At the end of every family beach portrait session, we are always asked, "What next?" or "How do we get our photos?" Jason tells me I need to make a brochure to hand to everyone at the end of the night, but until I get around to doing that, hopefully this blog post will help!
1. We process your photos.
We use Adobe Lightroom for our first run through your photos. We'll delete the "duds" - photos with eyes closed, funny faces, etc. We'll also adjust the lighting on everything as needed and crop and straighten everything. (Jason is notorious for crooked horizons!)
Usually we do all of this as soon as we get home on the evening of your session. This typically takes us about one hour.
2. We upload your photos to our host site, SmugMug.
This typically takes a couple of hours. I usually start the upload and go to bed! The photos are "magically" online by morning! Ta-da!
We try to get your photos online within 48 hours of your session, but we usually get them to you within 24 hours. During our busiest season (March-July), sometimes it might take us an extra day or two... sorry...
IMPORTANT: While your photos are uploading (and for a day or two after we send you the link), they are in an "unlisted" gallery that cannot be found by you, Google, or anybody else for that matter (unless you give out the link).
A couple of days after they are uploaded, however, we make the gallery public unless you tell us not to. We store all of our customer galleries under the "Your Photos" menu on our website, so that potential customers (like you once were!) can see our work and not just a bunch of selected samples. But we do understand that some people want their privacy, so we're happy to keep your gallery unlisted if you ask us to, or add a password instead. Please let us know right away if you'd like us to do this... it is hard to put the cat back in the bag once we let it out!
When they're ready, we'll send you TWO links. This is the spot in this process where people most often get confused. Some mail programs see two emails coming from the same person at the same time and dump them into your Junk/Spam folder. Some dump one of the two in the Junk folder. So, if you don't see TWO emails from us, please check your Junk folder!
One of the emails will have a subject line that says "For You..."
The other will say "Share with friends..."
4. You pick out your favorite photos.
Use the personalized link in the email intended for you to view your photos and tag your favorites.
Use the sharing email to forward on to friends and family, or feel free to copy/paste the link into Facebook or your favorite social networking site. Others will be able to register to get their own personal link so they can keep track of their favorite photos.
If you click on your sharing link or on someone else's personal link, you won't be able to see your favorites anymore. If someone else clicks on your personal link, they will be able to see, add to, and subtract from your favorites. So, we don't recommend sharing your personal link.
If you click on your sharing link or on someone else's personal link, you won't be able to see your favorites anymore. If someone else clicks on your personal link, they will be able to see, add to, and subtract from your favorites. So, we don't recommend sharing your personal link.
IMPORTANT: We also post our favorites on our blog and, sometimes, our facebook page or sample gallery. (Again, if you don't want us to do this, please let us know in advance!)
Details: We'll use your last name in the blog post but we can modify that to an initial or first names or whatever by request. We don't tell where you live, names of kids, or any other identifying information. Blog posts show up on our Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages and you are free to share them if you want your Facebook friends, etc to see the best of the best of your beach portraits!
Sample photos (our all time favorites that we want to share with the whole wide world in our sample gallery) will not contain ANY identifying information. They will post to our sample gallery, Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest. You can tag yourself if you follow us on Facebook or Google+ and your friends can see your beach portraits. Its like getting a free digital download of your best beach portraits! We retouch all photos that appear in blog posts and sample galleries, so they'll look perfect!
There is absolutely no rush to complete this step! Unlike many other photographers, we do not place an expiration date on your online gallery. It will remain online indefinitely. You can come back and order photos in a year or ten years! Or, you can order them right away!
Here are a couple of helpful links to help you through the ordering process:
Print Prices and Ordering
What Size Photos Should I Order?
Adding Mats and Frames to Photos
How do I Purchase Digital Downloads of my Photos?
How Can I Create Holiday Cards?
How Can I Create Cards Through TinyPrints?
All prints and digital downloads are purchased directly through our website. Just fill up your shopping cart, enter your credit card number and address, and you're done!
Once you place your order, we receive a "Proof Delay" email. This allows us several days to retouch your photos and make sure they look perfect before they ship!
More about Proof Delay and Retouching
8. You give us some feedback! (Please!)
Places to leave us feedback:
On our website (scroll to the bottom)
On Facebook
Tweet about us (just click the link)
Problems with your order? Please send us an email instead, so we are sure to see it and address the problem right away! (allyson at jasonscottphoto dot com)
More questions? Let us know in the comments below!
PS - Don't forget, you can also follow this blog on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or through your favorite feed reader
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