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Disclaimer: The AI Paycheck Podcast is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial, investment, or legal advice. Please consult a professional before making decisions based on our content.Welcome to AI Paycheck, the show that uncovers actionable AI income streams! In this electrifying episode, your host Raje sits down with the visionary Mason Blake, who’s mastered the art of transforming event photo disasters into a thriving, often passive, cash flow. If you’ve ever winced at blurry, badly lit, or awkwardly composed event photos, Mason’s AI-powered solution is nothing short of magic – and it could be your next big side hustle!
Mason reveals his groundbreaking approach to becoming an event photo solution provider, often without even picking up a camera. Instead, he leverages cutting-edge AI tools to instantly fix common photo pain points:
Discover how Mason’s workflow is designed for speed and quality enhancement: photos are captured by anyone (staff, guests, or a basic photographer), instantly uploaded to a cloud folder, processed by AI tools in real-time, and delivered as pro-level, edited images during the event, often within minutes. This isn't just about fixing; it's about delivering a "wow" factor!
The best part? This isn't super technical or expensive. Mason shares how his core AI toolkit costs less than $100/month, emphasizing workflow and automation over deep editing skills. He details his real-world earnings, showcasing how a single wedding can generate a profit of $1340 from the upfront fee (typically $800-$2500+).
But here’s where the passive income truly shines: Mason implements print sales through online galleries like Pixieset or Pic-Time. Guests and clients can order prints, canvases, and albums directly, with the lab handling fulfillment and shipping. Mason sets his markup high (often 200-300%), leading to an easy additional $300-$1000+ per event in passive income that can continue for years! Corporate gigs are also explored as "gold" for reliable upfront fees.
Mason also tackles the common concern about photographers, positioning this service as an enhancer, not a replacement, and even suggesting partnerships with photographers who dread the editing process.
For aspiring AI entrepreneurs, Mason lays out crucial first steps:
This episode is your blueprint to an accessible AI side hustle with real profit potential. The demand for instant, perfect photos is skyrocketing, and with AI, the barrier to entry is low. Tune in to AI Paycheck and start making your own photo profits today!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ai-paycheck--6696317/support.
Share your thoughts - http://tiny.cc/AIPaycheckFeedback
Disclaimer: The AI Paycheck Podcast is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial, investment, or legal advice. Please consult a professional before making decisions based on our content.Welcome to AI Paycheck, the show that uncovers actionable AI income streams! In this electrifying episode, your host Raje sits down with the visionary Mason Blake, who’s mastered the art of transforming event photo disasters into a thriving, often passive, cash flow. If you’ve ever winced at blurry, badly lit, or awkwardly composed event photos, Mason’s AI-powered solution is nothing short of magic – and it could be your next big side hustle!
Mason reveals his groundbreaking approach to becoming an event photo solution provider, often without even picking up a camera. Instead, he leverages cutting-edge AI tools to instantly fix common photo pain points:
- Lighting: Correcting dark, shadowy, or blown-out shots for perfect balance.
- Focus & Sharpness: Rescuing photos that would normally be trashed by enhancing clarity.
- Color Correction: Eliminating weird color casts and ensuring natural skin tones.
- Object Removal: Vanishing photobombers, distracting trash cans, or exit signs with ease.
- Crop & Composition: AI intelligently suggesting optimal framing.
Discover how Mason’s workflow is designed for speed and quality enhancement: photos are captured by anyone (staff, guests, or a basic photographer), instantly uploaded to a cloud folder, processed by AI tools in real-time, and delivered as pro-level, edited images during the event, often within minutes. This isn't just about fixing; it's about delivering a "wow" factor!
The best part? This isn't super technical or expensive. Mason shares how his core AI toolkit costs less than $100/month, emphasizing workflow and automation over deep editing skills. He details his real-world earnings, showcasing how a single wedding can generate a profit of $1340 from the upfront fee (typically $800-$2500+).
But here’s where the passive income truly shines: Mason implements print sales through online galleries like Pixieset or Pic-Time. Guests and clients can order prints, canvases, and albums directly, with the lab handling fulfillment and shipping. Mason sets his markup high (often 200-300%), leading to an easy additional $300-$1000+ per event in passive income that can continue for years! Corporate gigs are also explored as "gold" for reliable upfront fees.
Mason also tackles the common concern about photographers, positioning this service as an enhancer, not a replacement, and even suggesting partnerships with photographers who dread the editing process.
For aspiring AI entrepreneurs, Mason lays out crucial first steps:
- Pick 2 Core Tools: Master Lightroom Classic for batch presets and Topaz Sharpen AI for saving blurry shots.
- Build a Portfolio: Offer free enhancements for friends to showcase before/afters.
- Find 1 Client: Target wedding planners or conference organizers with a compelling pitch.
- Set Up Your Gallery: Configure print sales immediately for passive earnings.
- Automate Aggressively: Focus on selling, not endless editing.
This episode is your blueprint to an accessible AI side hustle with real profit potential. The demand for instant, perfect photos is skyrocketing, and with AI, the barrier to entry is low. Tune in to AI Paycheck and start making your own photo profits today!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ai-paycheck--6696317/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the AI Paycheck Podcast. Before we dive
into today's incredible topic, just a quick but important disclaimer.
The AI Paycheck Podcast is for informational purposes only and
does not provide financial, investment or legal advice. Please make
sure you consult a professional before making decisions based on
our content. Okay, let's unback this today we're diving deep
(00:22):
into a topic that well, many of you might think
is purely for you know, professional photographers, something that seems
like it needs years of training, that real artistic eye right,
that visual sense exactly. But our deep dive today it's
going to show it's actually a surprisingly powerful way and
accessible too, to turn what's often just well chaos, event
(00:43):
photo chaos into significant income, even passive income.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, that passive part is key.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
We've all been there, haven't we. You're at a great event,
maybe a wedding, huge conference, even just a big family party.
The atmosphere is amazing. Moments you really want to remember,
photos are happening all around, pros, guests with phone.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Staff, everyone snap it away.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
But then you see the pictures later and it's kind
of disappointing.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
It's, oh yeah, the lighting's terrible. Faces in shadow, or the.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Key moment is blurry, or there's like a fire extinguisher
in the background of a really sweet moment, or.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Just awkward faces. Yeah, it happens all the time.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
It's frustrating, right, because the photos just don't match the memory.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
They really don't.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So what if you could just fix all that instantly
using AI? And even better, what if doing that could
build a real passive income stream, money coming in long
after the party's over.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
No, that's the interesting angle.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That's exactly what we're going to explore. We're looking at
how these smart AI tools are being used strategically to
deliver amazing event photos almost in real time, making real
money actively, yes, but also building that crucial passive element.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, that a cruise over time.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
This isn't just about fixing a few bad shots. It's
about being really well informed on a niche that's surprisingly accessible,
super lucrative, and honestly right at the cutting edge it
really is.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
It sets right where tech meets this timeless need to
keep memories alive.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Leveraging AI to solve a very common, very valuable problem.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
What's really transformative here, I think, is how it totally
reframes the role it's not just about taking the pictures anymore.
