Are you selling prints, DVDs, digital files, or the memories you capture?

Too often, photographers look only at the cost of making a photo—pushing the button. In the days of film, many of these same photographers would try and sell a 25¢ piece of paper. Both then and now, these photographers miss the point—the medium is only a vehicle.     

Photographers of people sell moments. The better the photographer can raise the feelings in the beholder’s mind the monetary value of that image is increased.     

The door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman isn’t selling appliances but a clean house.   The key for photographers is to realize they are not selling pictures but what those pictures capture. Even in advertising photos of products, the incredible images help capture a mood and create a craving in the audience in some way.     

Photography has five stages in selling.   

1. Attention 
2. Interest 
3. Desire 
4. Need 
5. Action   

You need to, in some way, have their attention first. There are many ways to get this. One of the best ways is through a referral from a happy customer. This is based on relationships. The relationship you as a photographer have built with a client and the excitement they have and want to share you with their friends is, in my book, the best way to get someone’s attention.   

Great images will also get someone’s attention. These are often done through your advertising. Getting your work in front of someone to get their attention would be best.   

The next step is creating an interest in your product. Your referral will use their testimonial to help you create interest. They will tell their friends about how you impressed them in some way.     

Many photographers may have celebrities in their portfolio, and some photographers have exotic locations, and as you can see, these things create an interest in the photographer and their work.    

This interest should lead to desire. This is where they start to inquire, want to know more, and are engaged with you. You must move them from seeing you as a commodity; otherwise, they will look for another photographer.

Instead, you have to establish a real need for your services. This is where your ability to demonstrate to them how you are the best choice for them. This may be how you communicate your ability to care for them, and you might explain this by just how attentive you are in the sales process.     

Questions for yourself:   

• Did you offer them something to drink?  
• Did you listen and ask thoughtful questions based on what you heard them say?   
• Did you have good eye contact with them?  
• Did you greet them with a genuine smile?  
• Are you conscious of their time and clear and concise in your answers to their questions?

If you establish your ability to meet their needs, it is on to action. The client wants to sign the contract and hand you the money to make it happen. If you seldom get to this stage where the client is taking the initiative to close the sale for you—then a real need for “you” was never established. Instead, you are seen as a commodity, and someone else can fill the market.

This season is such a cliché for a reason. We all understand that timing is everything when planning our vacations. We go to the beaches in the summer and the mountains to ski in the winter. If you go the wrong time of year, you will miss the ability to take in the best of a place.

If you Google the phrase “Tis the season,” you will find more than 5,690,000 hits.   

Tis the season for photographers to get outside in your backyards and plan those road trips to capture the springtime in full bloom.   

If you have a business, this is the time to do those photos you need on your website to show off your properties. This is when you plan for those outdoor weddings to take advantage of the flowers and trees in bloom.   You still have time to take advantage of the season. Be sure you put aside the time to capture the blooms in your yards and places of business.    

Scott Kelby walks everyone through the seven steps he does in Lightroom with all his photos.

To grow as a photographer, you must have someone check your work. There are two types of people to review your work_the general public and the professional. The professional can be another photographer, photo editor, graphic designer, or art director.

The public should be able to look at our photos and tell us what they get out of an image and therefore help us know if our intended message came across.

The advantage of a professional photographer who is further along in their journey than you is they can tell you if a photo is good or not, but can give you some tips on how they might improve the image.

Ground Rules:

1. Let your photos speak for themselves—Be Quiet.
2. Edit and show only your best
3. Have everything needed to show your work
4. Get multiple opinions
5. Take the advice and change
6. Go back and show them your changes.

Letting your photos speak for themselves will help you know if you were successful. For example, if you wanted a picture to show how much two people are good friends, then the audience will tell you.

If the person reviewing the images asks for more information, provide it. Too much information will hurt your critique. For example, if you tell the person this is a photo where you were trying to illustrate friendship, the person will ask if it worked, but you need to know what it says to them when they have no information other than the photo.

Sometimes you might have a powerful photo that is a failure. For example, it may be a successful photo in which the audience likes the picture but fails to deliver the message you were going for.

Edit and showing your best work will help the person reviewing your work. However, showing too much work will weaken your portfolio rather than strengthen it. Your portfolio is to show your skills. You may have a collection of subjects or a photo story. Either way, each photo should offer something different.

You only need one photo to show you know how to do something, so make it your best effort. Your second photo should offer something different about your abilities. For example, maybe the first photo was available light, and the second one shows you know how to use flash. Your third might be shooting in a studio.

Your photo stories must work like a written story, with a beginning, middle, and end. The face is often an establishing photo to help us understand the story. You must vary the images from wide to medium and then close up.

Have everything you need to show your work. Don’t show up with a USB drive; expect the person you see to have a computer. Be sure everything works and try it a few times to be sure all the photos load, for example, if it is on a laptop, iPad, or some other device.

Sometimes the best way to show your portfolio is in a book or prints. This way, you are not relying on technology that could quit. However, I don’t want that to happen at a once-in-a-lifetime meeting.

Get multiple opinions before making changes to your work. If you show your work to 3 or more folks and they all say there is something wrong with a photo_then you know it needs to go. What will not be so consistent is what they might sound like as a way to improve that photo. For example, one person may say to back up, and another might say to crop in closer.

Take the advice and change. Go out and make the changes to your portfolio. Take the photos out that almost everyone agreed on the need to come out. Go and crop the images that need cropping.

Go back into Lightroom or PhotoShop and re-edit those photos that can be improved.

Most of all, take the advice to heart as you shoot your following photos. Watch the edges of the image. Know what you want to say to your audience about the subject.

Go back and show your changes. Find those people and show them your revised portfolio after you have made the changes and shot some new material. See if you got what they were talking about. Often you will find out that you didn’t fully understand what they were saying, and by revisiting, you will discover this.

I have realized that defining your passion is the key to landing your dream assignment. The driving force makes you willing to champion a cause and share stories that matter.

In my career, I have had the privilege of working with Christian missionaries worldwide and capturing their stories through photography. But what I love just as much as taking pictures is listening to other photographers share their own passion-filled stories.

Recently, I had the opportunity to host 20 photographers at my home, where they shared stories from places like Pakistan, Alaska, Japan, Haiti, and Mexico. It was like having the photographers of National Geographic Magazine right beside me, giving me an inside look at their work.

One of my recent projects took me to Mexico to investigate why so many people risk their lives to cross the border into the United States. There, I discovered the inspiring story of Café Justo, a Just Trade Center that helps coffee growers overcome the challenges that led to a drop in their income. Through micro-loans and community support, Café Justo has been able to help these farmers sustain their livelihoods and avoid the need to emigrate in search of work.

If you’re interested in learning more about their story and becoming an informed consumer who can make a difference in the world, please check out the package I created to help introduce people to their concept. Together, we can use our passions and skills to address the issues facing immigration and make a positive impact in the world.