More business is good because that means more money. More business is bad because that means there’s more to keep track of. As your studio grows, software that provides customized management tools for photographers and their studios becomes even more relevant. Luckily, there are a lot of great software solutions out there, and here we look at a few of the best and most reliable.
Blinkbid Pro
Blinkbid Pro 4.02 is an easily affordable custom photography estimate and invoicing program. Photographers are able to generate and organize straightforward estimates and invoices, which can be fine-tuned for custom charging of clients and jobs. Preferences can be set to automatically generate estimate and invoice terms, banking information, usage licenses and much more.
Contacts can be directly imported to the invoicing system, the interface is intuitive, and Blinkbid Pro is compatible with both Mac and Windows. Estimated Street Price: $159; 14-day free trial period available. Contact: Blinkbid Software, (310) 593-4733, www.blinkbid.com.
Digital Darkroom
ExpressDigital’s Digital Darkroom is available in three editions: Core, Professional and Assembly. All three provide basic business management, including image capture, printing, proofing, archiving, enhancing and sales. The Core Edition is a bare-bones solution for managing the studio business, and includes print packages, customer presentations and more. The Professional Edition is geared toward portrait, wedding, sports and events photographers, adding greenscreen capability, a Retouch Workshop suite of image-manipulation tools, direct capture and extensive printing outputs. The Assembly Edition builds on the Professional Edition further by adding nine different group photography workflow templates, automatic ordering and multiple computer synchronization. Estimated Street Price: Starts at $495; special pricing for upgrades. Contact: ExpressDigital, (888) 584-0089, www.expressdigital.com.
Photo One Software
Photo One Software’s Basic program is designed well for smaller studios, while Photo One Professional offers a more robust set of features. Uniquely, Photo One provides tailored setup for your studio’s needs by walking through the entire startup process with you. Photo One Basic tracks client contact information, including birthdays and anniversaries, and includes support of bulk e-mailing and a Digital Imaging Station with a light table for editing images, creating slideshows and printing proof sheets. Photo One Professional adds bulk scheduling, security features and bulk order tracking, as well as thorough event file-making and custom contracts for wedding photographers. For photographers working with groups and senior portraits, there also are student status reports and yearbook-picture tracking. List Price: $1,647 (Basic, single user); $2,547 (Professional, single user); multiple-user discounts available. Contact: Photo One Software, (888) 428-2824, www.photoonesoftware.com.
