Wix? Hire a pro?

[DerekSalem]

Oh, forgot the watermark thing. Lightroom3 automatically adds a watermark to my pictures when I export them. I take all my shots in RAW and Lightroom exports to JPG, with the longest edge at 900pixels, and with that watermark. I'm not a huge fan of watermarks, but like I said I'm completely fine giving away my pictures...so it's not because I don't want to lose money, just that I don't want them used in professional capacities without my approval.

 

[AprilEye]

I did my site on Wix. I really liked all the options and it was fairly easy to build.

 

[Bram]

Thanks alot for all the feedback, I saw alot of you mention the $1,000.00 to get a professional website done. I mentioned in the OP that I have a friend that an make me one for next to nothing so that's not a decision maker for me.
So the main thing i'm wondering is this. If I shoot RAW+jpeg I will have 2 photos. Should I first off only edit the jpeg and post the jpeg with a watermark and post those on the website, then whichever photos the customer wants, i'll give them the RAW files on a CD, edited ofcourse.
Tirediron mentioned not giving them the RAW files, why?
Doesn't the customer want the best quality phot and want the best DPI and no pixelation when they want to print these photos. Or when I print these photos?
I guess I just realized not alot of photocentres can handle the RAW files. So maybe i'll have to print the jpegs.

Any ideas?

 

[DerekSalem]

Definitely stay away from giving people RAW files unless they specifically request them. Put shrunken JPG files on the site (preferably watermarked...I know how much people hate watermarks here but in some cases it's necessary) and keep the RAW files at home. If I were you I'd just shoot RAW only and use a catalog program like Lightroom to maintain the library and organize them all. Conversion to JPG is *super* simple in almost every mainstream editing program now-a-days and it'll help to conserve space on your card and hard-drive if you only convert to upload...then delete the JPGs.

The reason you don't want to give RAW files to people is because most people would have no idea what to do with them. It's hard to print from a RAW file (since very few services accept them) and on top of it it won't allow people to just pop the CD in and look at them (unless they're either using OSX, which reads them natively as long as you have a RAW codec, or something like Photoshop).

 

[Bram]

Thanks alot for the reply Derek.
So what you're saying is just shoot Raw, edit them, watermark them, and then convert to Jpeg? Then delete ???
How would I provide the images then? Do I place the Jpegs with watermark on a CD? Then sell them that?

 

[o hey tyler]

Bram, I wouldn't give up RAW files even if someone SPECIFICALLY asks for them. It's just not a good idea, to me at least. I don't want people ****ing with my negatives.

 

[Bram]

Good call Tyler, I think i'll just shoot RAW, edit and watermark, transfer to Jpeg and post. Then i'll give them the transferred jpeg fiel with the removed watermark? Well with a smaller one.

 

[Bram]

Hey guys, my friend is asking me what I should do for pricing on these? I didn't know what to tell them. I was thinking of asking here.
How much would you pay for a CD with edited photos of your child playing football. I would say probably 50 good, high quality photos. Possibly for prints.