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You found the perfect photographer. Picked a date for your session. Changed the date for your session because you realized someone had a baseball/volleyball/soccer game that day. Ran all over place finding the perfect outfits for everyone. Got haircuts. You arrive at your session excited to get some great new photos of your family. You survive repeatedly herding that one child that keeps wandering off and pleading with the other one to “JUST SMILE PLEASE”!
You receive your gallery and are pleasantly surprised to see that your wonderful photographer somehow worked a miracle and captured a lot of great images. You look at your gallery several times, show your family, your friends, post some on social media and enjoy reading all of the “great photo!” comments. And then….nothing.
Today, most clients prefer receiving digital images with printing rights from their photographer rather than purchasing prints. The benefits of receiving digital images include being able to order what you want, when you want and at what price point works best for you. If something comes up and you need a photo printed quickly for a gift or party, you can upload it to a 1 hour lab (Walmart, Costco, Walgreens). If it’s quality you want, many pro photo labs have public versions available online for anyone to use (Mpix) but without the pressure of making a decision right away. So what’s the catch? Not having to make a decision right away means- not making a decision right away….or for weeks, months, or sometimes ever! Time slips away and the images still sit on the flash drive or computer and suddenly those “updated” photos you wanted aren’t so updated anymore. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your digital images and enjoy them for years to come!
Make a list
Prior to your session, walk around your house. Look at the frames you have and decide if there are some that need fresh, updated photos. Write down both the size of the photos needed for the frames and whether they are vertical or horizontal layout. The layout is something people often don’t think about but it’s important to determine this and then let your photographer know if you have a certain layout need before or at the beginning of the session. Photographers usually decide this in the moment and you will often get more of one layout than another so for instance if you have a frame that you want to fill with vertical photos, tell your photographer you will need a good selection of that layout to choose from.
Look for blank spaces on walls. Maybe you need a canvas to fill a bare spot or for over the fireplace. Canvases are one of my favorite ways to display images around my home. They look great alone, combined with other canvases or other wall decor. I used to include canvases in my products available for my clients to purchase, however the cost of them from my professional lab was out of the price range that some of them wanted to stay in. For my personal use, I had been using a company called Canvas On Demand. Their canvases are extremely affordable and great quality. I have many that are several years old and still look beautiful! I now recommend my clients get more bang for their buck and order their own canvases from them!
Decide where you will order your prints from
Now that you have a list of your printing needs, it’s a smart idea to think about where you will be purchasing your prints. This may be multiple places depending on your needs. For instance, if you are ordering some large portraits and frame fillers to display around your home, or gifts for others, the quality may be the most important factor to you. Your photographer will most likely have a professional lab that they work with and that you can order from. These prints will usually be the most accurate as far as color and often have protective and/or UV coating so that they will stay beautiful for years to come. If you are wanting a canvas you may want to order that separately from Canvas On Demand (link above) or another company.
Many of my High School Senior Portrait clients like to have a bunch of wallets to hand out and trade at their graduation parties. It can get pricey to order the amount needed and usually the absolute best quality isn’t a priority in this situation so they often use a cheaper local lab that can deliver quickly (this sometimes gets forgotten about until the last minute so speed is definitely a bonus). There are many local options that offer quick turn-around or even 1 hour printing including Target, Walmart, Costco, Walgreens, CVS and more. The quality and color using these labs can vary but for small prints and wallets where time and cost is the priority this can often be the best option.
Think Gifts!
Prints, canvases and other photo products make the BEST gifts! Think about holidays and birthdays coming up and who might love a print or canvas from your recent photo session. Grandparents LOVE family portraits or senior photos. Maybe order an image on a coffee mug or make a blanket or calendar using images from your session. There are several online companies that offer a huge variety of photo gifts.
Treat yourself
If you don’t know exactly what you want to do with your images or if you just aren’t ready to order everything right away, it is still a good idea to do SOMETHING with your images as soon as your gallery is delivered to you. Companies like Shutterfly offer several products that you can personalize using your images. You will be most excited about your images while they are still new so now is the time to show them off. Order yourself a calendar for work, a phone case or a photo book! The possibilities are almost endless. No matter how you decide to enjoy your images, timing is key. Hopefully you now have the tips and advice needed to prevent your cherished photos from sitting on your computer or flash drive and instead enjoy them for years to come.