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Selling Products

Lesson 23 from: Family Portraits

Michele Celentano

Selling Products

Lesson 23 from: Family Portraits

Michele Celentano

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Lesson Info

23. Selling Products

Lesson Info

Selling Products

I really want to talk about in home design because this is one of the most important things that I do in my business most clients really don't know how to decorate their home with wall portrait it's kind of like being an interior decorator with wall portrait's for your clients so when this particular client said well I have this huge wall in my formal living room and it's you know above a sofa and I don't know how big the portrait should be no problem I'll come to your house we'll measure the wall and this porch in the middle is actually a twenty four by thirty it's a big portrait it looks tiny on that wall and it's flanked by eleven by fourteen so maybe sixteen they might be sixteen by twenties either way but they're big portrait's on this wall and when I first suggested doing this um she was like ok is that too many for the wall I said no because this is actually a great grouping we have the whole family we have each of the children alone and then all three of the children together s...

o and this was done years ago I've actually photographed this family many times since then was that client nancy it's talking about earlier and family with the gold in the brown anyway so but that's still hanging on the wall and she still tells me it's her favorite and this is when her youngest ethan was two years old what let would not let go of dad's leg so the other part of that photograph his dad's leg but she still loves that portrait so I went into her home and I brought different framing samples with me that I thought might go well with her decor which I asked her about advance and the nice thing about these frames are there similar frames but they're just a different depth in the facing of it so this one comes out a little bit further and then the outside ones are flatter not as deep so that this way it gives a little bit more visual that visual distraction on the wall where you have more of more of an element is post them all being the same they were all done on campus and they all have a fabric liner in them without glass so this way actually they're not canvas that's glass but they have a fabric liner on the outside so that it adds another depth and dimension into the framing this client that we did actually has um seven portrait hanging on the wall this was also a fairly large wall this couch was actually being replaced with a big sofa that was going to be going against that wall and when I went to her house so this is the wall I want to use I was like you know what this walls big enough to accommodate more than one wall portrait and most people oh I don't have a hang these on the wall and if you ask that to do it he's gonna be really irritated because there's one thing that men really hate to do and it's hang pictures on the wall and so I have saved many marriage by saying I'll come and hang the portrait really you will yes because here's what's gonna happen to with my client if I if she asked her husband to hang the pictures on the wall he hangs it know so it's a little too low you need to be a little higher honey makes little higher well you need moved to the right a little bit no that's not quite it oh forget it hanging yourself I don't know anything about it and then it would sit and they wouldn't get home right so especially for something like this I measure it out I take a level with me uh we match it movement match it up on the floor and kind of place it out and see where we're gonna hang him um and so you know when we talk about sales one of my favorite things to do is watching for marshals kind of commercial junkie I don't buy a lot of stuff I actually I don't even think I've ever bought anything often infomercial maybe the total gym I bought that like twelve years ago I think I did but I don't have any more but infomercials are brilliant and they spend these companies spend millions of dollars on sales marketing techniques and finding the right language that gets people to buying and not saying you should sell your work like an infomercial because that can come across either cheap or an expensive or kind of maybe too abrasive but words that you're here and everything infomercial that you can absolutely translate into your own business or risk free and I've already talked about this couple times um well you know your session fees of really expensive yes I understand you know there's a reason for that but I promise you it's risk free so if you're not happy I'll give you back your money okay and said it is absolutely risk free if you call now and when the next seven days we'll refund your money minus shipping and handling that's what I say it's risk free minus shipping and handling just okay so there's a money back guarantee it's risk free what's fun it's the most fun you ever have chopping garlic right it's the most fun you'll ever have juicing it's most fun you'll ever have pan frying something that doesn't even have oil it's the most fun you ever have blasting you're size it's more fun than you could possibly imagine every infomercial tells you how much fund their product is even the steamer that she just started you know steamer thing so fun to steam clean your whole house you know now's really not but for me it's fun it's relax we're having a good time it's easy it's only three easy payments of nineteen ninety five it's easy it's so easy to use you just turn the switch on and when you're done with that you just take out this this thing here and you slide under your bed never have to see it again right I mean like the they described why their product is so easy to use why it's so fun why it's risk free so you know well maybe you don't want to sound quite as obnoxious is infomercials and why we're better than the competition I've done that haven't I so we're better than that because if you've seen other products like this our product is guaranteed that it right that's real technical information right there dot added up write that down the benefits they give you the benefits of why their product is so good it will save you time and money it will help you store your food longer saving you thousands of dollars it will help save your clothes because they're in a airtight bag that you khun duncan water um you know it will save your