Which files do you send your clients?

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Which files do you send your clients?

(14 posts) (12 voices)

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Bram

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Joined: Aug '10
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Hi all,

Recently I spent a day taking pictures at a theater festival in my local theater. I was invited there because I'm taking a course in photography at the performing & visual arts school that organized the thing. It wasn't a paying job but it was a cool experience to be able to walk around backstage wherever I wanted.

I'm now providing the school with my pictures, so they can get them to all the artists that performed on that day. All images were originally shot in RAW, then saved as PSD in Photoshop and finally converted to JPG. This poses me with a problem: which files am I going to burn on the DVD I'll hand in? I don't think including the RAW image files would make any sense, and JPG should definitely be on there, since 90% of people lack the knowledge to deal with anything else than that. I'm doubting though whether or not I should include the PSD files. It'd be handy for the few people that do know how to deal with them so they can change them a bit if they want to, but at the same time I'd be granting them quite some liberty to alter my captures.

What's your thoughts and experiences with this? I'm thinking about protecting your work, supplying your clients with material they can change if they need to, file size, image quality etc...

Posted 2 years ago #
broxibear

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Joined: Oct '10
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I'd give them the jpgs at the highest quality so they can crop if they wish.
Just make sure all your copyright, details info etc are in the files...you said you were using photoshop so you can change the IPTC there or in Lightroom if you use it ?
Don't see the need to send them PSDs unless they've specifically asked for them ?
Commercially clients will tell you which type of files they prefer...different people like different things ?

Posted 2 years ago #
Vall

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Joined: Sep '10
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For that kind of giving photos I'd say 100% quality JPEG(full size) plus compressed version for the web (800x600 maybe). Just make sure to include color versions of photos you convert to b/w.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

The Terminator
Joined: May '09
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Why not ask your client instead of us?

Posted 2 years ago #
smarterchild

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Joined: Jan '10
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I work with more parents and clients for portraits. I give them a CD of all the edited high resolution jpeg. Shoot raw. narrow down the winners, Save in TIF and JPEG

Posted 2 years ago #
Mike Gunter

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Joined: Sep '10
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smarterchild said:
I work with more parents and clients for portraits. I give them a CD of all the edited high resolution jpeg. Shoot raw. narrow down the winners, Save in TIF and JPEG

This is why this is the Smarterchild...

My best,

Mike

Posted 2 years ago #
Bram

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Joined: Aug '10
Posts: 73
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NikoDoby said:
Why not ask your client instead of us?

Well for one, I'm not in direct contact with any of the people who are going to be getting the pictures in the end, I'm just dropping of a DVD at the arts school, who will then distribute it to the various artists who were involved in the festival. I don't really feel like looking up every single person who's going to be getting the images and asking them for their personal preferences :)
And second, I was also just interested in other people's experiences with this, figured this could be a learning moment since I'm only just starting to make my way into paid photography jobs (this particular one wasn't paid, but it raised this interesting issue for me).

Thank you all for your comments, HQ JPG it is.

I'm also curious how you guys feel about distributing your RAW / PSD files? Do you feel like this is giving away too much?

Posted 2 years ago #
broxibear

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Joined: Oct '10
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"I'm also curious how you guys feel about distributing your RAW / PSD files? Do you feel like this is giving away too much?"
There's no point to it Bram, raws are like digital negs that need adjusting by the photographer before they're seen. It would be like a film maker giving you hours of unedited footage with no sound or special effects instead of a finished film.

Posted 2 years ago #
ChrisLange

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Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 359
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Giving a raw away is like handing the client a negative and saying "go nuts! print as many as you like!"

I can't imagine any self-respecting photographer doing that.

give them 100% jpgs and the compressed web crops at 800x600, that should be more than adequate.

I don't really deal in digital distribution anymore, but when I do, the pipeline is as follows:

shoot film -> process -> scan and edit negs in PS -> size for client/internet -> export jpgs, archive tiffs on my harddrives -> done.

Posted 2 years ago #
shivaswrath

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Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 841
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I only provide JPG's, rarely do clients want the RAW. But always ask, it's their $$$. . .

Posted 2 years ago #
kyoshinikon

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Joined: Jan '10
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I usually just send quarter or half resoulution Jpgs (1500px longest side as they seldom need larger) and tell them if they want they can get 1 or 2 free Nef's or 2-4 full resolution jpgs. Any additional images and any prints cost extra.

Posted 2 years ago #
Nikoner

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Joined: Apr '10
Posts: 171
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I mostly shoot sports, indoors I shoot RAW outdoors in good light I shoot JPEG fine. Convert the keepers to high resolution JPEG and burn a DVD if more than 50 are to be sent, else provide with a download link.

Posted 2 years ago #
Super Shooter

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Joined: Jun '10
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Ask the Art School what they prefer. I've done shoots where I gave the client hi-res files and they came back and asked for smaller files for emailing and for use on facebook. Yes I know they could just resize the photos themselves but you'd be surprised at how many people don't have a clue how to do that. Never give out your original RAW files. The client usually thinks having the RAW files or hi-res JPEGS means they now own the copyright to your photos too. You wouldn't want them to sell the photos to a stock agency for use on a book cover or music album and cut you out of the deal right?

Posted 2 years ago #
adamz

The Predator
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 3,461
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jpg's, jpg's and one more time jpg's. if someone wants raw or psd it's fine but it costs! just give an unreasonable price tag, if they really want it You gonna have a lot of cash. for volunteer only jpg's.

Posted 2 years ago #