Take My CD and Print? Photographer’s Excellent Response to Client.

A tip for those of you planning weddings: To print every single wedding picture we have would only cost $104 at Walgreen’s. Skip the print package and just get the CD-Rom!  – Janet

Woe to photographers who have clients like Janet.  Photographer M. Bubba Blume of Insomniac Designs Photography offers an excellent response for educating the customer who questions why she should pay him to print photographs when she could get them printed from the CD at a low-cost processor.

‎Thanks Janet!  

Of course, Walgreen’s uses the cheapest paper and processing they can get away with and the result is prints that won’t be around in 50 years.

You’ve spent the money on a professional photographer. You’ve trusted him with creating the memories and capturing the moments of one of the most important days in your lives. Why trust that he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to prints?

Sure, you won’t pay 19 cents a print. But you shouldn’t. I can spend 4 or 5 hours working on one image to make it as perfect as I can get it. Most images don’t get that kind of time, which is true, but they do get some time. They all get color corrected and balanced lighting. Go ahead and print that on some cheap paper and see how they turn out.

The fact of the matter is simple; great photography of a major life event should cost you some money. Anyone should be more than willing to pay for it.  Why? Because in 50 or 75 years there will be a young woman hanging her grandmother’s wedding photo on her wall with pride. But if it’s printed at Walgreen’s, it will won’t be there for her to look at.

And about purchasing  just a CD or DVD full of images, Bubba says:

Additionally I haven’t seen any digital frames that are 16 x 20 size. If they do exist, they are going to be priced out of most people’s range. But a nice 16 x 20 print is affordable and will last more than a lifetime

I completely agree that digital packages should be offered, or at least the option. But also realize that the photographer is giving up his or her right to earn a living by selling you prints and other products. So expect to pay for that CD or DVD full of someone else’s intellectual property.

Bubba’s comments originally appeared on the Pro Studio Supply Facebook fan page.

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