Hi friends and welcome to my blog!  
I’m Stephanie, a senior and family portrait photographer based in Macon, Georgia. Here on the blog, you'll find recent sessions, tips and tricks, and personal stories. Feel free to take a look around. Thanks for stopping by!

categories:

welcome to

the blog

Weddings  ||

SENIORS  ||

Engagements  ||

ADVICE/TIPS

Families  ||

for photographers, personal

August 27, 2019

TUESDAY TIPS | 5 Programs Every Busy Photographer Needs!

Hi friends! Back again with another Tuesday Tip for photographers!

macon wedding photographer coffee shop computer

If you know me personally or follow me on social media, you probably have picked up on the fact that I am in a season of HUSTLE. In addition to my photography business, I am a full-time teacher, a part-time dance teacher, a wife, and a dog mom. I am learning to work in the pockets of my days while still being present with my family and friends.

That’s where these five amazing programs come in! Establishing a solid workflow for my business has been crucial and these programs have helped me do that. Now, I want to share them with you!

1. Dubsado

Oh, Dubs! How I feel so much more organized with you in my life! Dubsado is a Business Management Solution system that allows me to seamlessly onboard new clients, send and sign contracts, create invoices, receive payments, and send out my client questionnaires for my wedding clients! It has the capabilities to sync to my Google Calendar so I never miss a meeting or accidentally double book myself. It keeps everything neat and organized for me. My clients love the ease of an online system which makes me SO happy. If you want to see why I love Dubsado, you can get 20% off by using the code stephaniegorephotography!

 

2. PhotoMechanic

PhotoMechanic is a culling software that I use to quickly and efficiently sort through my photos post-session/event. It renders each RAW images as a JPG so that I can easily see if the photo is in focus or not. With the touch of a button, I can tag the photos I want to keep and edit. Once I cull through my photos, I copy them onto a folder on my external hard drive, and import them into Lightroom to edit! There is a one-time fee for PhotoMechanic but I think it is invaluable! The time it used to take me to cull through a session in Lightroom was embarrassing. With PhotoMechanic, I can cull through a session in 30 minutes and a wedding in under 2 hours! The hours it has given back to me is priceless.

 

3. BlogStomp

BlogStomp has quickly become one of my favorite parts of my workflow! I love pairing images together for a blog post or collaging images for Facebook. BlogStomp allows you to combine images together into one image without the use of Photoshop. It also compresses your images for easy social media and blog posting without compromising quality! BlogStomp is also a one-time fee program. I love using this software and how creative it allows me to be!

4. Pixieset

Pixieset is my gallery service! I use Pixieset to upload my client’s galleries, send galleries, and process digital or print orders. Pixieset is SUPER user-friendly and is a beautiful way to deliver the digital images of their special days. You can also link your professional printing labs and allow your clients to print their photos from a professional lab and have it sent straight to their house! Pixieset is free for the first 25GB of data uploaded. You then have to pay a yearly fee for storage but it’s worth it in my eyes!

 

5. Planoly

Do I have time every day to craft a perfect Instagram post at the exact peak time of engagement? No. Nope. Not at all. Do I sometimes post in real-time? Yeah… but… most of the time, I schedule my content out through an app/website called Planoly! Planoly allows me to pre-schedule my posts, add a saved list of hashtags seamlessly, and curate my feed as needed! The biggest selling point for me is that I can type captions by using the website version of the app. I feel much better when I can see my entire caption versus having to scroll in that little tiny section on Instagram. Planoly is totally free!

 

Is there any software or program that YOU love? I’d love to know in the comments!

And if you missed last week’s Tuesday Tip, you can check it out below!
What’s in My Camera Bag?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *