Question for the photographers

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Postby JC » Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:52 am

If additional prints were ordered, the photog would just have to request them from the print house. No real additonal work, but he would still be entitled to the value of the intellectual property being sold. Should files be that much different????? Does anyone here sell additonal copies of a program they have produced for only the cost of the disk and the burn time?

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Postby BarbaraC » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:49 pm

JC wrote:Does anyone here sell additonal copies of a program they have produced for only the cost of the disk and the burn time?


You said it all in a single sentence.

Barbara

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Postby gpsmikey » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:52 pm

I usually do a DVD of the kids soccer teams each year and give copies of
the DVD to all the parents. I also include all the pictures in an /EXTRAS
folder on the DVD with a release to use the pictures any way they want.
Hmmm - maybe that is why I'm not making money on this deal ?? :wink:

(and we just finished the last game of the season today - gotta get busy
on this years DVD :shock: )

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

XaiLo

Postby XaiLo » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:33 pm

It really depends on the photographer and how they have structured their compensation. Some photographers just distribute DVD's and no prints, Some prints only, and some both... all wedding pakages are not alike. And while in some respects it may not seem like a big deal to provide a DVD, a decent graphic computer is about $2000, graphics program $700, camera equipment for a wedding photographer let just say $10,000+++, rent $1500, and so on... then this professional has to take time out of their day to preform what would amount to be a favor, $50 yeah that's cheap.

Bolty

Postby Bolty » Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:09 am

I'm with Al and XaiLo here.

It takes some time to convert, colour correct etc etc. The photographer, I imagine, would have a large sum of money tied up in photographic equipment, computers, printers, graphics programs. This is obviously not a hobby for the photographer so $50 in my opinion is extremely cheap, especially if she is giving you colour corrected files. What's to say that you can't use the jpeg files fo run off reprints? There goes alot of extra income for the photographer.

Many photographers sell their images on CD/DVD for $300-$500 knowing they will loose money on reprints.

Just my thoughts

Cheers Adam

The Clicker

Postby The Clicker » Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:50 am

Adam is exactly right on CD's of prints being $300-$500 and loosing out on reprints. I sell 12 images on CD for $200. It's because you are basicly selling your copyright.

And I have used raw files in producer. I was actually suprised to learn that I could. But it used them the same as a jpg.
XaiLo is right too. It totaly depends on the package they agreed on. That makes a huge difference.

Deanna Gomes

I am a photographer

Postby Deanna Gomes » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:08 pm

I am a professional photographer and think what she's asking is fair. My regular portrait clients have to spend $800 on prints before they are eligable to buy the disk of images for another $400......that's $1,200 to get the disk. A wedding client would spend about $2,500 to $4,000 to get the disk. I myself charge $50 for additional copies. All images are completely retouched and require cropping for composition. I can't make a living charging $5 bucks a pop for just a few clicks. If a client wants my time they need to pay for it. And.....retrieving images from archives, converting, cropping and burning can easily take a half an hour or more since a wedding is typically going to produce 300-600 images.

Fondly,
Deanna
www.deannagomesphotography.com

vjim

Postby vjim » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:42 pm

It's pretty much all been said but regardless of the process used to provide these images, they have a value. As a professional photographer in the business since 1969, I've seen alot of changes over the years, especially with the advent of digital imaging and clients misunderstanding of the business model photography studios have run with since glass plates and flash powder. That is that we charge a fee for our time creating the images (session fee) and we charge for each photograph/image we deliver. Clients that ask for digital files, as they do, for free ("Can you just email me a copy of that picture please?") would have never thought to do that when we were shooting film and making prints. If they needed another 5x7 or 8x10 print they would expect to pay for it. The only thing that has changed is the media. Instead of charging a retail price of say, $50 for a print that had 25 cents worth of paper being used to print it, we now charge that same price for an image burned to 25 cents worth of CD. It's not the piece of paper or the disk we charge for, it's the image we created with a lifetime of experience and a huge investment in equipment.

Jim

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Postby czali » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:16 pm

Jim ,

I have to say that was very well said. I have since received the CD's from the photographer but have not started the project yet. I think the fee was well worth it since there are 5 cd's that she had to burn. I think she actually gave my customer a great deal. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts on the subject.

Colleen

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Postby Tarafrost » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:49 am

$50 for a CD with images converted to jpg is quite reasonable, IMO.

Sure....we can run batch jobs that automate the conversion process, I do it all the time. Though they do take some processing time typically if you are shooting high rez raw files.

That's not the point. You have to factor in the cost of the raw conversion software (PS ain't cheap, neither is Nikon Capture or some of the other converters). Then there is the time to set up the job, then time to burn it. Verification that the CD/DVD is good. Delivery effort/time/cost. Ongoing wear/tear/costs of the computer equipment.

And a large raw conversion can take a lot of time on your machine. When I converted my friend Kathy's 1000+ wedding images, that job ran for a few hours....which effectively does limit what else you can be doing on your machine since it sucks a lot of resources, even on a fast machine like mine.

Now that being said, I'm surprised a bit that this "service" wasn't bundled in the price of the original gig. That's pretty common these days...to provide a CD with lower rez jpg's to the customer. Nickel and diming after the fact usually doesn't go over that well....I find it best that customers know up front what the total cost will be and what they will get for it.

My 2 cents worth.
....Andrzej (aka: the curmudgeon)

Tarafrost Photography: Specializing in Wild-Life
http://www.tarafrost.com

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Postby czali » Tue Jan 01, 2008 2:53 pm

I am in total agreement with you on this one. I feel that the charge was fair for the work done. I do also think that photographers have to educate their customers. Most people still do not even know what a jpg file is let alone raw. Well, now the job is done and out the door. Thanks for your imput.

Colleen

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