I mean, that's art, absolutely, skill, intuition, all that, but
this pivots towards transforming the images after they're taken. Understanding
the value is in the enhancement the speed.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Speed is a huge factor, huge.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Factor things to traditional methods just can't match for event organizers.
But this is revolutionary. It solves a massive headache. How
so well, they get a much higher quality product for
their clients or attendees, and they get it incredibly fast.
It elevates the whole event experience.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Really, so let's boil it down. What's the core problem
we're solving. We know bad event photos are frustrating, but
how does the AI magic as you call it, actually
fix them? And this seems really important. You're saying you
don't always have to be the one taking the photos.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
That's a critical point. Yeah, yeah, it really. It's to
the heart of the value proposition. You're absolutely right. It's
not always about being the main photographer, the one running
around capturing every single shot. You can offer that sure,
a full package, but the core value, the leverage is
in the speed and the quality boost you bring to existing.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Photos, existing photos from where.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Think about any event. Now, photos are coming from everywhere. Right,
there's the hired pro maybe, but also event staff taking
phone picks, guests sharing shots.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Right, everyone's got a camera in their pocket exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Your role is to grab all those raw, often kind
of messy images and use AI to make them look professional,
gallery worthy.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So you become like the photo quality control.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Hub, precisely, the photo solution provider. You guarantee that whatever
image gets shared social media archives keepsakes, it looks great, polished,
reflects the event properly. You're the quality and speed specialists.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
That definitely reframes It makes it seem much more ecpt
than needing you know, ten grand and camera gear and
years of experience.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It is more accessible. It's about leveraging the tools smartly.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Okay, So walk us through the flow. Then, if you're
getting images from all over, maybe even guest phones, how
do they go from being scattered digital files to these amazing,
polished photos delivered almost instantly. What does that workflow actually
look like?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Right? So connecting this to the bigger picture, it's basically
a four step process and it's really designed for efficiency
for speed.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Four steps first is capture pretty straightforward, but broad photos
get taken. Why anyone really the main photographer, staff with
a decent camera, guests with good phones. The source isn't
the bottleneck, it's the availability. We're not just relying on
one pro.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Got it, leverage everything.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Step two upload as where a cloud is essential. As
soon as photos are taken, bam, they're sent to a
shared cloud folder, Dropbox, Google Drive, whatever, like an app
could be an app sinking camera rolls yeah, or direct
camera to compute, tettering for the pro or even just
staff quickly dragging and dropping the key is immediate access,
no waiting for memory cards at.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
The end of the night, right avoids that whole delay.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Then step three the AI magic. This is the core engine.
As images hit that cloud folder. AI tools are like
watching and processing on the fly.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
On the fly, so not opening each one manually, No way.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
That'd take forever. This is about setting up automated systems.
The AI does the heavy lifting in the background, fixing.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Things, enhancing it can make sense automation.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And finally step four delivery. The edited pro level photos
get sent back to guests or the organizer during the event,
sometimes just minutes after being taken.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Minutes Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, that real time delivery, that's the huge wow factor,
instant gratification and since social sharing, it creates buzz while
the event is happening, Totally different from waiting weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Okay, AI magic, It sounds amazing, maybe a little too amazing.
If you've ever wrestled with photo editing.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Software, Uh yeah, I can feel like that.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So what specific magic are we talking about? What are
the actual nitty gritty problems AI solves here, the things
that make photos unusable or take hours to fix manually.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Right, it's not just a simple filter. The AI is
tackling the really fundamental stuff that ruins photos. It's basically
rescuing shots that would normally just get trashed.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Like what specifically? Give me examples?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Okay, first, big one, lighting correction probably the most common issue, right,
photos too dark, too.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Bright, under exposed, overexposed exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
AI can fix that dynamically. It doesn't just make everything
brighter or darker. It's learned from millions of photos, so
it understands balanced light. You can pull details out of shadows,
recover blown out highlight, things.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
That take ages to do manually, fiddling with sliders.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Precisely, and it does it consistently across hundreds of photos.
Think about tools like Luminar neo its AI Sky replacement
is incredible. Dull gray sky Click now it's a beautiful sunset.
Instantly changes the whole mood.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Okay, and Adobe light AI enhanced features there are workhorses
for exposure, contrast, getting the tones right. Batch processing saves
unbelievable amounts of time.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
All right, So lighting? What else?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Focus and sharpness? You know those slightly blurry shots inevitable
at events, things moving.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Low light, The ones that are almost good exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
AI can often rescue those. It's been trained to recognize
sharp versus blurry patterns. It intelligently reconstructs missing detail, makes things.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Crisp again, How good is it really?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
The source mentioned topaz Labs Sharpen AI is quote insane
for this. It can genuinely bring a soft photo back
to life, make a face sharp, details clear. It saves
shots you'd otherwise delete.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Okay, that's impressive. Focus. What's next?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Color correction? Weird color casts, yellowish indoor light, Maybe a
blue tint from a screen makes skin look weird? Right?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Unnatural AI, especially using smart profiles like imagen AI offers,
can fix that. It neutralizes weird casts, insures gin tones
look natro, makes colors PLoP stay accurate, gives the whole
set of photos a consistent professional look.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Consistency is huge for a whole event gallery.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Absolutely. Then there's object removal. This is life saver. That
perfect shot, but there's a random person walking through the background,
or a trash can an exit sign right over someone's head.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh yes, the worst.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
AI can just remove them seamlessly. It analyzes the surrounding
area and fills in the gap intelligently. Tools like pixel
mater pro or photoshops Generative pill are amazing for this,
Like the thing was never there, saves hours of tedious cloning.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Generative phil is pretty mind blowing text.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It really is. And finally, even things like crop and composition.
AI can analyze a photo and suggest better framing based
on rules like the rule of thirds helps make even
quick snaps look more composed, more professional.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So it's fixing technical flaws and improving aesthetics exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It's turning potential discards into valuable assets and doing it
incredibly fast.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
This sounds incre powerful, like having a virtual army of
photo editors Rinde. Yeah, but you know that usually means
expensive software steak learning curves. Is this actually something someone
without a deep photo editing background can realistically pick up?
