Girls that Got a Disk of BD Pictures

If you want the disk though, I would tell the photog that you plan on purchasing it in the future, so that he knows you are serious. Or even ask him about a payment plan! If you really want them, it would be awesome if he tried to work with you a bit on them.

Good luck either way.

$200 is what I'm paying

Go for it! It's $200 for the next 50 years to come ... just 40 bugs a year!

I paid my photog for about $500 for the whole day (well, before the ceremony till end of the dinner reception), and I get 50 selected photos in hard-copy and a disk with all photos.

Go for it! It's $200 for the next 50 years to come ... just 40 bugs a year!

I paid my photog for about $500 for the whole day (well, before the ceremony till end of the dinner reception), and I get 50 selected photos in hard-copy and a disk with all photos.

the price of a disc varies dramatically. Some photographers charge over $200 per image. I've seen discs priced over $1000. There are many photographers who would never sell a disc for any amount.

I'm surprised he is willing to sell you an unedited disc. Often photographers don't want those getting out at all. a digital picture needs at least a little processing to look it's best. Boudoir needs even more retouching. but, i guess with bodoir he isn't as worried about you uploading unedited pictures to facebook & making his work look bad.

Also, you hardly ever get to see all 450 pictures. It's really better that you don't. They take 450 to get the 30-60 that look great. you don't want to see all the throw aways. also, it would take a lot of time to edit 450 pictures. way more time than you'd want to pay for.

I'm going to chime in with a disclaimer that although I am not a pro photographer, I am a serious dabbler. The first comment I would make is that there is a huge difference between edited and unedited pictures. Like a previous poster pointed out, I'm surprised that he is even offering unedited pictures, because of this difference. I think his reluctance to show you the other 420 photos in the online gallery comes from the possibility that he doesn't believe that those are represent his best work, and photographers generally don't want anything but their best prodcuts to be shown - it gives the wrong impression to both the client and to anyone else who might see them. Also, 450 pictures are a lot, but I am betting that there are probably multiple shots (perhaps 5-7) of the same pose/expression/outfit. Thus, getting those probably won't do you any good, since he has probably already picked out the best of the 5-7 of the dupes to show you.

All that said, I would not pay $200 for unedited photos - I honestly don't think it would do any good to have them, unless you have the skills yourself to post-process them. An unprocessed photo, especially boudoir, is markedly different from an original, and really makes the difference between an interesting snapshot and a glamourous work of art, for which the fee is likely going to be a lot more. OTOH, if you do have decent post-processing skills, $200 is a bargain to get all of the photos from the session.

If I were you, I'd do a number of things. First, I'd ask if he would just post the unedited images you want to see in the gallery, and any other he thinks are good shots from the session, not all 450. Then ask him for the cost of these *edited* images on CD. Then buy just those you want, if he is willing to do this. I am guessing he is going to want a lot more for the edited images than the unedited ones, though. I think a fair price for edited images can range anywhere between $20-$50 per image. Also keep in mind that he has already done the processing work on the 30 he did the book on, so he may be willing to cut a deal on just those, but I am guessing he is going to want close to $200 for the 30 edited ones.

Finally, keep in mind that the issue that most photographers have with selling images on CD stem from these top three things:

1) Lost revenue from potential print sales

2) Copyright

3) Lack of quality control.

For these reasons, it is unreasonable to expect any photographer to easily give up the CD without charging a fairly good price that factors in all of these things.