life this product will make your life so much better you can have your portrait's done before you're dead and it's too late you know I mean I'm so punchy at this point reasons why you love this product you love this product because and then they have the you know the person that's on site on set with them and you're gonna love this product because look at how this magic steamer instantly seems out every wrinkle o that was so fun and easy oh I love steaming curtains you know I'm just really trying to get in your head about how to use that language so that you can translate it in your business and you some of these techniques that top salespeople use to really get their people to buy their product called action by now I get this question a lot and you can work this one hundred different ways and it doesn't normally happen to me because I'm good at kind of you know closing the sale but people say well not really sure can I come back and I think about it could come back later you can come back another time right well you can but if you decide to purchase your portrait's thiss evening we have today special or you know if you purchase the day of your session we offer you ten percent discount it helps to incent aside incentive size the person to go no where if we place our order that day we're going to save a little bit of money because really their minds not going to change over the next couple days you know if it does we're only gonna get more confused oh did I pick the right ones and I'll pick the right one shouldn't go back should not go back um you can also do a cash savings if you want if you pay cash if you pay in full there's you know a savings involved there's no reason why you can't do that right by it now but wait there's more incentives this is my favorite line if I hear this in the car on the radio my car instantly turns around changes direction is ahead into the department store it's clinique bonus time ah seriously because I travel so much I love all of the travel size stuff that they give you and I use a lot of the product so as soon as it's clinique bonus time cause usually get things in the bonus that you can't I'd buy you can't buy travel size clinique products right you can only get them in the gift with purchase the little bags they have I have more little gift with purchase cosmetic bags and I could possibly count and they're like folded into each other and stuff to know I can't get rid of them they were a gift with purchase right and you you can't buy that bag so gift with purchase is something really valuable when you can't buy it right and they're showcasing a new product so we get a new product sample on there you'll get like a mini size maschera you'll get your night cream you'll get something else you get a q a little lip gloss and an amazing little travel back to go with it it is clinique bonus time my car is instantly on the way I love bonus time any of the cosmetic companies that I use I love their bonus time we all d'oh all right tell me a woman in the world who does not love bonus time at their cosmetic counter my mom is like jumping up and down right now there's only a few minutes left for this limited time offer yes and no right what do you do with all the images we don't buy that's a big one right well we saving for a limited amount of time but then eventually when we clean out our systems we save everything that was purchased and we purge our systems of anything that was not purchased on ly a certain number of easy payments so you're forty two million dollars portrait order we could easily break that down into twelve easy payments no interest when we get a half payment will start the order and then once it's finished you can pay off the rest and when it's all paid off he can come pick it up so it could be three payments could be four payments it could be whatever you want and this is also a great way to maybe get a client who maybe not could just outright afford your services but loves your work so much that they're willing to pay it off you know maybe they put on the credit card every month and they just pay that off so yeah we can absolutely do easy payments for you if that's what works how many would be good for you we can break this into three payments of x four payments of this or six payments of that which which which one works best for you I mean we still need to work with people right testimonials how many times watching infomercials and you see people see their I lost sixty pounds and four days on this amazing herb supplement it was the most amazing thing I had so much energy and it was so fun to use and even my kids like it right I mean there's people given testimonials the skin care products that they sell on tv you know celebrity skin care products they have celebrity skin care product testimonials I can give you all kinds of names right oh I love your skin care I've been looking at your skin for years and all you go to that fabulous doctor in paris but you have brought your doctor to see us and packaged your products and and look at my skin I'm so grateful to you and you like I need that especially some skin care freak you I need that I bet it's amazing is it really not but they almost convinced me that it is almost and then they go and it's risk free and you get this little gift that you can keep even if you return it ok isn't it cool consent of selling how are you specialized sales person most people are that you're an artist you hate asking people for money you feel shy about it you know and even if I have to run into another room and jump up and down and feel like an eighty year for three seconds and then walk back out the door and feel really confident about what you're selling um some studios I know have a sales person say you don't like sales say you're really uncomfortable in the sales room but you love photographing people you like doing the consultation you like sitting with the client and doing the work but you hate selling well for the love of photography find someone who likes the cell and hire them and then you're sort of out of the mix then you're removed from that you don't have to deal with it all you could do is take the pretty pictures maybe you'd do some post and then you come in you deliver the product and you really didn't have to sell anything and then the person who's selling for you is not necessarily emotionally connected to your images and there may be a little bit more capable of selling for you I think that's a great idea are you good sales persons do you have trouble quoting