Every craftsman needs sharp tools to perfect his craft. Without that the results wouldn’t be as striking as they were intended to be. The same goes for a photographer. A photographer devoid of perfect tools is bound to become obsolete among the sea of competitors. The tools when used in conjunction with each other can yield better results. Better results here means striking work appeal that helps in landing better gigs.
Gigs in the photography world can only be obtained by displaying the past work that speaks volumes about your capabilities. Let’s move on to the top tools for your photography business that will significantly yield better results.
Build an alluring Digital Portfolio
Every photographer needs a portfolio. A portfolio is something you can bank upon to land better future gigs with ease. This is of the utmost importance when it concerns the photography genre as a profession. Photographers must work on their portfolio, extensively.
It is not the traditional times and the ways of presenting your work have evolved.
Invest in a personalized website that showcases your work in a positive light. The website should be filled with every event, every function, every location that you’ve covered. Don’t just stress on the best work. Every detail matters, even the tiniest one. Elaborate your work portfolio on the website and update it regularly with the work you’ve done so far.
Boost your Social Media presence
Photography used to be a word-to-mouth profession to boost work opportunities. That trend has shifted gears to the social platforms that present your work and vouch for your skills. Build detailed social accounts on all the trending platforms. And mind you, a separate account for showcasing your work. Professionalism is all that thrives for a longer duration.
Keep the clutter aside and build an elaborative work portfolio on Instagram, mainly, while keeping a keen eye on Twitter and Facebook. If you have some bucks to spare, make some sponsored posts to boost your chances of scoring high-profile clients. request your previous clients to tag you in their post and mention your proficiency. Do not mind the criticism. It happens to the best of us.
Create a non-failing backup
Photography work generates a load of raw files and unfinished work that needs to be worked upon later. All is not perfect and some attributes need to be corrected in the photography software. The correction process becomes cumbersome if you are relying on the obsolete traditional 5400 rpm 2.5inch drive bay. Invest in a solid-state drive that enables faster-rendering speed while providing higher read-write speeds.
External backups are of top priority when it comes to saving your work. Redundancy is important for a photographer, as it can be brought up any time when you are lacking motivation and improvise on your previous work. Chooses from popular storage brands such as Seagate, and Western Digital that are built to last. Do not scout the cheapest options and go for the products that offer some added warranty benefits.
Online backup
Physical, offline backups are good but can not be accessed from anywhere. Creating a second online backup will do you good most of the time. The primary benefit is that it can be accessed by you from anywhere. Be it a potential, yet surprising need to present your work to a prospective client. Online backups offer flexibility to carry your work anywhere. The free versions offer a decent amount of storage space to back-up those high-resolution photos you’re confident about.
If you’ve got the budget you can opt for premium service plans that bend according to your will and provide the space you need for your present and future projects.
Plan your calendar
Photographers struggle with deadlines. Period. How many times have made prior commitments and then failed to show up because you didn’t remember it in the first place? It happens to the best of us. Please use a calendar to chalk up your activities on the papers. Draft up a board where you can post stick-up notes on it. Or a better alternative, use an online planner and calendar application to synchronize your free slots with the clients. It is also easy to fetch when you need it the next time.
Buy supportive camera gear
Going around with a camera will do you no good. If you are serious about the profession then invest in full-fledged camera gear. Don’t go overboard, but buy the essentials. Useful items such as extra battery packs, SD cards, reflector, and a good waterproof casing or bag to house these items. Camera gear is extremely sensitive to moisture and buying a bag dedicated to just that purpose will make your camera gear last longer. Keep it clean at all times and use it for just one purpose only.
Image resizer
The high-resolution images are vivid and enticing to look at, but very difficult to share and transfer. This situation is worsened if you have a bad internet connection with poor network speed. Image compression can shed the load of your website and improve its performance when a prospective client visits your webpage. Fast and responsive webpages rank higher on google search engine and may increase the conversions on your website.
Use WordPress
WordPress is an easy website builder that is renowned for the same purpose. But it is a comprehensive Content Management System with a plethora of plugins that make your job as a business owner easier. The plugins can view the user sessions, conduct surveys, optimize websites, and much more.
Conclusion
The tools mentioned above are some of the few that will definitely add value to your photography business. Although the unmatched willpower is quintessential in mushrooming any kind of business, still these tools will help you waver the shallow waters and reduce the time spent in hunting for gigs. Build a professional-looking Linked-In profile that oozes out the confidence and projects your skills in the light you want to. Rely on personal connections too and keep a handful of business cards always by your side.
