Presenting unedited SOOC pics to clients

[KmH]

Come on guys this is getting old now - cool it down and lets not have another 5 pages of ranting and fighting!



As for the question in point:
"The average person can not see the potential beauty of an image, what they will see is a less than sharp, non-pleasing snapshot."

Is the key bit. Unless your workflow is such that you can get shots straight out of the camera which only need minor adjustments or fine detail changes not visible on smallsized preview images then don't show them shots right out of the camera. Instead you'll have to focus on streamlining your shooting and your workflow so that you're only preparing a few shots to show them rather than 100s for them to choose from. This will require streamlining at both the editing and the shooting stage of the process.

What is a business question "Presenting unedited SOOC pics to clients " doing in the beginners forum?

Brand new to photography, or brushing up on some of the basics? Don’t be shy! Talk to other beginners and ask all your basic photographic questions here. Show us some of the photos you have taken so far and get some review - so you can learn where there is room for improvement!

For that matter, it may be useful to wonder why a photography business owner persists in posting in the beginners forum.

 

[frisii]

Your customers are paying you for your services as Picture Editor/Art Director, as well as Camera/Mac Operator. I think you should only let them see the finished product.

 

[MissCream]

I shoot yearly photos for two cheerleading teams and I DO show them the picture straight out of camera. If they don't like it I re-shoot it until they get one that they are happy with. I let them know that they will be edited so any blemishes will be taken care of. I was actually thinking about bringing my laptop next year and tethering it so that they can see it better then me zooming in on their face on the little LCD screen. This way I know that all the girls are happy with their pictures and I have never had to do a re-shoot.

 

[frisii]

That makes sense. Let me modify my advice.. I think you should only send them the finished product.

I shoot yearly photos for two cheerleading teams and I DO show them the picture straight out of camera. If they don't like it I re-shoot it until they get one that they are happy with. I let them know that they will be edited so any blemishes will be taken care of. I was actually thinking about bringing my laptop next year and tethering it so that they can see it better then me zooming in on their face on the little LCD screen. This way I know that all the girls are happy with their pictures and I have never had to do a re-shoot.

 

[Vtec44]

I did a bunch of corporate head shots for my company, and I tethered my D7000 to my laptop to show the girls so they can decide if they want to reshoot. I'm telling you, them girls are picky about their photos! =)

 

[Derrel]

If you wish to show SOOC JPEG images, then the best course of action is to set the sharpening in-camera to HIGH, crank the saturation up to 3/4 of maximum, and set the Tone Curve to be fairly contrasty. By doing this, the images coming right off the memory card are already quite "snappy" and vibrant. If your skill level is decent and your lighting good and your exposures are excellent, SOOC images are fine as proofs.

 

[vtf]

You completely misunderstood gsgary, he does on the spot event photography and gets that good a shot out of the camera. Makes cash on the spot. You on the otherhand do not provide the quality sooc. I would edit those I felt worthy. A customer expects every shot to be a winner because you are the pro, we know they're not but do you want to disappoint your customer by showing them the ones that are oof, motion blur or just mistakes as you skim through the hundred. Really how many keepers do you have right now sooc perfect? They know some treatment will be done but this much? Really? Do you will really want to show them how bad you can be at times.
By editing those worthy then presenting to customer you show them perfection, your image quailty goes up and stays up.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

It's the worst idea you have come up with this is something you never do, do you want to sell photos if so they will have to be perfect sooc

Just please... shut up. NOTHING is perfect SOOC.
YES you want to shoot the best you possibly can sooc, but there is always cropping and composition adjusting, dodging and burning, cloning/cropping out distractions, blemish fixing, skin smoothing and TONS of other things (and creative things) to perform that a camera can not do! OK?? So get over yourself. So if your photos are absolutely perfect SOOC... why do you have photoshop and/or lightroom??