an order has anybody here ever like just really been like yeah it's gonna be this much money or I charge this if at any time you have to do this when you say a price you're not comfortable you've got to be like yeah and the prices huh in the prices the prices and the prices anybody want to look at anybody right so um you've just gotta be yeah my session fees to ninety five um that's that takes care of the time we do for the consultation for the session itself for the post production work I do after your session for the uh consultation that we'll meet after and if we have to do an in home design it covers that as well okay okay if you have trouble quoting an order you don't you need to just learn to like walk around go yes that will be a million dollars say ridiculous numbers look in the mirror stand in the mirror and say yes your portrait came to six thousand dollars yes your portrait your wedding is going to cost you twelve thousand dollars twelve to say twelve twelve what your twelve thousand like hello don't you know that like twelve hundred twelve thousand you know what I'm saying like you really got to get in that mirror and get comfortable looking at yourself going s o the total comes to fifty nine seventy six plus tax that comes to this would you like to pay for that all at once split it or you know do three payments how would you like to do that right the question isn't is that okay the question is here's the total how would we like to do that this way this way or this way my option this option or this option all three of my options I should do this with my daughter right with kids this works with kids to write because like well I don't want to do every now want to do this okay well here's option I'll give you two options option an option b option a is you do it my way and we get to do that later an option b is um you keep annoying me and we don't get to do anything at all which option would you like my daughter used to go like this what's optioning again just like a you want a just okay option a anna if you're watching I'm really sorry that I am worthy say sit at home and for your computers say right now I am worthy I'm worthy of having a business that is profitable I am worthy of charging prices that are appropriate for my work I'm worthy of earning a living doing something that I love I want you guys to say it I'm not kidding like say it like I am worthy let's try that again I warn you I'm worthy I am worthy o people listen to me it's like we got not a lot of time left if I haven't taught you to lift up and have self kamen yes I'm worthy I am a good photographer I give you something that is going to be more valuable to you in ten years and it is today I'm worthy it's a much better holy moly incentive selling um what are the products lines that you carry do you show them all in your space if you bring with you do you have pictures of tabletop portrait's wall portrait's canvas gallery rap traditional prince album folios wearable art and a lot of people like to sell the wearable art I have lots of samples in it of it I don't sell it but what I do is I use it as a gift with purchase so I love like the key change with photographs on them from like um kimber studio has a great product line of wearable jewelry and so a lot of times we'll do gift with purchase includes key ring or I love the little like purse clip that they have that has a little charm on it and I'll put an image on their sometimes we'll do it without the client knowing it and it's like they get him like oh I made this little gift for you and you know it's like a plus or sometimes you khun do a special say it's february you could do you know a heart shape a little key chain with a a picture on it and your february gift with purchase is however you want to market have a gift a different gift with purchase each month or for every occasion or for whatever it is that you want frames image boxes easels custom in home design sessions are doing dvds are you doing dvd slide shows um there's a bunch of really great slideshow companies out there where you can make a whole slide show off the images sets a great triple scoop music that you can either do one as a gift with purchase which would be great because not very expensive to do that right um because a lot of people will sit with me and I'll do the slide show for them and they like oh can I buy a slideshow well it's a gift with purchase so however you want to work that out press printed cards when your client comes to pick up their order maybe you know make a set twenty five press printed cards with their image on the front uses no cards with your logo on the back guess why you just send out twenty five cards with your information and a family portrait that's connected to somebody metal prints gallery blocks another great thing to do is um you can give your client's business cards with their image on it as a referral and for every car that comes back to you the person coming to you the new client will save fifty dollars on their session fee and the client you already had will say fifty dollars on their next session so it brings in a new client and it brings back an old client and so your client can hand out little cards that have their portrait on it to friends and family and when they come back with it you have two clients again right and so they can build up credit so your client may refer five or six people and then come back however you want to do it you can do one hundred dollars you're into fifty do whatever you want to dio or every time you come back we'll give you a five by seven toward your next session I personally don't like to give prince because it values that I'll give in dollars so that they can apply towards a future order kind of makes a little bit more sense how does that feel that some good ideas right people blown up right people are blowing up right now I can feel it blown up a cake you know why because you guys are typing you no longer surfing I I had to do it I had to you know I did gift with purchase how do you want to make the gift with purchase it could be and it should be a a certain price point so like for example clinic bonus time is with your purchase of twenty nine ninety five or more well miss scares sixteen dollars and then something else is sixteen dollars about timing don you're at thirty two dollars oh and have you seen our new under eye cream know what show it to me by the time I leave there I'm in a good fifty sixty dollars but I'm actually I'm actually their favorite client when I walk up to the