Sports Team player Portraits

One of my best friends coaches a girls high school soccer team. He just emailed me and offered me the opportunity to do this years team portraits.

I told him I would love the opportunity but I have no idea how it is sold or priced. I assume the photos are taken and posted and then the parents are given the link to the portraits and the parents who choose to purchase do so.

What this does not do is answer how I would be paid for the session itself.

Would I be dependent on selling the photo prints alone for my profit?

It is too late to notify each parent and see who would be willing to pay for a photo session with their child player.

I thin k I know what I want to do here.

Since I am told I need to do this shoot, either this coming Monday or Tuesday afternoon, I am thinking to just go do the shoot first and get a few photos of each girl. There are 18 team members.

Once the shoot is done and photos are processed I can make a folder on my Zenfolio page for this event. As each parent pays me for the session I can then post their child's photos and send them a link to the page. This will keep one parent from sharing the folder password with another parent and them ordering prints without paying me for my session work.

I was thinking, after looking at some other photographers packages, of charging $15.00 to $20.00 for each players session and then let the parents go to my page and order the prints they want to order instead of giving them a set package deal. This way, they choose the sizes they want, frames if they want and can even order mugs or other items if they desire.

Let us know how it turns out. Been thinking about this as well and setup a Smugmug account last year in preparation for something like this.

Parents tell me to charge, but I actually wonder how many would want to pay.

Give the coach your card with your details....If you watermark them on your site then the parents can get in touch and order what they want..

pedroj said:

Give the coach your card with your details....If you watermark them on your site then the parents can get in touch and order what they want..

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How do you price it then? You would have to markup the prints, a good bit of markup, to make any money. Can you make enough to fool with the shoot by just charging for prints?

I was thinking maybe a package deal to offer if the other idea doesn't work.

Ok, I had a talk today with the coach and we have settled on charging the flat fee of $15.00 per child session and let the parents do the ordering from my website.

All that was involved in this decision likes the flat charge idea better than a set package. I get to shoot for less than an hour and make almost $300 if all the parents purchase.

Crossed fingers xx. Is it indoor portraits? Have you thought about your setup/light etc?

wud said:

Crossed fingers xx. Is it indoor portraits? Have you thought about your setup/light etc?

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As long as it is not raining it will be outdoor portraits between 4pm and 6pm. So the light won't be harsh. I do worry about where the sun will be in relation to the players. I told the coach I wanted to move the goal net if I needed too. The goal net is what they want for a background.

I want the sun positioned from behind the player and just over their shoulder for hair light effect. I will have reflector panels on the ground in front of them to reflect some light for fill and/or on camera flash fill.

My next decision is what lens I will use. If the light is low due to clouds I will use the 50mm f/1.8. Otherwise I may use the 70-300mm VR lens for the compression.