A few questions from a cheer photographer...would like your input!

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This year we did all digital. The photographer put every photo from the day on cds and the parents bought the discs. No hassles, no packages, all high quality and just one price. There weren't any button/special gift options, but none of our parents have bought any of that for a couple of years now.
 
Great job everyone, really covered all the options! I would like to add one complaint/consideration for the team photo. Please think about alternate ways of posing the team. I have seen one to many team photos with the exact same kids in the exact same position every time a team photo is taken (gym photos, event photos..etc). IMO lining them up by height with shortest always in front & taller in back gets real old, real quick. It's upsetting to both the athletes & parents. I've seen pictures where they squeeze the tallest in a 4th or 5th back row barely clearing the back of the heads in front of them. Just a suggestion :D
 
Great job everyone, really covered all the options! I would like to add one complaint/consideration for the team photo. Please think about alternate ways of posing the team. I have seen one to many team photos with the exact same kids in the exact same position every time a team photo is taken (gym photos, event photos..etc). IMO lining them up by height with shortest always in front & taller in back gets real old, real quick. It's upsetting to both the athletes & parents. I've seen pictures where they squeeze the tallest in a 4th or 5th back row barely clearing the back of the heads in front of them. Just a suggestion :D

I'm personally a fan of random or more creative team photos as opposed to generic lines, however if thats what you do I have a solution for that. Last year I had 22 kids on my team. I lined them up from tallest to shortest. I took my 7 tallest, 8 shortest and then 7 mid height girls and grouped them. The tallest go on the front row on their knees. The shortest stand/bend behind them and the mid height girls in the back row. I personally feel like it looks better because their heights are more proportional.
 
Love the fathead options. The vinyl pictures you can put on your wall..I would love to have a picture of my athlete taken in her scorp and then have that shadowed and 6 ft tall to put as her headboard on her bedroom wall. As well as, gyms could take some pictures of their athletes doing key moves and have them shadowed so they are not athlete specific, but they can put them on their wall as gym decoration.

Last year we had a photography take a picture of the athletes hands in a basket prep, all the hands holding a foot in a scorp and just a piece of their uniform. Everything in black and white and then splash of color that made parts stand out. It makes a great piece of cheer art collaged together with my athlete's face in a great picture in the middle.
 
Brennan-Photo.jpg

creative posing is our specialty...I also dislike rows of smallest to tallest on a gray spongepainted background. This is what we do... :)
 
1. What are your favorite photo gift items...besides photo buttons? (examples - wall clings, cut out statues, bag tags, playing cards, ornaments, etc)
Blankets are really cool :)
2. Does your gym do:
pre-paid packages (one pose, where the photographer picks the best one)
OR
on-site sales (a few poses are taken and the athlete and parents pick and choose what they want from each pose?

AND....which is your preference...pre-paid packages or on-site sales? (or a different process if you use one)
Pre-paid.
3. What's more important...
Lower cost and lower quality portraits (like under $20-$40 packages) OR
Higher cost and higher quality portraits (like $40-$80+ packages)?
High quality... who wants a junky photo?
4. What is your biggest compliment OR complaint (if any) about cheer pics you've had done in the past?
Nothing.
 
I would have to say that being able to just buy a team photo is a big thing. Between school, and competitions, and family Christmas pictures I do not need another picture of just my child, but I like having a nice picture of her with her team for her to put in her room. Our photographer this year only gave this as an option you could add to a package. I don't need 12 wallets, 2 5x7x, and 8x10 of my CP and then add on the group photo. Cheer is an expensive sport so be nice to us cheer moms who are barely affording the sport and give an option of just a team picture to purchase... it may not be a big sale but it is still a sale and if I like your work and you are in my gym the next year you never know I might have more to spend.
 
1. What are your favorite photo gift items; I saw this one thing where they took 3 pictures of the athlete, and kinda edited them to make this really cool poster.
2. Pre-Paid or On site; We do pre paid and i hate it. My photos always are crappy and yea. I like choices!
3. Lower cost, lower quality, or higher cost higher quality. Well, if you're taking pictures for a gym then I'd do higher cost/higher quality. If it were for a rec or highschool team, lower.
4. Complaint about pictures; We take ours outside for rec, and they always look like crap. For gym we always take them with just a white back drop, and the photos are really grainy. -__-
Good luck with your business!:)
 
The poster thing i was talking about. They're really cool!
Just an idea, maybe you could re-create it?
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3. Lower cost, lower quality, or higher cost higher quality. Well, if you're taking pictures for a gym then I'd do higher cost/higher quality. If it were for a rec or highschool team, lower.

I don't think a high school team should have lower quality pictures, if they want their pictures done professionally then they should expect to pay a price for high quality.
 
I don't think a high school team should have lower quality pictures, if they want their pictures done professionally then they should expect to pay a price for high quality.
Woops. I should've clarified that one more. For OUTSIDE PHOTOS vs. INSIDE PHOTOS. I just always assume theirs are outside.
For outside (high school usually), they should be cheaper. In my opinion, its easier to take an outside picture, therefore it should be cheaper.
Sorry for the confusion!
 
I wish there was another company that did video scrapbooks and compiled video of athletes throughout the season at various competitions!!
 
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