Photographer only offering digital files at extremely high price

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally normal. It was most likely all spelled out in the contract you signed or their price list. Why are you expecting to get something for free?

I'm not expecting anything for free. I spent 2k on prints.

I bought the session at a charity event via a fundraiser and it wasn't spelled out at the time. I wasn't informed actually until AFTER we had done the shoot about this or any pricing.

Well then, lesson learned. Read the fine print!

Photographers spend hours that you do not see working on your photos. They make their money selling the photos in all formats after the shoot. Good, high end photographers do the pricing the way you see it.

Agree. Just pay the damn money. It's not just snapping pics and sending them to you straight from the camera. There are touch ups on those, sizing, and also the session planning (to get the shots, lighting, etc.) It's an art. Plus, her admin costs (e.g., upkeep for Photoshop, billing platforms, her time, etc.)

I'm just a hobbyist but, even for my pics (which are decent but not professional), its a LOT of work.

So just asking, do you not think a client ordering 2k in prints is showing adequate respect for their work? This photographer shot us last week. Went over photos earlier this week and will be sending them for print today after touch ups.

So lets say they did nothing else BUT work on my product for this entire week. 2k a week is making quite a bit of money. That is in addition to their $500 sitting fee (which is about what I paid at the fundraiser, so they didn't receive that directly).

Your beef is with the pricing, then. You should have checked that upfront and you didn't. This is your problem, not the photographer's.

Add this to the fact that OP got her package at a discount, through a charity event. She didn’t even pay full price for the small package she got (session and one print)

There was no way to check the pricing up front. She didn't post it on her website and it wasn't available at the event.

Then, despite being irritated with the lack of transparency I still bought 2k in prints. I don't think I've done anything wrong here. I think clearly this photographer is very expensive, more expensive than someone I would have chosen to hire (what I paid for at the auction was more than what I would have expected to pay for a sitting with a photographer). There was no way for me to know how expensive she was the night I bought the package. Personally I would say, as a consumer, that not packaging digital files with prints is bad business because it has, at least for me, eliminated the possibility of repeat business with me. I would have happily been onboard with, 'need to buy a print then +10/15/20 for the digital file. Instead I got, the only way you'll get digital files is buying a 5k package. People value digital files in this day and age, it seems short sighted to not have a semi reasonable way for people to acquire them.

[Anonymous]

I think the price you paid is outrageous. I do always check to make sure I am going to get digital files before I agree to photoshoot. And I have noticed that photographers' prices vary a lot. I also "won" a photoshoot at a private school auction once in San Francisco and after finding out the cost of photos AFTER I paid the fee for the item, I decided to go with someone else and saved tons of money even though I had already supposedly paid for this photographer through the auction. Here are some examples of what I have paid in various places:

San Francisco last year $500 for an hour session. 50 high res. images. Whitney cooley photography. AMAZING!

Knoxville, TN: $400 45 min. 60 high res images. AK VOGEL photography. She has photographed many celebrity events in nashville and country music stars. AMAZING!

I had two photo shoots done in DC 5 and 6 years ago with similar pricing.

You can find great photographers at lower prices. I'm sorry this happened to you OP!

[Anonymous]

Rad 1627, folks. OP paid a fraction of a fraction for service. She did not pay thousands (or even a thousand). She paid 450 on 750 of service.

This is not a case where IP paid thousands, and has a right to be irritated. She paid a pittance on regular service and still isn’t happy. She also had the opportunity to negotiate for other things before the session, but didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rad 1627, folks. OP paid a fraction of a fraction for service. She did not pay thousands (or even a thousand). She paid 450 on 750 of service.

This is not a case where IP paid thousands, and has a right to be irritated. She paid a pittance on regular service and still isn’t happy. She also had the opportunity to negotiate for other things before the session, but didn’t.

I paid for 2,000 in prints after the service. So what would have cost 2,750 I got for 2,450 which amounts to a discount of 8%. I do not think that is a pittance. That is not out of our price range clearly but that is a lot of money for our family and not remotely what I would call a pittance.

I should have asked for pricing and information before the session, that is true. I do think if you are a high end photographer who knows you are on the high end of cost that you should perhaps proactively disclose that to someone who knows nothing about you prior to the session but I will take that criticism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rad 1627, folks. OP paid a fraction of a fraction for service. She did not pay thousands (or even a thousand). She paid 450 on 750 of service.

This is not a case where IP paid thousands, and has a right to be irritated. She paid a pittance on regular service and still isn’t happy. She also had the opportunity to negotiate for other things before the session, but didn’t.

I paid for 2,000 in prints after the service. So what would have cost 2,750 I got for 2,450 which amounts to a discount of 8%. I do not think that is a pittance. That is not out of our price range clearly but that is a lot of money for our family and not remotely what I would call a pittance.

I should have asked for pricing and information before the session, that is true. I do think if you are a high end photographer who knows you are on the high end of cost that you should perhaps proactively disclose that to someone who knows nothing about you prior to the session but I will take that criticism.

You paid for PRINTS.

So I guess you’ve gone to Lowe’s, bought a fridge, and expected a stove as it’s still inter kitchen?


Any lack of understanding in the contract is up to you, even if it seems unreasonable. You wanted the deal, and got it, but it wasn’t up to your standard.

[Anonymous]

It seems like it would be good business for this photographer to offer some middle ground between $2,000 to purchase all digital files and no ability to do so at all.

The way I read this, OP would like to purchase digital files for 15 prints she already purchased in physical form - meaning they have already been edited, created, etc. and basically all the photographer has to do is handle a format for sending them.

