Supplying CD of images!

Sorry to jump in here with both feet, but it's the "give em the pics on CD" issue again. Although I'm posting this here, it basically applies across the board to any event where photographic services are paid for by a member of the public.

From reading numerous posts, there again seems to be a leaning, with some photogs, towards simply taking all the photo's from an event, typically a Wedding (say), tarting them up (thats a technical phrase: tarting = post-processing in a package like Photoshop) copying them to a CD and handing them over to the client for a low-price-you-can't-get-anywhere-else fee.

Now, whilst I can understand that the provision of images, in electronic form, is in some scenarios the way forward (PR work, advertising, promotional etc), I know because it's the way I work, I just don't see how this can/should be applied to a "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding. (well, for most of us it's once!)

Say you take some wonderful shots, great angles, lovely images of the B&G and family during/after the ceremony. You take hours if not days post-processing them to accentuate the Brides' hair/dress/makeup, then you copy them to a CD and deliver to said B&G.

They trot along to the local supermarket which feeds them through their print machine - you know, the one that has the "add-colour-cast-to all-images-nomatter-what" switch gaffer-taped in the "ON" position.

The B&G or other member of their family collect the wallet of 6x4 prints and deposit them into a lovingly purchased album; the sort with bendy cardboard covers, full of acid-laden poly-bags for pages.

They pass them round to all their friends and family who immediately wonder "where in h*lls name did they get these from?!"

Guess who's getting the credit?

Why do it??

Why do it?

I have 2 kids, wife a mortgage and a full time job not as a photographer.....the $600 puts food on the table!

I once had the same attitude and you can probably find many post on here (old of course) where I once said I would never give out cd's but as of 2007 all my weddings include one. Here's the catch though.... I raised my prices this year. In turn I have booked more weddings then any other previous year and things have gotten easier.

I think it's a good thing especially after you can set your price to a point where you're really not going to see a huge loss in print sells. Just my opinion of course.... it's working for my company and the clients are very happy.

I agree that if they print crappy prints and put them in a 2.99 album it makes me look bad. I weighed the pros and cons prior to doing this. I have recently changed my prices and my way of doing business, but I just want everyone to know that there are many reasons for the "cheap" wedding photographer. The most common ones get the attention (inexperienced or a guy trying to make a quick buck regardless of the product delivered).....just keep in mind there are 2 sides to everything. Many of the families I did the "cheap” wedding $600 was a lot of money and the prints they had made are still priceless to them!

If anyone is going to just hand over the CD of images for a cheap price I recommend giving the B&G a set of 4x6 prints from a quality lab and encouraging them to use the same lab. I also think there is nothing wrong with the photographer taking 5 minutes to educate the B&G on acid free albums (by the way I bought a nice one for only $10 recently that holds 300 4x6’s

Exactly... my packages are now 2500.00 and 5000.00 - I always give them 200 or 400 actual 4x6 prints (depending on package) thet go into a leather album with a hard cover and they also get print credit which also varies on what package they bought. That way, they have nice proffessional prints of mine and they also have the CD for whatever...

Were priced very low at the moment because its our first year and we also give images out on CD (as well as other things in our standard package), but even if we end up charging 10k a wedding we will still give the images out on CD and structure our prices so that we dont need to make money on print sales because I firmly believe its the way forward. The only other items we try to sell clients are things that they dont have access to buy themselves like premium albums and the such like.

Look at it from the consumers point of view, ive paid you to shoot my wedding, ive chosen all these prints I want in my album so youve spent the time touching them up, why should I then spend many times the actual cost price to have an enlargement of one of these same prints ??

Consumers are a lot more knowledgeable on whats available in the market place now and what the value of things are so its gotta be pretty hard to jusify selling them something for many times the actual true cost .... surely its fa easier to sell them our experience and skill as a photographer and the experience that they have with us on the day ?

I will come back in 10 years and see if my view has changed though cos I am very much a newbie atm

I wouldn't book a photographer for my wedding if they didn't either include the high resolution disc (usually a DVD since CD's don't hold much), or offer it for an additional price. All my packages include a high res disc because of this. Also, though, I suggest to the B&G some good labs-online and around town-and people seem to take my advice on that. The B&G will tell people where their pictures came from. If they loved their pics, then they'll want to recommend you. If they hated them, they'll want to warn people. So, I wouldn't worry about them taking the credit. Also, there's always going to be another photographer that's just as good as you that will either include the disc or offer it for a price, and if they had to choose, they'll probably go w/the person who will sell the disc. At least that is my experience (personal and professional). Hope that helps!

I'm still not giving out my originals for free, I charge for them if they want them. Especially since I can get print orders 1.5 years later.

jessiper wrote in post #2718977
.... So, I wouldn't worry about them taking the credit.....

Thats just it, it would be them giving me the credit for bad pics that would worry me!

TeeJay wrote in post #2719020
Thats just it, it would be them giving me the credit for bad pics that would worry me!

Then tell them not to take them to the supermarket. I say that I prefer them not to take them to the supermarket photo lab, and that for the same price they can have professional quality prints, and give them a website address for an online print lab, and an address for a good lab near them. Also, I give them prints w/each package so they know how they should look. You can be persuasive w/o being pushy or mean, and you can get them to get prof. quality prints.

jessiper wrote in post #2719120
Then tell them not to take them to the supermarket. I say that I prefer them not to take them to the supermarket photo lab, and that for the same price they can have professional quality prints, and give them a website address for an online print lab, and an address for a good lab near them. Also, I give them prints w/each package so they know how they should look. You can be persuasive w/o being pushy or mean, and you can get them to get prof. quality prints.

Thats fair comment I guess.

I agree on wanting people to see the images the way I intended them to be - and not the way supercenters and th elike print. I had one problem with a bride where her prints from Walmart made her teal dresses look like they were Windex Blue!!!!!

This year, I offer the CD for an additional price, but they dont' receive the CD until they receive an album or, if no album credit is in their package, when the print credit is used up. I also have high quality proof books I give them along with a print credit in every package. So they will get SOME good quality prints, and the proof book keeps them from printing out a stack of $.19 4x6s. Ultimately the album is what I want people to show, so most of my packages contain enough album credit to get a good sized album.

Tiffany wrote in post #2720225
I agree on wanting people to see the images the way I intended them to be - and not the way supercenters and th elike print. I had one problem with a bride where her prints from Walmart made her teal dresses look like they were Windex Blue!!!!!

This year, I offer the CD for an additional price, but they dont' receive the CD until they receive an album or, if no album credit is in their package, when the print credit is used up. I also have high quality proof books I give them along with a print credit in every package. So they will get SOME good quality prints, and the proof book keeps them from printing out a stack of $.19 4x6s. Ultimately the album is what I want people to show, so most of my packages contain enough album credit to get a good sized album.

Thats an excellent idea.

I supply a CD/DVD of approx 250 wedding images for a set fee. All of my clients so far prefer this - a trend they feel gives them the freedom to develop later...and re-develop.
I do however supply a list of my preferred photo labs (whom I have calibrated my monitor with), and gurantee my images if printed there. I clearly state if printed elsewhere including their home printer they may notice a change in colour/quality. I also explain this in detail to the clients at the time of booking. I cover myself this way - and every client so far has been happy to process their images at the recommended labs. This works well.

All my packages include a disc of high res files.

I have priced them accordingly.