
As photographers, especially wedding photographers, one of the best parts of a job is delivering the final images to clients. Sure, it comes with the anxious anticipation of waiting for that “we LOVE them” email from the client but, either way, it’s a box to check off in your workflow. Deciding exactly how you deliver those images in today’s “give me it now” and mobile universe does present its own set of questions, decisions, and trade-offs. What, then, are the best and worst options for delivering photographs? Well, it’s going to vary from photographer to photographer, and how you operate your business will, to some extent, dictate your chosen delivery method. Rather than just identifying the mediums for delivery, I have tried to also note some pros and cons, and circumstances under which each might be advisable.
CDs and DVDs
"Gone are the days of burning a stack of CDs or DVDs and mailing them to clients. "
Gone are the days of burning a stack of CDs or DVDs and mailing them to clients. I suppose a handful of folks might still prefer this, but as file sizes have increased and computer technology has advanced, the CD is becoming more and more a sign of the past. Many computers don’t even include a CD drive any more. So avoid mailing your clients a stack of coffee-mug coasters. Besides, they take forever to burn, they scratch easily, and crack.
Thumb Drives
These are the most popular. You can buy custom-imprinted drives, of all different capacities, that match your branding, too. Toss in some cool packaging—a wood or fancy paper box—and you can build yourself a stunning deliverable. Thumb drives are quicker to burn and easy to mail. The USB drive will work on most computers, TVs, and even some cars, too. However, they won’t plug into most tablets or phones, so require clients to transfer images to their favorite devices. This is very do-able, but still slightly inconvenient. Thumb drives are a great option for photographers who shoot a decent volume of weddings and still wish to capture some print sales through their on-line proofing galleries. Also consider wafer or alloy drives, which are USB drives in the shape and size of a credit card. When ordering these in bulk, it is usually free to have your logo or favorite image printed on the back and front.
Digital Download
This is fast becoming the most popular delivery option, but definitely with pitfalls—in my opinion. There are a bunch of new sites (Shootproof, PASS) that make it easy to deliver images to your clients electronically, and most have pretty appealing interfaces too, which are mobile friendly. Your clients download their files at their leisure, and bear the brunt of the archiving responsibility (a whole other topic altogether!). There is also the added bonus that, at least in some states, if you do not deliver an actual physical product to your client you do not have to charge a sales tax (consult your tax adviser). So, if you are a shoot-and-burn photographer who does not care much about print sales or selling albums, this can be a darn good option. The biggest pitfall in offering digital downloads, as I understand, is that print sales can just stop. Couples can and will just share the download page with all of their family and friends who also download the files and print images on their own. For the record, I don’t do digital download, so this is second-hand opinion from speaking with my colleagues.
Cloud Hosting
One data storage option that everyone is buzzing about is online "cloud" storage. There are lots of options—from services that act like a virtual disk drive to applications that automate the entire backup process and run automatically—and on the surface they represent just about everything ever needed by professional photographers. Popular services include Dropbox, Amazon S3, CrashPlan, Carbonite, ZenFolio, Cloud Spot, and others. What you get is an off-site copy of your files, which are also being backed up in large data centers, and in most cases are accessible from any computer or smartphone. But the services all hinge on your Internet connectivity. Come home from a double-header wedding weekend with 300GB of data, and it will probably still be uploading by the time you shoot your next job. That, in a nutshell, is the biggest drawback to such services. If you are a volume shooter who is likely producing data faster than you can back it up, you’re creating a perpetual bottleneck. And, should you ever have to download all of that data... well, let's hope you are not in a hurry! Many services only allow downloading packets of data of certain sizes, so you may be downloading zip files for days. What is my recommendation? Cloud storage is fantastic for archiving your finished work, but may not suit the workflow and efficiency needs of a busy studio.
