got a request for JUST IMAGES

[craiglee]

a bride wants just images on her flash card and she will edit herself/someone else.

i offered her shoot on my own and burn a dvd for her. while she asked for just the originals, should i still filter them and give them a slight edit (exposure, WB, etc)?

[iseecanonpeople]

i think a quick ninja edit will not hurt.. this is a client I assume? a quick edit will give it some nice touch, I always think that photograph are like your calling card to the world..

[craiglee]

1. would it be dishonest to do so?
2. i guess i have to give her high-res jpegs

UPDATE:
she just wants it on her flash. might as well give her raw and thus no ninja editing as she wants the photos after the wedding.

her sister is going to judge what i produce and would want a full service (prints, ablum, etc) down the line. i told her straight out of camera aren't final products and she has acknowledged and undershoot this. but i am confident enough to produce good out of camera shots. i hope.

[jacuff]

Well on your webpage you do say that EVERYTHING you do is à la carte and EVERYTHING is customizable. Also you do what works for the client.

So for your client, what is going to work is shooting on her flash card and handing it over to her. You just need to customize an à la carte "package" that is both what she wants and is profitable for you.

Personally, I try to avoid booking clients like that in the first place. If the pay was right, I would book a client like that, but more often than not that request was made because they think it will lower the amount they have to pay.

[craiglee]

i'm willing to take the hit on profit as i'm just basically starting out.

[TheHoff]

i'm willing to take the hit on profit as i'm just basically starting out.

If you do decide to do it, be sure to get in your contract/release that you're also able to edit them yourself to use in your portfolio.

[craiglee]

If you do decide to do it, be sure to get in your contract/release that you're also able to edit them yourself to use in your portfolio.

already on it

[Perry Ge]

So what if they do an awful job of processing them? That makes you look bad. I would never give away RAW files, or even unedited JPEGs.

[craiglee]

i understand that. we've agreed that i can get the images to put on my website.

the way i figfure, if they do an awful job at editing, it would bring less harm than me doing a great job at editing. i would net a positive experience and portfolio material.

but this would be my first gig of the year and i need the experience/portfolio more than me needing to worry about bad images i have out there.

it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make to risk getting word of mouth and building my port.

[tim]

Just starting out I see no great harm. I guess she's only doing it to save money though.

[tim]

Another thought - she's probably only doing it to save money, and you're most interested in building your portfolio and referrals. Offer to do the basic editing for free.

Even after shooting professional for maybe 5 years I still mess up exposures, but usually in such a way as I can fix them in RAW. If a customer saw the plain unedited images they'd not be happy, but seeing the finished images they will be. I still wouldn't be comfortable giving away unedited files, and I don't ever.

[craiglee]

i'll offer to edit them for free

[koppiwrite]

Wow, I am so glad I haven't had that asked yet. I take about 500 images per wedding and only proof about 200 or so. that would be a lot of waste and a ton of useless photos for the bride and her family.
My photos are my trademark and while I am still trying to build that, it would concern me that they might be showing less than par photos to friends and family and giving me credit for it. IDK maybe that is just me.

[Mike R]

Be sure that she wants RAW and not jpeg. What if you shoot raw,give her the card, and she cannot even open them?

[jmborkowski]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I fully embrace the "Only show your best stuff" mantra which means I'm not releasing anything into the wild that I'm not happy with.

[IamKP]

If you're going to be shooting with her flash card, how will you get the images for your own use? You stated you will have to give her the flash card after the event. Unless you plan on uploading them to your computer immediately after and before giving her the card.

Another idea is you can shoot RAW and jpeg and give her the jpeg, but keep the raw for yourself. :)

[craiglee]

i'm desperate for a gig. it's like if i were a car salesman and i haven't sold a single car in a year and someone offers me 75% of what i'm asking. i have to take it.

she said she would send me the files somehow. i live in the next city over so it shouldn't be that hard. i'm meeting her and her fiance this saturday to talk things over.

after this one (potential) i probably won't do it again.

[coralnutz]

I wouldn't do RAWs, maybe hi-res jpegs that had the basic things adjusted. And removed any OOF/bad shots.

[jacuff]

i'm desperate for a gig.
she said she would send me the files somehow.
after this one (potential) i probably won't do it again.

A little foreshadowing that hindsight will indeed be 20/20???



Just how many memory cards does she have? How many cameras do you have? I shoot 2 or 3 camera bodies for a wedding. 1 memory card just wouldn't cut it. It would take 3 memory cards at a minimum. One body would be fine with a 2GB card. The other body would need a 4GB card. For the main body that does the majority of the shooting, it would take 2 or 3 8GB cards. All of them CF of course.

Another thing to consider... what happens if HER card fails or she isn't able to retrieve the images from it? You're contract better have something spelled out to address that possibility.

[craiglee]

she is a strange one. i've offered to shoot with my own cards and put images on a dvd. she has a 4gb and 2gb card. 4 hours coverage. should be ok. but i'm going to meet up with her saturday. i think she doesn't want a DVD jsut because i charge money for it, but i'm willing to waive that just so i can preview/pre-edit before i give them to her.