Demetrius Fordham – looking for the last leg of your photography education? This book offers tried and tested advice straight from the mouth of a successful photographer, Demetrius Fordham.
• The unPacked Catalogue. Unpacking Boutique School Photography by Michelle Lynn Morris (US) offers even more than a simple e-book and is one of the very few (e-)book resources aimed specifically at school photographers. As well as 17 chapters of detailed industry information, you get exclusive access to Michelle Lynn Morris’ Facebook group, giving you the opportunity to meet and chat with other dedicated school photographers, amongst a variety of other added perks. This package is seriously tempting for any school photographer.

Though these links will direct you to Amazon, feel free to browse around your local bookstore or independent online sellers. As school photographers, you all know the value of supporting local businesses amongst the community, so extend the same hand of friendship to other local businesses.

Listen Up – Podcasts

If reading isn’t your thing, then you can still benefit from the shared knowledge of professional photographers via the spoken word. Podcasts are a great way to take on knowledge while on the move. if you’re travelling to a job or just taking some downtime during an evening, having something easy to listen to is a relaxing way to carry on learning. Here are a few of our favourites:

• Portrait Session Podcast – a whole podcast specifically for portraits. You’ll never run low on ideas again.
• Cameras Or Whatever – this podcast is specialised for working photographers, but doesn’t pretend to take itself too seriously. With a blog alongside, you can see their photography in action as well as listen to their experiences.
• Photobizx – these podcast episodes offer a glimpse into the experiences of several different photographers, with each episode showcasing an interview with a different professional. As well as helping you explore more of the world of photography, there are also fascinating glimpses into the lives of other like-minded individuals.
• Six Figure Photography – with a different guest every episode, this podcast dives into the business side of photography. Look no further for useful tips and advice to help your school photography business go the distance.
• For a witty and casual take on all things photography, from casual to professional, personal opinions to official tips, Petapixel has it all. Coming to you its listeners twice a week, they have already stocked up over 300 episodes, offering the biggest back-catalogue on this list.
• Lenswork offers some similar content to other photography podcasts, but with them you get the added choice of being able to watch the hosts and their guests in real-time or after the fact. The combination of video and audio podcasts lets you choose the medium to digest the content.

Learn From Home

We all want to be the best we can at what we do, but it can be hard to know how to carry on learning when you’re working full-time, let alone find the time to hunt out the best photography resources to do the job. Not to worry though – we dug out the best places to find some fresh tips for your school photography:

• Creative Live – this group of creative photographers put together live classes on dozens of different topics to cater for every speciality imaginable. Even if you miss them, their archive means you can brush up whenever you like.
• Cambridge In Colour – if you need a detailed exploration of a specific technical aspect, then this is the ideal place. From image noise to the hyperfocal distance, they have it all covered.
• The Ultimate Guide to Starting Your Photography Business – if you like to read but don’t want to work through a whole book, this PDF could be the answer. With combined photography advice from experienced professionals and businesspeople, this guide offers a comprehensive rundown of what it takes to launch and run a successful photography business.

For some specialised tips directly from GotPhoto, take a look at our four top tips on how to revamp your school photography.

As you can see, there is a whole world of opportunities out there to boost your school photography career. Use these as a springboard to make sure you make the most of your existing skills and capitalise on the possibilities available to you.

Have you found any photography resources that have made a difference to your school photography business? Let us know in the comments on our related Facebook post.

Trying to capture a natural smile from a child is like trying to spot a shooting star. It’s swift, fleeting, but is a wonderful sight to behold. In order to make these moments more frequent and longer lasting, we’ve compiled five tips that are sure to help you as a nursery or school photographer bring out a natural smile in every child.

1. Let Kids Be Kids

The first thing any school or nursery photographer must realise is that their subjects are kids. It sounds obvious. But you are not working with models, so you cannot expect the same amount of motivation or willingness from them to engage in a photo shoot. Trying to generate a genuine smile is almost an oxymoron; how can you create something natural? But we do believe there is a certain way of thinking that helps both you and the child enjoy the shoot even more.

