Digital negatives

Like many of you i burn CD with digital files for my couples. I actually offer two types of packages: Shoot-

and-CD and Full-Service including proofs and albums.

Do you make a price difference between "Digital Negatives" par se and custom enhanced images? Do you

offer both options?

I put a lot of effort, skills and time to enhanced images, and everything that's uploaded online is

customized. Because i want people to buy prints. I was giving CDs with JPEGs of exactly the same images.

Untill i got a print order for $400 from MOG, she called next morning to canceled it because B&G told her

they would burn a CD for her so she can get prints for much less.

Do you have the same issue? Do you offer both options? What' your price difference (say in realative

numbers)? If you offer both are you clear and upfront about the "Digital Negatives"? What i mean by DN is

color-corrected, horizon lines are straightened, with some sharpenning and contrast boost JPEG file

(sRGB).

thank you for your thoughts,

Natasha

I have three packages. The cheapest does not offer the digital negatives, the other two do together with parent albums, etc.

I used to sell the negs but my clientele just didn't make the orders. Yes a few here or there, but my market expects proof albums and even when I tried making printed proof albums, i.e. not ones where you could take out the prints, the orders still failed to come in.

So now I add it to the price up front, including the negs and albums upfront is a great selling point, and I'm making far more money with far less hassle than the way I was doing it before.

So many things factor in to this and there are many options. If you charge a lot up front, the print income may not be a big deal. If you have a low starting package and the print sales really matter then you could give the cd images in say 6 months to a year later. I would say whatever your average print sales are sell the cd for that if they really want them. If you really do not want to do this tell the client quality is important to you and you just don't want your work being printed where you can't control the quality.

It really comes down to the clients wanting you mainly for your work and also likeing you as a person, whatever your rules are they will obide by it.

First define what digital negatives are... RAW out of camera files, or color/exposure corrected/partially enhanced images, or totally perfect/retouched/photoshopped to heck final images... and at what resolution.<p>

In any case, giving the client files that they can print or create albums from are absolutely valuable. I cringe when I hear people say like... "just shoot and give a disc with all the images and charge them less money".<p>

Think about what the high-resolution images are worth in terms of your creative talent for shooting, your time/talent to post-process them, any lost revenue from print and/or album orders, and any issues you may or may not have about having your work printed or put into an album and shown in a way that is out of your control.<p>

If you give high-res images, it's probably best to at least charge accordingly and perhaps also wait at least until you give them their album.

To be honest I would be interested to hear other opinion on this. Nowadays the output from the vast majority of calibrated minilabs is close to exactly the same given the same file. If your file is perfect then there will be little variations between machines and even papers. Yes I can tell the difference between my images printed on a frontier in Crystal Archive or Fuji Pro or Kodak pro on a Noritsu, but I doubt any of my clients can.

It used to be that negs were dangerous because a bad interpretation of them by a cheap lab could damage you. To be honest I think that for the most part that danger is now over, most frontiers give exactly the same image whether in a pro lab or Walmart. Yes, the chemistry won't be as clean, no the difference won't be enough to kill your reputation.

i sell finished, retouched files for 3x the print value. i would shoot to burn for less, but

they will straight from the camera, unedited, all the shots, they dont get to edit them. i

charge a per shot in this case fee.

i just did a test where i took a 800x1200 pxl tif, which will make a good 4x5/5x7, but an

8x10 is quite good. you have to conisder the lost print sales when selling the file. what do

you say when they make larger prints than ordered..oh well....that file just cost YOU

business.

my prints are- 4x5 $19 5x7 $29 8x10 $49.

hi res files are- $75 for a 800x1200 (4x6@200/my 'budget' file), $200 for an 2400x2600

(8x12 @300) (full res).

I don't sell many prints, so my business model is different than some. I always provide full resolution, color corrected, exposure adjusted and straightened images on a DVD. I certainly would not offer that if I was trying to make a good portion of my income from print sales though.

Like almost everything else in wedding photography, there are lots of different options and opinions about those options. You find one or more ways you want to do it (that still provides you with an acceptable profit), and that's what you offer. I don't think it really matters what others do.

We only offer FINISHED files. Every image is about as perfect as it's gonna get. The only

exception would be if someone ordered, say, a 20x30 - then we'd put some extra work

into skin and eyes (if it's a portrait, especially).

If you choose to give your clients unfinished files, you run the risk of them printing a

poor-quality photograph. (I know this from experience!)

If you give your clients finished files, you must charge accordingly. HOURS go into post-

production. This is not a discount item.

If your current pricing requires that you make money off of reprints, then DO NOT provide

the negatives.

I have the negatives worked into my pricing structure. I'm quite high for my area. I have a lab in each of the major cities in my state that I recommend my clients go to. I even have comparisons I show them at the time of delivery of the local wal-mart compared to the local lab I recommend. Every bride is amazed at the differance and the local lab I recommend is not expensive for them to use. Almost every bride goes there (I check with the lab and they love the business I send there way).

For my equine and sporting event work, I keep the negatives and sell the prints. I use whcc.com for that and they rock. It costs a pretty penny for the competitors to purchase rights for a negative and then, my name is on the actual print.

Michelle