I am working on the photo's of my first shoot. OK I have done other shoots, but this one has more of a serious taste to it. And questions arise. How many photo's do you give them? I have taken.... do I dare say..... like hundreds. And do I really need to do this editing part? It's not really my thing. Some look good as they are and of course there are some that do need editing. I am hoping you all can help me out here.
1. How many photo's do you provide on a disc? What's your average? What's your minimum? What's your maximum?
2. Does every photo go out edited? What's your stand on it?
3. Do you limit yourself to how many photo's you take to take control of the post shoot process?
4. How many poses/different settings do you aim for?
I don't do photoshoots, but I've a great photographer/friend who does and this is what I'd tell you her answers would be based on my being one of her clients (and a friend).
ReplyDelete1. She doesn't provide a disc, we purchase prints only. She's very particular about her excellent work showing up on a badly calibrated printer. I get that point completely. I think she will sell a disc in certain packages and I would imagine that she'd deliver all of the pedited roofs on it. (Although I can very easily see how a pricing structure would work nicely here if you were so inclined.)
2. Yep. She edits every photo. We don't see the unedited shots. The proof set we choose from is the best of class so-to-speak.
3. I don't know that she does this. If she does, her upper limit is really high! :) She takes a lot of shots and never seems to be worried that she's taken too many. She also takes candids while we set up and change moods. Sometimes those end up being my favorites!
4. She'll go with as many as my kiddos and family will go for. I'm sure that this has a different answer for each type of shoot, but we really like the flexibility of her having ideas in mind and then going with the flow when we are in session.
I have no idea if that helps, but thought I'd share from customer's perspective.
What kind of shoots are you doing? I'd say that the number of photographs you provide should depend on the length of the session. For weddings, I provide upward of 500 images. For a 1.5 hour portrait session, there is more like 100 images, possibly more if it's a really good shoot.
ReplyDeleteI don't limit the number of photographs I take at all, but the first thing I do after backing them up is to delete the ones that are definitely not keepers. The rest I then color-correct (if needed) and post process. I believe that it's always the photographer's goal to set up the "perfect" shot and render post-processing unnecessary, but usually there's something that looks better altered. Post-processing is the equivalent of finishing your photos... putting the final touches on them.
I always edit every single photograph. If you are doing a lot of photo work, there are services you can send your images to for "RAW conversion," which basically means that they do the work to tweak the images to perfect exposure/color and let you do the rest.
You don't want to give your work away. Essentially, when you are charging for a session, you are charging for your time. You should price a disc of your photos into the session, or sell it separately. Or, you can opt to offer print-only sales, though CDs are becoming increasingly popular.
You should always issue clients a contract, especially defining the rights they are given to their digital photos... personal reproduction only, etc. You won't believe what some people think they can do-- like selling images YOU took as Stock Photography to make a profit!
I've never limited myself to a set number of poses or settings. I try to avoid poses, if at all possible, and direct my clients to move naturally throughout the space they're in. I still don't have this down to a science, though! :)
I only give my clients the images that I feel are ones that I would be proud of and display my work. I always delete similar images.
ReplyDeleteEvery photo goes out edited. I say that because I crop every single one and also put my log on, so technically yes they're edited.
I don't think that you should limit how many pictures you take so long as you are taking them intentionally, not just snapping them because you can. Make sure they're what you want. Unless it's a candid shoot, that will probably make the most difference.
I don't go by how many settings/poses. I actually go by a time limit, and half the time I do go over a little bit. Make sure the poses are comfortable and what your subject likes. The settings need to be appropriate for the pose and vice versa. Distance of the settings/location also play a role in fees.
These are all personal opinions, please don't feel that I'm trying to force them on you. This is just how I feel.
I think I might be able to help a little with this.
ReplyDeleteI do provide a disk. But plan on changing that a little bit. Instead of providing them full resolution images like I do now, I'm going to offer a disk of web-sized photos that they can use for Social Media. There are pluses and minuses to providing a disk. The biggest plus I've found to providing a disk is the fact that everyone uses Social Media. By providing them a disk, they're providing me free advertising.
For something like an engagement shoot, I'll spend an hour to two hours on the couple. I don't limit outfit changes, the number of photos or anything like that. And... if the couple is fun I'll even go longer than 2 hours.
From there, I'll go through and pick my favorite shots. I'll generally pick one to two per scene. For an hour and half photo shoot, that can be between 50-100 shots (generally I can take up to 500 for an engagement session).
After I've chosen my favorite, I'll go through and edit every photo of the ones I've chosen. There's no point in editing photos that will not be used, but I'll NEVER delete the ones I don't use. There might be a situation where I'll need to get a different shot or something.
I've been doing these kinds of sessions for years. Email me if you have more questions, I love helping. tamarakenyon@gmail.com