i did a few photoshoots for some friends, and now i find myself booked with photoshoots for the next few weekends. (what a blessing!)
since i don't know some of these people personally, i'm in a scramble to create a more business, professional image for myself.
Just as I'd decided to retain my rights as a photographer and just sell prints of my images, I have an overwhelming demand to provide the images on a disc...
the demand is coming from customers AND another local photographer that wants to colabrate on weddings.
do you think i should give in and offer the images on a disc? at what price? how would you handle the people that want to share the images on facebook and whatnot? do you have any advice to help a brand new photography business???
ANY advice at all is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
My mom's a pro photographer...she just gives her customer a free low res cd for uploading to facebook, sending emails, etc. Just have different package type deals you want to do and for certain ones include a free cd.
while I do not have particular advice since I will be content to stay amature, I like to read the advice of @jasonbarnette when he comments on discussions that lend themselves to more professional needs.
The (very talented, very professional) photographer who did my engagement and wedding photos gave me a DVD with all of the images in both hi-res for printing, and low-res for e-mail and websites. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this. It's really nice to be able to print and frame a new photo every once in awhile to freshen things up, and I have loved having the freedom to share them online at will.
when i was looking for a wedding photographer, one of the main things i was looking for was whether or not rights to full res pictures was included in the package we chose....
it didn't keep me from ordering my album and parent album's from our photog......
I had no trouble (spent $5k) not having ALL the photos that my guy took... likely one of the best photogs in the prov.... if they want more let them walk... their $$ is worth less then the cost to your rep if a bunch of bad photos you took show up...
Picture this... two girl friends get to talk weddings... girl A pulls out album with 50-150 GREAT images in it.... Girl B tells everyone how great they are...
vs 2 weeks after wedding girl A and B sit down to go through 1000's of ok photos... well the photog was only ok I guess...
who can charge more???
Believe in your product and sell the heck out of it... any idiot can take a photo... make sure yours are GREAT photos...
PS if you are wonder where the guys are... they are talking about the flowers... geez...
@brumbe Thanks for the call, Paula! haha...you seem to pull me into a lot of these threads ;)
I completely agree with @soothingbeauty. As a professional photographer, you will charge a "sitting fee" for portraits and an "event fee" for shooting weddings. These fees are meant to cover your costs of equipment, insurance, business costs, and employees if you use any.
That covers about 80% of what you actually need. That other little bit, the little push, comes from the print and product sales after the job is done. That last, last, last thing you want to do is give 700 high-resolution photos from a wedding to a person on a CD. They will take that CD full of your high-resolution photos out to Walmart and print 8x10's at about $2 each and hand them out like candy at a kid's carnival.
You want to create packages and specials with coupons and deals. You want them to buy the prints and products from you for two reasons: you get that extra push, and also because you can control the quality of the printing. I have had a lot of people become upset because they demanded prints from Walmart, the color sucked, and they blamed me for it.
When you shoot a wedding, you always include a certain package along with your costs. The same with a portrait session. Something like 4 - 8x10's and 8 - 5x7's along with a small photo book. Of course, you give a lot more for weddings, and offer different packages.
But the last thing you want to do is hand out those high-resolution photos on a CD because then you have lost them. They will have no reason to return to your website, no reason to contact you, no reason to view those photos unless they have a complaint because of how someone else printed them.
@sweett I think Jordan and Jason summed things up well. Personally, someone has to spend at least $6k with me (for a wedding) before I'll even think about letting them have any hi-res files, and even then they have to purchase a collection (my term for package) that only includes certain files - never the whole lot. I always say "yes" if they ask, but it is going to cost them $250 per file (at least), after a minimum spend, for any portrait shoot. If they're willing to spend that much they're typically willing to listen to me about getting them printed (I'll set them up with a pro printer when they need them done, though not the one I use).
It's like giving a client the negs in the old days - you have no control over what happens afterwards. If they get the files printed at *insert-department-store-here* they will not be of suitable quality, and you can guarantee they will show those poor-quality prints to people and tell them that you took the photos. It makes you look bad. Also, once you start letting people have the files, everyone expects it and it is very hard to change your policy without getting clients upset. Facebook-res files are one thing (with a watermark and firm rules about no cropping or editing), but printable files are a minefield.
When I send my files to print, I have already processed them to the exact size needed for the prints. That is, they are set at the correct DPI and crop for the print size, the correct colour space for the lab that's doing them, and they've been soft-proofed using that lab's printer profiles. Will your client check that your files are right for the lab they use?
