Newbie!! After session print ordering quesitons

emmaginables · Jun 12, 2013

I am not too sure if this is the correct thread to post to. My husband has finally talked me in to starting my photography business. I take all our family pictures and friends and have decided to take it further. I am specializing in newborn photography and some family portraits. I do all of my editing in Photoshop CS5. I am just confused on how to offer the prints after their sessions. I typically save my images as JPG after editing in photoshop. My questions are: Do I save them as JPG? Do I download them to disc for my clients? Is there any special settings I need to use for this in order for the pictures to stay of good quality? Where do I order their prints from? Thank you in advance for your help!!

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emmaginables · Jun 12, 2013

I also know I would never start my business without knowing the answer to any of my questions. I don't know of any other way to obtain this information besides from you guys.

tirediron · Jun 12, 2013

A consistant work flow is one of the keys to success; find a way that works and do it the same way each time. Otherwise you'll get so far behind the eight ball, you'll never see daylight!

My workflow almost never varies: Download images off of card to computer, back up to alternate HDD & burn to disc before I do ANYTHING else. Telling a client you lost their images really sucks. Once I've done that, I import the session into light room and using the rating systems weed out the dogs. This usually culls about 50% of the images. From there I do a second cull deciding between 2-3 of a given pose and now, from say 100 images, I'm down to probably 30 - 35. All of those get a quick initial processing. Level & crop to print size, rough exposure correction , WB correction (roughly 30 seconds/image), and then export to a proof gallery using Lightroom's web module. Post gallery, wait for client picks.

Once client responds, I go through and do a detailed Lightroom enhancement on each image, do everything I possibly can in Lightroom. I then export as .TIFF files (or .DNG if you prefer) and do any other work in Photoshop. Once all of the work is done, I then to a batch convert to full resolution .jpg and either burn to disc, or e-mail to the lab to have printed (or, if I'm really lucky, both).

What you give the client depends on what they want. Many people will tell you that in-home proofing and print sales are the way to go, and yes, if you can, they absolutely are. HOWEVER, in today's market many people don't have the time for home-proofing, and even if they did, they prefer to do things on-line. They also prefer to have their product as an electronic one rather than prints.

All of that said, it's really a matter of finding out what will work for you in your area and your market niche.