Images Delivered

<p>Hello!<br>

I am still fairly new to wedding photography. I have never had any issues until now. I have a couple I delivered them there digital negatives to and have had for over a week without saying a word until now. Today I received an email from the groom stating, "We have received our USB drive with all of our photos, however these photos are only 1200x800 resolution. We would like some of these pictures with a large resolution. Is this the native file size? If not, could you please send us the higher definition files?". I am still learning Adobe Lightroom and what, when and how basically to export images. I have never had anyone ask for larger images before. They typically just want images to put up on facebook, etc. So my questions are,<br>

A.) Where is the best place to go to learn more about Lightroom and exporting properly<br>

and<br>

B.) What is the best way to respond to this customer?<br>

In the part of the contract when it states what they will receive it just stated edited wedding images on a USB drive (as told them on the phone it would be color corrected, etc.) I never stated they would receive high res images.<br>

Thank you for the help in advance and happy holidays!</p>

 

<p>The couple's question is understandable. What camera do you use? And do you shoot JPEG or RAW images? It's possible that Lightroom is set to export low-resolution images. If so, you might be able to tweak that setting and provide your customer with the higher resolution he seeks. There are many ways to learn about Lightroom. One source is Lightroom maker, Adobe. Check out this page: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/tutorials.html </p>

<p>see https://photographylife.com/how-to-properly-resize-images-in-lightroom<br>

1200 x 800 is smallish, adequate for postcard sized images or websites. Depending on the agreement with the couple you can give them 3600 x 2400 or larger, good for A4 sized printing. I'd set all pictures to the same size (long edge) in order to avoid discussions about cropping.</p>

<p>Jessica,</p>

<p>When I was doing weddings, I never gave raw files to clients. And I tried not to give them the very highest res images — not because I was jealously guarding my intellectual property, well not just for that reason, but more because if you are shooting with anything reasonable these days (anything say over 12MP) then the files really are quite large and clients generally won't know what to do with them. But I did give them reasonably high-res files. You should be aware that 1200x800 is TINY. That's the approximate resolution of a very old computer monitor. I want images at least twice that large for viewing on my iPhone 6 Plus or my retina display Macbook Pro. </p>

<p>The key to nearly every problem in life and business is <em>avoidance</em>, and the way to have avoided this problem would have been to be more informative about the resolution of the images you'll be providing. Now if you had told them they'd be getting 1280x800 images, you might not have gotten the gig in the first place. But that's a separate problem. The way to get the gig AND keep them happy is to promise them something reasonable and then deliver. As I said, I'd expect <em>at least</em> 2400px on the long side. And these days even that might be stingy.</p>

<p>Exporting from Lightroom isn't hard, in fact, this is one of the best parts of Lightroom, and you really do need to be a master of this feature. Obviously, you know you're not there yet. But there are a zillion places where you can learn about Lightroom. Start with Adobe's forums, then search for websites devoted to Lightroom. And there are books and books and books. There's help right inside Lightroom, too, which isn't a bad place to start.</p>

<p>https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/exporting-photos-basic-workflow.html</p>

<p>It doesn't take long to reexport all the images at two or three times the size you gave the clients initially. Make 'em happy. Good luck.</p>

<p>Will</p>

<p>Thank You all for the help! It has been greatly appreciated. I am working on exporting them the images again and will be emailing him shortly apologizing that I put the wrong image size on his USB drive.<br>

Here are the details of what I have exported now.<br>

Under Properties: Dimensions 576x384 and Resolution 300dpi.<br>

Is this better for larger images, say a 16x20 to be printed?<br>

Also, I am working with a canon 5d mark iii</p><div></div>

<p>Sounds like you've got it fixed. Unless there are other issues with the photos, the groom should be happy with 300 dpi. And you have an excellent camera. Good luck!</p>

<p>Forget the 300 dpi rating, it's meaningless. 5760 x 3840 is ok but for reasons stated above I'd go for 4800 x 3200. </p>

<p>Part of your contract should state what size files the client shall receive. Some people give full resolution and others give every other size other than full, while others don't give any files. Its your business and that is something you need to sort out beforehand. All though I do find it strange that you are taking jobs yet don't know how to handle the files. I guess now is the best time to learn.</p>

<p>From:</p>

<p>https://support.shutterfly.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1187/~/photo-resolution-tips</p>

<p>1200x800 is the recommended minimum for a 5x7. </p>

<p>For 2000x1600, they will go up to 20x30. </p>

<p>Note that they don't scale linearly, as one is expected to stand back farther from a larger print.</p>

<p>So, 2000x1600 should probably be the minimum that you supply, and 3600x2400 would be a better choice.</p>

<p>I suspect the customers tried to order prints, and was told that the resolution was too low. </p>

<p>By the way, when uploading to Facebook, there is an option for high quality mode. It doesn't keep the full resolution, but when you use the "download" link, you get a reasonable sized image, at least enough for a 5x7. Without that, you only get enough for a small screen image, stretching it to make a 4x6 print. </p>

<p>Many customers will only need enough for Facebook, though.</p>