today’s newlyweds are increasingly using tablet computers and other digital media to keep an electronic photo album of their big day, and likewise, most wedding photographers have incorporated digital services into their offerings. In this article, you’ll learn about different ways to deliver digital wedding media, and you’ll pick up some ideas on how to create dynamic tablet-based wedding albums.
When a newlywed couple finally gets to see how great your photographs look, the first thing they’re going to want to do is share them online. This is why it makes sense to always supply digital copies of the files, in addition to the other prints and albums the couple has requested. In the recent past, the most universal method for delivering digital copies of images and video was by burning them onto optical discs such as CDs and DVDs. However, in today’s landscape of mobile gadgets and Ultrabook computers, optical drives are becoming much less common.
Even though CDs and DVDs are still a good option to use as an archival backup of important files, you’re likely better off using a more up-to-date method for delivering the digital files to the newlyweds. If the couple is digitally-savvy, they may prefer a Web-based delivery method, such as a shared Dropbox folder. Since a wedding is such a busy and momentous time in people’s lives, you may want to stick to delivering a physical form of media. You don’t want to send the groom a text message asking for a specific password as he’s zip-lining over a waterfall in Costa Rica on his honeymoon.
It’s best to discuss the matter of digital media with the couple days or weeks before the wedding, so you will know exactly what they need well in advance. A good option these days is to deliver the files on a USB Flash Drive (which are also sometimes referred to as jump drives or thumb drives). There are many factors that make USB Flash Drives a good choice: they connect via USB—the most common digital port on the planet, they usually work interchangeably between Windows and Mac computers, and they’re really durable, compact and lightweight. They’re even available in wedding white, like the affordable Sony 4GB Micro Vault USM-M USB Flash Drive.
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| Freecom Mobile Drive Mg |
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| LaCie Porsche 500GB P’9223 |
In an ideal world, your clients would only want to see the best-looking pictures that you took at the wedding. However, if the couple requests a copy of all the images, you may need to supply a large-capacity storage device. This is especially true if your company also produced the wedding video, and the couple wants an uncompressed digital copy to play on their large-screen HDTV. USB Flash Drives are currently available in capacities that exceed 100GB. In some situations, though, the couple may prefer having the files delivered on an external hard drive.
Supplying an external hard drive may seem like an extravagance, but your role as a service provider is about giving the couple what they want. If the client is most comfortable with having the files delivered on a dedicated drive, it’s imperative to determine whether they’ll be using it with a Mac or a Windows computer, because the drive will need to be formatted and loaded with the appropriate operating system. If this precaution isn’t taken, the drive may not work when it’s connected to the couple’s computer. When a hard drive is the client’s delivery method of choice, you can impress them by providing a sleekly designed, USB 3.0 equipped LaCie Porsche 500GB P’9223, or the Freecom Mobile Drive Mg in wedding white.
Weddings are a unique blend of time-honored traditions and new ideas and experiences, and using a tablet as multi-purpose electronic wedding album is a perfect example of this. A great way to demonstrate how useful these gadgets are for looking at wedding pictures is to show the couple a slideshow on your own personal tablet (assuming you own one).This way they can see how it’s possible to incorporate video clips into an album, to set a wedding picture as the background of the home screen, to add background music from the wedding to a slideshow, etc.
Not only are tablets great for demonstrating the usefulness of electronic wedding albums, they’re also incredible tools for showing your portfolio to prospective clients. A great tablet for this purpose is the lightweight iPad mini, and having a dedicated case that can also act as a stand, such as the Macally Rotating Folio Case, will also be useful for this purpose. A different way to go is to get an Android-based ASUS Nexus 7 and outfit it with a Xuma Rotating Folio Case.
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| iPad mini | Macally Rotating Folio Case | ASUS Nexus 7 | Xuma Rotating Folio Case |
Creating a traditional paper wedding album for a recently married couple is no small undertaking. The amount of work required to sort through the photos, approve the final images, execute the image processing, print, mount and assemble the album is massive. The effort is worthwhile, because the couple will likely return to the album again and again throughout the years. However, a leather-bound wedding album isn’t the most practical item to toss in a bag and carry to a corner café.
Tablet-based electronic wedding albums may not require printing and mounting, but arranging a beautiful collection of photographs still takes a lot of effort. You can go the extra mile by putting together a special folder that’s saved on the digital media that you deliver to the couple, which has a prearranged set of pictures to use as a slideshow on their tablet. It’s a nice touch that the couple will really appreciate, and it gives you a chance to showcase your work properly.
We’re always interested in what you think. How do you deliver digital images these days? Do your clients need any prompting when it comes to tablet-based wedding albums, or are the majority of them tablet-savvy at this point? We encourage you to submit a Comment, below. You can also speak to us in person at our SuperStore in New York City, on the phone at 1-800-606-6969, or talk to us online in a Live Chat.
1 Comment
I was looking to find out your opinion or selection of websites that offer to download pictures for customers to view and select if they want to print one or two pictures. I recently shot a piano recital and there are several families involved. I do not have a website of my own and wondered what is available that would allow me to download an album of pictures and allow others to view and select which ones they want and have them printed, either on their own printer or someone else's. Any suggestions? I know of Shutterfly but are there others?
Thanks