It's driving me mad!!!

[heavenlymom]

I sell digital prints on CD with full printing rights. I always save them on photo shop with the maximum resolution possible and check them on Kodak to make sure they can be ordered as big as a 20x24. I have began sending out letters with the CD's when picked out and verbally telling my customers tips to get the best from the portrait CD.
Such as.
Don't go back in and re edit your portraits you will lose the quality and size.
Don't minimize the size of your portraits before ordering them.
Always check the crop preview before ordering any portraits through any company.

Still... I get 1/4 people calling or emailing me telling me that their portraits wont print bigger than a 4x6 and that they forgot to check the crop and that someones head is chopped off. I always remind them what I said and about the written letter I gave them and they almost always admit to going back in and re editing portraits saying they know what they are doing and it must be something I have done. I only have this problem when people re edit with some program and don't check the crop preview.

I don't want to quit selling the CD's but it's driving me nuts having to deal with this on a weekly basis. What more can I do to get people to listen to me. Anyone have any suggestions.

I am newer to having my own photography business so any advice is helpful.

 

[ksmattfish]

Why are people re-editing your photos? Why not just deliver them as they need them?

Aspect ratio confuses the heck out of photographers, let alone regular folks. I do my best to educate my clients on aspect ratio before we start shooting. If they want me to work with an aspect ratio other than 2:3 they need to let me know. I also recommend they use labs that I know will help them.

 

[manaheim]

I've just started dealing with printing and I found that one way to handle the aspect ratio problem is to actually list out the print sizes that are "valid" for the work. That seemed to work really well. I literally started at the smallest frame/print size possible and worked my way up to 24x36.

Then I said "Any print size other than this will distort or crop off critical aspects of this picture. Do not vary from this list. If you need a print of a different size or shape, please contact me and we will discuss making arrangements to get you an image that is an appropriate aspect ratio while maintaining the integrity of the image."

 

[Big Mike]

With some clients, I have gone as far as giving them multiple copies of images...with the print size in the file name. M&J-156-4x6.jpg for example.

You might also consider changing your business plan and get away from selling the CD and move to some sort of on-line ordering. There are several sites which allow you to upload the images, you then send your clients there to place their orders. Some of them will just handle the ordering, most will do the printing and some will even take care of the shipping as well. They do take a cut, of course.
I have recently added 'Photocart' to my site. It's a great photo ordering application, that is right on my web site. Clients can view and order prints, then I print and ship them. I don't know how well this will go over with my clients, as oppsed to selling the files on CD...I guess time will tell.