 Olivia Navarro |
Selling Discs of Photos to Clients For those of you in the portrait/wedding business, do you sell your images/proofs to your clients at full resolution on a disc? If so, do you require a minimum print purchase first? There's a bit of a debate about this on another board I post on so I'm curious to see what people on this board think about it. By the way, I'm of the opinion that most people wouldn't purchase it and would prefer to buy prints from the photographer but if it is something that the client wants, why not--IF priced high enough.
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Debby A. Tabb |
Good Evening Olivia, This is a huge debate here as well, but I will give you my view on it. I have Trained and been part of upper management of three major studio companies and have watched this on going debate,the taking other companies like Wal-mart to court over copyright disputes. And really for what-the money that came from reorders is so minamal it's rediculas!! So, as I formed my own prices I did add a CD price.I would rather sell a CD at $50.00 to $100.00 (and up depending on the venue) then print some package. when I do events of families- one after the other,I do a series of shots- edit and show right there-I offer package prices, and mixed pose packages , then I make the best deal everything on a disk- Most people buy the disk, I burn it right there 3 mins. 10cents for the disk, .25 for the box and they'er out of there. No printing, no mailing no getting back with them - that event is closed. weddings and other Large events are diferent -the CD comes only in a Package price. I don't look at the reprints because my experience is there is just no reason to take the time to worry about the small possibility of hearing from those clients again. well, as usual I will wait to hear -what a bad decission this is- but it works for me. I just love getting things off my desk and closing the books on a event. I hope this helps, Debby
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Olivia Navarro |
Debby, that is SOOO good to hear, especially from someone as experienced in this business as you are. I'm getting reamed by people on the other site who say that there's just so much more to this and to me it's very simple--there's FAR less time involved in providing a simple disc for the client than providing prints. I just want to give the client what they want. And if that happens to be all their images on a disc, why not? It's their pictures. I seriously doubt that after paying for a session fee and for a cd of their images, that they're going to then take their images to a crappy lab and have them printed. If anything, they'll ask me what lab I recommend and I'll give them some names. Ugh!!! Anyway, thanks. I can go to bed a little less frustrated now. :-)
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Kristi Eckberg |
I have been curious about the same thing. I have not yet had anyone ask for a cd but I'm sure that is soon to come. If someone wants a full res cd how much should I charge for it? I always check out other websites to see what people price their work at and I have seen a few different prices for the full cd so I don't know what to charge. Do you burn the pictures all at one size or resize them first to 4x6, 5x7 8x10? If you save them all at one size and they want to print up a bunch of different sizes then cropping will be an issue for them.
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Debby A. Tabb |
I charge according to what I am doing. I am doing a charity event for my step daughters Vet.Asstistants Organization at collage, the CD's for just pets will be $50.00. when it's families-8-10 shots= $60.00 10-15=$100.00 this is multible family groups( when someone contacts us for a family shot-I always recommend that they talk to friend and nieghbors,I'll wave the set up costs if they put on a block party or bbq etc. where more families show up I make more,they don't pay to have me come,) with weddings it is a 400.00 value to the package.(it's in the package price and just a note: the only packages I have sold since this offer are the ones that enclude the disks,try it.) I save anything to the disk at the original size-if croping is nessisary no smaller the a 16x20.and thats all I gauntee. i hope this helps, debby
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Kimberly J. Whipps |
For what it is worth...here is what I do. (And it is going just splendidly.) I take anywhere from 150 to 250 pics in a hour, then from those I "fix and finish" about 100. Then I post them on my website for them to view. They can purchase the disc, but I require a minimum print purchase (only $25). The reason for this is, if they get the disc, then take it to Walmart and the prints come out with an orange or blue cast, I don't want them to think that it was because of my ability. If they at least get an 8x10 and a 5x7, then they will see what they should look like. Also, the more prints they buy, the cheaper the disc gets. I have found that since I have required a print purchase, people are still buying the disc, but they are buying a whole lot of prints to go with it. Hope this helps.