Or is there still a high barrier?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's the fascinating part and why it's such a good opportunity. Now,
the cost and complexity surprisingly.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Low, really hollo the core.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Software tools you need. We're talking maybe under one hundred
dollars a month for the whole suite subscriptions mostly.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Less than one hundred bucks a month for all that power.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, it's remarkably affordable for the potential return and the
skill barrier. The real value isn't in becoming a photoshop
master overnight. That takes years, So what is the skill?
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Then?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It's about setting up an efficient workflow, knowing which tool
to use for which problem, setting up your presets, maybe
training an AI profile on your preferred style with something
like image and AI.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
So it's more systems thinking exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Once it's set up, a lot of the processing can
run automatically in batches. You spend less time clicking sliders
and more time managing the flow finding clients. The AI
tools themselves are often designed with simple one click modes
for the common stuff. It's about smart implementation, not needing
decades of darkroom experience.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Okay, workflow architect I like that. Yeah, all right, this
is where it gets really interesting for me. Let's make
a concrete take us through a real gig. Let's use
a wedding, high stakes emotions, running high, huge expectations for photos.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The ultimate test case.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Yeah, how does this AI workflow actually play out start
to finish, from getting the contract signed to delivering those
final images? How do you manage it all?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Okay? Yeah? The wedding example perfectly illustrates how this becomes
a repeatable, profitable business model.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
It's structured, lay it out for us.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
So, first up is contracting, Right, you agree terms with
the couple or often more efficiently, you work directly with
their wedding planner. Why the planners manage multiple vendors, They
understand logistics, and they're often looking for reliable solutions to
recommend scaling easier. Sometimes anyway, the contract covers hours, delivery speed,
(11:04):
like the when did they get the first hero shots
versus the full gallery? Maybe album options? And the fee?
Speaker 1 (11:10):
What kind of fear are we talking for a wedding?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It varies, obviously, but typically maybe eight hundred dollars on
the low end for a simple package, up to twenty
five hundred dollars, even more for longer events, super fast
turnaround extras.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Okay, so contract first, Then what setup?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
This is crucial for the real time flow. You create
that shared cloud folder Dropbox, Google Drive, whatever, secure easy access.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And who gets the link?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Everyone contributing photos, the main photographer if there is one,
the coordinator, maybe even a few key guests. You are
taking good shots. Centralizes everything, no chasing files.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Later, smart eliminates friction exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Then capture as the day happens, ceremony, reception, candids, group shots.
Photos just stream into that folder continuously, constant feed. Yeah,
which leads right into the core real time AI processing.
This is happening alongside the event, not just wait until
the end.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
What's the first processing staff?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Initial culling. Even though it's not pure AI, A tool
like photo Mechanic plus is vital here. It lets you
whip through images incredibly fast, discard the obvious duds, eyes closed,
totally blurry. Pocket shots gets rid of the junk quickly,
right speeds up everything else. Then the usable raw files
go into light room. Classic raw files get the AI
the most dated to.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Work with, and then the presets.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yep, apply your pre built AI presets, your custom ones
or maybe from image in AI batch apply Chrik's color
exposure noise across hundreds of photos and seconds. Gets everything
to do a good baseline, consistent look.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Okay, baseline correction done. What about the problem shots?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Those get routed to the specialist tools Glory ones off
to topaz sharpen AI bad sky lumine our Neo for
replacement weird object in the background, Pixilator pro or Photoshop generative, Phil.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Zaps it and these tools are quick.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
They often have really effective one click AI modes for
these specific tasks. Makes complex fixes fast and accessible. It's
an intelligent works will right tool for the right job.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Gotcha processed Now delivery.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Two parts. First, the fast option the hero shots during
the reception. Maybe you quickly enhance a selection of the
best moments, maybe ten twenty photos and send them directly
to the couple's phones.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Wow during the reception.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, imagine the bride seeing perfectly edited ceremony shots before
the cake cutting. A huge wow factor, immediate gratification they
can share instantly.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
That is impressive. Okay, what about the rest that's the.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Full delivery within twenty four to forty eight hours, super
fast compared to the usual weeks or months. They get
the full gallery hundreds of maybe thousands of polished photos
via a private online gallery pixie Set, Pick Time platforms like.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
That twenty four to forty eight hours for the whole wedding.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
As the goal. Yeah, yeah, it's a massive selling point.
Speed and quality.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
That turnaround time is frankly astonishing. Most couples wait ages exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
It disrupts expectations.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
But this brings us to that really juicy part you
mentioned earlier, the passive income. Okay, you delivered the gallery,
got paid your main fee. How do you keep making
money from that one wedding long after the thank you
cards are sent? This feels like the real magic trick here.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
It really is where the model shines long term. And
the key, as you guessed, is that online gallery platforms
like pixie Set or pick Time aren't just for viewing photos.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
What else did they do?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
They have print sales built right in. When you deliver
the gallery, you enable guests, family, the couple. Anyone with
access to order prints canvases, albums, whatever directly from the site.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Okay, But doesn't that mean you have to handle printing, shipping, payments.
Sounds like a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Ah, but that's the beauty. It's automated fulfillment. You connect
your gallery account to a professional print lab, big names
like WHCC or pro Dpi integrate seamlessly, so when Grandma
clicks order on that eight x ten print, the order
goes straight to the lab. The lab prints it, packages it,
and ships it directly to GRAMDMA. You never touch the
(14:59):
physical products completely hands off completely. Printing, shipping, payment processing
all handled by the gallery platform and the integrated lab.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So where does your profit come from?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
You set your markup before anyone orders. You go into
your gallery settings and decide your pricing. The lab has
a base cost for each item, say a dollar for
a five x seven print. You might decide to sell
it for say three or four.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Dollars, a two hundred three hundred percent markup.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Easily, that's pretty standard. The difference between the lab costs
and your selling price minus a small gallery commission usually
is your profit, and it gets deposited directly into your account.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Wow, okay, and this keeps happening.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
That's the long term revenue. People don't just order prints
the week after the wedding. Anniversaries roll around, birthdays, holidays,
People revisit the gallery months, even years later and place orders.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So it's like residual income from.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Each event exactly. It's genuinely passive income. Once the gallery
is set up and the print stor is configured, it
just runs orders, come in profits a crew. You're making
money while you sleep from work, did maybe a year ago.
