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Giving out CD's of photos
JulieLawsonPhotography
Registered Users Posts: 787 Major grins
I have a friend of mine who was asked if they, the customer, could have a CD of the images. I know I have heard some photogs that do that but charge a set fee for that CD. If she decides to do this, what is the general rate that one might charge for that. I know it will vary from photog to photog.........but in general what should she charge?
Thanks in advance for any assistance. It is appreciated.
Julie
Thanks in advance for any assistance. It is appreciated.
Julie
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Comments
What was the original agreement between your friend and her customer?
Some photogs have a low sitting fee because they expect to make most of their money selling custom prints.
Others may charge a much higher sitting fee which includes the price of the digital cd.
What did your friend charge for the event/sitting fee and was it enough to give her a profit without selling the custom prints?
Will your friend be putting hours into post processing all of the files on cd?
Payment for her time post processing should be taken into account.
If she doesn't post process the digital cd files, will the customer be disappointed with the quality of the unprocessed files when she gets them printed at Wal Mart?
Will the customer's friends see these photos, and not be impressed, and therefore the photographer loses word of mouth business?
Giving out the image files means to not being
able any more to sell prints - simply because
the customer will then print the photos himself.
She should price the CD such that she earns as
much (if not more) money than if she sold the
images as prints.
Remember she is not selling a 10 cent CD. She is
selling licenses to print photos. Price accordingly.
― Edward Weston
When I explain that I'm putting them on the web and that I can hide the gallery and/or password protect it and they can order prints online, 95% of the time they are like "wow thats awesome, then I definitely don't need a CD".
Granted, there are still times when people say "well can you just burn me a cd anyway".
If at all possible, I try to get out of the CD burning business - lots of reasons for this.
1) It's an extra step to my workflow and while it might only take a few minutes for me to do it it's just another item that will be clogging up the workflow.
2) Then what to do with the cd, you have to track down the person and give it to them or mail it to them hoping it doesn't break.
3) Then they'll lose it 4 months from now and end up calling you again to see if you have another copy or they'll call you a week after getting the cd saying "these pics are too big to email, can you walk me through making them smaller".
4) Then of course there is the issue of them forgetting who took their pics and how to get in touch with you - if they do show off the pics and people compliment them and ask who took the pics they may not remember the phone number or email address to get in touch with you. But when they are looking at pics on my website and emailing the gallery link to their friends they are also giving out my contact information at the same time.
When I upload to SM, all (well, most) of those issues magically disappear.
Nikon | Private Photojournalist
http://dnlphoto.com/pages/cddvd/cd174.html
I also include a copy of the copyright release as a text file burned on the CD or DVD, and also a text file with studio contact info. And I also include the images in full-res, and resized for web, in case they're not sophisticated enough software-wise to know how to do that.
And I charge for it. $1200 for weddings. $600 for portraits.
To top it off, I explain to the customer early on that prints made through me will look much better than prints the customer gets on their own. So for any special print needs, I still get those orders too. Let them make as many 4x6 prints to fill their albums as they want. Mostly they'll enjoy having their pictures in iPhoto and posting them on their blogs.
Also, when I sell them the CD, it takes me off the hook for storage of their files. I tell them I'll keep them safe for a year, but after that, they're on their own. I encourage them to make a backup copy. Discs don't last forever. Neither do hard drives. Having a discussion about proper backup can save you grief down the road. And generally I try to keep copies of everything just in case, but I'm not held to it by contract.
Is that in addition to the regular wedding / portrait package? If so, then yes I would be all for it also!
But, if not, I would lean towards smugmug (for the vast majority of us that can't or won't get $1200 extra for a copy of the pics on CD).
Smugmug does that wonderfully.
Smugmug share feature again.
Maybe if their computer is hooked up to it smugmug will do that
Enable the pay-for-personal-use download option and they pick and choose the image they want to use as their desktop.
Again, I'm not arguing any of these points if the client is paying $600-$1200 extra for the CD - I'll do that all day long. But if not, all those items you mention are just screaming to me "extra task that isn't taking pictures, extra task that isn't taking pictures".
And taking pictures is what I love, not making CD's. One of the things I love most about smugmug is that it truly streamlines my workflow and puts the ability for downloading / sharing / emailing on the client and not on me (again, for a price I would not have a problem with it).
Again, smugmug to the rescue - with unilimited storage capability why not keep them for the client forever-ish? You can still release yourself from that contractually but providing it anyway as a benefit would be easy; heck it would be easier than going in and removing them from smugmug! :-)
Just to clarify - my comments are really intended for those who's target market would not pay several hundred dollars extra for a CD. For those, I'm saying smugmug does everything they need.
Nikon | Private Photojournalist
My point is that if you think of yourself just as someone who "takes pictures" for hire, you're probably not giving enough thought to what your real value is to the customer. Thinking of making a CD as "something that isn't taking pictures" will get in the way of doing good business. Sure, maybe you don't enjoy other parts of your business as much, but your true value to the customer isn't pictures, it's the entire experience. That includes everything from how you interact with them to what you deliver at the end. The actual "taking pictures" is one small part of it.
On a number of occasions I've had a customer tell me at the end of the wedding what a fantastic job we did, and how they were thrilled with how we worked, and that they're going to recommend us to all their friends... all before seeing a single image. You're selling an experience. And in my opinion, in this day and age, providing digital files is a big part of that experience.
I agree smugmug can do lots of that for you... but if you're not charging for them to download those files, then you're losing potential income. I've just found it's much easier to sell all the files than to expect customers to pay for individual downloads.
Also, I'd rather not promise lifetime access to their images on smugmug. Over time I just don't want to have that many files and that many clients to navigate through on the site. So smugmug can work for a customer for a year or so, but after that, I want them to have the files.
And I agree - I wouldn't do any of the above for free! But times are changing, and finding a way to earn additional income from the new ways people enjoy their pictures is a welcome challenge. Just be aware that if you allow your images to be shared through smugmug because you haven't protected them, you're losing potential income.
If they want the whole shoot on CD, charge based on the shoot, the time you spent, and how much they're likely to pay. I know this last part sounds a bit harsh, but during your shoot, chat up your clients. If they're lawyers with lots of money to spare, keep this in mind if they ask to buy a CD. You get the idea.
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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