After being a professional photographer for over 20 years, I've streamlined my workflow with the best software tools, apps, and gear that help me run my business. They are the best of the best, and I use them almost daily.
I would recommend these to any commercial photographer or filmmaker.
Estimates, Invoices, and Usage Licensing
BlinkBid is my go-to program for writing estimates and invoices. It's tailored for photographers and filmmakers with usage rights built into the estimating workflow. Recently, they added online payments to help you get paid faster.
Accounting, Invoicing, Bookkeeping
As much as I love BlinkBid for writing estimates, it doesn't do the the "business" things like keeping track of your books, profit & loss statements, and receipt tracking. QuickBooks does all that, and most accountants use it. So, it's a very seamless process to do your taxes. I've used QuickBooks since the beginning. It's the gold standard for small business software.
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Portoflio Website & Client Galleries
Before I was a photographer, I was a web designer. I used to do my site in WordPress for years. It was a challenge to maintain, and custom designs were costly. I switched to Pixpa last year and am so happy I did. It's so easy to use, and the customer service is incredible. I used Pixpa to build this website you're on right now.
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Email Marketing, CRM, and Lead Tracking
I used to lose track of job inquiries and miss out on jobs. It sucked. Then I discovered ActiveCampaign, whose CRM (Client Relationship Management) saved me so much time and energy. All my clients and leads are here. I can keep tabs on my business on one screen.
Plus, it's a killer email marketing program, so you don't have to use "another" tool. I send out an email about twice a month, and every time I do, I get work. It's like printing money.
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Call Sheets
Life before Set Hero was an awful mess of Excel spreadsheets and hastily scribbled notes on scraps of paper. To make a decent-looking Call Sheet took forever.
Set Hero makes it so easy, and you look way more professional. Plus, it sends out text confirmations to cast, client, and crew, so you know everyone got the message about their call time. It has a great free plan for small shoots to boot.
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Client Gallery & File Deliver
I just discovered Piclfow and it is by far the BEST Client Gallery Software for professional photographers. Not only do your images look big, load fast, and easy to organize, but you clients can make annotations directly on the proofs. This is a game changer and it's free to try out.
Sun Angle Calculations
Planning for any outdoor photoshoot, I have to know where the sun will be. TPE is the BEST app to figure it out! The user interface is highly intuitive. It's a paid app, so no ads are junking up the screen. It even has an Augmented Reality view to see exactly where the sun will be. I love this app!
Filesharing, Archiving, Cloud Storage
I've tried other cloud drive storage solutions and keep returning to Dropbox. It just works. I never have trouble getting access to my files. Sharing is super easy. You can even send big files like WeTransfer. Every still photoshoot I do, I upload the RAW files to dropbox as a backup. I never have to worry about having an external drive.
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