here we go again....
look. heres the deal.
this is not 1954. people do not view their photos the same way that they did 30-40 years ago.
True... but... one of the problems with today's methodology is that everyone (myself included) has probably tens of thousands of digital files stored electronically that they never look at. Providing prints forces people to actually look at them. What I do, when requested (and it doesn't come up a lot because the majority of my client base is 60+ and they LIKE prints) is to provide complimentary social media files. These are 800pix/72ppi files. BUT... they only get these for the images that they purchase as prints.
My "business" model is fairly simple, but I'm not a full time pro like you and I don't know much about your model, where I differ or don't.
I charge people up front for my time. It isn't a deposit, it is an initial payment... that distinction is important in the contract, at least in my state... so before any photos are ever taken, they've already paid the session fee that covers my time for the shoot itself (and time spent with them selling etc). After that, everything is a la carte.
People want digital images... most of them don't want physical prints anymore, I've had many people straight up turn down free prints because they simply hold no interest. People are living their lives online now... they see most of their friends online, at least the ones they interact with daily... they converse in large groups about photos with each other online... when they get together at parties and other events they show each other photo albums on their phone... they turn their images into memes, they bring them back up in the future with features like Facebook Memories... they want better pictures than their friends are posting online, pictures that are somehow more interesting.... and they generally only want a few photos at a time. They don't want to choose from a hundred or more options... they want a curated selection of the best shots to choose from... and they rarely want more than a dozen total keepers.
With that in mind... I do sell prints, but I don't mark them up much. I make my money a la cart by charging a processing fee per photo selected from the group. Those are the only photos I touch in lightroom/photoshop... and they get a digital file processed for whatever social media sites they plan on posting the images at. They never get a full res photo... if they need one they have to contact me again... I make that clear to them. I select a number of photos from the session show them the sooc jpg on an ipad and allow them to look at it right there while sitting down with me. They select the photos, I process them and deliver. They know if they print one of the photos it will look bad... I show them, I can't control if they do print one of the low rest photos though... and frankly I don't care enough to police it. There's very little money in prints, for me at least.
Since the processing fee is fairly steep per photo... I'll often pick my favorite photo from the set and have it printed for them gratis. Sometimes this prompts them to have their favorites printed... most often I've already been to their house and seen they just don't have stuff up on the walls etc... modern minimalist living seems to be pretty prevalent.... many people seem to keep most of the decorations in their life where they use them, online.
