Online Proofing - spreading the word

[Holly]

To those of you who utilize online proofing for weddings:
Do you have a sheet that you pass around at the reception getting guest's email addresses...(collages.net that I use has the option to enter them then when the site is live it will notify everyone)
Do you have the username and password to view the images typed on the back of your business cards for the guests to pick up?

I've just been notifying the bride when they were up and letting her notify guests..but I have a feeling I'm missing out on a great marketing opportunity - and a bride I just booked wants me to do something like this to notify her guests (good idea...she doesn't have to then )

Basically I need help figuring out the best, most professional way to do this without taking over the reception or intruding on their day.

[LoungeLizard]

I have posted a sign up sheet and then sent out e-mails.

[PeteQ]

Yes, that's an interesting option. Maybe some sort of sign-up sheet. Without going person-to-person your options are limited. Also, how much time will it take for you to now be the list database manager for every wedding? You almost need something like an opt-in mailing list. I don't know how hard it would be to have one set up but it would be a way to do it. They take your flyer at the reception which has a special opt-in email for that bride, once you are complete you merely send to all who have opted to see the proofs, etc.

yeah, kind of rambling here, but you get the basic premise.....

[KeepsakeGirl]

How about putting a decorative sign-in sheet next to the guest sign-in table ? That way they'd put their names down as they walk in if they choose to do so....

[sbp]

Also DG can announce this that there is sign sheet. (sure after bride/groom's permission)

[Erin Kathleen]

I've been offering (and most couples take me up on it) to have a sign-in sheet. I always make it clear that the bride and groom see their photos first. After they email me back the ok, I do a mass email to everyone on the sign-in sheet to let them know that the photos are available online and how to order and all that. I found this to be better than the cards for a few reasons. First of all, half the people lose the cards (if they get them) before the end of the reception. Secondly, the other half email me within a week asking where the photos are and telling me they can't get to the album/website/whatever that I gave them. This way, when the album is up, they get a little reminder email about the whole event and are able to purchase photos there without worrying. When I'm going around snapping at the reception and before the ceremony, I let people know that there's a sign-in sheet and to make sure they give me their email so they can see the photos. So far it's worked out really well, but I don't mark up my prints (yet) so I haven't really made much on it. At this point it just saves me the time and energy of trying to coordinate multiple orders and the client from trying to collect all those up. After the first of the year all of my packages are going to totally change and my prints will be marked up (amount other things).

[PeteQ]

Erin, just out of curiosity. About how many email requests do you get from the "average" wedding?

[brad]

As much as I would like to collect email addresses... between the idea of people not wanting to just give up their email addresses and the amount of work involved in re-typing them... I've been thinking about creating a special business card that has my usual contact information, plus instructions on how to view the online proof album...

[Erin Kathleen]

Pete - Depending on the wedding and guests (and how computer literate/far away people are), I get an average of 30-50% of the guests to sign in on an email list. It does take a bit to retype all the email addresses and if I can't read them or they bounce back, I don't worry about it. Most people are friends or related, so they pass it around if they need to. It's just something to get them interested in looking at the photos and something that my clients don't have to worry about...

[Holly]

It's just something to get them interested in looking at the photos and something that my clients don't have to worry about...

and let's not forget increased print sales....and advertising via linking it through your website!!

[Erin Kathleen]

Originally Posted by Wilson

and let's not forget increased print sales....and advertising via linking it through your website!!

And (if they like them) new clients when they're getting married or want kid photos... Increase print sales don't do anything for me right now b/c I don't mark up prints if they have a wedding with me, but I do for everything else. That's part of what's changing in my packages after the first of the year (as soon as I get a sample album made up and done).

[aharding]

A word of warning. I don't know anything about online posting.. just had a childhood friend point me to her daughter's website. They had "lifted" all the thumbnails (of her daughter) from the Bridal Portrait photographers website that they liked and were getting friends and family to vote on their favorites. There was no watermark on the thumbnails. Although the page gave credit to the photographer for the work...I'm sure the photographer's intent was not to have her images lifted and moved to another site. Not to mention that they were now available to be saved and used as web/phone images by anyone who wanted.

Does Collages.net secure against this sort of violation? I am planning to SELL my web sized images to clients when they've bought that particular pose in print.

I will have a visit with the photographer AFTER the wedding and let her know how her images were used. Am afraid of the fall-out if I tell her before. She is not the wedding photographer, so no more damage can be done by my "friend".

So, BE CAREFUL HOW YOU POST YOUR PROOFS!! We all work too hard to have someone stealing our images, small sized or not.

P.S. My "friend" is now trying to convince the photog. to sell her all the full-rez files for a low price I've told her that there is no way to cost effectively do her own Bridal Album, between COG's and software for layout. But some people can never learn. I'm so glad I turned her down flat when she asked me to do the work.

[Erin Kathleen]

Originally Posted by aharding

A word of warning. I don't know anything about online posting.. just had a childhood friend point me to her daughter's website. They had "lifted" all the thumbnails (of her daughter) from the Bridal Portrait photographers website that they liked and were getting friends and family to vote on their favorites. There was no watermark on the thumbnails. Although the page gave credit to the photographer for the work...I'm sure the photographer's intent was not to have her images lifted and moved to another site. Not to mention that they were now available to be saved and used as web/phone images by anyone who wanted.

Does Collages.net secure against this sort of violation? I am planning to SELL my web sized images to clients when they've bought that particular pose in print.

I will have a visit with the photographer AFTER the wedding and let her know how her images were used. Am afraid of the fall-out if I tell her before. She is not the wedding photographer, so no more damage can be done by my "friend".

So, BE CAREFUL HOW YOU POST YOUR PROOFS!! We all work too hard to have someone stealing our images, small sized or not.

P.S. My "friend" is now trying to convince the photog. to sell her all the full-rez files for a low price I've told her that there is no way to cost effectively do her own Bridal Album, between COG's and software for layout. But some people can never learn. I'm so glad I turned her down flat when she asked me to do the work.

I don't worry about the websize photos only because I'm happy to have them use them for whatever. They are not, of course, big enough to be printed at all. Smugmug, I know, offers a number of different levels of protection. You can not allow people to see/have access to the "originals", block the "larges" and block right clicking on the site. You can also put a watermark across them if you choose. I do all except the watermark for my online albums, but it depends on the photog what they choose to do. Maybe this photog doesn't mind if the low-res images are out there and being used by this. I know my clients use them in their bios for various forums and to share with family and friends without having to share the whole album with them. That doesn't bother me. If it did, I would stop it.

[brad]

I don't even upload the full sized images to smugmug .. as for the web sized ones, they can use them as much as they want.. that's built into my pricing.. and as Erin said, they aren't big enough to print... (ok, you *might* get a decent 4x6 out of them, but not likely... I don't post much of anything bigger than 600 pixels on the long side).

[Erin Kathleen]

I do upload the full sized images because that's how I encourage my clients to tell their friends and family to order (so they aren't bugging the bride and groom or me for the prints). But you can block them anyway, so no one can get to them. They just use them at EZ Prints to print from...