Growing Pains: Letting Clients See Unedited Photos (Part 2)

Nina's pick for her senior portrait


Today I finished editing my last trio of senior portraits referred from Jordan. It was a great pleasure to be able to shoot these lovely young ladies and capture memories of this very important year in their lives. I hope I have given them photos they can cherish for years to come. And it's wonderful to think that my images will be printed inside a yearbook! Thank you ladies for giving me this opportunity, and now I have examples to send to schools across the metro area in hopes of securing more senior portrait sessions next year. I have also been following the work of Anne Martin, a Dallas-area photographer and blogger who specializes in senior portraits. Martin does a tremendous job, and her images have been a great source of inspiration. I love the section on her site that discusses "Senior Secrets," and I will definitely share these tips with my future senior portrait clients to help them prepare for the session.

Gloria's pick for her senior portrait


Last week, I blogged about a new work flow I would be trying out during my post processing of Nina's pictures. I had been worried that editing all of my images before I presented them to the client took too much time, especially when it was clear the client preferred some shots over others. I decided to try a different tactic and allow Nina to see unedited proofs. Thankfully, the majority of the images I took looked great coming straight out of camera, or I wouldn't have had the courage to do this. I think that if you are going to go this route, it's even more important for you to take the time to get the shot right instead of relying on Photoshop to save you later. Nina and her mother had already had the chance to see the result from sessions I completed with Jordan and Gloria and knew that I could produce. But I was still more than a little nervous going into this.

Jordan's pick for her senior portrait


Out of 100 or so images, Nina chose about 20 shots that she wanted fully processed. That alone saved me days worth of editing, and I was able to get all of her favorites (plus about 10 of my own to use in my port) done in a single afternoon! Overall, I think this process worked well. For my next portrait session, I may process one or two images to the max just to give my client an idea of what to expect when I show them proofs.

It will be interesting to see if the process works the same with the several hundred wedding reception shots I took yesterday. With more than 500 images, I would hate to spend time editing photos that the client doesn't want. But there's a big difference between the 25 to 50 shots clients get from a portrait session versus the 150 to 200 shots promised them from an event. More to come on this topic later.

This Weekend: Editing Senior Portraits, Shooting Another Senior Portrait

This weekend, I will be editing photos I took during Jordan's senior portrait session in downtown Denver last Saturday evening. I am also schedule to take senior pics of Jordan's buddy, Nina, this Saturday, so wish me luck. Jordan's session was very fun. She was open to try just about anything I could throw at her during the shoot. Shooting in the early evening right before sunset and into the night was the perfect time and I couldn't have asked for more wonderful, even lighting! Felisa did a fanstatic job with Jordan's makeup. And it was wonderful to hear her growing excitement about her senior year. The photo session made her feel special, and she said "This year really is about me, isn't it?" It certainly is, and I wish you all the fun and happiness in the world, Jordan! Congratulations.



I will be trying a new editing process with Jordan's photos, and I'm a little uneasy about it, so I thought I would share it here and get some advice. Last night, I took a business management course hosted by Illuminate Workshops. Wedding Photographer Jim Turley was the instructor. This is the second time I took the class because I really wanted to make sure I understood and retained the information since I know how important it is to have a good solid business foundation.

Some information Jim shared with the class last night made me fear that I had been really messing things up concerning my time management in my editing process. Jim said that he only does an initial edit of images for lighting adjustments, sharpening and noise. Then he shows proofs to the client. The client picks out the images they want in their album, and Jim then edits only those images.

Seem as if I've been doing everything backwards! I usually edit ALL of my images before I let the client see them. It makes me feel uneasy showing clients a basically RAW, unfinished product because part of my skill set (and consequently what I'm selling) is my Photoshop skills. The client can't visualize what the image will look like after I'm done crafting it to my particular style.

But Jim explained that it was wasting my time on images the client might never want. Plus, a turn around time of two weeks might be too long for the client who wants to see their images now, whether they have or haven't been edited. Other colleagues say they notice their sales drop off significantly if clients don't get to see images within a few days. My hope is that since I have photographed Jordan's family many times now, they will feel comfortable letting me try this new procedural change with her.

What has been your experience with this and what would you recommend I do?