Trimming expenses without compromising quality in photography.
May 16th, 2025
Photo credit: Elizabeth Tate Photography
Life has gotten pretty expensive–and it’s nothing different with photography. And, while self-employment as a photographer has wonderful benefits, it doesn’t come without its own financial challenges.
If you’ve been doing this for a while, you’re aware that every time you turn around, someone or something needs your money. If you’re going to run a successful business that puts out quality work on a consistent basis, you must cut costs where you can and find cost-effective software solutions to make your everyday life easier.
Common pain points for photographers.
If you’re new to the industry, let me fill you in on what the pain points tend to be for photographers in business for themselves.
At a bare minimum, you have to buy and maintain up-to-date gear (not that cheap!), and you’d also need a safe and effective way to process, store, and share your work.
Gear costs.
For example, does anyone remember the good ole’ Canon 5D Mark ii DSLR camera? It elevated the photography game for so many back in 2008. The Mark series had a few great years in the spotlight for Canon, but it wasn’t long before DSLRs took a backseat to Mirrorless technology–a tremendous game changer for the industry with its focusing capabilities.
Factor in the shutter life and camera makers putting an end date on sending your camera in for repairs, and you’re reminded that to maintain quality and meet expectations, you’ll need to regularly replace or upgrade your gear. How frequently you do this depends on a few factors, one of which being the volume you shoot. It’s never fun to spend the money on upgrades, but you eventually have to if you want to compete.
Software and marketing.
Most photographers would say that software is a crucial part of their business in terms of productivity and efficiency.
As photographers in a digital world, we shoot on a digital card (or, we have film processed digitally). Speed is of the essence as we cull and edit via a software system on a computer, and then we take the images and deliver them via some distribution channel to our clientele, while sharing the best of our work in our portfolios and on social media. If you’re a photographer who operates on sales and post-shoot consultations, you utilize an e-commerce platform for sales.
And what drives all of this booking and shooting and editing and delivering and selling? A website, of course.
However, a website alone can cost thousands of dollars for a customized design, and it’s a cost many photographers accept as a necessary evil. Add that expense to the platforms to support selling photo products and downloads, booking sessions, and marketing seasonal sales, and it can absolutely sink you if you’re not savvy with cutting costs where you can.
Do you see how the right software streamlining this process could reduce time spent on tasks? Efficient processing could lead to more satisfied clientele; more satisfied clientele may lead to more business; and so the happy cycle continues.
When you consider the ripple effect, there are obviously tremendous long-term benefits to investing in the right software solutions for your business. The right software system could make or break your business, depending on the route you go.
Looking for cost-effective solutions?
As we consider all of this, it’s imperative to consider cost-effective solutions.
Open-source software
Open-source software, by definition, is “computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change and distribute the software and its source code to anyone for any purpose”.
In other words, while you have creative liberties and unique opportunities for productivity with the software, you’re not completely reinventing the wheel to build out and utilize it. What does this equate to? Saving (big) time, and saving (big) money.
As with many products these days, the buying options are plentiful. Do you want to pay a discounted lump sum to take advantage of it for a year, or would you prefer to pay monthly as long as you’re using it? Most services have tiered options for both methods so that you don’t need to pay for more than you need (think: iCloud or dropbox tiered pricing based on storage size).
Speaking of spending wisely, bundles are another thing to look out for and jump on if you find one that fits your needs. All in all, when you compare paying for a one-size-fits-all software solution with a cost-effective open-source alternative, which one would you choose? It’s a tricky question.
Zenfolio: your partner in cutting expenses.
Enter Zenfolio. The NextZen platform is a one-stop shop, offering professional portfolio website hosting with customizable templates, e-commerce options, marketing solutions, customized (secure!) shareable client galleries…all in one place.
With Zenfolio, photographers can easily curate beautiful and secure galleries for clients to view and share. Once the clients have access to their galleries, they can proof and select favorites with little to no effort–all in the same place.
And, since we all know time is money, let’s also consider the cost savings in the automated marketing and workflow features that Zenfolio offers. No more working tirelessly to email clientele for every occasion under the sun! Let the NextZen platform do the work for you by making use of digital coupons and client marketing campaigns.
Finally, it’s worth noting Zenfolio’s economical e-commerce capabilities–the ability to create a price list (or several, if you need) and assign to your galleries so they also become your online store, or to have Zenfolio suggest smart-pricing based on things like specific industry, printing lab fees, and location. Avoid tethering an expensive e-commerce account to your website–there’s simply no need. With Zenfolio, you get to pick your lab and streamline the order fulfillment process so that you never lift a finger, or fulfill orders yourself–whatever you deem the best fit for your business.
Zenfolio vs. other platforms
Just for fun, let’s calculate how much you might pay with coded, a la carte services and platforms for your photography needs.
- Offerings: For starters, a uniquely coded website can cost upwards of thousands of dollars even before considering additional features like marketing and e-commerce; it’s simply a different ballpark altogether.
- Zenfolio cost: With Zenfolio, you’ll get a beautiful, customizable portfolio website to display your images for as little as $7/month billed annually, with two higher tiered price points that include additional features based on your needs.
- Post-shoot support: you’ll need to upload images to client galleries and share the galleries for client proofing; with an outsourced service like Pixieset or PicTime, you’ll pay $28/month on the low end.
- E-commerce options: Finally, utilizing an e-commerce option like Shopify can cost anywhere from $30/month to $300/month, depending on your needs. Zenfolio’s mid-level plan, PortfolioPlus, gives users the ability to utilize e-commerce capabilities; it costs $11.50/month billed annually.
- Final comparison: Website cost (thousands of dollars), plus a client gallery platform ($28/month), plus an e-commerce platform ($30-$300/month)? Or, Zenfolio ProPlus: your $20/month billed annually option that includes all of the above.
What’s your choice?
Free product or service trials.
Free trials are perfect for when you want to test drive a platform or software without a full commitment, and oftentimes they’re right under your nose. It’s simple: any valid software solution will allow you to “try before you buy.”
Another thing to do is to take advantage of educational discounts and offers often available for students and teachers.
Finally, join online communities for software deals and shared resources. Zenfolio provides all of these things–free trial, educational discounts, and an amazing online community–and is ready to have you take advantage of the benefits provided.
No need to look (or be) cheap!
All in all, nobody in this industry wants to be presented as “cheap”… cheap photographers don’t get the good business. At the same time, feeling like you’re spinning your wheels with software solutions can feel frustrating. It takes a long time to get a website up and running, so you want to pick the right software the very first time.
To that end, we often feel like we have to spring for the priciest option if we want to be considered a legitimate choice for someone’s business, if we want to make good money. This isn’t necessary, though, when you consider how quality and cost-effectiveness meet with Zenfolio’s product, which allows photographers to achieve professional results in terms of quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
So, if you’re finding yourself throwing money away over platforms and software that aren’t cutting it on quality or are insanely expensive, why not re-evaluate? Consider creating your free trial with Zenfolio today and see for yourself how streamlined work can be.
Your website. Your way. In minutes.
Build a professional website that reflects your style. Easily customize your design–no coding required. Run your business…all from your own site with your own brand.
If you’re overwhelmed as you start to explore the software, don’t hesitate to take advantage of the numerous avenues of support offered; in-platform and YouTube demos, support articles, free one-on-one support, and email with our team of photographers and platform experts available for any and all your questions.
Let’s bring your photography business up another notch, together.
