I have had it happen to me and I’m sure that it’s happened to you guys too! You have the best photo you’ve ever taken, your client loves it, your client posts it (yes!!) and then it hits…

They didn’t tag you… Their friends have no idea who took their senior photo or who to even contact if they want to get awesome photos for themselves!

How do you handle this? What do you do?

While what I do varies from time to time, these are some of my go-to methods!

Direct Message Them and Ask for them to Tag You

This is what I do 99% of the time. As photographers, we rely on that word of mouth and people seeing our work, but how are we supposed to do that if we don’t have a way for people to know who took the photo?

I simply direct message them, tell them how much I loved their photo and ask for them to tag me. I have never had a senior tell me “no” because it’s usually an accident! They simply forgot. Seniors have a million things going on and they just want to post that photo and get back to what they’re doing.

I believe that by coming at it from a positive angle, this is the best approach. I especially make sure that this is as soon as I see the photo in the feed especially if it was just posted recently. This makes sure that their friends are seeing it and you get the maximum impact.

Leave a Positive Comment

This is another method that I do especially if it’s been awhile since they posted. I might DM them too, but I will also leave a comment with something along the lines of “Absolutely one of my favorites! Loved being your senior photographer!” It is that easy. The reason is that when other seniors see the comment or get the notification that you commented if they’ve already left a comment. This is the best way to go about this because if you come about this from a negative angle, it’s just going to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths and that’s not going to be good for anyone.

If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will. Just remember to be thankful that they love their photos so much to even be posting it in the first place! Not every photo that you ever take is going to go up on their social medias and I am so grateful each and every time a senior wants to share and hope that you guys would be too!