question for those who DO give away the CD

Hi, I was just wondering for all you those who do give away the CD, do you resize images for your customers if they want to make an 8x10, 5x7 or do you actually sell the reprints, or do you reccomend a good professional lab? Thanks for the advice in advance.

I don't give away the CD, but I do sell it. The images are 3000x2000 pixels, color, with white ballance, exposure, contrast, shadows, and brightness corrected. I sometimes put a couple of examples of fully processed images onto the CD in low resolution to show them why they might order prints from me.

Thanks, so when you sell I'm assuming it is to people who have a good understanding of how to resize it themselves if they want enlargements? Or do they ask you to resize to 8x10 etc?

What they do with the images is their problem, I don't offer support for how to use digital images unless they pay my ad hoc hourly rate, which is not at all cheap. A lot of people want them "just in case" - eg in case I get hit by a bus and they lose access to their high res images.

That's why even when people buy the high res CD they sometimes still order prints from me, and their families usually order from me.

how much do you sell it for if you don't mind me asking

It's tiered depending on how much they spend on their album and package. It can range between about $1000 (US $700 or so) and free.

I was wondering this as well, almost every digital wedding photographer's site I browse, a CD full of high-resolution images is included--meaning they don't sell prints? And most often, they also include a "proof" book full of 300 4x6's.

If you are being asked to resize images, take the opportunity and offer them a price to do so.

I include a disc w/high res images. All I do is convert the edited TIFF files into 8-bit, 300dpi JPEG's and put them on CD's or a DVD in folders. I tell them that if they do want to make a large print that the lab may or may not crop it the way they want. So, if they want a really large print then I ask them to tell me which one and I'll crop it to that size for them at no charge. It takes me about 1 minute, and it makes them feel good about my customer service and I know exactly what the print will look like. I do recommend a couple professional labs to them, and www.mpix.com. Hope that helps!

I guess I should add that I've never felt that a client took advantage of me for this. If they asked me to resize all of them then I'd ask for a fee, but one or two pictures is no problem.

I resize the images in the aspect ratios they request, and charge them accordingly. I also give them detailed information about printing and recommend that they use either one local lab in particular or Mpix.

do you guys narrow down the selection or give them all prints? i get the I WANT ALL IMAGES thing & just kinda need to know what others do with this situation.

great tips! I will do a handful at no charge but sometimes people want like 20 or so... it gets to be a little time consuming (not too bad but it makes me just want to sell prints).

jbstudios wrote in post #2372202
do you guys narrow down the selection or give them all prints? i get the I WANT ALL IMAGES thing & just kinda need to know what others do with this situation.

No way do they get all the prints. I have a 15 image CD and a 30 image CD for my portrait sessions. If they want anything more, the price goes up.

It ends up being up to you, but consider is there an appropriate opportunity for more business? will providing all images ensure me a returning customer? is my time worth it? it's a good feeling to be able to help a customer but it's very important to remain in "business." In other words, do what you can, but don't cut yourself short.