Studio Portirat Shoot Workflow..What Steps?

[ryno4youth]

Hey Guys,
I am wondering how you pros are handling the demand to see pictures right after they are taken. I am shooting in RAW only, because I can't get remote camera to accept both RAW and JPEGS, and I am not sure if I should allow people to see there picture right away, because they will think that they are dull. From shoot to print deliverary, can some of you tell me what your step-by-step workflow is? Right now here is what I do:
1. Take the pictures (usually lots) in RAW
2. Transfer them to the Office PC
3. Show them to the client, so they know that we got some good ones
4. Ask them to come back in a few days
5. Process myself to death for the next 10 hours (Enhancment stage)
6. Have them come back in and order.
7. Transmit to the Lab and have them back in a week.

Good turnaround time, but I hate having people look at all the pictures that I took, because 75% of them are going to be deleted. I am taking the right steps here, or is there something that I should be doing differently? Also, I shoot pictures of kids a lot and that is way I take so many pictures. Thansk for everyone's help.

Ryan

[MTalley]

I always warn my customers up front that some of the photos are not going to be good and give them several examples, such as blinking eyes, funny look on face, flash didn't go off, test shot, etc. Also, let them know that these are the original, untouched and unenhanced images. If nothing else, give 'em a line about the quality of the monitor that you are presenting the images on compared to the one you use for processing (they don't need to know if they are one in the same).

Most people are understanding. I'll sometimes see something in an otherwise good shot that might need a little touchup and will point it out to the client. They're even happier when they've seen the before and after.

One of my portraits was of a girl playing a piano in a church sanctuary. We didn't notice until later, while previewing the pics on my laptop, that the girl's sister was sitting just slightly in camera view of one of their favorite shots. WHen they saw the final image, with the sister neatly cloned out of the picture, they were very favorably impressed.

Also, make sure that the customer realizes when something just can't be done, or can be done but not with guaranteed results. One mother wanted me to soften her daughter's facial features when the daughter had covered up a lot of bad acne with an off-colored makeup. I didn't guarantee results, but told her I would do the best I could. Fortunately, I pulled it off and they were happy.

[ryno4youth]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. When I mean that it is taking 10 hours I mean that between me and my partner (5 hours each) it is taking that long. Right now we are just letting our creative side show with the images that we alter, usually about 15-20 images have enhancments/special effects on them out of 70 or so. I am starting to feel like we should do less work on them unless requested.