Just so you don’t think I’ve gone all soft and mushy on you….
Seriously?? You contemplated the whole digital file thing and after careful consideration (or maybe you just jumped into it because a lot of other people are doing it) you’ve decided to sell them.
OK, fine. Your decision, I don’t have any issues with that. If it’s right for you and right for your business, then okay.
Now, you’re moving on to all of the nitty-gritty details involved with digital sales; the pricing, the terms, the packaging, the resolution…wait, what?? The resolution? Didn’t you just decide to sell high resolution files? Why are you going around to the forums asking for advice in what resolution the files should be?
For years we’ve preached “printing at 300dpi is the quality standard” and now we’re giving people 8×10 digital high resolution digital files that are 1500 pixels (or some other number WAY lower than 3000) on the long side so that small prints look fine and 8x10s are passable. Uh, no. How about… hell, no?
You don’t get to have it both ways. I have always printed at 300 dpi and when I give 8×10 high resolution files they are 2400 x 3000 pixels. Or larger.
Think about this – we preach what high quality prints are – post low quality on Facebook and blogs with our watermark so that they aren’t printable and then sell image file with only slightly better quality than that.
Let’s get with the program here. By selling digital images, you have made the decision that the income derived from the digital file sale will suffice for the loss in print sales. Really, that’s what it’s all about. Make your pricing where it needs to be and you won’t be trying to gyp the client out of pixels and they won’t end up with “passable” 8×10’s. There is not a different definition of “high resolution” files for clients than there is for us. If someone sent me a 1500×2100 image and claimed it to be a high resolution file printable to 8×10, I’d be demanding my money back.
So, you made the decision, now bite the bullet and give the files as they’re advertised to be. Your print authorization form should state what size the images are printable to. If you trust your clients with purchasing the digital images, trust them enough to print them as they are legally intended.
I’m sure there are many out there thinking “They’ll print it at 8×10 and see how much better the ones they get from me look, so they’ll order 8x10s from me.” Uh, no, they won’t. They will be thinking that they already paid for the file, they’re not paying for an 8×10 that they already have the permission to print and yours must be better because you have some fancy-schmancy lab. Give the client what they paid for, honest-to-goodness high resolution files.
Agreed!