How Smart Shooter and GotPhoto Can Help Take Your Volume Photography Business to the Next Level

Volume photography, although rewarding in many ways, can mean days of fast-paced shooting with a lot of logistics to coordinate. Managing hundreds to thousands of subject files in a day can leave little time to invest in growing your business. So how do you take your volume photography business to the next level? 

The most effective way to do this is by implementing an efficient, organized workflow that allows you to capture consistent, high-quality images with a tailored setup. When you opt to shoot tethered, you move into the realm of a faster workflow and have the means to produce better-quality images, which can reflect positively on you and your business. 

A Faster Workflow

Volume photography affords you less time to make mistakes while shooting. Tethered shooting provides you with better-quality captures in fewer shots because you can instantly view your images in high resolution on a larger display to check for things such as focus, composition, lighting, color and details about your subject, so you can make real-time adjustments if needed. 

Shooting tethered into Smart Shooter also allows you to shoot directly to a computer file in addition to saving to the camera’s memory card, eliminating the need to transfer images and preventing the potential loss from memory card corruption. It also provides you with the optional capability to immediately back up your files to an external hard drive as you shoot. Another benefit of Smart Shooter is the ability to speed up your workflow by setting up your preferences in the software so that you can shoot directly into a watch folder, which can be automatically imported into a volume workflow platform such as GotPhoto for post-processing. 

Easier organization and accurate data management 

Due to federal privacy laws, many areas of volume photography that involve children, such as school and sports photography, require the use of barcode or QR code information in lieu of the child’s name or identification. Tethering provides an easier and more accurate way to organize images when managing subject data through the use of barcodes or QR codes—which can be generated by GotPhoto, distributed to students through their teachers, and then captured during the photo session by a program such as Smart Shooter. This allows you to spend less time worrying about data management and more time engaging with your subject. 

Creating a Better Business Image 

Volume photography can be a difficult business to get into without the right knowledge and experience.  

Your chance to shine through 

Most schools will select school photographers only from an approved vendor list, so it’s important to understand how to apply to get onto that list in your district of interest. When seeking a school photographer, a school may accept a request for bid (RFB) or request for proposal (RFP) from interested photographers from that list.  

From those submissions, bid tabulations are formed and published, showing what the school values in order of importance in the submission process. Networking or having a mentor in this area of photography can be valuable in helping you to navigate these waters. 

A more professional look and a streamlined workflow 

A tethered workstation can not only make your setup look more professional, but it also helps streamline and refine your workflow—which also helps define your brand and puts a spotlight on your expertise. Putting thought into an effective workflow can be impressive to prospective clients, which can lead to more volume photography opportunities at some point down the road. 

Key Features of GotPhoto for Volume Photography

As a volume photographer, its important to have a workflow and sales system in place that benefit you and your business.

Whether it’s how you sell your photographs, or how you effectively communicate with parents, GotPhoto has several features to make this process easier.

Selling photos online is becoming the industry standard for many volume photographers, especially for school and sports photography. GotPhoto offers different tools to help you increase your revenue including no fees for digital downloads of images, communication profiles to stay organized and drive sales, and preregistration links to collect all parents data when they sign-up.

Another benefit of GotPhoto is how when photographers receive student ID information, they can then import it directly into GotPhoto and the software will generate barcodes or QR codes on sheets that correspond to student IDs, which can be distributed to teachers. The teachers can then give them to each respective student for the photoshoot.  

On photoshoot day, the photographer then uses a software such as Smart Shooter  to capture and read a student’s barcode or QR code. The software will then associate that code with all subsequent images shot until a new barcode or QR code is captured. When the photographer is shooting to a watch folder, the images can then be automatically imported into GotPhoto and matched up to the student information previously imported into the platform.

Take Your Volume Photography Business to the Next Level 

Tethered shooting is essential for the volume photographer for a variety of reasons, from creating a faster workflow and preventing memory loss to making data management easier and creating a better business image. To learn more about tethering and volume photography, download The Ultimate Sports, School, and Headshot Portrait Photography Guide.  

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