What do I do *next*?

seeker

OK, so I have waited and practiced and read books and practiced and the day finally came - I shot my first solo wedding! I have taken a couple passes through the files and have reduced the 1200 photos I shot to around 500 that range from "has potential" to "did I really shoot that?"

Now I am in a position I have not been in before ... what do I do next?

I know I am going to post photos here on smugmug for the family to order prints of, so that's one task I have in front of me. But I also know I will need to put together a second set of pictures that will be possibles for an album; these will not be the same as the set for sale, but there will be some in both.

How do you all go about this? Do you create 2 separate galleries, one with family prints for order, and another with prints for the bride and groom to choose from for an album? Or, do you put together an album using your own judgment first, and then let them look at it?

Brian

dangin

hi brian,

congrats on finishing your first wedding. like many others, i'd love to see how the images turned out! my advice to you is my own business process:

1) now that you've gone through the images and picked the ones the client is going to see, upload them all on sm and send your clients the link. be sure to rename the files using an easy to follow filenaming convention.

2) tell the client that this is their proofing process and they need to weed through the images and pick out any that they don't want displayed for family and friends to see. tell them that they have 2 weeks for the proofing process. the images in the gallery are the images for all that they share it with to see.

3) during this time, they need to pick the images that they'd like to see in an album. you'll have to give them a finite limit depending on the album they're buying otherwise the bride will go nuts and pick hundreds of pictures.


the only time the photographer or studio should ever wholly do an album is if they're paid to do so - which is usually something only the lazy rich pay really expensive, but usually really good studios. too much liability there if the client isn't happy w/ the album.

speaking of the album, are you doing a traditional or digital album?

seeker

dangin wrote:

hi brian,

congrats on finishing your first wedding. like many others, i'd love to see how the images turned out! my advice to you is my own business process:

1) now that you've gone through the images and picked the ones the client is going to see, upload them all on sm and send your clients the link. be sure to rename the files using an easy to follow filenaming convention.

2) tell the client that this is their proofing process and they need to weed through the images and pick out any that they don't want displayed for family and friends to see. tell them that they have 2 weeks for the proofing process. the images in the gallery are the images for all that they share it with to see.

3) during this time, they need to pick the images that they'd like to see in an album. you'll have to give them a finite limit depending on the album they're buying otherwise the bride will go nuts and pick hundreds of pictures.


the only time the photographer or studio should ever wholly do an album is if they're paid to do so - which is usually something only the lazy rich pay really expensive, but usually really good studios. too much liability there if the client isn't happy w/ the album.

speaking of the album, are you doing a traditional or digital album?

Hey Dan ... thanks so much for the ideas.

Here is a link to a gallery of "teaser" photos I have posted. I have already received an email from the mother of the groom, wondering where the pictures are, and the wedding was only 3 days ago!

http://www.knappimaging.com/gallery/3278996

Since this is my first wedding, and since these are friends of mine, I was going to put together an album. I just wans't sure whether to do that before letting them choose photos (and then obviously shown them an electronic version of the album pages prior to having it printed), or whether I should actually let them choose the pics that will go in the album. I am currently leaning towards the former.

As to the type of album, I think they were looking for a coffee table style book. My concern is finding a printer that will print one that will do justice to the pictures. Something other than using Apple's "book" service, IOW.

Brian

dangin

how much do you plan on spending on the album? that'll dictate my answer...

seeker

dangin wrote:

how much do you plan on spending on the album? that'll dictate my answer...

Not really sure ... I am going to give the couple an album for basically what it costs me. Again, these are close friends of mine, and this is my first wedding; besides, I have never designed an album before so I suspect I will be spending a lot of time on it.

Brian