The solution lies in recognising that kids behave differently than older subjects and that capitalising on these differences can lead to great results. In essence, you must let kids be themselves.

Give them the ability to be carefree and a little bit silly, and they’ll forget that you’re even taking photos! For instance, try turning the nursery or school photography session into a game, such as by seeing who can make the weirdest faces or by playing the classic peek-a-boo.

Asking who wants to go first out of a class also encourages the braver individuals to set a good example to their more timid classmates. Children will respond positively to less formal engagements and will light up when they see you having fun along with them.

Making sure that the child feels valued is important. Focusing on them, rather than the teacher or parent in tow helps them relax and feel more comfortable with you.

Engage with them as an individual and respect their unique personality. What works for one child may not work for another.

To get a natural smile from any child means developing a natural relationship with them in the short time you get with each one. Giving them each the same measure of respect is vital for that.

Get inspired by discovering how some other school photographers from around the world work their magic.

2. Use Accessories To Keep Them Occupied

We all love to watch kids having fun — it’s the reason that so many of us got into school photography in the first place. And it is important to remember that creating an enjoyable time for children is paramount. That’s why if you want them to have fun during their turn it could be worthwhile to invest in some fun photography accessories.

Phoxitog is a great example of simple but cute toys that can attach to a camera lens of any size. For younger children, in particular, spotting and laughing at the tiny animals perched on the end of the camera will most likely lead to some natural smiles directed straight down your lens.

You could even create something yourself if you want to save on spending. Simply attach a small toy to your lens with double-sided tape or wire. Incorporate such toys into your shoot by introducing it as “your little assistant”, or even ‘talking’ directly to it. This is sure to produce a few laughs and get the kids giggling along with you.

Also, some kids fidget. Telling them to sit still and not move around can lead to restless behaviour. Giving them something to concentrate on will simultaneously help them stay still long enough to photograph but without restricting them too much.

It can be as simple as giving each child a prop to hold or interact with, or playing some music. The key is to find that balance between entertaining and completely distracting! Some helpful ideas for props to use in shoots to good effect can be:

• Bubbles
  Kids love them and they are great for drawing out a laugh and smile. Have an assistant blow bubbles or use a machine if you can. This simple addition will help get that perfect shot.

• Pens, pencils and paper to draw
  Most nurseries will have these freely available, but you can always take your own to be sure. It helps to keep the kids entertained and allows you to get great photos—double bonus!

• Simple toys
  Bring along toys like small cars, teddy bears, and dolls and you will soon win over your audience quickly. These will easily keep the kids entertained while you snap away. You might want to be wary of getting too gender specific—kids are interested in all sorts of different toys!

• Props to sit on
  Big wooden cars, big stuffed animals, funny animal bean bag chairs, or a simple wooden bench—maybe your nursery client will already have some of these items. You can check with them before the shoot and plan accordingly.

It’s important to consider whether you want to use props from the beginning of the shoot, or whether to hold off and use them to increase the range of shots if necessary. It certainly adds something a little bit different to every shoot, has great potential to make your images more interesting and could be a great way to set yourself apart from other photographers. Since photos of the child looking directly into the camera usually are obligatory, you need them focused on you for at least some shots—another reason why props to sit on can be very useful.

By using props, you can create a relaxed, playful atmosphere—kids will be so engrossed in playing that they won’t be worrying about the person snapping photos. Plus, if they are waiting around and potentially getting bored or restless, what better way to keep them lively and energetic for the best possible photos you can capture than some carefully selected prop items?

For the children who become too distracted simply prompt them to “look up and smile.” The sudden reaction will be a reflex for most kids and make for natural smiles.

Another way to accessorise your shoot with something that you will already have is to let the children be able to see their own images. Don’t have the screen fully visible at all times, as they might get distracted or stop looking down the lens. Wait until you get a fun image, and then turn your camera around so you can see. Evidence that they are doing a good job will give the child a confidence boost and mean that their next image will be even better than the first.

