Easiest way to present proofs to wedding couple?

I did my first wedding and now I'm trying to figure out how to present proofs to the wedding couple. The bride is from the same town as my wife when growing up, if that matters. I really don't care if they see every single image.

I do not have an online proofing site so I'm wondering if I should just convert all images to jpg and give them low resolution images on DVD to decide upon. I took just over 21gb of images (RAW)

Is there an easy method to get all these images on 1 dvd to present? Is there any editing that should be done in batch prior. I'm new at this proofing stuff so any info would be great.

Thanks in advance!

Have you looked into websites like smugmug and zenfolio?
Pretty easy way to share your photos.

Proofing now is different than the proofing of past. From what I have gathered from my experience, the most common way is to select the images you want to deliver, edit them all, and either do a web preview or a DVD with full resolution files.

I wouldnt deliver unedited photos for a wedding. Too many times, especially in today's environment, the couple may not understand what an image can look like edited, and they just see the poorly done unedited photo it will make you look bad.

I hate to say it, but these are all things you should look into before you shoot a wedding.

Agreed with Bryan.
I only present edited images to clients. They might not be meticulously edited, like you would for photos that would go into an album, but I'd at least do the basics like WB and exposure correction, etc.

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll take a look at both of those sites. Ideally I'd like to correct wb and exposure on them prior to presenting. On 1600 + images that'll take a bit of time.

Bryan ~ Yes I should have looked into it prior but I guess I didn't. I'm sure there are other things too but you live and learn I guess. I consider both you and nicksan pros and I definitely appreciate the info from the both of you.

mosabi wrote in post #14896862
Thanks for the responses guys. I'll take a look at both of those sites. Ideally I'd like to correct wb and exposure on them prior to presenting. On 1600 + images that'll take a bit of time.

Which is why you want to get the framing and exposure close to correct most of the time and also set WB on your camera to whatever it is that is closest to the lighting you are shooting under so you get consistent results across a series of photos. This will allow you to batch process a bunch of photos in one shot saving you lots of time.

So if you are shooting in constant lighting, then perhaps shoot in M mode, set the WB (for example, Tungsten if you are inside a house that uses regular bulbs). This way you'll get consistent exposures and WB, which will make life much easier later!

mosabi wrote in post #14896862
Thanks for the responses guys. I'll take a look at both of those sites. Ideally I'd like to correct wb and exposure on them prior to presenting. On 1600 + images that'll take a bit of time.

Yes, editing 1600+ would take a bit of time, which is why one of the skills a photographer has is selecting the best ones. How many is always a personal choice, and I am sure you can find several threads here answering that question.

To give you a little insight on what I have heard about the number of images:

Some say - any that are in focus or if they are out of focus, still important. If that is 1600, some may say to deliver that.
On the other hand, I have heard people say 300 is the max, and try to stay at that or below.

Me, I fall in between. I like to set clients expectations about what I typically deliver (never promising a set number) and say I typically deliver 400-600.

Of course, if you only have 250 that you consider good, dont fill in with fluff. Select the images you like, and maybe wait a day or 2 and look through them again. Are the ones you selected really important? Do they feature important people with good facial expressions, in focus, and fixable for white balance and exposure if need be?

The best advice I can give on how many images to deliver - deliver the best ones you have and do not fill it in with trash to hit a benchmark.

All my shots were taken in manual mode. The reason for so many images is because I worry about blinks, briefly not looking and yes focus. I don't have too many worries about focus, I'm fairly confident there, realistically though I could eliminate quite a few duplicates.

WB isn't off by much but very few look a bit cool.

Great advice guys!

As a photographer, you should cull the images down to a reasonable amount for the client. Giving them bad unedited images will lead to trouble.

As far as delivery of the images, what did your contract say? Mine spells out all of the specifics on how the images will be delivered.

1600 is WAY to much. I deliver 600 to 800. It depends on how long you are shooting that day.

Good luck.

Printed 4x6s still works.

Easiest? Low cost 6x4s, in some kind of a print box. Best? Up to you. I do DVD and online proofs, with proof books for my high end packages.

I 2nd zenfolio.

ditto Zenfolio - also has the advantage of making people go to your site so that they:-
a) learn your businesses name (hopefully)
b)somebody in the office etc may get to see the gallery where they may not have been shown a book
c) anyone given the password - can buy prints ...... again, hopefully

I think I avg shooting about 1500 - 2000 images at a wedding, and deliver 250-400 edited images. I like Zenfolio, like I said, but I usually just mail them a flash drive of the finished product.

Thanks for all the responses. I signed up for the trial of Zenfolio, we'll see how I like it.