Here's how photographers handle portrait sessions - and how to maximize your profit for every sitting. We have our portrait session where we make dozens and dozens of exposures (sometimes, we might even take a hundred pictures or more in a portrait session; especially if we're working with a family or group). Then, we send our clients home, telling them that we'll call them as soon as their prints are ready. We then send the film or disk to our lab and have them make contact sheets for us, or we view the images on our computers and/or print out a contact sheet for ourselves; when we've reviewed the pictures or received the contact sheets from the lab, we carefully examine each image, and pick out the very best 5 or 10 or 15 images (we never let our clients see ALL the images - there are always a bunch of exposures that turn out terrible)! There are those pictures where the client's eyes are closed (everybody blinks, and sometimes they blink just when we press that shutter button:); in other shots, the client moves their head or glances away and messes up our carefully-designed lighting. So we pick out the very best ten or twenty images out of all the pictures we made during the portrait sitting. The client never sees the imperfect images, only the very best of all our shots.

Then, we either print out or have our lab make an 11 x 14 print of the best image, and then we have the next 5-10 best images made into 8 x 10 prints for us. The, we make 4 x 6 prints of perhaps about next 3-5 best images from the session. We then put the 11 x 14 print and maybe 3-4 of the 8 x 10 prints into beautiful frames. We set up all the pictures in our studio and call the client in to see all these lovely images (or we bring the pictures to our client's home or office for viewing). Of course, there are some portrait sessions wherein we make only a few pictures; perhaps a business executive wants one picture of himself for the company annual report, and isn't interested in any additional shots. But even then, always make at least a dozen exposures; that way we're sure of getting at least a couple of good images (just try to imagine how embarrassing it would be to call our client and tell him/her that we have to do the session all over again because none of the two or three pictures we took turned out good enough).

Why the frames? Because we also make quite a nice profit on selling picture frames, as well as pictures (albums, too)! The client ends up seeing only the most beautiful images (and thinks we're phenomenally-talented photographic artists:). They see how wonderful the pictures look in the lovely frames, and end up ordering lots of prints, and lots of frames. If children are involved, always ask the client if grandma and grandpa would like some prints; after the client orders the 11 x 14s, 8 x 10s, 5 x 7s and 4 x 6 prints, always ask how many wallet-sized prints they would like. Write up a great order! Make a lot of money by making a lot of people very happy. Can you think of any better way to make a living? BTW, no matter what your models may look like, always tell them they're beautiful/handsome; it makes them feel good about themselves, helps them loosen up for the camera, and is absolutely true - everyone has beauty, if only we have the eyes to see it. And therein lies the secret of every great photographer: he/she has developed the "photographic vision," the eyes to see the beauty in everything - and the talent to bring it out in an image or video.

Buy a copy of Popular Photography, and every other photographic and video magazine you can find. Look for the ads that all the custom labs always have running in these magazines; also find the ads for wholesale suppliers of picture frames, albums, calendars, custom mugs, and poster-size prints. Call, e-mail, visit the web sites, or write to every supplier and ask for their wholesale price lists. Choose the labs and photographic suppliers you like, and compare prices and delivery times. Try out a few different sources, and after a while you'll have your favorite suppliers. You'll find that the prints and other supplies are surprisingly inexpensive, and you'll have a truly great markup for your profit. Wham, bam, you're on your way to a fun, creative, and wonderfully rewarding way to make a living doing something you love. What more can we ask out of life? OK, someone to love, perhaps? If you haven't met him/her yet, there are few better ways to find new friends (and lovers:) than through photography and videography (after all, making people look great tends to impress them favorably, right?). And if all you want out of photography is to be able to make some great pictures or videos for yourself and your family, learning how to get great images will be a labor of love for you.

So give it a shot; there's no downside; if it works for you as a profession, great! If not, at the very least, you'll have a wonderful and creative hobby (along with the admiration of your friends and family). And at best, becoming a successful photographer / videographer means fame, fortune, and world travel (and the joys of the artistic creativity that accompanies such success aren't too difficult to learn to live with, huh?). And don't forget about all the exquisitely beautiful / handsome models you'll be "forced" to work with, either! :) Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it, right?

Life has few guarantees, but one thing you can be absolutely certain about is this: you can't possibly succeed unless you try. "Giving up" is for losers, and you're NOT a loser (how do I know? Because you're reading this)! A loser would have just bypassed this discussion, or stopped reading after the first paragraph or so. If you've read this far, you're interested in making wonderful images (whether still pictures or videos), and you're willing to invest the time to learn how to do so! The world's greatest photographers started out just like we all have - knowing absolutely nothing about photography! Look, folks, it ain't that hard, believe me.

Mini-Tip #44 - Making portraits: Always use a "Catch Light" to add "life" to the eyes of the subject! The "catch light" is that little white "dot" in the eyes - without a catch light, the eyes look "dead" and uninteresting.

Well, I hope this was a little helpful to you. And don't forget: a photographer is a LIGHT Writer! - Richard

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