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Giving images on CD as proofs
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Just wondering if there are any others out there who give (primarily wedding) clients images on cds as proofs ?
The reason I am asking is because I do (no pun :wink: ) and all the images are resized to 72 dpi and saved at medium quality .jpg.
Just last night I was with a couple handing over their finished album and happily they were delighted with it. When it came to their favourite shot they ooed & ahhd and said how much they loved that shot, and then pointed me to a framed 10*8 print of it sitting on their bookcase :shock: .
Whereas the quality was not fantastic, it looked very respectful, and from a few feet away its hard to tell the difference.
I really didn’t think that such a print could be managed from a 72dpi medium quality .jpg. I only use PS elements and have no great technical ability, so the thoughts of actions to include watermarks etc. causes me to break out in a cold sweat !!
Perhaps its back to the drawing board for me in how I present my proofs !
Regards
Kevin
kevin
recently i printed our clubs panels for the IPF national shield
a few of the images came from jpg’s which were under 1Mb in size
the prints were 16*12, in fact one of the judges commented that he loved the print quality of one of them
one option to use kevin, is to use a PDF document.
if you make them right, you can disable printing from them
Well, I know of one photographer that considers handing out proofs on CD business suicide and for good reason too. The trouble most of us have here on this forum (and I suspect this is true for a lot of other photographers) is that we are photographers and not sales people. I’m still keen on turning professional myself and lately I’ve been doing a lot of reading up on sales, marketing and business psychology :)
If you hand out proofs on CD or even just as proof sheets, then every time the client views the images, the emotional value of those images drops. The more they view the images, the less likely you are going to make a sale from those images. You’ve no doubt heard the phrase that “familiarity breeds contempt”. Well, that’s what happens when you hand out proofs. I have at least one client that I’m still waiting on their communion order for this year. The sitting fee included one 10″x8″ print and they haven’t even asked for that!
Which brings me to another point – do not include images which you yourself are not 100% happy with. Invariably the shot that’s blurred or overexposed will be the one the client wants. Also, if you give them too much choice it becomes harder for them to make a decision. You want to make it easy for them to buy from you so take the decision making process away from them (or some of it at least). Oh, and never ever show your clients the image on the back of the camera – it’s not a true representation of the finished image and you can be sure that if the image they saw on the camera back is not in your selection they will be asking why it isn’t and that they want to see it!
I think one solution to the proofs problem is to arrange a viewing appointment (or sales appointment) and tell them that the proofs are available for purchase (which should make them aware that the proofs are not available to take away). Put together a slide show set to music – the emotional impact of a slide show with appropriate music is difficult to match any other way. After the slide presentation, show them what the different print sizes look like by having a board with the same image printed at the different sizes available. Then go through the images one by one to enable the client to select the images they want and hopefully you’ll end up with a nice sizeable order!
If you have to give out proofs on CD then do it as a slideshow that is time limited (i.e., no longer works after a certain date) and which disable the printscreen functionality. I know that Pictures to Exe can do this but not so sure about ProShow as I’ve never used it. There should also be something in your terms of business that prohibits the printing of proofs.
Thanks for the feedback.
I had done quite a bit of research on this and there were a couple of reasons why I decided on the cd.
Firstly its relatively easy to prepare, and quite cost effective. It also gives couples some time to choose
their final prints rather than expecting them to decide over a viewing as there are the parents albums etc. to
think about. They also show them to their friends & family (prospective clients – I have two bookings next year based
on proof cds).I limit the numbers of images to 100-120 on each CD and discuss this with couples beforehand. I know of one couple who
received 375 proof images (on a secure webpage) and had to choose 24 – they got married in April of this year and still haven’t made their choice.The system had been going quite well – untill I saw the enlargement !!
If I say so myself, it was a lovely shot of the two of them, perhaps because it was taken with an 85mm 1.8 (nikon) the quality was such that the print was possible ? The actual file size was only about 275kb. My final prints are always from max quality jpegs 300 dpi and, as I said, from a distance, the difference in quality was hard to detect. It was quite noticeable up close.