clean counter because I hate to shop I'm not a shopper I really hate to shop I'm a rare female I hate the shop I goto clean counter twice a year and I stock up for six months like any two of these three of these for these that of the dead and their ladies like what and now I've got my girls using it so I buy for their bathrooms like cleanser and something four face wash is I need to this lady's like ok and they're like really like I'm like I hate to shop I just do it all twice a year and I could probably just do it online but I do like the one because I I like trying new things so gift with purchase wall portrait twenty by twenty four larger and receive ah what do you want to sell whatever it is you really want to sell have that be the item if you purchased this you get this as a gift with purchase purchase one large album and a mini and receive another many album as a gift spent a total of a mega million dollars and receive a charm bracelet you set the price so when you spend this much you'll get this if you purchase a wall portrait a certain size or above it includes our basic frame here's our three choices of basic frame we can upgrade if you want to but are this size automatically comes with one of these three or four basic frames this way you know it's already framed when it walks out the door right incentives work best when the gift is on ly a gift and can be purchased separately they can purchase it it's not really a gift if it has a price tag attached to it you could be valued at but it's not on the priceless you can't buy it look at makeup companies the gift is always a special limited item and acute bag you can't buy special pricing on desirable items after the purchase of a wall portrait so like we do the gift sad our gifts that is normally three eighty five and it's five eight by tens or I don't know it's more that it's three eighty five when you order a wall portrait but it's like a thousand dollars actually I'll tell you sorry you think I would know this by heart right yeah the giff set is three eighty five without the purchase of a wall portrait that gift set is nine seventy five so bonus by a wall portrait and you save like six hundred dollars on that see how it's all packaged together good stuff okay gift giving is a great thing to do for your clients uh every year for christmas my clients get a gift and here's the thing we used to we would do like a dive a chocolate or like something like that would buy big box and when holiday clients came in to pick up their orders we'd give them a box as they came in it was sort of like here's a box right here is a gift well a couple of years ago we decided to do was send gifts directly to their home which was powerful so it was one of the years I was competing and I didn't want to send chocolate who seems so not right because I like competing so I found a company out of new york that makes these really healthy protein cookies and they're delicious like we call them up we tried on they send them to us we try them first they were amazing right now like high protein and relatively healthy kind of cookies specialty item so we had set up with that company we have this money cookies that we want to send and they gave us a special price we sent them an e mail with every address and who was going to and they just took care of the whole thing was awesome um so and we got so many phone calls oh my gosh thank you so much because personalized at that point thank you so much it was so awesome reel of getting that people love getting gifts no cards that double is a marketing piece chocolate who doesn't like chocolate photo tags that hang from your shopping bag we just talked about that give cards for a friend adding a client's photo we talked about that bottle of your favorite wine one of my clients actually took a closet in her ah hallway near her kitchen was like a coat closet right near the kitchen ripped out the closet installed a refrigerator and built a wine class was it right there was like a ten thousand dollar closet transformation for her wine like I love you like if you ever sell this house please call me first because I would buy it just for the wine cellar like the wine closet you know most houses in arizona don't have basements so we don't have like you know anyway I and they changed the doors his big beautiful rod I indoor so I know she loves wine so after a session I usually send her a nice bottle of wine based the gift on the dollar amount of the sale you don't have to send everyone the same gift personalize it to each individual client another great thing to dio I'm not trouble with that down here is ah doing um client appreciation party you can either do it in your home we used to do in the studio um you could do it a restaurant if you want to but once year client appreciation and it could be a dole on lee just you know getting to meet mom and dad this is really good for wedding photographers at the end of the year to throw a party for all their newly weds to get to know each other and they all use same photographer you're all newlyweds blah blah blah but it's a great way to the end of the year to say thank you thank you for your business and kind of celebrate a little bit more on a personal level so throw a party there's always a good reason to throw a party and then that's throwing a party with a write off it's like right that party office a business party and like a mob down that so selling albums this is one of the biggest things I do in my studio I think almost all of my clients ultimately wind up with an album and I really like the idea of creating a library of albums and now I'm like I said earlier we're going to try to make this a standard item as part of our um regular sale but this is some albums signs that we did these were done in fundy software they work well with any album company just upload your image is based on the size album and they have literally in their templates dozens of album companies and their specifications so when you go into the software you click on whichever album company you're working with with the kind of album and then it will pull up the layouts att leased the sizing that's appropriate and then fundy will ah have either auto you can say I need four openings boom it'll put four openings or you can click in bridge before or lightning before images you want to use click on them go too funny say import these images in port and if they do do do do pop re sizes and pops him into a layout oh and you can open him right there in in the software because it's