Hey e-mail me that when you get home!

[DeLeon]

I had a senior shoot this weekend with some people I have known for a while. They know that I do this for a living and how I run my business, but after almost every shot the mom would run up and say oh let me see that one! and nearly pull my camera out of my hands. Then on the ones she really liked she would say oh you need to e-mail me that one so I can send it to aunt so and so in Miami or wherever....How do I answer this without sounding like a jerk. I told her the pics would be in their proofing gallery and they could give anyone the password that they wanted, but she seemed very put off by this. I felt bad for upsetting her but I cant just go e-mailing shots to people and expect to make a living at this....am I wrong?


**EDITED** Because I cant spell.

[carrbowl]

of course you are wrong...you should email them out and let them print them on their computer so they don't have to pay you after all, you're just doing this for fun right???

[Davidtxs]

yep your wrong lol, You should email them to her in a zip file make them about 400 x 300 and splatter a HUGE watermark right through the middle.

[HeatherLou]

HEHEHEHEHE! People are strange, its hard to say no, and even harder to hear it! You can say no, politely, such as, "Well I cant email them to you, the file sizes are way to big for email to handle well" but offer something else, "I CAN email YOU, when i have them posted in the gallery! It will be a much better presentation and your family can see all of them, instead of just one!"

[Rox74]

I'm kind of having a similar issue. While I am EXTREMELY beginner, I have a co-worker that has asked me to take some pictures of her family over Easter weekend. While I'm using it as practice for me, she and I are by no means friends (I don't mean that to sound rude, but we have a history, lol). I am taking my day off on a holiday weekend and taking pictures of her that she is going to have printed, I should at least charge her, right? She has never once asked how much it would cost or anything. I am not sure what to do! I hate to say that she needs to pay me but why should she assume that I'm doing it for free? She said "you can just cut a CD for me of all the pictures, right?". Is this just something for newbies or does it go on like this forever? lol I can definitely relate to you Chris!

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by Rox74

I'm kind of having a similar issue. While I am EXTREMELY beginner, I have a co-worker that has asked me to take some pictures of her family over Easter weekend. While I'm using it as practice for me, she and I are by no means friends (I don't mean that to sound rude, but we have a history, lol). I am taking my day off on a holiday weekend and taking pictures of her that she is going to have printed, I should at least charge her, right? She has never once asked how much it would cost or anything. I am not sure what to do! I hate to say that she needs to pay me but why should she assume that I'm doing it for free? She said "you can just cut a CD for me of all the pictures, right?". Is this just something for newbies or does it go on like this forever? lol I can definitely relate to you Chris!

It never ends.

You could take the photos (make sure they sign a model release before shooting) and then put them up on a website like exposure manager, etc. and they can then buy whatever they want. You can set the price on EM, and have password, etc. Keep the price low, but make sure she knows that you are giving her a special deal.
That way, when she asks again, you can say that you'd love to take the job but you need to tell her that your prices have gone up since the last shoot.
Then price them normally and go about your business.
I had a customer ask me to do a couple of "freebie" shots for them because they were a not for profit outfit. They said they couldn't pay me for "every" time I came to shoot something. I said I couldn't come and shoot for free.
We worked out a deal where they sent me a check every month, and I provided X amount of shooting hours if needed. It always worked out that they never really needed me for all the hours they paid, but they and I were happy.

[brad]

Yes, of course you were wrong.





You should have told her before you ever began shooting that what she would get were small, unprintable versions of the files to look at on your website. From that website, she would be able to order prints (at a lower cost than your regular customers if, like you said, she is a friend and you wanted to extend that option).

What I tell friends and family is that I will not charge them for the session fee. All they have to worry about is the prints they might actually order.

The ONLY times I give away the full res images is in a TFCD session or if a customer pays for the CD (and I don't charge a small amount for it.. I explain the price as being set by my average total print sales from a single session).

There will be photographers that tell you that giving away a full res image in a situation like you describe hurts the industry... hell, there are those that will tell me that what I do for TFCD or friends and family hurts the industry... that's BS.

