Do You Sell The Digital Files?

We often are asked this question, or we are told: “we only want the digital files”. We have made a decision to be a studio that sells wall portraits, prints, and albums. We will include a low resolution digital file with each print ordered. It will be sized for social media and branded with our logo. Why is this? Michelle Celentano, a family portrait photographer from Arizona explains it well:

I Believe in Photographs

“I believe in photography – but more than that I believe in photographs. Printed photographs are tangible. We can hold on to them, pass them around, frame them and hang them on a wall. Portraits albums can be treasured and looked through by children for years to come. I am without a doubt passionate about creating photographs – real pictures – printed on professional papers. I want your children, their children, my children and future grandchildren looking at and holding onto tangible photographs.

I believe the best way to provide exceptional service to all of my clients is to present them with beautiful professionally finished work. Handing them a flash drive or a DVD and sending them on their way is not the best representation of my work or the value I place on photographs.

I believe in printing my work professionally by professional labs. The photographs I create are not only precious to my clients but they are precious to me too. It is my work, a lifetime of work that deserves to be printed. Can you imagine a floppy disk, a DVD or a flash drive sitting in a frame representing your family portraits? We can’t touch a file and the truth is we don’t know the longevity of a file or if we will even be able to find it someday. A digital file is a bit of a mystery – if it’s lost, where did it go? If a drive is damaged what happens to the files? How many people truly back up all their images or ever print their digital files? When was the last time you printed your own pictures? How many pictures do you have on your computer that are still not printed?

I believe not all labs are created equally. Quality printing is not something the corner drug store offers. Professional labs have strict quality control and print my work to my standards. As an artist I am a perfectionist when it comes to cropping, color, density, and print quality and chose to maintain control over these variables.

I understand that in this age of digital technology you want to share images through social media and view them on portable devices. For this reason, I offer web-friendly and device optimized images. The images are not formatted for printing and contain a signature watermark.” – Michelle Celentano

We agree completely with Michelle. There are many new photographers that are happy to do a “shoot and burn” session. We feel that is not in the best interest of our customers. Consider creating family heirlooms with prints and albums that will be passed down for future generations.