Get your pumpkin spice cannons ready, fall is here! During this time of year, you can’t walk in a park, go apple picking, or park your rusty pickup truck in a field, without running into a swarm of photographers capturing all the splendor of this season. It’s true the fall colors make a delicious background for family portraits, high school seniors, weddings and events, but are your clients missing out on getting albums with their photography service?? Offering professional albums for fall portraits perfectly showcases all of the images created during this colorful time of year.
Whether you call it autumn, fall, or sweater weather, this season signals that it’s time to get cozy. As fall rolls in, bright blue skies are interrupted by stormy periwinkle clouds, and verdant foliage turns yellow, orange, and red. The landscape looks like a painter’s palette on fire. No other season makes such an entrance, and professional photographers know it.
Many families make fall portraits a tradition for their holiday cards. For this reason, a lot of photographers see the fall season as a cash cow. Some fill their calendars with 15-minute mini-sessions every weekend in October. Others may stick to booking full sessions, strolling through parks and forest preserves for multiple looks and locations. (These longer sessions work great for high school seniors, engagement sessions, and extended families.)
Unfortunately, often clients ONLY have that holiday card or announcement image in mind for their session. It’s great that there is an intention for a few special images, but what happens to all the others? Rather than letting those beautifully captured photographs live on a laptop, offer clients the opportunity to put fall portraits into a professional photo album.
Here are a few ideas for offering professional albums for fall portraits this year:
Maximize the Mini Sessions
Mini-Sessions typically are priced competitively and include limited camera time with a selected number of images. These are volume sessions with volume pricing, and how these sessions are priced may play a part in how attractive your album offer will be. For example, if your mini-sessions are 15 minutes with 10 images for $75, it might be a stretch to add on an album that will cost you three times that. However, you might want to, give yourself a raise, and try a good, better, best approach.
Here’s an idea for expanding your Fall Mini Session offer. The pricing here is just an example, but DO be sure that the leap from “no album” to “album included” is small enough, and valuable, enough to be interesting.
Mini Session Pricing Examples
(Dollar amounts listed here are used as an example)
$250 Basic Mini Session
20-30 Minute Session
Your choice of 3 High-Resolution Images
Additional Images $50
$450 Keepsake Mini Session
20-30 Minute Session
Includes 10 images in an 8×8 Keepsake Photo Album (EZ Book)
High-Resolution Copies of All Album Images
Additional Images $25
$750 Family Heirloom Mini Session
20-30 Minute Session
Includes 20 images in an Heirloom Family Album (Luster Book Photo Wrap Cover)
Additional Images $15
Collect a deposit upfront and always offer upgrades. Go up to a 10×10 Ez book in the Keepsake Session, or add a full leather cover and imprinting Family Heirloom session. Of course, you can always sell more images too.
The Fall Experience
If the constraints of a mini-session don’t float your boat, scale up to special invitation sessions with added product perks like albums and prints.
Treat your clients like VIPs by inviting them to take part in special fall portrait sessions. Start by selecting premium locations that are more intriguing than, “that park by the fountain, with the red maple, near the gazebo” that everyone flocks to. Also, reserve the very best time of day for lighting, and naps to ensure your image gallery will be stunning.
Make it an event!
Make your session a bit of an event. Give each client a small gift bag of local goodies like pumpkin cookies, hand warmers, and lip balm. Have hot cocoa or coffee on hand and little gifts for the kiddos. Help clients really plan the session and the wardrobe. You are creating images that will last a lifetime so make your expertise count.
Use a deposit to hold their session time and let all that money slide back into their pocket as a credit when they order. Don’t forget to include special bonuses just for this time of year.
Portait Session Pricing Examples
(Dollar amounts listed here are used as an example)
$750 Fall 2022 Collection
Unlimited Family Session – Premium Time and Location
Choose 10 Images for your 10×10 Keepsake Album (EZ Book)
5 Complimentary 5×7 Gift Prints
Digital copies of all printed images
$950 The Lifestyle Collection
Unlimited Family Session – Premium Time and Location
Choose 15 Images for your 10×10 Heirloom Album (Luster Book with Photo Wrap Cover)
Complimentary Leather Cover Upgrade Optional
11×14 Photographic Print
Digital copies of all printed images
5 Bonus Digital Images
$1150 The Festival Collection
Unlimited Family Session – Premium Time and Location
Choose 25 Images for your 10×10 Artisan Album (Luster Book with Lather Spine)
Complimentary Leather Cover Upgrade Optional
Complimentary Spine Stamping – Family Last Name and Year
16×20 Canvas
Your choice of 6 5×7 Gift Prints or 4 Photo Ornaments
Digital copies of all printed images
Price according to your cost of doing business, cost of goods, and the profit margins that suit your business. For more information on pricing to calculate profit, log into your Zookbinders’ account and use the handy pricing calculator. Don’t have an account? If you are a professional photographer you can register HERE.
Simplify It
If you currently only offer digital images, or if creating three different options is something you just don’t have time for, simplify things. Deliver the gallery and then offer more. Think, “Would you like fries with that?” Allow clients to choose special products and prints after they have the digital images.
Having the option to fulfill their printed product needs through you, may be just what families are looking for. Not everyone wants prints, but not everyone wants to get prints from the drugstore down the street. More importantly, not everyone knows how beautiful their images would look in a professional photo album so show samples and share them on your website and social media.
Make it Count Where You Can Count It
Offering professional albums with your fall portrait sessions is a way for you to differentiate yourself from the pack and bring in more income. Additional products mean additional profits. Plus, families have a beautiful keepsake that they can show off to family and friends which can lead to referrals.
Professional photo albums for fall portraits are just one way to introduce photo albums to your clients. Santa Sessions, Mother’s Day Promotions, and Extended Family Sessions are all great opportunities for album-based collections. Plan your marketing for these events in advance and you’ll have families coming back year after year for professional albums for fall portraits and all your portrait sessions!
