In this episode Oh Shoot! podcast, Cassidy Lynne reads through photography advice column submissions.
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In this episode, Cassidy Lynne reads through your advice column submissions and gives advice on restarting a photography business, poor quality reels, forgetting poses, and more.
Hello everybody welcome back to Oh Shoot! Welcome to this month’s advice column so like we do every month you guys write in submissions. And basically just say things you need advice on. I never know what I’m going to get from you guys. You guys go through a plethora, a wide variety of things and we’re going to address them! We’re going to talk about them today. Just a reminder if you guys ever want to submit for the advice column episodes or any of my submission episodes. Go follow the oh shoot! Instagram it’s just Oh Shoot podcast. I always post them over on my stories on my Instagram story. So that’s how you’re going to find out about submission episodes and everything! So, let’s get straight to the episode!
Photography Advice Column Submission #1
Submission: Do you send out media kits when reaching out to brands? How important is it?
Cassidy: I think it depends, let me explain! When reaching out to brands, it’s better to send a modified version of a media kit without pricing information. This allows flexibility to work within the brand’s budget. Instead, create a PDF deck that showcases your value, including social statistics and examples of past posts to demonstrate your capabilities. The traditional media kit typically includes pricing, but when you’re the one pitching to the brands, it’s better to focus on highlighting your worth through a PDF deck that shows why you’re valuable to them.
In my experience, about 75% of the time, brands actually reach out first with specific projects and budgets in mind. They often already know what they want and have allocated funds for the partnership. Many times, these are either returning clients or brands familiar with my social media presence. In these cases, I rarely need to use my media kit since we mainly negotiate through email to finalize the price.
Photography Advice Column Submission #2
Submission: I am shooting a destination wedding in late 2026 and the bride is so persistent on me finding a second shooter right this instant. Not only that, she wants to “approve” of one. Every person I’ve sent her she CALLS me and tells me things she doesn’t like about them. I assure her that I am doing the editing and second photographers do not get creative freedom. For example, she does like angled photos (Dutch tilt). I’m stressed she is going to start acting crazy towards me but also it’s her wedding, so maybe she is just nervous. What do I do?
Cassidy: So, at this point with this client I don’t know if there is much else you can do to reassure her. Unless it’s someone you’ve worked with in the past that you can be like 100% this is the person that I want to work with. In the future make sure it’s in your contract that your second shooter is chosen by you. You have the discretion you get to choose who the second shooter is, and you agree that it’s going to be someone that can do what they need to do.
And that the client has no say in that. That’s a very typical part of a wedding contract so definitely has that in your contract for the future. As of like right now I think maybe give it a little bit and tell her you need maybe a month or two to put together a list of people. And then maybe get like two or three options and be like of these two or three options this is the person 100% I think we should go with and when you deliver that info maybe don’t leave it open-ended.
Photography Advice Column Submission #3
Submission: When should I start timeline planning with my couple? I always have timelines finalized 2 months before their wedding, but right now I feel like I either reach out too early that they don’t have any details, or they’re the ones doing the reaching out. I never want my clients to feel like they’re in the dark, but what is too much or too soon communication?
Cassidy: I think this is something that you might be able to figure out with your current clients and do a little bit of testing. I think it’s different for every client for me I find that the 30-day Mark 80% of my clients know all the info that they need to know. But I do feel like there are a couple of clients who want that communication before the 30-day mark. So, what I would do if I were you because every client’s different, I would offer the option for them to fill out your questionnaire or hop on a call sooner!
Photography Advice Column Submission #4
Submission: Hey I started photography in June of 2024 I had no experience I learned how to use manual and I’m about to do my third wedding in February I’m struggling a little bit with my editing style do people want more of a clean edit. I love love love the film vibe and I like prompts more then poses but seems like the feedback I’m getting from some friends and family is that for their special occasions like newborn photos they’re gonna hire another photographer (which is fine I’m not hurt but that) but should I be offering more edit style that are more natural and less film or does it just take time to find clients that love the film vibe as much as I do.