At $10/file that's $150 of value that photographer could be capturing that they won't otherwise. And then everyone would likely be happy.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I need to charge more.
I am lucky - or maybe it's my clients who are lucky -, photography is my side gig. I charge $475 for an hour and deliver 40-100 fully edited images.
I used to do high resolution, but the real problem with delivering "high" resolution images is that clients don't actually know what that means and different photos have different ISOs, shutter speeds, and quality that may not print well at certain sizes even if they are "high" resolution. So, what happens, is clients try to save a few $$ and print a photo large on their own that won't look good large then they get annoyed with me when really they just don't understand photography and what a digital file is.
Wow, I need to charge more.
I am lucky - or maybe it's my clients who are lucky -, photography is my side gig. I charge $475 for an hour and deliver 40-100 fully edited images.
I used to do high resolution, but the real problem with delivering "high" resolution images is that clients don't actually know what that means and different photos have different ISOs, shutter speeds, and quality that may not print well at certain sizes even if they are "high" resolution. So, what happens, is clients try to save a few $$ and print a photo large on their own that won't look good large then they get annoyed with me when really they just don't understand photography and what a digital file is.

I need to increase my rates. Ill give all you guys spending 2k a 50% off

[Anonymous]

She paid $2,450 for a regular photo shoot and didn't get high res digital images. This was NOT a wedding shoot which takes all day and produces at least 500 photos.

That price is absurd. She should get digital images for that price. I don't know where you people having your family photo shoots?? We get them done every year and don't pay anywhere close to that price and get the high res digital images.

OP I would let the charity know so they don't get a "donation" from this person again

[Anonymous]

OP, it's OK. You'll do better for your next wedding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rad 1627, folks. OP paid a fraction of a fraction for service. She did not pay thousands (or even a thousand). She paid 450 on 750 of service.

This is not a case where IP paid thousands, and has a right to be irritated. She paid a pittance on regular service and still isn’t happy. She also had the opportunity to negotiate for other things before the session, but didn’t.

I paid for 2,000 in prints after the service. So what would have cost 2,750 I got for 2,450 which amounts to a discount of 8%. I do not think that is a pittance. That is not out of our price range clearly but that is a lot of money for our family and not remotely what I would call a pittance.

I should have asked for pricing and information before the session, that is true. I do think if you are a high end photographer who knows you are on the high end of cost that you should perhaps proactively disclose that to someone who knows nothing about you prior to the session but I will take that criticism.

You paid for PRINTS.

So I guess you’ve gone to Lowe’s, bought a fridge, and expected a stove as it’s still inter kitchen?


Any lack of understanding in the contract is up to you, even if it seems unreasonable. You wanted the deal, and got it, but it wasn’t up to your standard.

What? I didn't want a deal on anything it was a charity auction. I wanted to bid on something to make a donation.

I don't understand your analogy at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She paid $2,450 for a regular photo shoot and didn't get high res digital images. This was NOT a wedding shoot which takes all day and produces at least 500 photos.

That price is absurd. She should get digital images for that price. I don't know where you people having your family photo shoots?? We get them done every year and don't pay anywhere close to that price and get the high res digital images.

OP I would let the charity know so they don't get a "donation" from this person again

I might do that, some of these posters are making me think I'm crazy! I feel like 2k for photos is such an indulgence!!!

[Anonymous]

OP you clearly scheduled the session, why didn't you ask then if the prices were not on her website? And when you found the prices after the shoot why didn't you use purchase the digital images instead of prints? You made a lot of mistakes here, this is all on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the outlier. I’m surprised you don’t get the digital file of any picture you bought a print of. I’ve never heard of that before.

I’m assuming you haven’t used a professional photographer before then. It’s pretty standard practice.

I absolutely have. Wedding pictures and baby pictures x2 with 3 different photographers. I have always gotten the digital files for photos that I paid to have printed. I have always had to pay extra for the digitals of photos I wasn't paying to have printed; how that worked varied between photographers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rad 1627, folks. OP paid a fraction of a fraction for service. She did not pay thousands (or even a thousand). She paid 450 on 750 of service.

This is not a case where IP paid thousands, and has a right to be irritated. She paid a pittance on regular service and still isn’t happy. She also had the opportunity to negotiate for other things before the session, but didn’t.

I paid for 2,000 in prints after the service. So what would have cost 2,750 I got for 2,450 which amounts to a discount of 8%. I do not think that is a pittance. That is not out of our price range clearly but that is a lot of money for our family and not remotely what I would call a pittance.

I should have asked for pricing and information before the session, that is true. I do think if you are a high end photographer who knows you are on the high end of cost that you should perhaps proactively disclose that to someone who knows nothing about you prior to the session but I will take that criticism.

You paid for PRINTS.

So I guess you’ve gone to Lowe’s, bought a fridge, and expected a stove as it’s still inter kitchen?


Any lack of understanding in the contract is up to you, even if it seems unreasonable. You wanted the deal, and got it, but it wasn’t up to your standard.

What? I didn't want a deal on anything it was a charity auction. I wanted to bid on something to make a donation.

I don't understand your analogy at all.

Then there is no analogy. You paid 450 at a charity auction for 750 worth of work. That was mini session plus one print.

You now want more (outside the agreement) , which was up to you to negotiate AHEAD OF TIME.

Is it really that hard? Did you think 450wpuld get you full service sessions, or anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She paid $2,450 for a regular photo shoot and didn't get high res digital images. This was NOT a wedding shoot which takes all day and produces at least 500 photos.

That price is absurd. She should get digital images for that price. I don't know where you people having your family photo shoots?? We get them done every year and don't pay anywhere close to that price and get the high res digital images.

OP I would let the charity know so they don't get a "donation" from this person again

She didn’t. She paid 450 TO A CHARITY (not the photog) on a session and one print.

Anything else was above and beyond.

Do you even have an idea at how long it takes to edit photos?