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This
is the opening screen for www.weddingprints.com Note how
you locate the right wedding by names and date. Notice
also the bottom left which is where you as the photographer
go to make changes to the site.
Photos © 1999, Steve Bedell, All Rights Reserved
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Pity the poor portrait and
wedding photographer, and I include myself in that group. For years
we’ve been reading about how digital imaging and the Internet
are revolutionizing photography, and we’ve been sitting on the
sidelines. Well, that’s about to change, and in a big way. In
a couple of days, my studio went from being totally traditional to having
completely digital ordering capabilities. And it cost me nothing. Let
me explain.
This rather remarkable change of events is the result of a unique web
site offered by my color lab and a software program from Kodak Professional
Studio/Lab Link Software. It also makes use of new technology such as
film scanning and the Internet to tie everything together. I’m
going to briefly explain how using the Internet site with the ordering
software can make your life easier, and hopefully more profitable. And
while much of this focuses on weddings, most can certainly be applied
to portraits as well. So let’s start at the beginning.
OK. Let’s look at it the “old” way. You shoot the
wedding, send the film to the lab, get it back a week or two later,
then edit the prints. Call the couple to have them pick the prints up,
remind them of their package, suggest a wall print, and make an appointment
for them to come see you about a month later for the order. A month
later, the bride calls and says she hasn’t got the prints back
from her mom in North Carolina, can she come in two weeks? Two weeks
later, she calls again and says the groom’s dad, has yet to see
the photos. When they finally order it’s three months later and
the excitement is gone. They’ve looked at the photos plenty of
times and the financial realities of married life are foremost in their
minds. You’ve just lost money and slowed down your cash flow.
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This
is the main screen of Photographer’s Assistant. Clicking
on the photos brings it to the ordering screen. The green
dot means that that photo has already been ordered from.
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Now let’s look at the
“new” way of doing it. I still send my film to the lab in
Canton, Massachusetts. Then everything changes. A few days later, I get
e-mail notification that my wedding is “up” and ready for
editing at www.weddingprints.com
then I use my password and ID number, and edit the photos. I assign the
site the password agreed on previously with the couple. At the wedding,
I distributed cards to all the guests at the reception. It gave them the
web site address, the date the wedding would be there, and the predetermined
password. They also need the date of the wedding and either the bride
or groom’s first name. They type in the info and bada-boom, bada-bing,
they’re looking at the edited wedding photos. And if Sally in Phoenix
and Ralph in Boise want to order prints, they can do so right there, with
my assigned pricing. So far, you’ve got prestige for being an innovator,
publicity at the wedding, a card in every guests hand, and possible sales
from people who previously would have never seen the photos. And if mom
is in Canada, she can order from there, too.
But that’s not all. I still get prints back from the lab and a CD
with all my images on it. I use these images with my album layout software
(I use Montage from Art Leather) to create the album the way I think it
should look. It usually has many more images than the original agreed
upon amount. How can you capture a wedding in 50 prints when you’ve
taken 250? The couple understands that better when they see how expertly
you’ve laid out the album, and how it tells a complete story. They
are not as visually sophisticated as you are, and can’t picture
in their mind the flow of the album or how pages appear when facing each
other. By eliminating photos from the presentation on the computer and
on paper, the flow is disrupted. I suggest you give them a special price
on getting the album as you’ve recommended. Photographers using
this method are reporting a substantial increase in the size of their
wedding album orders. Another example of technology both increasing our
income and decreasing our time, a definite plus.
But we’re not done yet.
Now it’s time to place the order. You’ve already loaded the
images from your CD into Photographer’s Assistant, a software program
developed by Bremson and marketed by Kodak to color labs. You don’t
buy it, you get it from a lab that is set up to deal with it. Once you’ve
completed the initial installation and made sure your modem is in communication
with the lab, you’re ready to go.
Open Photographer’s Assistant, locate the job number, and up pop
all the images. Use the list to order. Let’s say you need one 8x10
and four 5x5s from negative number 36. Just click on it and a second window
opens. Select 8x10 and the photo appears. Since the final prints will
be digitally made, cropping is infinite, you are not restricted to a limited
number of masks. Another point worth mentioning is the fact that since
the prints are made from high res scans of the negatives you order from,
custom printing features will only have to be done once to the digital
file, then printed at “economy” prices, resulting in substantial
savings for multiple prints ordered from the same pose.
Once you’ve got it looking the way you want, click the amount of
prints, sizes and amounts needed, and you’re done. Not sure what
you’ve ordered? Just go to order summary and find out. Order all
the prints, cropping and sizing the way you want. When you’re done,
check summary. If everything looks good just connect to the Studio I -
Link part of the software, and it will automatically send the order to
lab. It’s easier, saves time, gets the order to lab immediately,
and cropping is more exact. There are many other features, but this gives
you the basic concept.
Client response has been overwhelmingly positive. And each guest at a
wedding now leaves with a card from us, an innovative studio. Digital
imaging and the Internet will continue to make major changes in the way
we do business. Get on board before the train leaves you behind.
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