It turns each gig into an ongoing asset that.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Changes the economics completely, doesn't it. It's not just trading
time for a one off fee anymore.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Precisely, it builds recurring revenue streams.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Okay, the numbers, let's talk brass tacks. What can someone
realistically expect to earn both the active fee per event
and this passive print income. Give us some ballpark figures, right.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Got to make sure the potential is real. So let's
break it down. Yeah, let's per event fee your active
profit for an average wedding, like we discussed, charging around
fifteen hundred dollars seems reasonable for this level of AI
enhanced rapid service.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Okay, fifteen hundred dollars up front? What about costs?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Software isn't free, true, but the core costs are surprisingly manageable.
Your AI software stack Lightroom, Topaz, Luminar, maybe image in
ai might run you about eighty dollars a month total
eighty bucks for all of them roughly. Yeah, subscriptions add up,
but individually they're not huge. Then your gallery platform, Pixie
Set or Picktime premium tier maybe another thirty dollars a month.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So one hundred and ten dollars a month for software
and gallery.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, and maybe you budget, say fifty dollars per event
if you use a virtual assistant for that initial quick
culling just to be super efficient, or scale that monthly.
If you're doing lots of events, so per event, your
operational costs might only be around one hundred and sixty dollars.
To give your take, one.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Hundred sixty dollars cost on a fifteen hundred dollars fee yep, which.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Puts your active profit at roughly thirteen hundred and forty
dollars per event. That's a very healthy margin thanks to
the automation minimizing your hands in the time per photo.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Thirteen hundred bucks act of profit.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Nice. Now the passive part.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Passive print sales. This is harder to predict exactly, but
it adds up significantly over time. It could easily contribute
an additional three hundred to one thousand dollars maybe even
more per wedding spread out over the first year or
two after the event.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Three hundred of one thousand dollars extra per wedding passively. Yeah,
think about all the guests, family members ordering. Average order
values might be fifty hundred and fifty dollars, but you
get lots of small orders, and if you push high
margin items like albums, that number can go way up
at pure profit accumulating in the background.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
That combination of strong active profit and ongoing passive income
is really compelling for a tech leveraged service.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It makes the whole thing very scalable and attractive.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
So weddings are clearly a great fit. Are there other
types of events where this model works just as well,
maybe even better in some ways?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Oh? Absolutely. What's fascinating is the versatility. Corporate events are
another massive opportunity potential gold mine.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Really corporate how does it work there?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
And you can often charge solid day rates maybe five
hundred dollars for a half day, up to two thousand
dollars or more for a full day, depending on the
event size.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
And needs and what are they looking for? Different from
wedding photos presumably yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
The demand is different but often more urgent. They need
polished headshots of attendees, speakers, great candid shots of networking presentations,
people engaging with the brand.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
For what purpose?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Immediate use LinkedIn profiles? Yes, but crucially for real time
social media. I want to post high quality photos of
the event while it's happening to generate buzz show engagement,
boost their brand online. That instant delivery is incredibly valuable
to them.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Ah, so the speed is even more critical for corporate.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Sometimes often Yes, while print sales might be lower, companies
aren't usually buying campus prints at the conference. The upfront
fee is reliable, often higher per day, and the work
is consistent. It proves the model works across very different
client types.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
That really broadens the potential market. Okay, this all sounds fantastic,
almost too good to be true. In some ways.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
There are always challenges, of course.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Right, and I can anticipate the biggest one, the elephant
in the room for anyone considering this, won't. Professional photographers
hate me, am I stealing their work undercutting them. How
do you handle that pushback?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
That's a really important question and a valid concern about
fitting into the existing industry. The absolute key is positioning.
You're not trying to replace the photographer. You're an enhancer,
a partner, a back end.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
How do you communicate that?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Think about it. Many photographers genuinely dislike the post processing part.
It's tedious, it's time consuming, it keeps them chained to
the computer instead of out shooting.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
True, I've heard that complaint often.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So this creates partnership opportunities. Instead of competing approach, photographers
directly offer to handle all their editing. They're culling using
your efficient AI workflow for a percentage of their fee,
maybe thirty percent, forty fifty percent.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
They shoot your process, they deliver exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
They get to focus on the creative part, the client interaction.
They can potentially take on more shoots because they're not
bogged down by editing. You get a steady stream of
work from established pros. It's a win win.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
That's a clever angle. A collaborative approach.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yeah, Or alternatively, you work directly with event planners. The
planner hires the main photographer maybe, but they hire you
specifically for the rapid enhancement and delivery service. Service becomes
part of the overall package the planner offers. It's a
back end solution they manage.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So your position as a specialist vendor complementing the photographer.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Right, It's about solving a problem, the slow delivery of
inconsistently edited photos in a way that helps everyone involve
deliver a better final product. Collaboration not confrontation.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
That makes a lot of sense, a much smoother way
to enter the market. Okay. So for someone listening right now,
feeling inspired, thinking, okay, I want to try this, what
are the first concrete steps. What's the practical roadmap to
get started?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Great question, and the good news is the barrier really
is low. The steps are clear and pretty actionable.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Let's hear them.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Step one, pick two core tools and master them. Don't
get overwhelmed trying to learn everything at once. Focus. Get
really good with Adobe Lightroom Classic. It's the hub for
organizing and batch processing. Compair it with Topaz Labs sharpen Ai.
That's your secret weapon for rescuing blurry shots.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Just those two to start.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
They'll handle a huge chunk of the common problems master
those understand their AI features deeply. Okay, tools first, well,
build a portfolio. You need proof. Offer to enhance, say
fifty photos from a friend's recent event for free, get
their raw images, transform them using light room and toepaz,
and critically create compelling before and after examples show the
(22:18):
difference that visual proof is your best sales school.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Before and afters are powerful. Got it portfolio built?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Now what Find your first client? Don't wait for perfection.
Reach out. Focus on wedding planners or maybe organizers of
smaller local conferences or business events. Keep your pitch simple
and value focused. I make event photos look amazing instantly guaranteed.
Highlight the speed and quality.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Benefits, direct and value driven.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Okay, Step four and do this early. Set up your
gallery immediately. As soon as you have some portfolio images,
sign up for Pixie set or pick time, and crucially
configure the print sales options right away. Set your markups.
Get the system ready. Don't wait until you have a
paying client. Lay that passive income foundation from day one.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Proactive setup for passive income smart.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Last step, automate aggressively. This is a long term strategic goal.
Constantly look for ways to make your workflow, more hands off.
The more you automate the processing, the more time you
free up. That freed up time that's for sales, client acquisition.
