Giving your clients all of the photos immediately

So here is another example of, "the internet" giving people bad advice. In countless videos I have watched people advise everyone to make clients wait for their photos, sometimes making them wait for MONTHS! I hear examples quoted of, "quality control" or "my brand". Well, shouldn't your, "brand" be "quality control" while you are shooting? Shouldn't your "brand" be the photographer that can get it right on camera?

There are a multitude of reasons it make all the sense in the world to give your clients their work right away, here are a few.

#1: Time is money

We all know that saying right, well here is a PRIME example of it! Let's take two roads here for the same shoot situation. Six hour day, $1000 pay. Road #1: After the shoot you take the photos home and make the client wait for 2 months while you correct all of the things you did wrong. Fixing exposure values, lighting errors, etc. Let's say you spend a total of 20 hours in edits over the two months. Well, you just got paid $1000 for 26 hours of work.

The other road, you hand the client every photo before you leave the shoot, and you go home and relax with you $1000 in pocket and your day is done. The client is extremely happy because they have the work they paid for immediately, and they are also impressed that you aren't a photographer that has to "fix it in photoshop". You made that $1000 in six hours work, not 26 hours.

#2: "I'll fix it in photoshop" means, "I screwed up and can't do my job right on site."

Now we arent talking about fixing a skin blemish here and there. We are talking about correcting things you should have handled with lighting and skill. Your skies arent blue enough, eyes are dead, bad balance of lighting between model and ambient lighting. All those things are the photographers fault and super easy to address and fix on site with lighting and simple math. How many times do YOU hire a professional and they tell you, "I know you paid me to do this job, but I didn't do it right and you are going to have to pay me to fix my mistakes." If a client has some blemishes they want removed, thats fine, but you need to get paid separately for those corrections because you did your job and they hired you as a photographer, not a photoshop professional. Those are two different jobs, two different paydays.

#3: Your reputation

Photography is a service industry. You want a reputation of providing excellent service. Point blank, if one photographer can give the client all of their photos immediately, and another one makes them wait, the client is going to go with the "immediate gratification" photographer. No one prefers to wait for their photos. Given a choice they will pick the photographer that gives them the work right away, make sure YOU are that choice.

These are just some of the reasons you should really consider giving you client all of their photos right away. You should walk away from a shoot and BE DONE. Not have to go home and still work for the client while they aren't paying you to do so. Also, the client will LOVE getting their work right away, and that will massively boost your reputation and hire-ability. Trust me, you want clients telling people, "Hire this photographer! They are great! AND YOU GET ALL OF YOUR PHOTOS RIGHT AWAY!!"

Until next time! Stay creative!