Will you include all the digital files?

The dreaded "Will you include the digital files" also question came up. I do include them in my wedding packages, and I do charge enough, but the dreaded question came up for an on location high school senior shoot. The client found me on the internet and traveled all the way from a Rocky mountain state to have the graduate photographed at the beach in Orange County and at the Newport Beach pier. I have already collected the on location fee, which was close to $200 bucks, and now they have sent me the order for A La Carte enlargements. I do give a discount to senior graduates, however, the order doesn't even come to $500.00. I was ambivalent about the inclusion of the digital negatives and I mentioned from the outset that I would include them if their order was over a certain amount. Well. I was thinking more in the order of $1000.00. There are close to 175 files! And of course, they love them all!

I'd tell them that I'd include any image that they ordered. If they love them all, order them all, than they get them all! If they love them all but only love 10 enough to purchase than they get 10 files.

Make them a deal if they go for it fine if not what will you do with them, use them a clay pidgeons.
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ABA DABA

Use extra(s) as incentives for the customer to reach certain order level(s) or order by dates.
Incentive could files, discounts, or other products.

social network/email size image files from me certainly include MY information on them, they're part of the overall marketing plan.

28to70 said:

I have already collected the on location fee, which was close to $200 bucks, and now they have sent me the order for A La Carte enlargements. I do give a discount to senior graduates, however, the order doesn't even come to $500.00.

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All filles of the prints they ordered is fair.

You can also make a price per extra file.

Never unspecified "all".

Even on high priced weddings, only all successful shots, never all shots ( but I currently dont deliver all, I deliver all they selected ).

Small preview images with big labels on it are ok before ordering.

cheers

The issue of providing the files is just as prevalent now as it ever was. What do you do? Price every job on the assumption taking the photos is all you are ever going to get paid for and hand them over as a matter of course or...

Tell your clients that you do not like the ideal of other (unknown) firms printing your photo because they couldn't possibly know the texture of the scene you intended and if they (as most labs do) set their printers to "Auto" to make a print it will automatically kills sunsets and mood scenes you created as part of the photo they love for it?

My personal method is to inform clients that the role of a Professional Photographer is selling photographs, not digital files. I lose an increasing number of clients but the last dissatisfied one was when I did give them the image files.

Seriously... Asking here is not going to get you (or anyone else) a solution to this problem. In my hey day it was negatives. Who knows what it will be for the generation of photographers who've never seen a negative?

I do that - only low res though (for fb and such - with my logo on them in the corner).

I only want fully edited images leaving my studio and I'm not gonna fully edit 175 images from a shoot - only the ones they purchase as prints or files (I offer files but nobody buys them, senior wise -yet anyway).

As long as you are upfront with the customers you can do whatever you want, charge whatever you want and have any odd polcies you like - but nobody likes to feel they've been cheated, had or that the 'rules' have changed.

So if you didn't specify a specific order amount that they needed to hit to earn the files then you have to find out what they understood/heard you say. What you were thinking but didn't say won't fly - "I was thinking $1000 order ..." and they're gonna say "well, we though you meant if we bought anything you'd linclude them..."

I've seen folks spend $200 on a session and $100 on prints and never say a word about the cost of the session but complain about the expense of the prints/packages...makes no sense to me, but in their mind I guess it does.
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Learn the science. Practice the art.

Thanks all for your answers. I think I will specify the inclusion of the files with the images picked, and if they meet the $500.00 level. That still leaves approximately 160 files that they can purchase for an extra $500.00 to $1000.00. While the price is sobering, they are not exactly down and out economically. Quite the opposite.

On the flip side, I have noticed more and more calls for portraits on location where the client is only interested in the files. And if you don't include them, like someone mentioned, you lose them. Something for me to think about in depth.

Good points Penguin, but I do recall the client asking me if I would include the files if they ordered a certain amount, like some photographers do in her state. But yeah, it is almost like there is no respect for the digital files, because when you take them and no negative is produced, they are free. That's why I call them digital negatives.

Douglas69 said:

The issue of providing the files is just as prevalent now as it ever was. What do you do? Price every job on the assumption taking the photos is all you are ever going to get paid for and hand them over as a matter of course or...

Tell your clients that you do not like the ideal of other (unknown) firms printing your photo because they couldn't possibly know the texture of the scene you intended and if they (as most labs do) set their printers to "Auto" to make a print it will automatically kills sunsets and mood scenes you created as part of the photo they love for it?