That's how you scale the business, not by spending more
hours editing manually work smarter.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Automate, automate, automate. Okay, that's a clear roadmap. So looking
at the bigger picture, where is this all heading. Why
is now the time to jump into this niche.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Well, what's really fascinating is this convergence. We're seeing. Cameras,
even on phones, keep getting better and better capturing amazing
raw data. At the same time, AI is advancing like crazy,
getting smarter, faster, easier to use for image enhancement.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Better inputs, smarter processing exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And that combination is fueling this massive demand for instant
perfect photos. People in businesses just expect it now. It's
the visual currency of our time.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
But is it replacing photograph?
Speaker 2 (24:00):
That's important. It's enhancement, not replacement. AI isn't replicating artistic
vision or human connection, not yet anyway. What it is
doing is eliminating the tedious, time consuming parts of the
process that even pros dislike. It frees up creativity, so
it complements. The photographer handles the grountwork precisely, and the
accessibility and profitability are undeniable. Low startup cost, low skill
(24:25):
barrier compared to traditional photography, and very real profit potential,
especially with that passive income component.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Building up makes very appealing.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So the call to action is really clear. Start now,
the tools are ready, the market demand is there, Refine
your AI workflow as you go, learn by doing, and
focus on getting those first clients. The opportunity is absolutely
right for the taking for those who move now.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That's such a powerful final thought. Leveraging AI not just
to make something better, but to build a truly scalable,
automated and potentially passive income stream. That's incredibly motivating. It
really shows how innovation can open up brand new accessible pathways.
That was an absolutely incredible deep dive into AI magic
for event photo profits. Seriously, thank you for breaking down
(25:08):
the real numbers, the specific tools, the whole workflow so clearly,
really eye opening.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Stuff, My pleasure say, exciting space.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Remember everyone, the AI Paycheck podcast is all about actionable
AI income. So pick one thing from this deep dive
that really struck you and try to implement it. This week.
Maybe it's just researching Topaz sharpen AI. Maybe it's setting
up a free pixie Set account to explore it. Maybe
it's reaching out to that friend about enhancing their photos
for your portfolio. Just take one step. The links to
(25:36):
all the AI tools we mentioned lumin Our, Neo, Topez Labs,
imagen Ai, Adobe light Room, pixel Mater, pro Pixi, Set Picktime.
They're all in the show notes for you easy access.
Get started, and please subscribe to the AI Paycheck podcast
wherever you listen to our listeners. If you enjoyed this
deep dive, we'd love it if you took a screenshot
of the episode and tagged us on Instagram. Let us
(25:57):
know what you thought, Maybe give us a shout out.
Keep chasing those AI paychecks. We'll see you next time.
Welcome back to the AI Paycheck Podcast. Before we dive
into today's incredible topic, just a quick but important disclaimer.
The AI Paycheck Podcast is for informational purposes only and
does not provide financial, investment or legal advice. Please make
sure you consult a professional before making decisions based on
our content. Okay, let's unback this today we're diving deep
(00:22):
into a topic that well, many of you might think
is purely for you know, professional photographers, something that seems
like it needs years of training, that real artistic eye right,
that visual sense exactly. But our deep dive today it's
going to show it's actually a surprisingly powerful way and
accessible too, to turn what's often just well chaos, event
(00:43):
photo chaos into significant income, even passive income.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, that passive part is key.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
We've all been there, haven't we. You're at a great event,
maybe a wedding, huge conference, even just a big family party.
The atmosphere is amazing. Moments you really want to remember,
photos are happening all around, pros, guests with phone.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Staff, everyone snap it away.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
But then you see the pictures later and it's kind
of disappointing.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
It's, oh yeah, the lighting's terrible. Faces in shadow, or the.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Key moment is blurry, or there's like a fire extinguisher
in the background of a really sweet moment, or.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Just awkward faces. Yeah, it happens all the time.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
It's frustrating, right, because the photos just don't match the memory.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
They really don't.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So what if you could just fix all that instantly
using AI? And even better, what if doing that could
build a real passive income stream, money coming in long
after the party's over.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
No, that's the interesting angle.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That's exactly what we're going to explore. We're looking at
how these smart AI tools are being used strategically to
deliver amazing event photos almost in real time, making real
money actively, yes, but also building that crucial passive element.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, that a cruise over time.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
This isn't just about fixing a few bad shots. It's
about being really well informed on a niche that's surprisingly accessible,
super lucrative, and honestly right at the cutting edge it
really is.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
It sets right where tech meets this timeless need to
keep memories alive.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Leveraging AI to solve a very common, very valuable problem.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
What's really transformative here, I think, is how it totally
reframes the role it's not just about taking the pictures anymore.
I mean, that's art, absolutely, skill, intuition, all that, but
this pivots towards transforming the images after they're taken. Understanding
the value is in the enhancement the speed.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Speed is a huge factor, huge.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Factor things to traditional methods just can't match for event organizers.
But this is revolutionary. It solves a massive headache. How
so well, they get a much higher quality product for
their clients or attendees, and they get it incredibly fast.
It elevates the whole event experience.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Really, so let's boil it down. What's the core problem
we're solving. We know bad event photos are frustrating, but
how does the AI magic as you call it, actually
fix them? And this seems really important. You're saying you
don't always have to be the one taking the photos.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
That's a critical point. Yeah, yeah, it really. It's to
the heart of the value proposition. You're absolutely right. It's
not always about being the main photographer, the one running
around capturing every single shot. You can offer that sure,
a full package, but the core value, the leverage is
in the speed and the quality boost you bring to existing.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Photos, existing photos from where.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Think about any event. Now, photos are coming from everywhere. Right,
there's the hired pro maybe, but also event staff taking
phone picks, guests sharing shots.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Right, everyone's got a camera in their pocket exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Your role is to grab all those raw, often kind
of messy images and use AI to make them look professional,
gallery worthy.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So you become like the photo quality control.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Hub, precisely, the photo solution provider. You guarantee that whatever
image gets shared social media archives keepsakes, it looks great, polished,
reflects the event properly. You're the quality and speed specialists.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
That definitely reframes It makes it seem much more ecpt
than needing you know, ten grand and camera gear and
years of experience.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It is more accessible. It's about leveraging the tools smartly.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Okay, So walk us through the flow. Then, if you're
getting images from all over, maybe even guest phones, how
do they go from being scattered digital files to these amazing,
polished photos delivered almost instantly. What does that workflow actually
look like?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Right? So connecting this to the bigger picture, it's basically
a four step process and it's really designed for efficiency
for speed.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Four steps first is capture pretty straightforward, but broad photos
get taken. Why anyone really the main photographer, staff with
a decent camera, guests with good phones. The source isn't
the bottleneck, it's the availability. We're not just relying on
one pro.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Got it, leverage everything.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Step two upload as where a cloud is essential. As
soon as photos are taken, bam, they're sent to a
shared cloud folder, Dropbox, Google Drive, whatever, like an app
could be an app sinking camera rolls yeah, or direct
camera to compute, tettering for the pro or even just
staff quickly dragging and dropping the key is immediate access,
no waiting for memory cards at.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
The end of the night, right avoids that whole delay.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Then step three the AI magic. This is the core engine.
