During that important pre-consultation with a client, most likely, she will ask to see an entire session. They have seen your amazing images on social media, but usually just one or two from a session. If you only show a few images from each set, how does your client know if those just weren't the best of the best?
Having an album or video slideshow of an entire session can help them to visualize their own session without wondering if those two shots were the best. Knowing you have the ability to capture an entire session of images they can choose from will benefit both the client and yourself. They will see how you work, your policies on number of wardrobe changes (if any) and how you can create different looks with the same setup.
In many cases, if a client sees one image as a standalone, she may not choose it if it looks similar to a second. Explaining how they complement one another in the album can help increase the chances of purchase. If only one image was shown, only one image can be bought.
Another reason for showing a full session during the pre-consultation is to explain the wardrobe options. In my studio, I do not limit the amount of wardrobe changes, as it just means more images she can choose. Showing the client many options and how each look can drastically change with the background will help her visualization as well.
In the session, I applied very quick Lightroom edits and complied the culled images into a brief video to show my clients. The only difference is I left out the other 25 images that showed nudity per the request of my client. However, when in the studio, many clients will want to see the implied nudes or full nudes, so make sure to have those available as well (if you do not have a client model release, you can always hire a model for this specific reason).
So, while showing one or two on Instagram or Facebook is great to get those leads into the studio, having the option to show a full gallery display of the session will help secure that client. It is not hard to put together, as it is just for show, and your client will appreciate the effort you put in to helping her understand what a full boudoir session can look like.
Rarely have I read something I so strongly disagree with.
Whether it's boudoir or weddings.. People all have that sale part of the program. And after shooting weddings over a 4 year period, booked on average 40 weeks per year, this is just wrong. With all due respect to the person that wrote this piece. I respect your choice -- I just really don't agree.
My apologies if it was misinterpreted. If you disagree because you believe I am showing them that they will be doing this exact poses or list -this is not the case. I show them an entire album in order to let the see how an album can be created. I do not reproduce exact shots for each client (I would be bored after two sessions:)
If it was something else you disagree with let me know! I am always open to conversation:)
I don’t disagree as strongly as John. I understand the importance of preparing a client for something maybe they haven’t done before, bit the system you describe is creatively pinning both yourself and the client into the corner. It’s saying ‘we have various styles as you can see from this full session’ but it’s also saying ‘this is the full session and that’s all you can choose from’. Planning and preparing is good but every client is different and coming away from a shot with something different than what’s been done before is what will make a client happy and feel special.
It might have been misinterpreted then and my apologies for that. I am not saying that they will be doing those exact shots. That would be creative suicide on my part. I show the clients an entire set to show that there is more than just two looks they saw on social media that is possible. That they can all an entire album even with only a few set up in the studio.
Completely off topic, but I absolutely love the furniture in those shots! It's been on my bucket list to have a set like that forever!
I live in the historic district in my town. It is full of amazing finds! I adore that furniture as well!
Avoid capturing poses, focus on the energy, emotions and atmosphere. I find many of those poses to be too intentional...
I pose people to simulate energy, emotion and atmosphere. Non-models rarely incidentally, position themselves in attractive ways. Of course, this is dependent on the genre. For portraits, which I do, and especially boudoir (I'm assuming), it's essential. The whole point of these photos are to make the woman feel good about herself. The most common emotion for non-models, being photographed, is "nervous". Never a good look!
I see no problem with this approach.
I always struggle between this, for us it's obvious that those 1 or 2 images from session is not exact quality of other 30 from the same session. I believe you can work with this trough talking too, prepare your client that it's just normal that you do xxx number of photos and from those you or together will select what is the best. I know what you want to achieve by showing more selection of images and this sounds like a good idea, but I haven't done something similar before and can't tell anything about drawbacks. The first one that shows up in my mind is that client can get scary that not all images will be that good, and will reconsider or something :) Anyway great article, thanks for sharing!
Jennifer is correct - showing a client-to-be a full session is a good way to introduce them to your style. I have sample wedding albums, and happily show the albums to clients to let them know we capture all the moments of the wedding. Approaching a boudoir session with an explanation that you will capture a range of poses and expressions is accomplished with the sample boudoir album.
Thanks for this suggestion, Jennifer!
Personally, whenever I show a new client images or a slide show, it is a mix of various past shoots, as it shows the best 3-5 images from various shoots definitely various poses or positions, different lighting different settings. Yes, there has been shoots where I probably could have done an entire slide show from, but to me that would bore a new client. It's like showing a portfolio to an art director, 1 shot per assignment unless multiple images are available in a tearsheet such as a layout in a magazine.
I would also disagree for many reasons. First I did use a sample book for all clients, it was made up of a selection of different and varied images I created with professional models I hired for just this reason. I would never ever show actual client images to anyone, period. Second the images were chosen for a reason; I take notes and make sure I shoot the images they commented on during the consultation. My goal (back then) was to make them happy and sell my work. I commend the author for their nice photography...