Using photos on Instagram

[Summer75]

I have been hired locally for a business in town for a few years now. I have done a variety of work for them, including photos that they have used for advertisements, fundraisers, etc. Some of my work they have printed off into quite large advertisements, one which was printed onto a canvas of over six feet in one direction. Needless to say, I want to keep this professional relationship going strong.

Awhile back they started having me do candids of their staff while working. I did a few here and there over a period of time, with the plan that they would someday do a weekly bio of the staff. A bio write up on social media with my picture and a "meet Sarah".... the next week is "meet Jeff"... etc. So I have been taking these photos for about a year now and they have a collection of them and started the social media bio's recently. However they are putting them up on Instagram and from there somehow appear to be sharing the square copped Instagram photos on Facebook somehow and they look awful to my eye. The photo is square (as this is how Instagram crops them) and they look pixelated. Normally I don't mind if they crop my photos as they need to for printing, or social media etc. I find that often the pictures of mine that they put on Instagram usually look bad. But these ones are going up every week and do not look good.

I was thinking of sending an email asking if they wanted me to crop and reformat the pixels for Instagram sizing (I don't know Instagram requirements for a sharp picture but I am sure I can find it online). They seem to be sharing the Instagram photos on Facebook somehow or something.... and so I don't know if my doing this would fix the blurry Facebook photo that is also square. What specs would I use to resize and reformat the pictures?

I am not even sure that they realize the photos look blurry (maybe it is just my photographer eye, but I think they look awful). Any suggestions on how to handle this, or if I should do anything at all? They seem thrilled with the photos and I know the ones I gave them were high quality, but I am not happy with how I am seeing them used on social media. It IS their photos to do with as they please, but at the same time I am conflicted because I know that they do not look good as they are using them and I am the photographer that took them.

 

[tirediron]

I would simply telephone (Much more personal than an e-mail) if going in-person isn't an option and explaining the situation and offering to provide complimentary social-media sized images as required. This is something I do for all my business clients, and it's well received.

 

[Summer75]

I would simply telephone (Much more personal than an e-mail) if going in-person isn't an option and explaining the situation and offering to provide complimentary social-media sized images as required. This is something I do for all my business clients, and it's well received.

I like the idea of doing complimentary social-media sized images. You said you do it "as required", so does this mean that they approach you for a resize on certain photos or when you provide the photos to them, do you also include the same photos "resized for social media"? Different social media require different "optimal upload sizes" so one social media resize wouldn't work for both Facebook and Instagram ... how would you handle that?

 

[tirediron]

I just ask them to tell me what they need and spit them out as required for whichever social-media stream they're using. It's literally a 1-2 minute process for me, and almost all the clients appreciate it. Most often, they're interested in images for on-line use anyway, but they don't get the social media images unless they purchase files. The complimentary images are only on those that they're purchased.

 

[Summer75]

I just ask them to tell me what they need and spit them out as required for whichever social-media stream they're using. It's literally a 1-2 minute process for me, and almost all the clients appreciate it. Most often, they're interested in images for on-line use anyway, but they don't get the social media images unless they purchase files. The complimentary images are only on those that they're purchased.

Awesome, Thanks.