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There are a few photography topics that I'm just completely drawn to. I absolutely love a good "what's in my bag" blog post! I've actually found a few fantastic pieces of equipment and programs that have saved me SO much time, thanks to other photographers sharing their experience.
So photographers, if you're anything like me, you're going to LOVE this post about my favorite workflow-efficient programs!
I start the editing process by culling down the images, removing any duplicates, blinking, technical, etc. I am able to view the images full screen and quickly click through each image, starring the images I will be editing. When I'm finished narrowing down the images, a simple click will move the photos into the folders I've categorized as "keep" and "toss". I know that other programs are very popular in the industry and am always surprised that Perfect Browse hasn't gotten the attention it deserves.
I've seen JPEGmini at WPPI a few times but it wasn't until I saw them pop up in my Facebook newsfeed that I really started to look into it. They advertised a program that scrunches down your file size, opening up space on your hard drive, without compromising print quality. I was a bit skeptical, but at such an affordable price, I figured why not!
After running all of my photos through the program, I ended up clearing about 20 gigs off my computer! The real test came when it was time to print a 20x30 and I have to say, I was impressed. There was no noticeable quality difference at all, just extra space on my hard drive - just as promised!
When putting together blog posts, I would open all of the images in Photoshop, resize, and then drag them into a few templates I made. In all honesty, I would dread having to write up blog posts because this method was so time consuming. It was taking me 1-1.5 hours just to get the photos ready for one post! It was so exhausting!
After doing everything from scratch up until 2015 or so, I eventually found Blogstomp and was blown away – I was able to put together an entire blog post in under 5 minutes! This is a huge time saver during the busy season!
They also have a sister program, Album Stomp, which makes album designing a total breeze. It has many features similar to Blog Stomp, with the addition of including album specs for popular labs, so your finished design won't spill into the album's bleed zones. Once the album is designed, the album can be uploaded to Prufr, where couples can view and make changes to their design.
To make things even more awesome, not only is this program a huge time saver, but their customer service is top notch as well! They have a private Facebook group for Blogstomp and Albumstomp users to ask questions and also reply to emails pretty quickly. Any company able to give me more time to focus on other aspects of my business and also excels at customer service, definitely gets a high five from me!
Back when I first started photographing weddings, I would chisel my wedding agreements and contracts into rock. Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite like that, but the days of sending contracts via snail mail seems pretty ancient, right?! (not to say I don't love snail mail - I totally think everyone should receive occasional surprises in the mail!).
I finally made the jump to digital contracts in 2015, probably a little bit later than most (but hey, you're talking to the owner of a flip phone, here!). Switching from mail to e-sign meant no more bulky envelopes requiring a bunch of stamps, no getting lost in the mail, no receiving an envelope nearly torn to shreds. Instead, it was pure convenience!
I type of my contract in Word and save it as a PDF. I upload the contract to Digisigner, click "sending for signing", and it gets sent to my client at rocket-speed. While most e-sign programs only allow a signature, Digisigner enables the client to also fill in other information such as addresses and times. Once the contract is signed, both the client and myself each receive an email confirmation and a pdf copy of the signed contract. Super simple!
When I first began photographing, checks and cash were still high on the list of common forms of payment. Now almost nobody carries either, which meant it was time to make a change and accept credit cards.
After quite a bit of research, I found Wave offered exactly what I was looking for. I'm able to itemize what included in the Wedding Collection, either manually or by a saved template. Once I enter the client's name and email, they'll receive an email that will direct them to the payment screen.
On average, payments only take about 3 days to reach your bank account. To clean up your workflow even more, you're also able to set payment reminders and recurring payments.
While Wave does offer more than just credit card processing, such as accounting and bookkeeping, I honestly haven't utilized that part of their program much to be able to offer a review.
I'll be updating this post as I find more ways to make the process on the back-end seamless, so feel free to bookmark this page.
Did you find any of these reviews helpful? Let me know in the comments!