3. Let Them Entertain You — And The Other Way Around

Some kids love to be the centre of attention. They may like to dance, show tricks, and play, but even more so when they have an audience. So why not become that audience for them?

Ask them to tell you something special about themselves. Whether that be asking them how high they can jump or what their favourite game or sport is, try to find something to engage them. This will not only make them feel more comfortable, but it will also put them in a happy and trusting mood, making it much easier to draw out those natural smiles.

If you decide to take some group photos, it is often more troublesome to capture good-looking smiles when there are more children in the picture. Try and make all of them focus on you at the same time by speaking up, waving, maybe even experimenting with different moves. For the last shots, you can think of a more fun idea like asking the children to raise their hands and cheer or shout out a certain word.

For some kids, we find that simple jokes work a treat. Keep it short, and think of a mix so they don’t hear repetitions from ones you might have told their classmates earlier. A few of our favourites are:

• What do you call a fly without wings? A walk!
• Why do bees have sticky hair? Because they use honeycombs!
• Why did the maths book look so sad? Because it had so many problems!

The best part of joke-telling is that while they wait for the punchline, the child will be looking straight at you, setting up the perfect angle for you to capture their natural smile when they laugh. Try out your material and see what works best. Don’t be disheartened if not every joke hits the mark.

It is important to stay aware of the mood amongst the kids that you’re photographing. That cannot be emphasized enough: each child is unique. If they aren’t engaging with your idea or just aren’t getting it, stay flexible and move onto something else.

Show off your best work with these handy tips on how to hone your personal photography style.

4. To Pose Or Not To Pose

Getting kids to pose can be tricky. Some may not know what to do without guidance, some might feel stiff and restricted with too many requests. The important thing is to adapt to each child, no matter how short time runs — but there are also a few tricks of the trade that might help you get some natural shots of the kids without putting them under pressure.

Giving the child a prop to pose with is a good way to help them focus on something specific. Holding a toy or peering through a frame gives them something concrete to focus on.

Similarly, giving them a definite aim, like “See how high you can throw this ball”, helps them feel active and can also introduce the element of competition with their classmates. A key tip here is to make sure the object being thrown is small and soft — otherwise equipment or even people might get hit! Try and give the child plenty of space by not standing too close to reinforce that the photos should be fun, rather than stressful.

If you are taking multiple poses, then let them relax in between takes. Being forced to stay ‘posed’ can end up with them looking stiff and unnatural. The most important thing is that the child feels comfortable in front of your lens, so read their body language and adapt to what they need.

5. Get On Their Level

We mean this metaphorically and literally — physically get down to their level. It seems obvious but not only will too high a shot not look natural, but it can make the child feel vulnerable. Crouch down if you have your camera in hand, or lower the tripod if you are using one.

Keep chatting with the child while you shoot too, so that the atmosphere stays friendly and relaxed. It’s especially important to practise talking while photographing if you will be holding your camera. Being able to take photos with one hand allows you to interact with the child by waving or holding a toy. The most important thing is to know your gear inside and out so as to always stay as flexible as possible.

If you set up one angle, it can be useful to shoot it at least once even if it doesn’t fully work out. Switching it up before taking a picture might make the child think they’ve done something wrong, making them nervous and less likely to behave positively in later shots. Encourage and praise them — confident kids will shine, and more reserved ones will blossom.

So, remember: embrace the fact that kids will be kids, recognise their individuality, and use their behaviour to your benefit. And whenever you talk to them be sure to really mean what you’re saying.

Speak from the heart. Because one thing’s for sure: you’ll always engage with a child better and more deeply with feelings rather than words.

Following our tips, you are sure to spend less time coercing smiles and more time photographing them.

Do you have any tips on getting natural images from kids based on your experience in school and nursery photography? Be sure to share them in the comments down below, or chat to us on our social media channels!