Charging for Photo Discs vs. Prints

[e'ShayDesign&Photography]

Hi, everyone - I'm a new member but have been a lurker on here for months. I just finished up two model shoots for a couple of groups (group 1: family of four; group 2: dating couple now engaged). They were both winners of a contest I had, so they each got a free photo shoot and a free 8x10 of any shot they wanted from their shoot (with the option to purchase any of the prints from my smugmug site).

Now they've both decided on their free 8x10, which is great, and I've posted everything on my smugmug with my standard pricing for prints.

Group 1: is a family friend of my parents; we have known them for 15+ years, stayed at their house on vacation (they live in another state), etc etc etc.

Group 2: is a couple who were dating at the time of the model shoot, but are now engaged.

Here is my dilemma:

Both groups want their free 8x10 and they have also chosen some photos that they would like me to put on disc for them (they would purchase the disc/photos). It was my intent to not only get some new photos in my model albums, but also to generate some print sales from my smugmug site, since I assumed they would want to own more than just the one 8x10 they would be getting for free.

a) How do I price these? Since if I put them on disc, I'll be cutting myself out of the majority of the profit on any future prints.

b) If I shouldn't allow them to purchase discs, but mandate that any purchases would have to be of prints, how do I tell them that?

Also, for the newly-engaged couple, I'm wondering if I allow them to purchase a disc with the photos they want, at a decent price, perhaps they will want me to shoot their wedding? (which I also do, and am doing the wedding of their best friends, along with many other weddings, etc.) I think if I don't allow them to purchase the disc, and if they don't want to fork up the cash to buy the prints from my smugmug, they may end up with a bad taste in their mouths and completely cut me out of their wedding photog possibilities.

Your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

[Niresangwa]

So really your question can be condensed to..

"How can I make money off of these people without coming across as being Greedy?"

I'm guessing before you started trying to make money from this venture, you researched and assessed various models, and then built your paradigm before going forward?

If so, (which should be the case), what did you promise them when you started the process? Just the print and shoot? Did you allude to anything else, even verbally?

Can you price a digital download on Smugmug, vs giving them a disc? That would be an easy way to handle it, vs trying to get them to cough up for the CD.

Personally, I think as it sounds like you're just starting out, you need to use this as a learning experience and make your model more robust and better thought out so you're not trying to work from behind like this.

Put it down to experience, and do what you can to maintain the goodwill. Trying to wring more money out of people after the fact isn't going to help you at all.

Make sure you have it figured out in order to avoid this in the future.

[funcrunch]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

Can you price a digital download on Smugmug, vs giving them a disc? That would be an easy way to handle it, vs trying to get them to cough up for the CD.

That's what I'd do. I stopped selling photos on CDs awhile back, and now only license digital downloads directly through Zenfolio (previously through SmugMug before I switched).

[e'ShayDesign&Photography]

The only thing they were promised was a free photo shoot and a free 8x10. I explained that prints would be available for purchase on my SmugMug, if they so desired.

I'm not trying to be greedy. I just assumed that people would automatically pay for any photos they desired, via purchasing prints from the site. And now that the couple is engaged, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot for their wedding possibility, if leniency now will help there.

I'm trying to find a digital download on SmugMug now; no luck so far, but I'm not extremely familiar with that site yet.

Thanks for your help.

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by e'ShayDesign&Photography

The only thing they were promised was a free photo shoot and a free 8x10. I explained that prints would be available for purchase on my SmugMug, if they so desired.

I'm not trying to be greedy. I just assumed that people would automatically pay for any photos they desired, via purchasing prints from the site. And now that the couple is engaged, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot for their wedding possibility, if leniency now will help there.

I'm trying to find a digital download on SmugMug now; no luck so far, but I'm not extremely familiar with that site yet.

Thanks for your help.

It's not the fact that you are greedy, it's the fact that they are CHEAP!

[mad editor]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

It's not the fact that you are greedy, it's the fact that they are CHEAP!

Oh, how I wish there were a "like" button here!

[bhursey]

Ohh I completely forgot about the digital download option on zenfoleio.. I have people all the time ask me for digital. my response is I sell prints. Now I can point them to the digital download.. I set them at 15$ i may raise it later on if I start getting shoots where they just buy one digital image.. LOL I know im gonna run into a customer where they will buy a digital image and go and print a bunch of prints.. But if you think about it an averaged portrait shoot is 50 images 50x15 is 750$.. If I was selling them on a cd.

[Jim Poor]

Four times what you would charge for an 8x10 is a decent starting point (assuming you have a decent price for an 8x10 to begin with). You can offer discounts in volume.

For example, my portrait pricing for a digital file is $200, but clients can purchase the whole session on disc for $1250.00

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by e'ShayDesign&Photography

Hi, everyone - I'm a new member but have been a lurker on here for months. I just finished up two model shoots for a couple of groups (group 1: family of four; group 2: dating couple now engaged). They were both winners of a contest I had, so they each got a free photo shoot and a free 8x10 of any shot they wanted from their shoot (with the option to purchase any of the prints from my smugmug site).

Now they've both decided on their free 8x10, which is great, and I've posted everything on my smugmug with my standard pricing for prints.

Group 1: is a family friend of my parents; we have known them for 15+ years, stayed at their house on vacation (they live in another state), etc etc etc.

Group 2: is a couple who were dating at the time of the model shoot, but are now engaged.

Here is my dilemma:

Both groups want their free 8x10 and they have also chosen some photos that they would like me to put on disc for them (they would purchase the disc/photos). It was my intent to not only get some new photos in my model albums, but also to generate some print sales from my smugmug site, since I assumed they would want to own more than just the one 8x10 they would be getting for free.

a) How do I price these? Since if I put them on disc, I'll be cutting myself out of the majority of the profit on any future prints.

b) If I shouldn't allow them to purchase discs, but mandate that any purchases would have to be of prints, how do I tell them that?

Also, for the newly-engaged couple, I'm wondering if I allow them to purchase a disc with the photos they want, at a decent price, perhaps they will want me to shoot their wedding? (which I also do, and am doing the wedding of their best friends, along with many other weddings, etc.) I think if I don't allow them to purchase the disc, and if they don't want to fork up the cash to buy the prints from my smugmug, they may end up with a bad taste in their mouths and completely cut me out of their wedding photog possibilities.

Your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

What I would do is give them a CD with all low resolution photos they've selected, if they try to print them at a home print or even "professional" printing service like maybe walmart they won't get the same quality as a high/print resolution print from a real professional quality printing service. Now I haven't printed photos yet for clients as I'm still very new but if I could get an 8x10 for about $3 a print I'd charge the client about $10 per photo... just an example.

[John Hendry]

I agree with Niresangwa in that you should probably take this as a learning experience and grow from there. You need to create a pricing structure before you start talking to people as to do so mid-way thtough will only antagonise them. After all, you have no idea who these people will talk to/post comments about/email, etc, etc, so you need to the good press at the moment. There is no harm and only a small loss in revenue by making them perfectly aware that the deal they are getting from you (whatever you decide) is a special for them and them alone.