Prints doesn't really cost much. People seems to think that the printing costs is biggest part of all in the $450-650 package and then the actual photography and such parts are the sub-price somewhere. And then when they don't want the prints but just the digital files, they should get it like 70-80% off the price.
That is one of the things that professionals needs to do, they need to as well act like professionals, they need to talk professionally and actually make up "a show" for the client, that they get their moneys worth. The photographer needs to be in full control of the studio/scene and control the models/subjects accordingly (it doesn't mean that yelling and commanding like officer in military is the thing).
And this has been "hot-topic" here as well previously, but camera gear does make the impression for the customers. If you take someones graduation photos with iPhone and bill $350 from two photos, they will feel very much cheated, even when the photos would be exactly the same as taken with Canon 1DX. And why? Because the customer easily can think that they could have done the same job by themselves and they just wasted money and time, and then they blame photogapher!
It could as well be presented like if we place all kind cameras nicely on sight on the shelf, and then before shooting to start, photographer goes at shelf and looks the subject, looks the camera bodies, pickup one body, look the subject and then finally takes a another body and starts taking photos. Even if the final camera would be iPhone, the customer would have more trust to photographer to use best tool to job.
It is difficult to get people to understand that the thing they pay isn't actually the prints but the photos. And to get them understand that, it should be required to be listed nicely that what is cost of each part. The session with X amount of photos, by different themes, the X amount of prints and then X for just digital files.
And these days the photos shouldn't be given with CD/DVD disk, instead give them a USB thumbstick. Those are ultra cheap, order a custom ones with a studio name on it just for like 10€ for 8GB or even just something like 4€ for 4GB stick.
Gives far more better impression to customer as well.
And for some customers, giving the SD card with originals is little extra but it is for very special photo sessions, where photographer gives all photos to customer and doesn't keep anything. It is a legal thing as well.
That is one of the things that professionals needs to do, they need to as well act like professionals, they need to talk professionally and actually make up "a show" for the client, that they get their moneys worth. The photographer needs to be in full control of the studio/scene and control the models/subjects accordingly (it doesn't mean that yelling and commanding like officer in military is the thing).
And this has been "hot-topic" here as well previously, but camera gear does make the impression for the customers. If you take someones graduation photos with iPhone and bill $350 from two photos, they will feel very much cheated, even when the photos would be exactly the same as taken with Canon 1DX. And why? Because the customer easily can think that they could have done the same job by themselves and they just wasted money and time, and then they blame photogapher!
It could as well be presented like if we place all kind cameras nicely on sight on the shelf, and then before shooting to start, photographer goes at shelf and looks the subject, looks the camera bodies, pickup one body, look the subject and then finally takes a another body and starts taking photos. Even if the final camera would be iPhone, the customer would have more trust to photographer to use best tool to job.
It is difficult to get people to understand that the thing they pay isn't actually the prints but the photos. And to get them understand that, it should be required to be listed nicely that what is cost of each part. The session with X amount of photos, by different themes, the X amount of prints and then X for just digital files.
And these days the photos shouldn't be given with CD/DVD disk, instead give them a USB thumbstick. Those are ultra cheap, order a custom ones with a studio name on it just for like 10€ for 8GB or even just something like 4€ for 4GB stick.
Gives far more better impression to customer as well.
And for some customers, giving the SD card with originals is little extra but it is for very special photo sessions, where photographer gives all photos to customer and doesn't keep anything. It is a legal thing as well.
