Selling basketball photos? - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II

01/21/2007 09:35:29 AM · #1

As you may have read in my other post I have been taking photos of my sons basketball games. Every tournament and some at practice too.

The basketball coachs wife said she would like some of my photos of the game last weekend.

So last Tuesday I give her a dvd with six game of photos on it.
I have each tournament in a folder. Then each game in another folder so they are easy to find. In all it was over 600 photos.

That was not all the games or any practice day's they had.

At this weekends tournament she thanked me for the photos and said she could not believe how many I had taken. She also said that she decided she no longer had to bring her camera to the games as she had me, lol.. :)

At the end of the season just for the fun of it I am going to put together a slide show using story book 3.

I will give each parent a dvd at no cost, but I was also thinking about putting something at the end of the dvd about prints.

Something about if they want prints that they can buy a dvd of 1000+ photos from me for $9.99 or what ever.

This would just help to cover my cost of the dvds, cases, shipping, etc..

What do you think about that?

I cold use some help with the wording I should put on the last slide of the dvd show saying I have the dvd's for sale that they can make prints from.

rabi9634

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

01/21/2007 10:32:10 AM · #2

I can tell you that if there are other photographers shooting the same games/tournaments trying to make a living and they saw you handing out DVDs with 1000's of images, they are not gonna be happy.

Personally, I think you should sell the DVD's AND offer printing. If you want to give coaches a complimentary DVD, by all means do so.. it's good publicity and will help you stay in good graces with the coach. Photographers around my area who do this typically sell the DVD's for about 30 dollars.

In today's market, a larger and larger percentage of people have figured out that you can get 19 cent 4x6 prints from retail stores and online print services. If I had the choice between a do-it-yourself 19 cent print or a $4 print of the same through someone else, I think I would probably take the risk on the cheap one.

To further show my point:
One of the photographers who covers a majority of the local highschool athletic games around here offers prints through smugmug or shutterpoint or something of that sort. Made a pretty good living off of print sales.. but then started putting together image slideshows on DVD to sell at the sports banquets. Print sales decreased drastically. It only took one person to realize they could get their prints 95% cheaper if they just spent one lump on the DVD and got their prints on their own. Obviously, this guy quit offering the DVD to anyone outside the school's coaching staff and athletic department.

photodude

01/21/2007 10:43:27 AM · #3

Judging by the photos on your profile portfolio, we are talking about youth basketball here. Except for the referees everyone else is a volunteer. The coach, timekeeper and scorekeeper (who are almost certainly other parents) arent being paid. Considering that your cost to give someone a CD is only a few cents, I would caution that trying to sell them is going to rub some people the wrong way and imho is violating the spirit of what these programs are all about. Let them print their own stuff.

High school is somewhat of a different animal. The coach is paid (although as a former HS basketball coach I can tell you in most cases not a whole lot), the scorekeepers and timekeepers are often paid, as are other official personnel at games. At that level it might be more appropriate to offer your work for compensation.

01/21/2007 10:45:12 AM · #4

Userrabi9634

Thanks for the reply.
The only other photographers there are other parents with point and shoot cameras taking a couple snap shots durring the game.

Even when I get all the players together durring tournaments for a team photos the others with cameras just sit there and watch me, lol..

I am still learning about the slide show program I am working with, but from what I understand I have the option of saving the files used for the slide show or not saving them on the same dvd.

I thought if I just did the dvd slide show and did not also save the files they could not make prints from it. Even if they could make prints from the dvd slide show the show is not going to have every photo I saved on it, maybe a 200-400 photos for the show.

You have some very good points, thanks for the reply..

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II

01/21/2007 10:48:24 AM · #5

Originally posted by photodude:

True, and other then covering cost (not much at this point) I was not looking to make any money right now.

The plan at first was to give it all away and that is what I will probly stick with.

Like the kids I am just learning too. :)

Maybe by the time my son gets to play in the high school games my photos will be worth something and people will know me better and what to expect from my photography.

rabi9634

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

01/21/2007 01:38:14 PM · #6

A very important thing to keep in mind is that people will take anything you give them, and if that advantage suddenly goes away, you'll see the bad side of it.

If you're going to give out these DVDs for free, and next year (or somewhere along the line) you decide to charge, you may get more resistance from the parents who previously had gotten the freebies. If nothing else, figure out what each one of these is going to cost you, and ask just that.

I guess my big issue with this is that if all you really care to do is put the photos out for all to see, why not use a free photo hosting site and just share the link? Seems silly to put so much time and effort into creating DVDs with the cost out of pocket when there's not any intention of marketing your services or eventually turning a profit. Rather than lose money, check out flickr or photobucket or something of the like.