master report T
he traditional reprint order is on life support; when it passes, few will mourn. The digital era has eroded, to the point of vanishing, the mystique and value photographic con- sumers perceive from a photog- rapher’s mastery of alchemical magic to create a traditional print. Our current high-expec- tation, disposable-cost market- place leaves little room for fair payment for a quality reprint - and a laypersons’ grasp of digi- tal manipulation often means hours of adjustments, retouch- ing, that was simply inconceiva- ble in the analogue age. Adding to the reduction in value, digital photography makes circumvent- ing the protection afforded by a physical object like a mount of frame easy enough.
Social photographers have spent years being trained to sell upsell and re-sell a range of products, rather than their skill and service. But digital sharing on social network sites, inexpensive photobooks and canvases all now erode the mar- gins on once vital after-sales. Products are relatively easy to sell, but selling yourself needs confidence. It’s what professional, qualified photogra- phers should be doing instead of trying to make up the value of weddings with after-sales. Online ordering of photo- books, calendars, and cards is well established. But inexpen- sive products sourced online are a worrying thing for many photographers – they don’t want to lose control over how their images are printed and presented.
Against the backdrop of modern consumer expectations it’s bad marketing to be too restricting over the use of what couples may feel are ‘their’ images (with no film negatives to help you keep control). Along with the loss of quality control, the loss of after-sales revenue is hitting photographers. If couples want to walk away from a wed- ding with a disc of jpeg files,
MASTER PHOTOGRAPHY 36
The products offered do not replace the album – they are clever extras
photography_
GF Smith’s new Pinhole Pro services lets you deliver weddings on CD – the client does the ordering, you earn the profit.
Here are the Brag Book, a thank you card, and a leather bound journal
end of the market can be left to your low-end competitors. The main fee available for a higher end wedding, with or without an album, should mean you can hand over a disc with the welcoming, warm attitude that “the job’s done, and these are your images”.
the cost of that disc has to rise. GF Smith’s reputation as an album manufacturer lends credibility to their new service for photographers in the UK. Their partnership with Pinhole Pro, a US-based image product company, offers a new busi- ness model as well as a strong range of products. You would be forgiven for seeing this as a strange move; these services are exactly what many perceive as a threat to traditional aspects of social photography, yet it’s a stunning opportunity for PR- minded photographers. Currently if you provide files on CD, they’ll put them on Facebook, email their co- workers, and probably print a couple of badly colour-managed 6x4s on their supermarket bought printer (before the ink runs out and they throw it away). More likely though, they will want to do what you don’t want - they’ll go to an online printing service and someone else will get paid for your work. GF Smith’s Pinhole Pro pays a commission on orders made,
without you having to do any of the work. It’s not like setting up an online catalogue for sales, and crucially you’re not in a position of trying to sell - it’s closer to a referral fee for recommending the exact service you initially didn’t want them to use. On the CD/DVD of images, you include a direct link to your own Pinhole Pro account; at a wedding or similar event, leave cards for reprint orders with a URL and a QR-Code, which links to your sales account. They discover some very attractive products to order, and you get royalties via your photographer code (even if they send their own images too). The printing and production is based in the UK with GF Smith, so the image and product quality is monitored and maintained by a firm you’re already dealing with. As a professional, you come with a pricetag not for your acrylic blocks and 10 x 8s, but for your vision, your skill and your results. Being concerned with the low-end of the market shouldn’t be an issue; the low-
Isn’t this better than having tailored your wedding fees to assume a low fee for the day, made up for by concentrating on high after-sales? After-sales product variety presents admin- istrative problems for smaller photo studios. Pinhole Pro is giving easy access to a consum- er-controlled ‘long tail’ of sales no matter how small your client base – there are products in Pinhole Pro which can sell for a whole year and more after the wedding. So Pinhole Pro initially ap- pears similar to other online sales tools, but retains a crucial difference in that the customer is not being sold to. They’re being treated more fairly, gener- ously, by their photographer. Imagine if they’ve had three £1,500 quotes, and you’re the one that says “Yes, of course you can have a disc of full resolution finished files – I can recommend this service for your friends, they can even make a photobook with their own im- ages as well”.
When those orders come in, you have to do nothing except receive a royalty payment from the service – no hosting of im- ages, no packaging of options, no designing of products. There are no costs involved at all, only royalties – up to 20% – from sales. When other opportuni- ties for after-sales orders have been exhausted, Pinhole Pro is offering a way to earn extended income without additional time or effort, from your images and from any other orders placed. You do lose some control over your ‘product’ – but you could be earning for years to come. – RTK
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