Cassidy: This is a great question. Basically, what you are dealing with is a matter of what you love vs what your clients love. You can go either direction here. You can tailor your business to what your feedback is but maybe the people that you want to be booking are not the people that like the clean edit. But the people you want to be booking are people that are going to love your work for what it is, this filmy aesthetic. I do find that people who love that film aesthetic are kind of like complete opposite of the people who like that clean edit. So, if you’re booking people that want the clean aesthetic that’s the feedback you’re going to get. Right now, what you’re dealing with is just the wrong clients for you!
Photography Advice Column Submission #5
Submission: I can’t figure out for the life of me how to have clear, high-resolution photos on reels!?!! They always come out blurry after I post them! Do I need to export them at a different resolution when adding them to reels?
Cassidy: This is the most common problem that people/photographers have with reels. My best advice for you is to import those high-resolution photos into a video editing app like capcut. Where you can import those high-resolution photos, they’re going to still be high resolution photos when you export them. Then your video is going to have those clear images already so, then when you’re importing it into reels it should make those photos clear as they are in the video.
Photography Advice Column Submission #6
Submission: I’ve had my photography business for a couple of months now, and have had no one reach out. My portfolio is not huge because the only shoots I’ve done are of family members/friends, but I’ve done a lot of posts/reels to try to boost momentum, and still nothing had happened. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m young and not as well established, but I don’t want that to take away from potential clients. Is there anything else I can do to gain more of an audience/create more bookings?
Cassidy: If you are doing photos of a lot of the same people it sounds like a lot of your posts and reals are probably the exact same shoot. You need to switch it up and you need a different shoot in there. I can name on my hand exactly the shoots that I did that gained me so much momentum, it’s like the shoot itself was really cute, the lighting, something about this shoot got me more traction than usual. Other things you can do are work on your SEO, switch things up stop doing the same thing on IG, try something new,and work on your word of mouth!
Photography Advice Column Submission #7
Submission: Switching over to emailing clients. I’ve been texting them all once we have a booking set, but I feel like I am always on my phone. I have tried email but idk, I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel personable like texting does. I’m a family photographer not a wedding photographer. Is it okay to stick to texting? Should I get a second phone instead? I feel like I communicate way better through text and don’t seem as up-tight. It also gives me anxiety wondering whether my email was sent to spam or not.
Cassidy: if you like are able to organize your client communication through texting awesome. I don’t know personally how iMessage is laid out to where you can organize this person’s client this person’s not. But I think a second phone is a great option because you’re saying that you feel like you’re on your phone all the time. A second phone is great and then you can quite literally turn it off during nonwork hours, so powering it down at 5:00 p.m. and powering it up at 9:00 a.m. I think it’s actually the perfect option having a work phone is quite literally the perfect option for you!
Photography Advice Column Submission #8
Submission: How to not blank when posing clients and remembering to take behind the scenes! I prep for hours ahead of each session to lay out which poses I want to showcase and then it seems like the second I get to the shoot I go blank! Before I even get out of my car at a shoot I tell myself to get a bts but here recently I just keep missing them!
Cassidy: Okay, so I have a couple of tips for you. Develop a posing schedule, run through the session in your head, keep a literal STICKY NOTE, put your phone on your camera and use that as a post list, create a BTS routine, and last but not least put on Ray Ban meta glasses on and record right when you start talking.
Photography Advice Column Submission #9
Submission: How do you plan your feed? Client post v personal post? All covers edited with the same preset? All taken with a digicam and professional cam?
Cassidy: So, my philosophy for Instagram is that it quite literally is never ever that serious. I do not think about my feed that seriously. Personally I just like to post what I love, and I like to post what I think other people would love too. I kind of base that off of what do I get the most engagement on, and the most comments on. Also, I need to keep posting my work as well, so I try to tie personal posts. Professional camera photos and like actual client work all-in-one. I personally think that photographers should not be afraid to post iPhone photos to their feed if it is in the context of a personal Photo dump or something like that!
Show Notes:
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