part of photo shop it's like a the photo shop I don't know what you call a over whatever we can do all your retouching right there so you want to change something if want to retouch something cropped whatever you want to do it's right there it's all happening in photo shop with super easy templates I've actually added a couple of graphic authority backgrounds because I have a lot of their products so I'll uh made there backgrounds and image so that I could just pop in images because says add an image and fungi software it's super easy to use I actually found out about them through facebook I was like the albums were like the bane of my existence and I just didn't like doing them but I like doing them like the control but I didn't like designing because it took too long and so finally one day I was like hey does anybody know great album designed software and they've pointed me to fundi and I'm like this with funding now I love him he's actually real guy fundi so these are just some template backgrounds that we did and this is obviously an eight by eight split you're looking at two pages open together mom with the kid's mom with the kids together you know when I lay out the books so that makes sense there's a story to it right so dad with the kids mom with kids mom and dad together I got a bunch images of the little guy it was really cute he's got his whole little page she's got her little little page you can add text of this you can put their names on beija compote quotes in here I mean you can really customize this and make it however you want I know some of you probably already do um this is just a great way toe add onto your sales fun huh yeah the dreaded album design I hated it I would tell people oh albums take like four months your portrait will be ready sooner but albums take like four months mostly because it would take me about three months to get to the computer to start designing because I hated designing them but actually like doing it now because fungi made it so much easier so the dreaded our design aldo album builder their software actually looks a little bit their software box looks a little bit different now but they have all sorts of great products here's the thing I really need to say this I have never ever promoted a product that I did not fully believe in so if I'm telling you about a product it's because I genuinely use it and I genuinely like it so I don't want anyone ever feel like oh is she just saying that because you're a sponsor their sponsor because I really like their product period just how to say that okay obviously this album was a couple years old but this was a fun one this little guy was so fun because he uh was two and he had like a woody doll like thea toy story woodie and he would not let that dog go you can see it well give me woody and every time we take woody way way back the winning dog give it back and I'm like I don't care if he's holding woody it's fine to he is it's the ages that so these air you know his older brother and sister and of course he won't sit down for five minutes so cute together I've got mom with the kid's mom with each of the kids these are great cause these are a lot of the combinations were talking about earlier so important for each child have a photograph alone with each of their parents and both of their parents together who she's holding on to him because he you can see that kid is about to run and he has a cracker in his hand daughter and dad stat page and then I may take some of the same images or some of the out takes and just making black and white yeah it takes a really funny if you put them all together on a page and then just make a black and white so you have something that looks a little bit different he's ready to run you can totally tell ready to run so and then this is remember how I said sometimes you got to take the two year old and bring him over the pond and play ring around the rosie or I'm pointed the fish and but I just love this a mom love this image because she loves our little guy's holding older brother and sister's hands so and okay this was so done on purpose right so love the back light that's coming through and I actually put them under this tree because I knew that the tree was framing my image so it didn't happen by accidents framed like that on purpose and then this is the last picture the day I've got the whole family set up and I'm trying to get this little guy right back here in this space and he's like seriously with woody no I'm done and he's walking away from me turns his back take the image that's the last page in the book and they're fine that's awesome I love it a little inspiration so we have spent how many hours together now a lot of hours together do you have any questions about sales or anything like that I'm about to go into a totally different direction and uh I just want to make sure we've covered any of the questions at home people might have it would be great to take a couple questions now if we may we have a few questions well it where is gathering one we have a few questions about out of town clients um here's one that kind of wraps up a few a few chatters questions I mostly shoot family's on vacation how would I do the proof ing and selling and that comes from angie sunset um I would try to arrange the session and the sales meeting the day after like so do the session and the me morning after so if they're scheduling their vacation however you mean you might be doing it in a conference room in a hotel lobby I mean because it's obviously vacation you don't have that availability if the client lives in the same area like I do the beach portrait's every year and uh almost every year so in arizona a lot of people like to go out to southern california because you know a lot cooler there so I'll say hey we're gonna be in san diego this time of year these are the dates you want to plan your vacation around it great most of those people are clients in my area so we go out we meet we come back we do the sale but if you have a fear in a if you're a vacation destination and people are coming in and you live there and then they're going to leave I would do the session and then as soon as you can turn that sail around meet with them before they leave absolutely even if it has to be later in the evening we'll we'll leave tomorrow you know what let's get the session done give me about an hour we'll meet we'll look at the images how's that don't let him out of your hands all right next question is from min ah's in maryland should we invest in