As images hit that cloud folder. AI tools are like
watching and processing on the fly.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
On the fly, so not opening each one manually, No way.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
That'd take forever. This is about setting up automated systems.
The AI does the heavy lifting in the background, fixing.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Things, enhancing it can make sense automation.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And finally step four delivery. The edited pro level photos
get sent back to guests or the organizer during the event,
sometimes just minutes after being taken.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Minutes Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, that real time delivery, that's the huge wow factor,
instant gratification and since social sharing, it creates buzz while
the event is happening, Totally different from waiting weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Okay, AI magic, It sounds amazing, maybe a little too amazing.
If you've ever wrestled with photo editing.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Software, Uh yeah, I can feel like that.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So what specific magic are we talking about? What are
the actual nitty gritty problems AI solves here, the things
that make photos unusable or take hours to fix manually.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Right, it's not just a simple filter. The AI is
tackling the really fundamental stuff that ruins photos. It's basically
rescuing shots that would normally just get trashed.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Like what specifically? Give me examples?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Okay, first, big one, lighting correction probably the most common issue, right,
photos too dark, too.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Bright, under exposed, overexposed exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
AI can fix that dynamically. It doesn't just make everything
brighter or darker. It's learned from millions of photos, so
it understands balanced light. You can pull details out of shadows,
recover blown out highlight, things.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
That take ages to do manually, fiddling with sliders.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Precisely, and it does it consistently across hundreds of photos.
Think about tools like Luminar neo its AI Sky replacement
is incredible. Dull gray sky Click now it's a beautiful sunset.
Instantly changes the whole mood.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Okay, and Adobe light AI enhanced features there are workhorses
for exposure, contrast, getting the tones right. Batch processing saves
unbelievable amounts of time.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
All right, So lighting? What else?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Focus and sharpness? You know those slightly blurry shots inevitable
at events, things moving.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Low light, The ones that are almost good exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
AI can often rescue those. It's been trained to recognize
sharp versus blurry patterns. It intelligently reconstructs missing detail, makes things.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Crisp again, How good is it really?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
The source mentioned topaz Labs Sharpen AI is quote insane
for this. It can genuinely bring a soft photo back
to life, make a face sharp, details clear. It saves
shots you'd otherwise delete.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Okay, that's impressive. Focus. What's next?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Color correction? Weird color casts, yellowish indoor light, Maybe a
blue tint from a screen makes skin look weird? Right?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Unnatural AI, especially using smart profiles like imagen AI offers,
can fix that. It neutralizes weird casts, insures gin tones
look natro, makes colors PLoP stay accurate, gives the whole
set of photos a consistent professional look.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Consistency is huge for a whole event gallery.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Absolutely. Then there's object removal. This is life saver. That
perfect shot, but there's a random person walking through the background,
or a trash can an exit sign right over someone's head.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh yes, the worst.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
AI can just remove them seamlessly. It analyzes the surrounding
area and fills in the gap intelligently. Tools like pixel
mater pro or photoshops Generative pill are amazing for this,
Like the thing was never there, saves hours of tedious cloning.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Generative phil is pretty mind blowing text.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It really is. And finally, even things like crop and composition.
AI can analyze a photo and suggest better framing based
on rules like the rule of thirds helps make even
quick snaps look more composed, more professional.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So it's fixing technical flaws and improving aesthetics exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It's turning potential discards into valuable assets and doing it
incredibly fast.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
This sounds incre powerful, like having a virtual army of
photo editors Rinde. Yeah, but you know that usually means
expensive software steak learning curves. Is this actually something someone
without a deep photo editing background can realistically pick up?
Or is there still a high barrier?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's the fascinating part and why it's such a good opportunity. Now,
the cost and complexity surprisingly.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Low, really hollo the core.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Software tools you need. We're talking maybe under one hundred
dollars a month for the whole suite subscriptions mostly.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Less than one hundred bucks a month for all that power.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, it's remarkably affordable for the potential return and the
skill barrier. The real value isn't in becoming a photoshop
master overnight. That takes years, So what is the skill?
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Then?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It's about setting up an efficient workflow, knowing which tool
to use for which problem, setting up your presets, maybe
training an AI profile on your preferred style with something
like image and AI.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
So it's more systems thinking exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Once it's set up, a lot of the processing can
run automatically in batches. You spend less time clicking sliders
and more time managing the flow finding clients. The AI
tools themselves are often designed with simple one click modes
for the common stuff. It's about smart implementation, not needing
decades of darkroom experience.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Okay, workflow architect I like that. Yeah, all right, this
is where it gets really interesting for me. Let's make
a concrete take us through a real gig. Let's use
a wedding, high stakes emotions, running high, huge expectations for photos.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The ultimate test case.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Yeah, how does this AI workflow actually play out start
to finish, from getting the contract signed to delivering those
final images? How do you manage it all?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Okay? Yeah? The wedding example perfectly illustrates how this becomes
a repeatable, profitable business model.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
It's structured, lay it out for us.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
So, first up is contracting, Right, you agree terms with
the couple or often more efficiently, you work directly with
their wedding planner. Why the planners manage multiple vendors, They
understand logistics, and they're often looking for reliable solutions to
recommend scaling easier. Sometimes anyway, the contract covers hours, delivery speed,
(11:04):
like the when did they get the first hero shots
versus the full gallery? Maybe album options? And the fee?
Speaker 1 (11:10):
What kind of fear are we talking for a wedding?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It varies, obviously, but typically maybe eight hundred dollars on
the low end for a simple package, up to twenty
five hundred dollars, even more for longer events, super fast
turnaround extras.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Okay, so contract first, Then what setup?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
This is crucial for the real time flow. You create
that shared cloud folder Dropbox, Google Drive, whatever, secure easy access.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And who gets the link?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Everyone contributing photos, the main photographer if there is one,
the coordinator, maybe even a few key guests. You are
taking good shots. Centralizes everything, no chasing files.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Later, smart eliminates friction exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Then capture as the day happens, ceremony, reception, candids, group shots.
