Ready to Launch My Business, but confused about pricing

[marta3eciak]

<p>Hi All, <br /> For the past 7 months I have been working very hard on building my portfolio and clientelle. Most of the work has been done through either approaching people I know and know would be an asset in referring me, a lot of volunteer work for community organizations, as well as word of mouth. I am getting busier and busier and finally am ready to offically launch my business. I am a member of the local camera club, Women in Business Network, as well am working on becoming a member of the Irish Association. I also try to work with local small businesses and cross-promote each other. <br /> But, I must admit, I'm stuck on something that can't get my mind around. PRICING. <br /> I photograph mainly women, maternity, family, newborns, fashion/hair art, but recently have been getting alot of event and corporate projects. Weddings are something I plan on getting into next year.<br /> Up untill now, I was offering newborn/meternity package, family package, and individual/promo/makeover package. (i'm a make-up artist and work with a very talented canadian hair stylist/best friend)<br /> Because of lack of space in my home, I was going to people's houses and most of my pictures had, for example, things that shouldn't have been there like pictures hanging on their walls, or my background didn't cover the stands, etc. So I decided to choosy my favourite photos, quikly clean them up and provide them with a cd with small resolution (around 350kb) pictures. <br /> I had coffee with one of the local photographers yesterday morning and he made a comment that I can't get rid of my head. He said, 'I can take a small picture and make it into a big and still print it you know'<br /> I noticed that the images I was providing, although were small still had prinitng quality, very confused here (i use Lightroom to Export, small jpg, watermarked etc. )<br /> I am working with people 20-40 years of age and I know that these people religiously use facebook, bebo, twitter and love to put up their pictures as profile, etc and we all know how powerful Facebook is! This is why I thought provinding a cd with small reesolution images as part of their photo session was a good idea. Now I don't know. <br /> Am I hurting myself by reducing my chance of making profit off prints becuase people know how to use Photoshhop! <br /> Just to give you an idea of what my pricing is. <br /> Family session (2 hrs., with equipment set-up, quick adjustments in lightroom and one finished small image to show what it will look like on a cd -FREE) Later, they can order prints. But I want be digitally accessible as well for internet use.<br /> I want to be in full control of printing because I despise people going to kiosks and having rubbish hanging on their walls. <br /> Please please help me get a bit clearer and thank you for posting<br /> HERE IS MY WEBISTE TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF WHAT I DO<br /><a href="http://www.callmartafoto.com"> www.callmartafoto.com</a><br /> Sincerely Yours, <br /> marta 3eciak</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>At what <em>resolution</em> are you providing those JPG files? How many pixels tall X wide?</p>

[daverhaas]

<p>Marta -</p>

<p>On the pricing question - only you and your customers can determine your prices... Check out the websites of your competition and surf their prices. Also - If you're doing this full time vs part time will make a difference.</p>

<p>As to pricing on the sales of photos / image files - yep - almost any size image you give can be printed or resized to be decent print quality - if the person doing it a) doesn't care about the ethics, b) doesn't want a mueseum quality print, and c) has the time and skills in photoshop...</p>

<p>As my father used to say - Locks keep honest people honest - the Dishonest ones will get in no matter what you do, it'll just slow them down some...</p>

<p>The locks we use as photographers are watermarks, lower res images, etc... Problem is that anyone with enough time, desire and software can bypass any lock that we put on our images.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

[marta3eciak]

<p>Thank you guys, <br>

Matt, 640 pixels wide at 72ppi<br>

David, I always try to get feedback from my customers and everyone so far is happy with the qaulity, the experience and the pricing. I don't want be living off doing photo sessions only, what I mean is 100 euro for 2 hrs in not all I want to earn. I haven't sold that many prints yet but i know I will. Many photographers here, offer very cheap photo sessions to catch the public's eye, but they're excellent at upselling and therefore, make their money on prints. <br>

My question still is, should I be dumping the free cd idea? Just upload them to website? My intuition tells me not, but still can't get my head around the comment and the fact that with a little selling confidence and experience I can afford to provide my client with a cd. <br>

cheerio</p>

 

[marta3eciak]

<p>Oh and and I like your father's saying David.</p>

[976photo]

<p>640 pixels at 72ppi is perfect for posting on the web, like Facebook. You MIGHT get a decent 4x6 print out of that, or what some people would call decent. But anything larger? No, no matter what your friend said, if that's the imge file they're working with... nope. HOWEVER, you could further protect yourself by adding a watermark to the small resolution pics.</p>

<p>You said you want the pics to be useable on the web, that's where the problem comes in. Why do people have pictures taken of themselves? To show their friends and family. Now there are two ways they can do this, have prints made and mail copies to friends and family. Or get them on CD, and upload to Facebook where everyone can see them. (or send in an email)</p>

<p>If everyone sees the pics on Facebook, then why do they need to order prints? You'll need to decide which direction you want to go, either charge for the CD, or keep it free and put a big PROOF watermark across all the pics.</p>