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Kristi Eckberg |
So how much are you all charging for a full res disk? Do you base it on how many pictures are actually going on cd?
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Jeff Dadey |
I offer a CD also, but only with a minimum print purchase like Kimberly. For example, with a Senior photo session, If they buy at least two pose packages, they can buy their proofs on CD for $35. The proof CD would have anywhere from 30 to 100+ photos on it. Like I said, it is a PROOF CD. The CD does not have photo touch-ups or any extras like their name on the photos or anything like that. This way, if they do want the "professional" look for their photos, they get them through me. That way I'm still making some money. Jeff
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Lisa Carpenter |
Just my 2 cents...the only bad thing about selling your files on a disc to a client is this...they probably will go to Eckerd, Wal-Mart, or something of the like and if they don't produce a good PRINTED product then people that see them will associate your work with what they saw. I try not to price my prints so high that the clients don't get what they want from the proofs.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Why not super impose a copyright symbol followed by your company name and give them the disc? Great publicity. Then on their first anniversary, if they don't buy th eproof book outright in the first place, send it to them as an anniversary gift, since it's only collecting dust at your place. This endears them to you for advertising to friends and also keeps you in their mind for future photographic needs. Bear in mind the lack of expense in these two items aside from time of assembly involved. Little capital goes in so why not splurge on your customers from time to time? (Don't forget to keep the negatives).
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Debby A. Tabb |
Yes, every image should have studio name and copyright symbel even if they are getting the disk-just give them a release form to take to the developer. and little gifts to say we didn't forget serving you are a wonderful idea and practice.
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x |
For weddings I sell the CD as part of the coverage. I have personal reasons for doing this. I provide it 12 months after their wedding date. Although, I have an internal debate with myself about it. For portraits and other things, no CD. Occassionally, under certain circumstances, I sell individual files at $50 per image. They get a color-corrected full-size JPEG. As far as 'giving the client what they want' I want to address this. The client doesn't really know what they want. They think they want the files, but they can't get prints to look the way I can. I recently had a client who was nto happy because they had an 8x10 printed at Costco, and they didn't like it. After complaining to Costco, they reprinted it, and it was the same. They came to me, and I offered to have one printed, if they like it, they can pay my price for it, if not, no problem. My print was awesome and made the Costco print look like a piece of crap. Why? Because a post-processed color-corrected image is just that. What clients don't understand is all the stuff I might do to make a print really awesome looking. Even the basic stuff like shadow/highlight and USM, are things that most clients don't know to do. I also further dial in the colors, and just make the print look really, really nice. A consumer lab just isn't going to do that kind of work. I do recommend a lab in my local area that can do that work for the client, but most don't do it because they think the cost is too high. Although I continue to provide the CD of images to wedding clients, I can't find any advantage for either myself or the client. The client thinks it's cheaper, but they find that it's really not. The advantage for me is I don't have to print annoying 4x6's for Aunt Sally. For that, I don't care if they print off their HP Ink Jet. That's fine with me. No one looks at a picture and thinks the photographer is lame. I mean, it just doesn't happen. But, it does bother me that they have the opportunity to print a 20x30 for their wall. I hate that. Their are two sides to it, and I think that it is a personal choice for the photographer. Think about this, even though I provide the Cd for weddings, I still earn over $1k in sales in reprints from my clients, not including family members and others who also order. So, although they know they are getting the CD, they still order tons of reprints. My hope is that they order everything they want in that first year and by the time they get their CD, it really is just for archival purposes, not really for printing a bunch of images to hang on the wall.
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anonymous |
I provide discs also, but only after a portait sitting/wedding package has been purchased (I give them this option with I give them the reprint prices etc). Discs are $10 per photo minimum 10 photos and they are all PS'd and are HR.
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Pat Worster |
I will sell clients a CD with all poses and digital enhancements. I state that they can do unlimited printing on a home printer but no commercial printing. I put my copyright on each image and I have a printer that will print a photo directly on the CD and along with that is my Copyright. It has worked great so far. Pat
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