I got reconnected with a friend I grew up with in Claude, Texas this week. Yes you heard it right, those that know me well know that I lived there from 0-15. My classmate, Amy Horn, contacted me through Facebook and told me about her daughter that is not only an aspiring photographer, but a great one, and is only in her teens, just think of what she will be if she sticks with it. Her name is Cassidy Horn and her website is cassidyhornphoto.com She is a killer Ranch photographer! I am so impressed. Her mother was asking about a nagging question that really bothers her about photography today, which is how do you get people to quit asking for CD's and rights to her images?
Cassidy, I have no great answer for you! I know that sounds bad, but I know that my other photog friends that have been in the business for 20 plus years still struggle with this new delima in photography. How can we convince people that getting photos professionally printed is the way to go? Well, we could tell them that at professional printing houses they have computers that are color corrected and will produce the best color in an image. We could also tell them that they do that all day long and they know what they are doing. Most people do not know this (I do because I went to school for photography), but unless you have a really expensive pc monitor, they are not color balanced and even if you buy a gadget to color correct it, it won't work on the cheap ones. Now for the great part, photographers that use a MAC are sometimes better off because the monitors come color balanced, and the gadgets that they sale to balance the monitors do work on a MAC. Here is a gadget that I have used in the past and really works great with MACS, but they are not cheap: http://www.xrite.com/home.aspx
There is an entire science behind color in photography, and I could go on and on about that, but I will stop and add...paper quality. Print houses use special types of papers and when you hire a professional photographer the paper can add to a photograph. Also, cheap photo paper will eventually turn yellow, just like a 70's photo. Good paper is archival quality. When people send (I nearly said develop, does that tell my age?) their photos to their local drug store to print a person who isn't a skilled craftsman runs the machines and controls the colors, and therefore good luck with what you get. I have a great photographer friend who has had clients opt for Ms. Mom photographer for their wedding because she sold them the CD for nothing, and when they were unhappy with the results they brought them to their trusted, professional photographer and asked if she could fix them! Well, bad photography cannot always be fixed! Out of focus prints cannot be fixed, it is basically trash unless you are going for a soft focus look! Also, unless shot in RAW, you cannot completely fix Jpeg files that are completely a terrible shade of green or too dark or too light when shot. This has to do with White Balance, and I will save that for another day.
In summary of today's blog, I must say that the only thing that I can tell Cassidy or prospective clients is that you get what you pay for! However, I must tell Cassidy that sometimes you also have to go by the old saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." I used to give out the CD, but now that I do this for a living I didn't for a long time, and I still don't like to! However, I have decided that I have to adapt to the ever changing world of photography, and I need to join them. I now sell my images on a CD after a minimum order of $250.00 in prints has been purchased for portrait sessions only. There is of course an additional fee for the CD, but at least I feel the clients will have professional quality, color corrected, prints to compare to their cheap drugstore prints. I have had clients see the difference after purchasing a CD and asked if I would print some for them anyway. If you hire me as your photographer I want my prints to look beautiful on your walls, they are part of my reputation, and I don't want to look like a dime store cowgirl, I want to look like a Nieman Marcus gal!
Also, to Cassidy: Tell them that you have to pay for college somehow! You just can't give it away!
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