I was wondering if I could ask you moms a few questions. I'm a photographer who specializes in newborns, children, and families, and I desperately need some opinions. If you've ever hired a photographer or thought about it, I'd love your opinions on my idea for pricing. Many photographers have their clients pay a session fee and then order prints after the session. I did this last year and quickly realized how much more my clients would rather have digital files. This past year, I've offered both options- pay a session fee and then order prints, or pay a higher lump sum up front and get the CD. Just about everyone who said they wanted to order prints decided they'd rather have the CD once they saw their pictures. I hesitate to go all digital because it means I give full control over cropping and printing my images to clients, yet I really want to do it because it's what people want! So here's my idea for pricing this year as my idea for the best of both worlds. My problem? No other photographers seem to be doing this, so it makes me wonder if it's a bad idea. Here's my idea for new pricing. Would this appeal to you? Would you order prints from your photographer under these terms?
-Ditch the traditional session fee/ print ordering
-Offer only digital sessions. You pay a higher session fee, but you get the CD of all pictures (about 25-40) in color, black and white, and low resolution.
-You get a print release so you can print your photos on your own....OR you can order your prints from me for only a little more than consumer labs. Clients would get professional prints and I get to make sure they are cropped perfectly and use a lab that's calibrated to my computer. I would only make a tiny profit off the prints, just enough to cover the time it takes to order prints for people. Based on my pricing, this would be something like 50 or 60 cents for a 4x6. There would be no obligation for people to order their prints from me, but the quality would be much better than them going to walmart, and I'd do all the work for them. Plus, my lab is much much faster and has free shipping.
What are your thoughts? I'm sorry this is such a bizarre question. I don't have anyone else to ask. I'll ask around to my friends too, but I thought it'd be good to ask a large group of moms.
Re: Poll about Photography Sessions
I understand it is a livelihood for photographers, but with the world operating on a digital playing field, I prefer digital images and I don't feel comfortable paying hundreds of dollars for the cd.
Also, I agree with pp, my wedding photographer have us the CDs with all images included in our package, but have since started charging for the CDs separate from the packages.
Good luck!
Also, as a small business owner, I learned the hard way not to do any work for free. You will have to make sacrifices either to your quality of work or your family. Charge what you're worth.
I just paid a $200 sitting fee and am in the process of purchaing prints from our newborn session. The $475 includes the CD of 30 images. Or, it would have been $275 just for the images. The prints that we're getting are worth a lot more than $200 to me! Also make sure you specify what size they can print up to.
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BFP #1: Mother's Day 5/13/12...m/c Memorial Day Weekend 5/26/12
BFP #2: 2/16/13...Owen Ray born 6 weeks early 9/9/13
Baby C - 08.23.13