However, it WILL hurt you. If you give away your work like she wants you to do, then she'll expect it again.. and again.. and again.. and she'll tell her friends and relations and they'll expect it again.. and again.. and again.. DON'T do this to yourself... nevermind the industry.

[Rox74]

Luckily, I haven't taken the pictures yet. And since the price issue never came up, that gives me an opportunity to tell her and let her back out in time to find someone else. My self confidence in my work has been the biggest issue for me to figure out how much to charge. Once I build that up, I will charge your prices Brad, lol (doubt I'll be that good for a few years). It's just frustrating because I get the idea that she assumed it to be free without even asking. I am also doing photos for her boss the next day and she knows that I'm charging him. Maybe I'm worried for nothing!

So I should charge for the CD and then either a sitting fee or per the hour on a normal occasion?

[brad]

Originally Posted by Rox74

My self confidence in my work has been the biggest issue for me to figure out how much to charge. Once I build that up, I will charge your prices Brad, lol (doubt I'll be that good for a few years).

Don't let yourself fall into that trap. There are a lot of GREAT photographers out there that don't make any money doing this because they have that same "I'm not good enough yet" mindset. And there are a lot of mediocre photographers out there (I feel like I'm one of them a lot of the time) who do make money at this because they treat it like a business from start to finish.

So I should charge for the CD and then either a sitting fee or per the hour on a normal occasion?

I can't tell you what to charge because I don't know your exact situation... I stated above what I do for friends and family, the rest is up to you. (I don't even discuss a cd with F&F and they don't ask.)

Oh, and I guess I should say that I don't charge immediate (parents, sister) family anything unless they want a pile of prints.. a lot of time I WILL give them digital files and let them do their own printing. My mother has me print them most of the time (finally got her to stop printing them on printer paper from her inkjet)... and I got tired of listening to my sister whine ... although she HAS stopped taking them to Walmart.

[srwatters]

I make it easy on myself and tell them my camera makes files they can't use. Almost true since I shoot RAW. Aside from that, you spell it out in the contract that is signed before the shoot starts.

Information and communication are the keys to success. And Brad is right, treat it like a business and you won't have these problems. Be proud and confident of your skills and abilities. And sometimes we all have a bad day. That's why re-shoots were invented.

And you can always turn off image review on the camera, or just shoot film

[DeLeon]

Good advice everyone...thanks! this actually came up in a conversation last night with my uncle that owns a dry cleaners. He asked me when was the last time I got free dry cleaning from him...I don't think I ever have except for when he preserved and stored my wifes wedding dress as a wedding gift. He said he would go out of business if he gave his whole family and everyone he goes to church with free dry cleaning every time except when they knew it was a gift.


Thanks again everyone, I have a new perspective on this!

[babybluetx23]

Coming from a customer services oriented background a customer never wants to hear what you CANT do for them, rather then what you can. So Im with Heather on this one, tell her you would be MORE then willing to do that for her ONCE they have been posted in the online gallery, then you can resize them for email and watermark them.

[boxofrocks]

Originally Posted by brad

Yes, of course you were wrong.





You should have told her before you ever began shooting that what she would get were small, unprintable versions of the files to look at on your website. From that website, she would be able to order prints (at a lower cost than your regular customers if, like you said, she is a friend and you wanted to extend that option).

What I tell friends and family is that I will not charge them for the session fee. All they have to worry about is the prints they might actually order.

The ONLY times I give away the full res images is in a TFCD session or if a customer pays for the CD (and I don't charge a small amount for it.. I explain the price as being set by my average total print sales from a single session).

There will be photographers that tell you that giving away a full res image in a situation like you describe hurts the industry... hell, there are those that will tell me that what I do for TFCD or friends and family hurts the industry... that's BS.

However, it WILL hurt you. If you give away your work like she wants you to do, then she'll expect it again.. and again.. and again.. and she'll tell her friends and relations and they'll expect it again.. and again.. and again.. DON'T do this to yourself... nevermind the industry.

Agreed. Life is about proper management of expectation levels. Set them up front, and that way, if they object later, they're breaking the rules, not you.

[smoothassilk]

Have a great day.