Prints
I used to provide all wedding clients a proof box of 4 x 6 prints with all of their delivered images. It wasn’t cheap, but man, it looked good! Then clients stopped wanting them and just wanted price concessions for removing the proofs from their collection. That makes me sad, but times have changed. Digital is king, and from the client perspective having those “ones and zeros” is what matters most. Delivering prints—paper, canvas, or other—still matters, and can be lucrative for you, as a photographer. For most, offering a proofing site where clients, family members, and friends can buy professional prints is important. Don’t expect a landslide of orders just by sharing the link, but through some creative coupons and offers you can still see print sales each month. The greatest reward in print sales comes from the in-person selling session. Most volume shooters don’t have time for this, especially if they have a family, but if you want to maximize print sales, get a couple to sit on your couch with their epic wedding photos projected on the wall. I also don’t do this often, but when I do it’s always worth the effort. From a client perspective, the best thing about prints is that they become a part of your life. Sitting on a hard drive they are forgotten. Our images are meant to be viewed, and I encourage every client to make and display prints.
Albums
Fast becoming an outdated treasure from the past, albums are losing favor among clients, but they are not lost. To me, albums are the absolute best way to deliver your images to clients. Not every image, of course, but the selection that matters most. They look awesome and they can last for generations. If you are going to offer albums, however, make sure you have well-defined policies in place for how you design their draft, the proofing process, and obtaining approvals. Albums can drag on and on—for years, even—if you don’t control the process. They will lose all appeal when you are doing that 16th round of revision because you didn’t specify how many were free, and you are hounding your client for approval to print for the 11th month in a row. Don’t let that happen, and you and your clients will LOVE albums! By the way, albums are best sold in person but, to produce them effectively, all you really need is an easy-to-use design software and a good proofing website.
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And now for something completely…
In addition to the above listed delivery methods, there are many ways to provide clients with images in a manner that is a bit out of the ordinary. These may not serve to provide all of the wedding images in the most efficient way and perhaps they are best considered an additional gift for the couple, but sometimes that one perfect image, delivered in a memorable style, is the difference-maker when a prospective client sees your work.
An image in a locket that can be gifted to the bride (or groom) will go a long way in getting you noticed. People tend not to carry their wedding albums around with them, but if the bride wears the locket regularly and is asked, she will gush about your work and help you gain clients. A designer photo box, in glass or wood, is a nice way to present your best prints to the couple. Whether it be a box to fit 8 x 10" or 5 x 7" prints, if you make it pretty, it becomes a keepsake, a protection device and a much less ostentatious way to keep your wedding photos on the coffee table year ’round. Many wedding photographers now shoot their events in a “lifestyle” or editorial style, so why not go all out and create a custom magazine featuring the best photos of the big day? A glossy cover and page after page of beautiful photos of the couple and their friends and family is a nice treat.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many options available to deliver your wedding photographs to clients. Most photographers will employ several of these, focusing on one or two. Which you decide to offer will speak to the type of studio you want to run—shoot and burn or high-end boutique. None is right or wrong (except maybe DVDs) and all have pros and cons. I provide all wedding clients with a thumb drive of their final images, as well as post their photographs to a proofing gallery where they can see and order prints. I offer an initial coupon code shortly after delivering files to spur some print sales, and do a large year-end sale each year for the holidays. Approximately half of my clients will order an album as part of their package. I have a love/hate relationship with albums… I love delivering them and hate producing them. They are important to me though, and I encourage all of my clients to consider them. I don’t do any in-person sales and I don’t believe in just offering digital downloads. I believe making all of your images available to anyone who wants to download them devalues the photography and reduces my ability to profit from my hard work. It’s a great solution for some studios… just not mine.
And that’s the key to determining what delivery method you decide on: What is going to best meet the needs of your business? I wish I had time for more in-person sales, and one day when my kids are older and I have a proper studio (i.e. not my home studio overrun with Batman and My Little Pony toys) maybe I will. The best combination for me may not be the one for you or your closest photographer friends, and that’s cool. Just don’t offer DVDs…
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Eric McCallister is a wedding and commercial photographer from southern New Hampshire. He spent the early part of his professional career hanging from cliffs photographing rock climbers and products for outdoor companies. Now he spends most of his time photographing weddings, couples, and portraits, and his time on the rocks simply enjoying himself. |
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