Offering video alongside your sessions can be a game-changer for your business! I began offering them in 2012, and they quickly became a defining part of my brand and helped me stand out from the crowd. In addition, they increase my profit per session pretty substantially.

The great thing is, you already have the tool in yours hands to create stunning session videos while capturing photos (because you use the same camera to shoot both your photos and video!), all you need is the know-how to make it happen - and my Creating Session Videos course will fully prepare you to shoot, edit, and build professional session videos to your clients! 

But before you even decide if session videos are something you want to offer, I think there are some important things you should know, so let’s jump right in!

Four Key Benefits of Offering Session Videos
Session videos can provide incredible value to both your clients and your business! 

1. They can increase your profit per client
2. Help you stand out from the crowd
3. Elevate the value and experience for your clients
4. Rejuvenate your creativity

Ideas for Incorporating Session Videos into Your Business
Session videos can be incorporated into just about every area of your business. Studio, outdoor, and in-home sessions all work great for offering these whether you offer maternity, newborn, milestone session, or family sessions. (Or weddings or high school seniors! You get my point right? Session videos fit right in to any of your session offerings!)

Time Investment
On the session side, shooting video alongside my photography adds about 15  minutes to the session overall. On the editing side: It takes me about 1-2 hours to cull the footage, build the film, and then edit the film to match my photography.  So, in total, offering session videos adds somewhere between 2-3 hours per client on top of my current workflow. However, it increases my profit per client substantially!

Costs
There are four main costs associated with offer session films. First is your software. I personally use Final Cut Pro which is $299 for a one time fee. (Or you can also use a free program called Davinci Resolve that is similar to Final Cut and works for both Mac and Windows .

The second cost is your music licensing. You do have to license the music you use for every single video you create. However, the great thing here is that, there are some great options for a really decent price point now compared to just 5 years ago! I’d say expect to spend $19-$59 per song on licensing depending on the company you go with; however, this number isn’t super concrete as many licensing companies now offer a subscription model which allows unlimited song use per month.

The third cost is your product delivery and packaging cost if you decide to offer a video album with their session film, which I definitely recommend doing!

The last cost is the cost of delivering your video file. While most gallery deliver systems do allow video included in your photography galleries now which is amazing, if you deliver the video through their galleries, they typically only allow for 1080p, so it’s going to compress your video from 4K for upload and sending. So I still recommend having something like Dropbox to deliver the full quality film. 

3 Tips for Making Your Session Videos a Success

1. Don’t just flip your camera to video mode and wing it! Learn how to use the correct settings and how to film, build, and edit your films properly. This will make the biggest difference in the end result of your videos! (I got you covered! My Creating Session Videos course teaches you everything you need to know!)
2. Capture genuine moments. There is absolutely no hiding awkwardness and forced moments in video! 
3. Use your video to tell stories - Rather than just placing random clips beside one another, build up moments and seek to tell stories with your session videos. This will create more compelling and engaging videos.

 I hope this has been helpful as you consider offering session videos!