2009 Winter Weddings Photography Special

[DG77]

Ahh, but will someone investigate your website if they see a shite looking photo on someones wall ? I think not, first impressions are everything.

We do one viewing per shoot, clients order their photos at the viewing which is done at our studio.
Our prices are structured in a way that the more people spend, the cheaper the prints become. Pretty simple logic, and it works so well that there is not often a need for further copies because the clients get a better price if they order it all in one hit.
If clients want extra reprints six months down the track or indeed 6 years down the track they can rest assured that the images will still be made available to them.
It's simple customer service, and goes a long way to ensuring your clients come back for many years to come for all their future photographic needs.

I liken it to visiting a GP.
Would you prefer to go to a doctor who takes the time to find out what treatment you require and prescribe accordingly having built up a long standing history, or would you rather go to one that will give you a blank script and let you prescribe your own medicine ?

I'm in this industry for the long run.
It has taken hard work to get my business where it is, and I still am very ambitious in where I want to take it in the future.
`Stick it on a disk and move onto the next one' does not sit well with me and the way I operate, but each to their own I guess.
Your loss will always be somebody elses gain.

[Charismatic]

Ahh, but will someone investigate your website if they see a shite looking photo on someones wall ? I think not, first impressions are everything.

We do one viewing per shoot, clients order their photos at the viewing which is done at our studio.
Our prices are structured in a way that the more people spend, the cheaper the prints become. Pretty simple logic, and it works so well that there is not often a need for further copies because the clients get a better price if they order it all in one hit.
If clients want extra reprints six months down the track or indeed 6 years down the track they can rest assured that the images will still be made available to them.
It's simple customer service, and goes a long way to ensuring your clients come back for many years to come for all their future photographic needs.

I liken it to visiting a GP.
Would you prefer to go to a doctor who takes the time to find out what treatment you require and prescribe accordingly having built up a long standing history, or would you rather go to one that will give you a blank script and let you prescribe your own medicine ?

I'm in this industry for the long run.
It has taken hard work to get my business where it is, and I still am very ambitious in where I want to take it in the future.
`Stick it on a disk and move onto the next one' does not sit well with me and the way I operate, but each to their own I guess.
Your loss will always be somebody elses gain.

For my reply to this, see my other 3 posts lol.

[trigger]

lol I couldnt help it but....

http://images46.fotki.com/v1444/photos/1/127099/5316104/SuperStock_25530081-vi.jpg

I'm out of your price range... stellin' ur buzinezz.





Your loss will always be somebody elses gain.

[Charismatic]

^ Haha cuteee!

Gotta love Medium Format TLR's

[Smorter]

Surprisingly I found the prints from Harvey Norman to be superb, very nice, sharp, contrasty prints whereas the ones from Teds Camera (much more expensive) were horrible (from 2 different stores too). Lacking in contrast, poor colours, soft looking :(

So I guess sometimes places you would think would be **************** turn out differently

[Charismatic]

^ Well it only stands to reason, really.

I had a chat with the printer at HN's and asked about their paper, print and machine -- All top notch Epson stuff (Except the paper).

They regularly clean their heads and do calibration tests, too.

It makes sense, really - They have so much buying power and money, they can afford the best - And they hire 2-3 print staff SOLELY for the printing lab, they don't do a thing else - Most have some kind of background in it, too.

So yeah. Just a small tidbit I picked up.

Wave a business card next time Smorter, you'll get a discount from em'. :D

[DG77]

We have a pretty good relationship with our pro lab, and because of our volume we get it much cheaper than anywhere else. Small stuff like 4x6" and 5x7.5" is probably cheaper at some of the mini labs, but as the sizes get bigger our lab is much cheaper.
Our minimum size is 8x12" so it's not really an issue.

[Photogenic]

I have looked at the Harvey Norman printing process - they are printed onto the paper with colour laserjet whereas my pro lab develops the prints on the paper - basically they expose the image onto the paper and develop it the same way you did with film (obviously they don't need to process the negative first because I do that on my monitor).

The advantage?? My colours don't fade and I have prints that last over 100 years. Oh, and the prints are made on Crystal Archive paper which is calibrated on a daily basis - pretty sure you aren't getting that quality from Harvey Norman's - which I agree for home photos is fine but if you are looking at selling these on a professional note then probably you should look at a pro lab.

As DG77 said the prices for the smaller prints are a little more expensive but the larger prints - the one's the clients buy - are so much cheaper than places like Harvey Norman's that it pays to go to the pro.
Linda

[Charismatic]

^ Sounds interesting and a good point.