.....and most of your customers don't understand that....they just think you suck as a photographer and are showing them pictures that make them regret hiring you. You just pretty much answered your own question with that one. You completely missed the point he was trying to make. If you believe that you cannot be perfect SOOC, which I would tend to agree with you, then that would mean NEVER show anyone those pictures. ( Thats the point they were making, not trying to sound superior to you )

 

[SabrinaO]

Come on guys this is getting old now - cool it down and lets not have another 5 pages of ranting and fighting!As for the question in point:"The average person can not see the potential beauty of an image, what they will see is a less than sharp, non-pleasing snapshot."Is the key bit. Unless your workflow is such that you can get shots straight out of the camera which only need minor adjustments or fine detail changes not visible on smallsized preview images then don't show them shots right out of the camera. Instead you'll have to focus on streamlining your shooting and your workflow so that you're only preparing a few shots to show them rather than 100s for them to choose from. This will require streamlining at both the editing and the shooting stage of the process.

What is a business question "Presenting unedited SOOC pics to clients " doing in the beginners forum?

Brand new to photography, or brushing up on some of the basics? Don’t be shy! Talk to other beginners and ask all your basic photographic questions here. Show us some of the photos you have taken so far and get some review - so you can learn where there is room for improvement!

For that matter, it may be useful to wonder why a photography business owner persists in posting in the beginners forum.

Maybe because I am a beginner? Maybe I should have posted this in a different section. I forget sometimes that their are other sections. this seems like the catch all section.

 

[SabrinaO]

I rarely show unedited work. I did it 3 times, once the client used to be a model and understands that editing is needed to be done (she loved the final product). 2nd time was when my client was a colleague of mine and he was doing the editing on his own time and 3rd when my wife and I were shooting our kids w/ our parents - we showed them unfinished and final product.

So do you still do it?

 

[SabrinaO]

That makes sense. Let me modify my advice.. I think you should only send them the finished product.

I shoot yearly photos for two cheerleading teams and I DO show them the picture straight out of camera. If they don't like it I re-shoot it until they get one that they are happy with. I let them know that they will be edited so any blemishes will be taken care of. I was actually thinking about bringing my laptop next year and tethering it so that they can see it better then me zooming in on their face on the little LCD screen. This way I know that all the girls are happy with their pictures and I have never had to do a re-shoot.

I would never send them sooc images...lol. What I do is upload the sooc or lightly edited images on my site in their own gallery and they'll choose which ones they like.

 

[SabrinaO]

If you wish to show SOOC JPEG images, then the best course of action is to set the sharpening in-camera to HIGH, crank the saturation up to 3/4 of maximum, and set the Tone Curve to be fairly contrasty. By doing this, the images coming right off the memory card are already quite "snappy" and vibrant. If your skill level is decent and your lighting good and your exposures are excellent, SOOC images are fine as proofs.

This sounds good, but if I do this will the pics be over processed or too sharp/saturated/contrasty for the finalized images? I mean since I shoot in raw I'd be able to tone all that down for the finalized non pics right?

 

[Overread]

I should take the moment to point out that there are different workflows in existence and one does not automatically trump the others in all instances. Some people perfect a straight out of camera workflow - sports photographers, those printing on site etc.. - they work their gear and skills to get a shot that will print well direct from the camera; whilst then there are others who (whilst certainly putting no less effort or quality into the shot) take photos which will not look their best until they have been more extensive edited.

Photography is a two part process of capture and process - digital or film - and both stages are important toward developing the final item which is the print (that the client buys/paid for for pros).

 

[MWC2]

I would never send them sooc images...lol. What I do is upload the sooc or lightly edited images on my site in their own gallery and they'll choose which ones they like.

You want to put unedited images in a client gallery that they will share the password with their friends? Are you willing to have potential clients see unedited work and think those are the final product?

That is what is going to happen.

 

[SabrinaO]

You completely misunderstood gsgary, he does on the spot event photography and gets that good a shot out of the camera. Makes cash on the spot. You on the otherhand do not provide the quality sooc. I would edit those I felt worthy. A customer expects every shot to be a winner because you are the pro, we know they're not but do you want to disappoint your customer by showing them the ones that are oof, motion blur or just mistakes as you skim through the hundred. Really how many keepers do you have right now sooc perfect? They know some treatment will be done but this much? Really? Do you will really want to show them how bad you can be at times. By editing those worthy then presenting to customer you show them perfection, your image quailty goes up and stays up.

None are absolutely perfect for me sooc because I shoot raw and I think you HAVE to edit raws. I like contrast, and I like to do those special edits as I stated earlier. SOOCs can be perfectly exposed, perfect WB etc. but still look... blah. I just like to add enhancements and pop to a photo that a camera cannot do.