For me, it is not so much about losing out on print sales - most clients will spend whatever they had in mind to spend, and very few will ever come back asking for reprints regardless of whether or not they have the digital files. It's about control of the printing and making sure my product doesn't look bad to prospective clients when my clients show them off. I do think it is a bad idea to fight the evolution of digital imaging, but at the same time it is necessary to retain some control over what happens to your work after it is done. So, I'll provide files sized exactly right for a digital frame, iPad, Facebook etc, but I'll also ensure they are done in such a way that they will not print suitably, and they are annotated Copyright - DO NOT PRINT in the metadata. I educate my clients about it too. True - I can't stop them printing them anyway (though most labs will notice the meta tags and refuse to print), but they could scan the prints and do the same thing, so there are limits as to what can be done. Of course, I will never, ever, let them have a digital file of something they haven't bought as a print already (commercial clients excluded - they are buying digital files form the outset, and usually only a few and for a limited purpose).
At the end of the day it is your work, and only you can decide on your policies. But remember that it is your work - they don't own it. You own it. You are the one who has to assess the risk and decide how much is worth taking.
@robynelizabeth I have a 3rd year photography student doing placement with me in June! Admittedly, it is the first time I've done that... and I have to admit to being nervous about it.
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it didn't keep me from ordering my album and parent album's from our photog......
Picture this... two girl friends get to talk weddings... girl A pulls out album with 50-150 GREAT images in it.... Girl B tells everyone how great they are...
vs 2 weeks after wedding girl A and B sit down to go through 1000's of ok photos... well the photog was only ok I guess...
who can charge more???
Believe in your product and sell the heck out of it... any idiot can take a photo... make sure yours are GREAT photos...
PS if you are wonder where the guys are... they are talking about the flowers... geez...
I completely agree with @soothingbeauty. As a professional photographer, you will charge a "sitting fee" for portraits and an "event fee" for shooting weddings. These fees are meant to cover your costs of equipment, insurance, business costs, and employees if you use any.
That covers about 80% of what you actually need. That other little bit, the little push, comes from the print and product sales after the job is done. That last, last, last thing you want to do is give 700 high-resolution photos from a wedding to a person on a CD. They will take that CD full of your high-resolution photos out to Walmart and print 8x10's at about $2 each and hand them out like candy at a kid's carnival.
You want to create packages and specials with coupons and deals. You want them to buy the prints and products from you for two reasons: you get that extra push, and also because you can control the quality of the printing. I have had a lot of people become upset because they demanded prints from Walmart, the color sucked, and they blamed me for it.
When you shoot a wedding, you always include a certain package along with your costs. The same with a portrait session. Something like 4 - 8x10's and 8 - 5x7's along with a small photo book. Of course, you give a lot more for weddings, and offer different packages.
But the last thing you want to do is hand out those high-resolution photos on a CD because then you have lost them. They will have no reason to return to your website, no reason to contact you, no reason to view those photos unless they have a complaint because of how someone else printed them.
@sweett I think Jordan and Jason summed things up well. Personally, someone has to spend at least $6k with me (for a wedding) before I'll even think about letting them have any hi-res files, and even then they have to purchase a collection (my term for package) that only includes certain files - never the whole lot. I always say "yes" if they ask, but it is going to cost them $250 per file (at least), after a minimum spend, for any portrait shoot. If they're willing to spend that much they're typically willing to listen to me about getting them printed (I'll set them up with a pro printer when they need them done, though not the one I use).
It's like giving a client the negs in the old days - you have no control over what happens afterwards. If they get the files printed at *insert-department-store-here* they will not be of suitable quality, and you can guarantee they will show those poor-quality prints to people and tell them that you took the photos. It makes you look bad. Also, once you start letting people have the files, everyone expects it and it is very hard to change your policy without getting clients upset. Facebook-res files are one thing (with a watermark and firm rules about no cropping or editing), but printable files are a minefield.
When I send my files to print, I have already processed them to the exact size needed for the prints. That is, they are set at the correct DPI and crop for the print size, the correct colour space for the lab that's doing them, and they've been soft-proofed using that lab's printer profiles. Will your client check that your files are right for the lab they use?
For me, it is not so much about losing out on print sales - most clients will spend whatever they had in mind to spend, and very few will ever come back asking for reprints regardless of whether or not they have the digital files. It's about control of the printing and making sure my product doesn't look bad to prospective clients when my clients show them off. I do think it is a bad idea to fight the evolution of digital imaging, but at the same time it is necessary to retain some control over what happens to your work after it is done. So, I'll provide files sized exactly right for a digital frame, iPad, Facebook etc, but I'll also ensure they are done in such a way that they will not print suitably, and they are annotated Copyright - DO NOT PRINT in the metadata. I educate my clients about it too. True - I can't stop them printing them anyway (though most labs will notice the meta tags and refuse to print), but they could scan the prints and do the same thing, so there are limits as to what can be done. Of course, I will never, ever, let them have a digital file of something they haven't bought as a print already (commercial clients excluded - they are buying digital files form the outset, and usually only a few and for a limited purpose).
At the end of the day it is your work, and only you can decide on your policies. But remember that it is your work - they don't own it. You own it. You are the one who has to assess the risk and decide how much is worth taking.