What is the name of your Pro Lab, Linda? I might give them a call and a get a few samples done.

[DG77]

We use Black and Photographics, they're in Adelaide but do work for country and interstate clients. You can ftp your files and they'll post/courier the prints back to you.
www.blackandwhitephoto.com.au

Since Adelaide is basically a small country town, we only have two pro labs left.
Atkins (the other one) have bought everyone else out.
They charge at least twice as much for everything as black and white, the only difference is B&W use Fuji paper, Atkins use Kodak.

B&W charge under $20 for a 20x30" print which we do a lot of, Atkins are $40 !!

I've had Nulab approach me to try and get my volume work (we often do big shoots requiring anywhere between 200-1000 8x12" prints to be done in one hit) but their best price was still more than double B&W, plus I'd have the hassle of not being able to deal with someone local.

Sounds like you're having a change of heart Charismatic ?
Now you just have to drop the disk from your packages and start aiming to make some decent money. If you are so hell bent on giving people a disk, make it a DVD slideshow.
They can still look at all the files on their computer or TV, they just can't do anything with them.

[jesh]

I actually have an online ordering system for my photos - I provide relatives with the link and password and they can order through there - then have one viewing with the couple only.

Hi Linda, just wondering what sort of online system you have to do this? I've been looking around for one, but they seem to be mostly US-based and want to do all your printing for you too. (Eg Smugmug, Zenfolio etc) If only we had something similar here! Does your system take the CC payments etc too, or just send you the order to follow up?

[DG77]

We have a similar system for the sports photography unit of our business, and use Gallery 2. It's free to download and very customisable, although it may pay to hire an IT person if you're not real good with programing to set it up initially.
We can set all our own prices and still control the printing, invoicing, delivery e.t.c, apply passord protection or unique pricing to certain folders/items and so on.

I'm not a big fan of the smug mug type systems that do everything for you.

[Charismatic]

Sounds like you're having a change of heart Charismatic ?
Now you just have to drop the disk from your packages and start aiming to make some decent money. If you are so hell bent on giving people a disk, make it a DVD slideshow.
They can still look at all the files on their computer or TV, they just can't do anything with them.

Kind of, kind of not. I'm definitely considering a Pro Lab simply for the courier portion of it - It'd save me 30 minutes of driving (I actually offer $150-250 depending on the package worth of print value along with a disc.)

If it proves worthwhile and I can actually see the difference in quality, I'll definitely switch over and therefore incorporate reprint prices, etc, etc.

Dropping the disc though? I don't think I will to be honest - Every client I have had so far loves the fact they get all the files on a disc and I'm the only one on the Sunshine Coast (That I know of) that actually does this. This initial portion of my package actually draws in a fair bit of business. Just for example, I've had two Emails in the past week from couples who are in the UK and will be having their Wedding here. They don't want prints, as it would be a hassle to take them back, and they simply wouldn't have the viewing time after the wedding, etc, etc -- So for them, getting the disc was priority # 1.

I think I charge a decent price as it is for my packages that include the disc - I make ends meet and then some for my means, so I'm not too worried about the money side of things to be honest, I just love to shoot.

We'll see though, never know lol. I appreciate this thread though and your point of view DG77, it's definitely made me have a think about it all.

[Photogenic]

Charismatic - the name of my pro lab is Frontier Digital they are based in Sherwood http://www.frontierdigital.com.au/ Frank & Leah are really great. Give them a call and they will send you some samples of paper and a disk to calibrate your monitor. They also give you settings for your colour profile in photoshop so what you see on your monitor is what is printed.
You also receive 5 free 8"x10" prints to see first hand what their quality is like.


Jesh - the online ordering system is through Online Picture Proof http://www.onlinepictureproof.com/index.php they are based in the UK but they do have support in Australia so you don't have to stay up until all hours if you need to ask them a question. I actually had some issues with my previous domain registrar and they were really great with support for those issues and recommending someone who could give me the service I needed. As you can tell I am impressed. You can just buy the online ordering part and add it to your website or also get a website through them (same price either way).
Customers can pay via paypal or they can choose phone option if you wish to take payments by credit card over the phone. You can also give them an option to pay by cheque. It's probably a little more expensive than setting something up yourself but right now I don't have the time to muck around with shopping carts / not quite at the stage where I want to pay someone to do this so I find this solution works for me.

Linda

[vqscorpions]

nice blog.
some of faces are over exposure, but overall they are ok
thanks for sharing