Photos just stream into that folder continuously, constant feed. Yeah,
which leads right into the core real time AI processing.
This is happening alongside the event, not just wait until
the end.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
What's the first processing staff?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Initial culling. Even though it's not pure AI, A tool
like photo Mechanic plus is vital here. It lets you
whip through images incredibly fast, discard the obvious duds, eyes closed,
totally blurry. Pocket shots gets rid of the junk quickly,
right speeds up everything else. Then the usable raw files
go into light room. Classic raw files get the AI
the most dated to.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Work with, and then the presets.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yep, apply your pre built AI presets, your custom ones
or maybe from image in AI batch apply Chrik's color
exposure noise across hundreds of photos and seconds. Gets everything
to do a good baseline, consistent look.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Okay, baseline correction done. What about the problem shots?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Those get routed to the specialist tools Glory ones off
to topaz sharpen AI bad sky lumine our Neo for
replacement weird object in the background, Pixilator pro or Photoshop generative, Phil.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Zaps it and these tools are quick.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
They often have really effective one click AI modes for
these specific tasks. Makes complex fixes fast and accessible. It's
an intelligent works will right tool for the right job.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Gotcha processed Now delivery.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Two parts. First, the fast option the hero shots during
the reception. Maybe you quickly enhance a selection of the
best moments, maybe ten twenty photos and send them directly
to the couple's phones.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Wow during the reception.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, imagine the bride seeing perfectly edited ceremony shots before
the cake cutting. A huge wow factor, immediate gratification they
can share instantly.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
That is impressive. Okay, what about the rest that's the.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Full delivery within twenty four to forty eight hours, super
fast compared to the usual weeks or months. They get
the full gallery hundreds of maybe thousands of polished photos
via a private online gallery pixie Set, Pick Time platforms like.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
That twenty four to forty eight hours for the whole wedding.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
As the goal. Yeah, yeah, it's a massive selling point.
Speed and quality.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
That turnaround time is frankly astonishing. Most couples wait ages exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
It disrupts expectations.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
But this brings us to that really juicy part you
mentioned earlier, the passive income. Okay, you delivered the gallery,
got paid your main fee. How do you keep making
money from that one wedding long after the thank you
cards are sent? This feels like the real magic trick here.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
It really is where the model shines long term. And
the key, as you guessed, is that online gallery platforms
like pixie Set or pick Time aren't just for viewing photos.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
What else did they do?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
They have print sales built right in. When you deliver
the gallery, you enable guests, family, the couple. Anyone with
access to order prints canvases, albums, whatever directly from the site.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Okay, But doesn't that mean you have to handle printing, shipping, payments.
Sounds like a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Ah, but that's the beauty. It's automated fulfillment. You connect
your gallery account to a professional print lab, big names
like WHCC or pro Dpi integrate seamlessly, so when Grandma
clicks order on that eight x ten print, the order
goes straight to the lab. The lab prints it, packages it,
and ships it directly to GRAMDMA. You never touch the
(14:59):
physical products completely hands off completely. Printing, shipping, payment processing
all handled by the gallery platform and the integrated lab.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So where does your profit come from?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
You set your markup before anyone orders. You go into
your gallery settings and decide your pricing. The lab has
a base cost for each item, say a dollar for
a five x seven print. You might decide to sell
it for say three or four.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Dollars, a two hundred three hundred percent markup.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Easily, that's pretty standard. The difference between the lab costs
and your selling price minus a small gallery commission usually
is your profit, and it gets deposited directly into your account.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Wow, okay, and this keeps happening.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
That's the long term revenue. People don't just order prints
the week after the wedding. Anniversaries roll around, birthdays, holidays,
People revisit the gallery months, even years later and place orders.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So it's like residual income from.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Each event exactly. It's genuinely passive income. Once the gallery
is set up and the print stor is configured, it
just runs orders, come in profits a crew. You're making
money while you sleep from work, did maybe a year ago.
It turns each gig into an ongoing asset that.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Changes the economics completely, doesn't it. It's not just trading
time for a one off fee anymore.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Precisely, it builds recurring revenue streams.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Okay, the numbers, let's talk brass tacks. What can someone
realistically expect to earn both the active fee per event
and this passive print income. Give us some ballpark figures, right.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Got to make sure the potential is real. So let's
break it down. Yeah, let's per event fee your active
profit for an average wedding, like we discussed, charging around
fifteen hundred dollars seems reasonable for this level of AI
enhanced rapid service.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Okay, fifteen hundred dollars up front? What about costs?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Software isn't free, true, but the core costs are surprisingly manageable.
Your AI software stack Lightroom, Topaz, Luminar, maybe image in
ai might run you about eighty dollars a month total
eighty bucks for all of them roughly. Yeah, subscriptions add up,
but individually they're not huge. Then your gallery platform, Pixie
Set or Picktime premium tier maybe another thirty dollars a month.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So one hundred and ten dollars a month for software
and gallery.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, and maybe you budget, say fifty dollars per event
if you use a virtual assistant for that initial quick
culling just to be super efficient, or scale that monthly.
If you're doing lots of events, so per event, your
operational costs might only be around one hundred and sixty dollars.
To give your take, one.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Hundred sixty dollars cost on a fifteen hundred dollars fee yep, which.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Puts your active profit at roughly thirteen hundred and forty
dollars per event. That's a very healthy margin thanks to
the automation minimizing your hands in the time per photo.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Thirteen hundred bucks act of profit.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Nice. Now the passive part.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Passive print sales. This is harder to predict exactly, but
it adds up significantly over time. It could easily contribute
an additional three hundred to one thousand dollars maybe even
more per wedding spread out over the first year or
two after the event.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Three hundred of one thousand dollars extra per wedding passively. Yeah,
think about all the guests, family members ordering. Average order
values might be fifty hundred and fifty dollars, but you
get lots of small orders, and if you push high
margin items like albums, that number can go way up
at pure profit accumulating in the background.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
That combination of strong active profit and ongoing passive income
is really compelling for a tech leveraged service.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It makes the whole thing very scalable and attractive.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
So weddings are clearly a great fit. Are there other
types of events where this model works just as well,
maybe even better in some ways?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Oh? Absolutely. What's fascinating is the versatility. Corporate events are
another massive opportunity potential gold mine.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Really corporate how does it work there?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
And you can often charge solid day rates maybe five
hundred dollars for a half day, up to two thousand
dollars or more for a full day, depending on the
event size.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
And needs and what are they looking for? Different from
wedding photos presumably yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
The demand is different but often more urgent. They need
polished headshots of attendees, speakers, great candid shots of networking presentations,
people engaging with the brand.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
For what purpose?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Immediate use LinkedIn profiles? Yes, but crucially for real time
social media. I want to post high quality photos of
the event while it's happening to generate buzz show engagement,
boost their brand online. That instant delivery is incredibly valuable
to them.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Ah, so the speed is even more critical for corporate.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Sometimes often Yes, while print sales might be lower, companies
aren't usually buying campus prints at the conference. The upfront
fee is reliable, often higher per day, and the work
is consistent. It proves the model works across very different
client types.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
That really broadens the potential market. Okay, this all sounds fantastic,
almost too good to be true. In some ways.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
There are always challenges, of course.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Right, and I can anticipate the biggest one, the elephant
in the room for anyone considering this, won't. Professional photographers
hate me, am I stealing their work undercutting them. How
do you handle that pushback?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
That's a really important question and a valid concern about
fitting into the existing industry. The absolute key is positioning.