<p>I'd recommend the PROOF way, keep the small size and let them know that they are proofs. THEN they can come back and order re-prints, or make a selection of images that they want on a CD at high-resolution that they can do whatever they want with, which of course you will charge for, depending on the number of images, editing, etc.</p>

<p> </p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>640 pixels wide at 72ppi</p>

</blockquote>

<p>PPI is meaningless for images going on the web. </p>

<p> </p>

[marta3eciak]

<p>Jeff, <br>

So what would you recommend. Your answer is so short it leaves me hanging. <br>

Should i go pixels per cm then? What is the best way to prepare images for the web.?</p>

[Spearhead]

<p>You don't deal with inches with monitors. You only deal with pixels. If you size to 640xsomething or 800xsomething, that is fine, although I would recommend a watermark. You can leave the PPI (or DPI, which is what it shows as in most applications) at anything, it won't make any difference. It's simply a header instruction for printing and only makes sense when you are setting a print size. So completely ignore any field that has to do with inches (or cm or whatever).</p>

[mikael_karlsson]

<p>Marta:<br /><br />What is your cost of doing business? Once you know that, you'll know how much you need to charge per hour to bring in what you need to bring in.</p>

[marta3eciak]

<p>Hi MIchael, <br>

I've prepared all my financial projections along with marketing plan and operating budget. I know how much I need to bring in order to run my business. I guess I got carried away in my first entry bur my main issue is still the free cd with the photo shoot. I was feeling good about it unti like I said the comment the photographer made, which made me think twice. I suppose once I'm up and running I'll be able to figure it out myself, although I wouldn't want be changing my price terms as if it might affect my reputation in the future. <br>

Thank you for your input.<br>

marta</p>

[kelly_flanigan1]

<p>Marta:<br>

<br /> Here is a weird analogy that may or may not click:<br>

<br /> If I tell somebody I am going to pay them Forty dollars for that used enlarger at a garage sale; saying "Forty dollars" works.<br>

<br /> I really do not have to say " Forty dollars in Twenty dollar bills; or Thirty dollars in five dollar bills; or Thirty dollars in ten dollar bills.<br>

<br /> The bill size is sort of like ppi or dpi<br>

<br /> Thus Jeffs statement of "You can leave the PPI (or DPI, which is what it shows as in most applications) at anything, it won't make any difference. "<br>

<br /> is like the bill size; the garage sale seller probably does not care what bills I uses; as long as it is *40 dollars total.* Maybe if he is low on change paying in one and fives may help him/her out.<br>

<br /> This in dialog saying one has a 640x800 pixel image is fine; it is like the 40 dollar payment for the enlarger; what really matters.<br>

<br /> Adding the extra (at XYZ ppi or dpi ) info is used more in printing and scanning. Here the lingo tends to use ppi and dpi more since one is dealing with a physical print or negative. Thus I might say my Walmart 35mm stuff was scanned at 1300 dpi; or I scanned my 35mm slides at 2700 dpi; or I scanned a 4x5 negative at 2400 dpi; or I sent a 30x40 " color print to the printer at 150 ppi.</p>

<p>Some of us used this lingo because here I have scanned since 1989; the dpi is the software's setting. Since I deal with physical originals; the many scan parameters are size and dpi settings.<br>

<br /> The web tends to be dpi/ppi free; most browsers do not use file tag info. The 72 number is many many centuries old; printers points. It is the pitch of old 1984 Mac Tombstone.<br>

<br /> Folks are going to download and print stuff<br>

<br /> You have to experiment to see what works with pricing.</p>

<p><br /> In some recent court case images I printed; they were 30x40" from 480x640 pixel images; one was 48k jpeg; another 37k jpeg.<br /> <br /></p>

[Jerry_]

<p>Once you have taken the "you may have it free" route, it will be difficult to switch back to "here is the price for your images, in prints or on a CD." Women share information, that's why you have spent time networking -- going from a free-sample market to the pay-as-you-go business will take some work with your clients.</p>

<p>Time is money: making up a CD is free for your *maybe* customer, but you can't deposit much in your bank account.</p>

<p> </p>

[marta3eciak]

<p>Hi everyone, <br>

It's been a while and thought I would just give you an update. I've dumped the idea of free low res images but With a print purchase a client gets a small watermarked image for facebook use. <br>

A lot of my clients want either high res images or a cd (I do provide that now for a prcie I'm happy with and so they are) Although I state in my contract and verbally to be careful where they go to get them printed.<br>

The younger crowd isn't really interested in prints, they just want a cd with the photos from the session to put it up on facebook. I charge for that!<br>

That's it<br>

Now I have a new challenge, my work has turned completely towards events, commercial and promotional work and my eyes hurt form reading so much<br>

All the best in 2011!<br>

marta 3eciak</p>