getting samples of each items we see selves so we can show in person and if so that could get costly so wondering how essential you think that really is it is essential most of your labs most you're good labs will offer discounts for sample items just calm advanced let them know it's a sample item I no white house has a sample album price for their press printed albums pretty sure venice has uh a sample album prices well it might say sample in it so they know that you're not just making sample after sample but here's what you want to make samples off make samples of the products you want to sell the most so if you have a lot of different product lines you can sell them or have one or two small samples but if you want to sell large wall portrait you better have larger wall portrait's in your house or in your studio if you work from home you better have a large wall poo order of your family in your home right you gotta walk the walk I have a huge wall portrait of my family that was done by my good friend angela carson and it's you can see it from the seat where my client's sit and it's right there on the wall and it's funny because it's actually a little too small for the wall I put it on I didn't do it on purpose but it's a great selling tool because I say actually miss size my own family portrait because originally wasn't gonna put it there but now it's on that wall and it really should have been a little bigger and most people go yeah you're right because it looks a little lost that wall so it's also a great way to say see I know you need to make it a little bigger most time will make things too small bigger is better people less is more bigger is better that work yeah but so have album samples have if you're going to sell you know uh a medium range album and every high end album have both of those available if you want to sell canvases have canvases it would have a campus is up on the wall but then have like a smaller print of a traditional paper and then show that cause it's instantly going toe look less attractive than the beautiful big ones hanging up on the wall and then all of a sudden well yeah we gotta have the canvas one so make good beautiful samples of what you want to sell if you want to sell large wall portrait make a large wall portrait's if you want to sell lots of albums you have to have lots of different samples of albums absolutely yeah it gets costly but you have to spend money to make money and if you don't show it you can't sell it operative word investment investment deal smith photography asked these press elect as your main software for sales tracking as well if not select what to use I don't um for my client organization sales tracking projecting I use success where which is ah amazing studio at management software system um you can do it one user for one computer you can do with three user from multiple bull computers but it will do all your client tracking emails in voicing it will do ah product loss statements tv reports that the software actually does way more than I use it for like I only use it to a certain extent I used uh pro select you can actually output your images and send them streets your lab from pro select actually underutilized pro select as well it is primarily a software to show your clients but you can show collages you can import rooms into it you can show pictures of images on the wall you can output your images and send them straight to your lab from post like there's a million things you can do sometimes the software's air so good and so abundant I don't I can't use everything that's in it so if that makes any sense it totally makes sense all right there's a lot of us that when we first started out you have tio you know shoot practice families to get going on da fap forty one is wondering what do you recommend for selling to practice family so after you shoot how do you sell your product to them afterwards you shoot it you sell a full price do you give them a discount you're asking someone to model for you my suggestion is you offer them you say I would really live for your family to model for me I you know obviously we charge recession fee and I'll include and eleven by fourteen I did this with a family that's in the book and I did this with a family that's in the book because I knew she couldn't afford to have our family portrait done and she always came to me for her son's high school senior portrait so I photographed three of her sons high school portrait and she only ever bought a small portrait of them but she loved my work so much that she came back to me each time for specifically for the same size portrait of each of her sons when they graduated high school and she would always say to me I really wish I could buy more that's all it's in the budget but I just really love your work so she came in while I was writing the book for her third child no sun's senior portrait and I was in the process reading the book and was asking clients and you know new clients in old client if they would be interested in doing shoots specifically for the book and I looked at mary and she said to me one day she said well I'd really love to have my family portrait done with you but you know it's been a rough couple of years and my husband was out of work and things are really tough and someday I'm gonna be able to afford a portrait with you and and I said so I think we can make that work I said I'm looking for families to pose for certain projects that I'm working on with my family portrait book and if you're interested I'll photograph your family and I'll include in eleven by fourteen and a copy of the book and she was like you would and that's the size picture she was gets eleven by fourteen so I knew she would really appreciate that she was so excited and her family was so happy about actually gave him two eleven by fourteens because she couldn't decide between two very different family portrait swan was like standing and no kind of formal level was leading altogether arms wrapped around each other and she like a just can't decide I said you know what don't worry about it let's make both of them so I did both for her so that stuff like that means a lot to me and you know so if you're going to do that offer them something and then maybe give them a discount anything else they want to purchase so I need models s o the session feel beyond me and I'll offer you x amount of whatever either an eight by ten or one hundred dollars credit and anything after that you want would be twenty percent off my normal prices