I have three more weddings this year to proof etc. so, when I have a bit more time at the start of 2008 I will check through the various options that might be available.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Rgds
Kevin
I started to proof on DVD recently using ProSow Gold, it costs a mere 69 dollars for the program and is excellant.
slide shows to music, easy to use, the DVD life can be limited to a number of viewings or can be viewed for so many days. Or it can be left so the dvd can be viewed for ever.
you cannot print off the dvd as it is in a video format, the dvd will play on a standard dvd player or auto run in a pc.
the slides can be synchronised to the music you can insert text fields and /or have the jpeg number appear for easy ordering (called a macro)
it is really quite versatile, more so than producing a pdf in photoshop, but do use royalty free music. (I use AKM music)
I am happy to say since doing this print sales have not declined and the cost of producing a dvd compared to 10×12 inch contact sheets is tiny in comparison.
Phil
there is no way in the dvd spec to stop a dvd Video disc being played on a settop dvd player. the number of plays you talk about is only on a PC.
there are chemical ways to do degrading discs, but thats not something you can do with a DVDr
Yes Steve, sorry I should have explained that a bit clearer.
The PC autorun can be limited, so it can only be run in a PC for so many days or plays. In an ordinary DVD player for your TV it can be played as many times for as long as the people want.
It is a good program, easy enough for a numbskull like me to figure out. I am sure someone with as much dvd production experience as yourself would have other views on that.
Have any of you ever considered putting the images up on a secure online gallery that is only accessible for a limited time.
Flash powered ones such as Simpleviewer also disable right clicking thus protecting your copyright.
Other versions run by the likes of Eventphotos and everybodysmile.biz allow ordering online for anybody who wants reprints.
Makes they accessible to everyone who attended the wedding allowing for more sales.I am currently in the process of having my own version built from scratch with SQL and ASP.net (my wife is an analyst developer).
DaveC
Dave, I decided not to go down that route, as not everybody has broadband yet. And looking at loads of thumbnails (small as they maybe) would take a while with dialup. If you’re interested in selling prints afterwards, this seems to be a good option though (eventphotos or whoever).
the few pro’s that I got to look over my wedding shots all said to move my watermark from the bottom of the image to the middle! Folks printing from images is a common thing,
As a test, I printed a 200k file as an A3, and I was gobsmacked as to the quality. I’ve printed a large prints as low as 180dpi, and they are perfect. In fact one of them was on my LIPF panel, and only I could tell which one.
If your supplying images, make them tiny (less than 100k), AND bung in a watermark. Looks naff, but it’s the only way! Folks will print them, and be happy with way lower quality than anyone here would be happy with. And that’s what they would be showing their friends! :-(
Merv.
I agree, i shot some wedding shots recently, for a friend
I gave the mum of the bride one or two of the shots, at quite low res, she showed me today A4 size prints she did from them that dont look too bad, and she over the moon with them
That reminds me, I did some communion photographs for a friend of the wife. I gave her a “contact” sheet with a selection of images, each one no larger than around 2″ x 1?” as she wanted to order some larger prints but just couldn’t make up her mind. Didn’t hear anything for a few months although she did eventually place an order for some large prints. When I dropped down to deliver the finished work, what did I see but the small “contact” images cut out and nicely framed in one of these small multi-aperture frames. I didn’t lose out on this occasion but it did teach me a valuable lesson!
If I think that an image has some commercial value or is going to be stolen by someone to use in their Bebo or MySpace gallery I now include my url as a faint pattern across the entire image as well as my usual text copyright notice along the image edge. A pattern like this can still be removed but only by the most determined and patient of people and if someone uses it on their Bebo page, I get the benefit of the the exposure anyway and it just might lead to another job. The pattern can be made as faint or as distracting as I feel necessary, although I like to try and keep it as faint as possible. I’ve posted an example of what I mean here –
you could create a slideshow of the images set to music with windows movie maker that way the images cant be printed. ive done this for a friends childs communion set it to music . she was delighted. obviously i gave her a disc of images she could print to but she shows everyone the dvd
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