You're not trying to replace the photographer. You're an enhancer,
a partner, a back end.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
How do you communicate that?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Think about it. Many photographers genuinely dislike the post processing part.
It's tedious, it's time consuming, it keeps them chained to
the computer instead of out shooting.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
True, I've heard that complaint often.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So this creates partnership opportunities. Instead of competing approach, photographers
directly offer to handle all their editing. They're culling using
your efficient AI workflow for a percentage of their fee,
maybe thirty percent, forty fifty percent.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
They shoot your process, they deliver exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
They get to focus on the creative part, the client interaction.
They can potentially take on more shoots because they're not
bogged down by editing. You get a steady stream of
work from established pros. It's a win win.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
That's a clever angle. A collaborative approach.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yeah, Or alternatively, you work directly with event planners. The
planner hires the main photographer maybe, but they hire you
specifically for the rapid enhancement and delivery service. Service becomes
part of the overall package the planner offers. It's a
back end solution they manage.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So your position as a specialist vendor complementing the photographer.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Right, It's about solving a problem, the slow delivery of
inconsistently edited photos in a way that helps everyone involve
deliver a better final product. Collaboration not confrontation.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
That makes a lot of sense, a much smoother way
to enter the market. Okay. So for someone listening right now,
feeling inspired, thinking, okay, I want to try this, what
are the first concrete steps. What's the practical roadmap to
get started?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Great question, and the good news is the barrier really
is low. The steps are clear and pretty actionable.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Let's hear them.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Step one, pick two core tools and master them. Don't
get overwhelmed trying to learn everything at once. Focus. Get
really good with Adobe Lightroom Classic. It's the hub for
organizing and batch processing. Compair it with Topaz Labs sharpen Ai.
That's your secret weapon for rescuing blurry shots.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Just those two to start.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
They'll handle a huge chunk of the common problems master
those understand their AI features deeply. Okay, tools first, well,
build a portfolio. You need proof. Offer to enhance, say
fifty photos from a friend's recent event for free, get
their raw images, transform them using light room and toepaz,
and critically create compelling before and after examples show the
(22:18):
difference that visual proof is your best sales school.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Before and afters are powerful. Got it portfolio built?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Now what Find your first client? Don't wait for perfection.
Reach out. Focus on wedding planners or maybe organizers of
smaller local conferences or business events. Keep your pitch simple
and value focused. I make event photos look amazing instantly guaranteed.
Highlight the speed and quality.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Benefits, direct and value driven.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Okay, Step four and do this early. Set up your
gallery immediately. As soon as you have some portfolio images,
sign up for Pixie set or pick time, and crucially
configure the print sales options right away. Set your markups.
Get the system ready. Don't wait until you have a
paying client. Lay that passive income foundation from day one.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Proactive setup for passive income smart.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Last step, automate aggressively. This is a long term strategic goal.
Constantly look for ways to make your workflow, more hands off.
The more you automate the processing, the more time you
free up. That freed up time that's for sales, client acquisition.
That's how you scale the business, not by spending more
hours editing manually work smarter.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Automate, automate, automate. Okay, that's a clear roadmap. So looking
at the bigger picture, where is this all heading. Why
is now the time to jump into this niche.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Well, what's really fascinating is this convergence. We're seeing. Cameras,
even on phones, keep getting better and better capturing amazing
raw data. At the same time, AI is advancing like crazy,
getting smarter, faster, easier to use for image enhancement.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Better inputs, smarter processing exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And that combination is fueling this massive demand for instant
perfect photos. People in businesses just expect it now. It's
the visual currency of our time.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
But is it replacing photograph?
Speaker 2 (24:00):
That's important. It's enhancement, not replacement. AI isn't replicating artistic
vision or human connection, not yet anyway. What it is
doing is eliminating the tedious, time consuming parts of the
process that even pros dislike. It frees up creativity, so
it complements. The photographer handles the grountwork precisely, and the
accessibility and profitability are undeniable. Low startup cost, low skill
(24:25):
barrier compared to traditional photography, and very real profit potential,
especially with that passive income component.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Building up makes very appealing.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So the call to action is really clear. Start now,
the tools are ready, the market demand is there, Refine
your AI workflow as you go, learn by doing, and
focus on getting those first clients. The opportunity is absolutely
right for the taking for those who move now.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That's such a powerful final thought. Leveraging AI not just
to make something better, but to build a truly scalable,
automated and potentially passive income stream. That's incredibly motivating. It
really shows how innovation can open up brand new accessible pathways.
That was an absolutely incredible deep dive into AI magic
for event photo profits. Seriously, thank you for breaking down
(25:08):
the real numbers, the specific tools, the whole workflow so clearly,
really eye opening.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Stuff, My pleasure say, exciting space.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Remember everyone, the AI Paycheck podcast is all about actionable
AI income. So pick one thing from this deep dive
that really struck you and try to implement it. This week.
Maybe it's just researching Topaz sharpen AI. Maybe it's setting
up a free pixie Set account to explore it. Maybe
it's reaching out to that friend about enhancing their photos
for your portfolio. Just take one step. The links to
(25:36):
all the AI tools we mentioned lumin Our, Neo, Topez Labs,
imagen Ai, Adobe light Room, pixel Mater, pro Pixi, Set Picktime.
They're all in the show notes for you easy access.
Get started, and please subscribe to the AI Paycheck podcast
wherever you listen to our listeners. If you enjoyed this
deep dive, we'd love it if you took a screenshot
of the episode and tagged us on Instagram. Let us
(25:57):
know what you thought, Maybe give us a shout out.
Keep chasing those AI paychecks. We'll see you next time.
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