My personal method is to inform clients that the role of a Professional Photographer is selling photographs, not digital files. I lose an increasing number of clients but the last dissatisfied one was when I did give them the image files.

Seriously... Asking here is not going to get you (or anyone else) a solution to this problem. In my hey day it was negatives. Who knows what it will be for the generation of photographers who've never seen a negative?

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Yes and what did all those negatives do besides gather dust until waiting for some reprints, files and files of them until we got tired of moving them from file cabinet to another. Finally just before we retired(semi) we burned them.

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ABA DABA

PenguinPhotoCo said:

I've seen folks spend $200 on a session and $100 on prints and never say a word about the cost of the session but complain about the expense of the prints/packages...makes no sense to me, but in their mind I guess it does.
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Some people have trouble with the idea of "You pay me to take pictures that I will sell you or anyone else copies of." (you paid, but they are mine) Go figure!

Charlie

When it comes to portrait shoots, I include an image file for any picture of which they order a print. The primary reason for this is retouching. I won't spend time retouching an image on mere speculation; the sheer number of shots would make it take forever. I will not let any portraits out of the studio un-retouched.

I toyed around with low res images for small prints, high for larger prints, etc., but ultimately it made things confusing. So now, it's just a basic 5x7 print or larger model. My 5x7 prints are proportionally higher in price; the best value is 8x10.

For weddings, I provide low-resolution files as part of the standard package. These are appropriate for sharing online. For prints? No, although that won't stop anyone, I realize, from doing it. The low-res files also have the studio logo. High resolution files are optional and have a much smaller logo.

28to70 said:

The dreaded "Will you include the digital files" also question came up. I do include them in my wedding packages, and I do charge enough, but the dreaded question came up for an on location high school senior shoot. The client found me on the internet and traveled all the way from a Rocky mountain state to have the graduate photographed at the beach in Orange County and at the Newport Beach pier. I have already collected the on location fee, which was close to $200 bucks, and now they have sent me the order for A La Carte enlargements. I do give a discount to senior graduates, however, the order doesn't even come to $500.00. I was ambivalent about the inclusion of the digital negatives and I mentioned from the outset that I would include them if their order was over a certain amount. Well. I was thinking more in the order of $1000.00. There are close to 175 files! And of course, they love them all!

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Hi,

In my area, most "budget" photographers include a CD/DVD with the images, though some at an extra cost. The "non-budget" photographers usually have CD/DVD built into their higher-end packages.

I'd avoid giving anything else than JPG. From what you wrote, it seems you got the business aspect of selling prints covered, but not the CD/DVD. You don't have much choice as you want to make their experience a pleasure, since they travelled from out of state to you. There must be something about your work that made them choose you in particular regardless of distance. You wouldn't want to get a bad review on some website after this.

If a social networking site is in their mind, would they consider lower-resolution images just for that purpose? You can price digital files differently depending on size: it can be as simple as "F...book size vs. a print size".

That's right Instamatic. Pricing the CD after the print orders is what some of us have to deal with now. My decision after closing down my studio was to pursue a higher income client. Not one that wants to be photographed in the studio for $34.95. I do family portraits and high school seniors on location only, and I do not give discounts to the latter. Everybody pays the same amount of $195.00 on location. I do not have packages, rather I let people design their own package A La Carte. A $500.00 order will now give the client the digital negatives from the poses picked A La Carte. If they order over a $1000.00 they will get the remaining color balanced but unretouched files. While this might seem overpriced in certain areas of the country, here in the OC I'm mid range. Yes, the country is in a depression, but you will be surprised that even in hard times there are people that still have money to spend on luxuries.

28to70 said:

I was ambivalent about the inclusion of the digital negatives and I mentioned from the outset that I would include them if their order was over a certain amount. Well. I was thinking more in the order of $1000.00.

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What does your contract say?

What you "think" and what the customer "thinks" are probably very different things. Put it in writing so both parties understand everything from the start and there are no lingering issues or regrets when the finished product is delivered.

for events I do now (include the files) but I don't like it. Look, before the negatives were kept for a certain period and then released after all the re-prints were done. Times are changed. What's getting tough is also storing the shoots and the backups and stuff, including the responsibilities . If they have the files then is one less problem for us.
But I'm talking about events of course.

I do have mixed feelings about this: not sure if giving the files is a smart thing to do, honestly.

that said your case is a marketing opportunity: I'd try to sell a DVD with the unprocessed images separately (from the prints).