The Best Tools For Running Your Photography Business

I abso-freakin-lutely love when photographers and entrepreneurs share their favourite and most useful products and tools for running their businesses. So it was a no-brainer for this to be my next blog post considering I am pretty darn happy with my current workflow and tools.

FOR EDITING

ADOBE LIGHTROOM

The photographer’s numero uno of editing programmes. I often get asked whether I prefer Lightroom or Photoshop and the truth is I do the majority of my work in Lightroom. When necessary I pull the images through to Photoshop for some extra editing.

PHOTOMECHANIC

This programme is worth every penny. It saves SO much time with culling. Anything that speeds up my workflow is an absolute must-have in my book.

JPEG MINI

I have absolutely no clue how this thing does it, but it somehow reduces the size of your images WITHOUT reducing the quality. You guys, this thing is freakin’ magic. It saves you SO MUCH SPACE. Honestly one of my favourite investments and worth every cent.

For Website & Gallery Delivery

PICTIME

Pic-time is my preferred client gallery delivery system. It’s easy to use, has great customer service and it’s really beautiful, which is always a big win when presenting images to clients. Their sales & automation add-ons are also absolutely awesome. (Feel free to use this code to get one month off: N3J8EH.)

SHOWIT

As photographers we are generally pretty obsessed with aesthetics. So I’m sure your website is as important to you as it is to me. That’s where Showit steps in and saves all our butts to produce extraordinarily stunning websites for all photographers.

WEBSITE DESIGN

I’m embarrassingly useless when it comes to tech, so even though Showit is fairly easy to set up yourself, if you’re like me you want to get someone else to sort that out for you.

WEB HOSTING

Disclaimer, I happened to be married to my web host haha. But to be perfectly honest that puts even more pressure on my host to be the host with the most! Smartweb is based out of South Africa, and is affordable and reliable, and I’m obviously a big fan.

For Admin

DUBSADO

Dubsado, my studio management programme – aka: ‘my brain.’ I literally don’t know how I functioned before investing in this CRM. It keeps my entire life in order (well almost). It has a calendar for all my shoots, workflow, and the ability for you to send your contracts so your clients can sign them online. It is incredibly customisable and has the most beautiful proposal options so my clients get the absolute best expeirence when booking in with me. If you’re considering joining Dubsado I highly recommend it, here is 20% off your first year or month with them.

CANVA

As I say often, I am a photographer, not a designer. Sometimes those two things feel like like they go hand-in-hand. But for some of us (read: me) they don’t. That’s where Canva comes in. Bless the creators of Canva. My life is a billion times easier now with this programme. So simple to use and just plain wonderful. You never have to be overwhelmed by Indesign again. I often get my templates off of Creative Market when I can’t find something to my liking on Canva.

BACKBLAZE

I am totally pedantic about backing up my images. Backblaze offers me a sense of relief because I know at all times there is a backup of my backup. We are in the business of people’s memories and heirlooms and having everything backed up shouldn’t be anything less than a requirement. Crashplan is a cloud data backup system for small businesses and I honestly think every single small business should utilise a cloud backup. If you don’t have one yet I strongly suggest looking into it. It is a worthwhile investment. You can try out a free month of Backblaze here.

NARRATIVE

This links into the tech aversion thing for me, but Narrative is another system that has arrived in my life to make it that much easier. Narrative allows you to create blog posts super quick and easily. Anything that allows me to spend more time working on my business rather than in it is a winner in my book.

FLODESK

Continuing with our theme of tech aversion, I have tried out many different email marketing systems, and Flodesk has quickly become my favourite by a country mile. Their templates are stunning and SO easy to use, so no more procrastinating with that all-important mailing list, friends!
(Here is a link to get 50% off your Flodesk subscription!)

For Film Developing

TAKE IT EASY LAB

Since introducing shooting in film to my kit in both a personal and professional capacity, I’ve been making use of the brilliant Leeds-based lab, Take It Easy. They have a really simple process for ordering your film processing online and quick turnaround times and I’ve been really happy with my experience. If you’d like to try them out, here’s 20% off your purchase with them.

Kit

Take a peak into my photography kit here.

*Disclaimer: I may earn a small percentage profit on a couple of these programmes when referring them. But please rest assured I only ever refer programmes I personally use and love.

*Photo of me by the wonderful Bronwyn Tod Photography.

Any tools you think I need to add to this list? Let me know in the comments below!