I hear this alot:
“I just want digital files. How much are digitals? Can i just get a usb of the files from my shoot?”
Before I launch into why you should buy an album from your boudoir photographer, let me ask a few questions and point out a few factors many people don’t think about when it comes to the boudoir genre.
- Boudoir is completely different from any other genre of photography. This is not family photos or Halloween minis. Please leave your prior expectations of other types of photography at the door.
- I’d first ask why digital files? Is it to print through a third party yourself? Is it just to store on your phone and social? Privacy reasons? There’s simply a lack of education on our part as photographers as to how we conduct business and why print products are a much higher value than files.
What is a digital file anyway?
When you purchase a digital negative from a photographer, you are also purchasing the copyrights to the work. Remember when Bob Dylan sold his copyrights to Sony? Yeah, it was a cool couple million dollars. Buying copyrights is like buying the whole cow when all you really want is a steak.
Files = Cow
Printed Prodcut = Steak
"Buying copyrights is like buying the whole cow when all you really want is a steak."
Budget Concerns
There is a common misconception that it will be way less of an investment if you get files and print them yourself. This is actually the opposite. See above for copyright info. Professional, experienced photogs will edit, design, and print the products for you, through vetted labs only accessible to approved photographers.
1. Ease. You don’t have to do any of the work. All you do is pay for it and show up and it’s done.
2. Quality. Our labs are located in Portugal and make albums that will last you for a lifetime. There’s no comparison to consumer labs where your album will fall apart in two years.
3. Privacy. When you keep it in a small business you can rest assured that only females see your images and the number of hands they go through is very limited. When you send them off to a more extensive lab you have no idea who’s looking at your files; it could be a teenager. It could be a creepy random dude. You have no idea.
As for social sharing and phone storage, we have a mobile app as an add-on option to solve that need.
Yes, most boudoir photographers operate this way. Otherwise, we couldn’t stay in business. You may come across someone who is doing “shoot and burn” but you could be sacrificing the quality of images for a lower price and experience.
Keep these points in mind the next time you consider working with a boudoir photographer.