Pet Photography

[Curtis Cunningham]

Tonight I spoke with the owner of a new pet store here in town. What he wants to is set something up whereby pet owners who come in to get their pet groomed can get a photograph taken together with their pet once the grooming is done.

Do you have any recommendations as to how I would go about pricing my services for something like this?

Here's the gear I have right now, and so I'm looking for suggestions on what other equipment I'd need to go about shooting this right in addition to what I own (see below):

• Rebel XT (18-55 kit lens, 70-300)
• 420 EX Speedlite
• PhotoFlex Multi-Disc Reflector
• Lumiquest Pocket Bouncer
• Canon 5D (24-105 f/4 L IS) - arriving next week
• 580 EXII Speedlite

Lastly what sort of workflow would work best for something like this?

Thanks,
Curtis

[ChrisPerry]

I do something like this every year at christmas time, ostensibly as a fundraiser for the humane society. the Humane folks get 10% of the top, the groomer 20% and I get the rest.
My prices have moved a little bit, but not much. I do the 'unit' thing, $16 for the first unit of a pose, 12 for the second, 8 for the third and rest (so packages of 16, 28, 36, 44, etc). I also offer framed pics and prints up to 16x20. (and have sold a couple that large)
Christmas photo cards are by far the biggest seller, but obviously that's seasonal.
The first year (2005) I averaged $24 a client (prices were a bit lower then, $12/unit max). This past year I averaged $81/client. Yes, eighty one.

What made the difference was immediate proofing - take 2 or 3 poses (dog alone, dog and person, tight headshot of dog at least) and show them on an LCD (we use a 19" wide attached to a laptop. we shoot RAW+JPG so we can show the JPG quickly. we also shoot tethered).

I set up two studio lights w/ umbrellas and a BG, use PWs to trigger it all. F8 works best as dogs move so you need DOF for this. Set your exposure carefully and you may need to PS some images later (black dogs need lightening, and even noses and eyes do. I have an action to set me up a layer and mask and brush to make this go quickly). I use a canon 28-135 lens, so the 24-105 should work great - lets you frame on teh fly and zoom in for a close up on the dog's face/head.)

Not sure if that will help you but good luck.

here's one from 05..rebel 300, speedlights, sheet as BG hung on PVC frame, real fake tree, tamron 24-135 lens.
Yeah, I had humble beginnings


and one from 2006 - I used real gear, real lights, stands, etc.

[ChrisPurves]

Originally Posted by Curtis Cunningham

get their pet groomed can get a photograph taken together with their pet once the grooming is done.

Tough call Curtis - There's two scenarios here.

First and most probably what the owner wants.

As the pets are groomed during store hours a photo is taken at the end of the grooming. So maybe four or five shots a day. Petcetera does this here. They have a "studio" set up in the store. Something like a Walmart studio. Camera and lighting locked in place, all it needs is a clerk to push the shutter button. Right now petcetera has a sale on $ 7.99 for an 8X10 no sitting fee.

The other scenario is a special pet day - like Chris Perry described above.
You would setup at the store for a day and shoot everyone who comes in. You would shoot four or five shots of each subject. They would view the shots and choose their photos. I would charge a minimum fee, perhaps $19.99 for the first page. Set your prices by the unit (page) so they can get 1 - 8X10 or 2 - 5X7 etc. for the same price. That way you get around the customer who only wants one 5X7 and expects it to be half the price of an 8X10.

This won 't be a huge money maker but could become popular and you could do it 3 or 4 times a year and have some steady income.
Chris told you how he started with a basic setup. That works. A simple setup with one or two flashes will work.

Good luck.
Cheers
Chris

[Curtis Cunningham]

1. As the store hasn't opened yet, I had the idea to talk with the owner to see if he would want to do something like an opening day special. That or have some special event on all opening week or something like that.

2. As far as lighting goes, I don't have any big fancy lighting equipment, just the two Speedlite flashes I mentioned in my first post. So I have to decide whether I should bite the bullet and purchase a studio lighting setup (as I'm sure I could use it for other purposes...portraits and the like), or if I could make do with the two Speedlites.

3. Is this scenario we're discussing here something where out of whatever fee's I'd charge per unit for a final print, the store owner would take a percentage?


4. I've started a thread here on shooting tethered. I've never done this before and have questions about how to go about setting something up.

[DougAxford]

Opening Day is NOT good. Too much chaos IMHO. Put signs up for opening day but do the shots a week later. Maybe even have a draw box & coupons on opening day and a few win their photos for free a week later. If the store has problem with being understaffed, their computer goes down or anything like that, you will be associated with the problem. Opening of any store is often chaos.

Doug

[ChrisPerry]

I'd agree that opening day is nuts - way too busy, and the staff is barely trained so that adds to the confusion.

In my deal the store supplies the clients, schedules them, and then delivers the goods (calls client to come and get them there). I do put materials in the envelopes advertising my other services, and get the client's names and addresses for marketing purposes. So I pay a percentage to the store for this. No clue if this is normal or not, but they're not making any profit on it - we do this when they're close so the owner has to come in on her day off.

If it's promoting the store then i'd push that as a benefit to them to avoid paying them.
I do something similar every valentines day at a restaurant - the give me the back room to shoot in and promote me and the event for 3 weeks before, at no cost to me. Each client get a free 4x6 mailed to them, the restaurant pays me $1.25 for that, and I get dinner.

first year it worked fairly well. Last year the weather went to hell - at 5pm the state police closed ALL the roads - so every store closed. The next night (we do this feb 13, 14) we did a good average per client,but the weather was still dicey so not many clients.
This year we'll be doing it again. Since management has changed (it's a regional chain) I think it's good we're coming back.

Is it a big money maker? no. Is it good marketing? can't say it's gotten me much business (not my target market so it's not to surprising). But hey, it's a chance to go play and I got nothing else to do in the middle of february. And if the we can get the numbers of the first year and the averages of the second year it's gonna be nicely profitable.

As for studio lights - interfit stellar by paterson, 2 300WS units are $500 with stands and bag and all. good lights, work well. I use mine a lot (I have 4, 2 I got used) and no problems in lots of use, even one that got drenched in the rain running off a AB Vagabond!

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