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Michele Celentano.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Beckie Sibley
 

Michele is a true artist in every sense of the word. While her photography skills are exceptional, it is her ability to work with families that absolutely had me mesmerized. She is a natural with people of all ages. Her teaching style is second to none. I especially appreciate that she had the CreativeLIve attendees jump in to pose the first family. With many of these courses, I find myself feeling completely inadequate because the instructors make it look super easy. When the student photographers worked with the family, they represented ME. This was such an encouragement. I also was thrilled that the second family was more of a challenge as it showcased Michele's talents perfectly. The business section was insightful and inspirational. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this course. It was a deal at $129. Thank you CreativeLive! And thank YOU, Michele. You are the best of the best.

Beckie Sibley
 

Michele is a true artist in every sense of the word. While her photography skills are exceptional, it is her ability to connect with families that absolutely had me mesmerized. She is a natural with people of all ages. Her teaching style is second to none. I especially appreciate that she had the CreativeLIve attendees the first family. With many of these courses, I find myself feeling completely inadequate because the instructors make it look super easy. When the student photographers worked with the family, they represented ME. This was such an encouragement. I also was thrilled that the second family was more of a challenge as it showcased Michele's talents perfectly. The business section was insightful and inspirational. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this course. It was a deal at $129. Thank you CreativeLive! And thank YOU, Michele. You are the best of the best.

Courtney Zito
 

I love this class! I am transitioning from film & television to photography, specifically children and families, and this class is wonderful! I am only on Day 1, class 6 (The art of posing) and I have learned so much that I have already applied to my own photography. If you're like me, you have come across other's photos and thought "meh", and then you come across some and you are like "wow!". What is the difference? Well there are many factors that make a great portrait, but one aspect I hadn't spent as much time thinking about was posing. You don't think about how important posing is until you see it in action here. I am looking forward to the rest of this series and soaking up all of her experience and knowledge. She's cute and quirky, and very organized in her teaching. Thank you Michele, great class!

Student Work

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