How about a faster turnaround time for your presentation appointments?

As you know, I always strive to get client images back as soon as possible.  I know clients are eager to see their images, and for many the images represent a milestone or a holiday that makes it that much more exciting to see their images after our session together.

I generally provide clients with about a 3 week window and suggest we book our presentation appointment for approximately that time frame.  Clients have always been very understanding since they know how much work goes into preparing their images for them?  If you’ve ever wondered what goes into setting that up, let me tell you now:

 My workflow:

1. I start by narrowing down the images to my favorite poses.  I don’t get picky into the nitty gritty details yet – that comes later.  For now, I simply remove all images where an expression isn’t ideal, where someone blinked, or where someone introduced a limb into my frame while reaching in to fix her child’s bangs

2. I look at each image at 400% magnification and remove any images where the focus is not 1000% sharp.  If it isn’t sharp and crisp, I don’t want it, so buh-bye. 

3. By now I should have close to the promised number of poses (30-40), so I look at the collection and try to achieve balance.  Do we have more of one child than another?  Do we have 15 headshots of one child, and 3 of another?  Do we really need all 15, and will we be doing mom and dad any favours if we show ALL 15?  Nah…I narrow it down to a smaller number that is more manageable where the poses are VARIED.  Yes, they are all headshots, but they are all unique in their composition, and the expressions are diverse.

4. With the finished selection of 30-40 images, I send the images to my editor who converts the images to black and white, removes any facial blemishes, small stains, crumbs, runny noses, dried milk around the mouth….you get the idea.

5.  With the returned set all edited and “corrected”, I start the process of cropping the images to a 5×7 presentation size.  Why 5×7?  I just like the ratio of height to width on the 5×7 print, and the file size of a 5×7 is easily managed by the presentation software, so it doesn’t take hours to load.  Smaller file size = faster presentation load = happier family! 

6. With all of the images cropped, I set about creating a custom slideshow for the family.  Custom music to suit the feel of the session is added, as are the individual names of the children in the images.  The slideshow is mastered to DVD and while most would think it ends here, it doesn’t….there’s more

7. The images are then imported into my projection software in order to create a presentation for mom and dad.  If my clients have done their homework, they have sent me the images of their homes with the meter stick provided appearing in every image so that I can gauge the scale of the room and enter the details into the software.  With the room scaled, the images we drop into their living room will be 100% accurate in their scale to give my clients the most accurate visual approximation of how their finished images will look.

8.  The presentation can now begin, clients can see their images, and parents can oooh and aaaah at the beauty of their children, and pass each other glimpses that they think no one else sees that communicate how glad they are that they decided to capture the kids in this way (yeah dad, I see you tear up too….don’t hide it, we know you love those little ankle biters too!)

So….all of that to say that I want to shorten the time it takes you to see your images, by removing step 4.  “WHAT??” you say, wondering how I can remove the process that removes all of the little nasties left on a child’s face after breakfast?  Not to worry, your finished images will be COMPLETELY RETOUCHED, but unlike before where we were retouching EVERY image prior to your presentation, we will now only be retouching a select few to show you what is possible, but most of the images will be as they were shot….because your job is simply to let me know if you like the pose, the expression etc….the finer details will be attended to with a complete edit on those images you’ve chosen.

It isn’t a very efficient use of time to completely retouch images that I don’t know you are going to love.  We go through and pick and choose, and when you say “nah, that can go”, and we remove it from your selection, I am sure my editor is saying “Oh my goodness, do you know how LONG it took me to retouch the sticky stuff from around her mouth and the stray hairs running across her face?? and you are throwing it OUT!?!?”.   I am sure he’s having a heart attack, but luckily he’s not invited to the presentations, so let’s just hope he doesn’t read this blog entry

If we retouch only what you select, we can cut your wait time in half!  The editing takes the longest time, so removing it from the equation will help us get those images back to you faster with the added bonus of my editor knowing that he is working on images that you LOVE already!

It will take some getting used to, as you will now have to TRUST me that much more when I say “yes, I know you love her expression, and YES, I see the crumbs on her cheek and the line from her bedsheets across her cheek…THEY WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF.  You won’t see the finished work right then and there, but you should know by now that I don’t let anything short of perfection walk out of my studio   You are going to love it!…..trust me

I can’t make a long  blog post like this without throwing in an image to break up the monotony of the typed words, so here is a recent session snap from a family who flew in from the UK, and who I look forward to seeing for their presentation shortly!