Wedding Proofs?

With so many options today and the large number of wedding photos that can be

shot, I would appreciate some thoughts on giving proof images to clients.

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Do most people deliver digital proofs at low resolution on a CD? Or do you

just post them in an online gallery? Or do you still provide printed proofs at

4x6 or 5x7 size? Or do you offer a choice to your clients?

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Is the traditional meaning of "proof" dead with digital? Are some people just

providing some form of "final" images to clients either processed/retouched or

not?

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With film and printed proofs, I can see a large expense. Would it be cheaper

to scan the film and give digital proofs? <p> Sorry for so many questions!

Do you want to make money off of final prints? It depends on what kind of business you want to offer. A lot of people are giving out edited high-resolution disks and the name of a good lab to send their clients to. These people are usually running a photo business from their home, and do not have an actual storefront with employees and overhead to support. The place I work at is a small storefront studio. We used to print 4x5 prints from film several years ago. When we started digital, we printed 4x6 prints from the files as proofs. These were never watermarked, as that was a huge selling point back in the day. But people got scanners, and we lost HUGE dollars from lack of sales. Now we use a company called Photostream (www.photostreambooks.com) for our proofing. It is a really nice 9x12 perfect bound book, you can customize the cover, and it contains thumbnails of each image, with the filename underneath it. They also have mid-range and high-end coffee table "magazine" style books. This has stopped people scanning our images, and has increased sales ENORMOUSLY in the past year, because if people want an image, they have no choice but to pay for one. We also offer proofs to view online, but watermark those. With that, we usually dont get a request for proofs on CD, but we do offer it at low (72dpi) resolution for those who want it.

 

As far as your question for film and printed proofs, are you still shooting film? I know the lab we use for printing charges a high price for scanning the film, and all their photographic prints are all printed on photographic paper and chemical processed. If you still use film, you'd probably be better off just having them printed the old fashioned way, but not a very large "proof" like no bigger than a 4x5 print.

 

As far as the meaning of "proof" being dead with digital, I dont believe it is. It would take many many many hours on photoshop to correct 500 wedding shots absolutely perfectly, fix all flaws and blemishes, and so on. I just quickly lighten/darken/color correct, but do not spend much time on it. The photos the client wants, I spend way more time on.

Thank you Allison. Yes I am shooting film because I am just out of school and can't afford the nice digital camera that I would want. But I love film and love being "old school" :)

> With so many options today and the large number of wedding photos that can be shot, I would appreciate some thoughts on giving proof images to clients.<

 

OK

 

> Do most people deliver digital proofs at low resolution on a CD? Or do you just post them in an online gallery? Or do you still provide printed proofs at 4x6 or 5x7 size? Or do you offer a choice to your clients? <

 

Our company does not show proofs to clients, except (some) advertising people or lab technicians, ie those with skills as to how to understand proofs.

 

> Is the traditional meaning of "proof" dead with digital? <

 

Perhaps, we still use the term and it has to us its technical meaning.

 

>Are some people just providing some form of "final" images to clients either processed/retouched or not? <

 

Yes a quick scan of this forum will confirm.

 

>With film and printed proofs, I can see a large expense.<

 

Proofs from film should not be expensive, are you sure you mean `proofs`

 

> Would it be cheaper to scan the film and give digital proofs? <

 

I don`t know in regard to your lab and your set up. You should do a cost analysis to find out.

 

I can only speak from our perspective. From film, 35mm, and 645 we provide colour and exposure corrected 6x4 prints: the colour and exposure correction is set by the `proofing` of the first frame of each roll.

 

Digital images are printed to 6x4 previews also. They are first clustered into file folders of like shooting parameters, if you like, similar to how we shoot a roll of film one for each set of lighting conditions.

 

WW

We shoot digital, and we provide a complete set of 4x6 prints in our top two collections. The

cost is very reasonable for bulk printing of this kind. People like to have something in-hand.

For an online, there's pictage.com--online images that cannot be saved to a personal computer.

 

From what I've heard, clients love proof books. I used to shoot film and give out contact sheets, and they always went over really well. They're high quality but small enough that they won't really work as the sole product. Proof books are basically the same concept, but a bit nicer. White Wedding Books makes 'em for $65--WAY less than 500 4x6's.

 

One last thing. If you want to give your clients digital negatives, but want to make some money off prints, add some money "toward prints" into your packages that must be paid up front and that you get to keep if it is not used. I don't like this option as much, but I know some photographers for whom it has worked really well.

 

FYI I worked *for* a wedding photographer as a retoucher. I've done a few weddings on my own, but don't get much income for it, so my advice may not be useful to you. I just know what I saw working.

Still show 4 x 5 'finished prints' to clients. These are not proofs and are part of the final selected package.

I provide completed albums to the Bride & Groom, that is their "proof book" my best work, totally completed, if they choose to change any images, I do that free, assuming anyone was ever to do that, I would use the first album for a display album, it hasn't happened yet, and an online viewing gallery via pictage.com for everyone to order addnl images and to allow guests, relatives etc a chance to see more of the images. Jeffrey

But in the 'computer' age, never, never give the wedding couple the proof prints to look over for a few days. Too many home computers and too many photograpic copy machines at the drug stores. Most folks are honest, but others will copy your work and get back with you much later to order their wedding album.

First of all, I shoot digital. I learned even before I started shooting weddings that many people WILL scan the prints. I decided what I cared about most was being paid for the work I did and that the work was shown the way I intended it to look.

 

I remember my first senior portrait session I had done. I spent a lot of time on it and was hoping for a nice print order. The mother scanned it, printed it on terrible paper, and that's what she sent out! She was so proud of herself that she actually gave me one! Another time I had photographed the local high school girl's soccer team. One of the girls was a friend of my daughter and she asked this girl if she could have one of her pictures. This girl had bought one sheet of wallet size prints. The girl replied that she had to wait for her mother to scan and print them! This family is very successful and prominent in the local business community so I do not believe money was the issue!

 

I now give finished 4x6 prints with every job I do. Being digital, there is a very real possibility that those prints will be the only way the client will ever see the images as I intended. Most client monitors are not calibrated, and some look real bad. They also might take the image disc to a consumer lab that doesn't print so great. For me, it works best to charge for the work I do, include the price for the prints, and give the client what they want - control over what they consider to be their pictures. Even though I give them a signed release for unlimited printing for personal use, I retain the actual copyright. Since I do offer reprints at a price only slightly higher than local consumer type labs, I do get some nice print orders that are worth my time to put together.

I programmed my own website to display an online gallery to show my clients. It's password protected at www.jimmychengphotography.com/proofs/. They log in and choose the photos that they like directly on there.

 

Jimmy Cheng