ok......so im a little confused about the whole photo shoot process....
My husband and I can't decide if we want to show our clients the photos right away without any of the retouching and special effects on them OR if we should reschedule them a week later for a "viewing" and they would see the final product......my concern is the client here....would they get too impatient? Would it be a bad decision to do post-production to all the photos since we don't know which ones they want? If we do show them the photos immidiately after the shoot, will they be able to see the full potential of their photos? As you guys can see i'm quite overwhelmed with this issue! please help! how does everyone else go about this process? Any advice will be HIGHLY appreciated! THANKS A BUNCH!

One thing that I've learned from talking to my friends "in the digital era" is the benefits of immediate previews. Sales increase because the excitement level still high and they aren't thinking about their other bills. One pricing guru states that we need to add value to our work. He has an album with before and after prints--the 'before" shots [unretouched straight from the camera--or minimal retouching] cost xyz, while the retouched images cost abc. Interesting idea. I'm not sure how I would tweak it. Bottom line--preview ASAP. Any other opinions?

Steve that's a GREAT idea! i wouldn't of thought it on my own! thanks a lot!

Aloha Dalmir23!

The main reason I moved to digital was for the immediate gratification of showing the previews IMMEDIATELY after the session. And as Steve said, the sales increase over making an appointment for the client to come back at another time to view was dramatic!

Obviously there's no time for color correction or retouch with immediate previews. However, rather than a negative, it is actually a positive...as long as you educate your client during the previewing. You can explain to the that the previews are un touched, and you can explain exactly what you will do to them, and if there are specifics that your client wants done, then you can make notes, and possibly even charge more for special requests, etc.

I shoot RAW + basic JPEGs, and I only show the JPEGs in the preview. I tell
my clients this, and that the JPEGs look like ghosts when compared to the RAW files, which I will use in preparing their portraits. And the JPEGs look good! So, basically I'm reassuring my client the whole time that they will be thoroughly thrilled with the end results. "If you like the way this looks, (and they do), then you'll LOVE the finished portrait!"

Now, Charles Lewis insists that you should only show fully finished, retouched with artwork, but he also says you should only show about 15 images! Obviously that means you do all the selections, then do the retouch etc B4 showing the client. In my experience, if I show 60 images, I'll sell 20 to 30.

I've also noticed that my clients will select images that I would reject! Art is subjective, and what I think is a beautiful image may not be a perfectly natural pose or expression for the subject, and the family will see it that way. So, I'd rather have the client do the selecting. They generally buy more than I would sell them if I did it!

Aloha!

Dalmir23:
Steve that's a GREAT idea! i wouldn't of thought it on my own! thanks a lot!

Thank Steve Larson, not me!!!

thank you all for the feedback!