Caring for your digital files
Remember to back up your images. You are responsible for keeping your digital files safe.
Here are a few tips on how to do that!
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Download your files from the link we send you, and move from your downloads folder to a safe location on your hard drive. Or, if you purchased a flash drive, copy the files from that flash drive to a location on your computer's hard drive. Flash drives are not permanent solutions, nor are DVD or CD-R's. They are only meant to transfer files to a more permanent backup solution. These inexpensive storage solutions like flash drives will likely only last a few years.
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Run a backup copy of the files to a second location NOT ON THE SAME HARD DRIVE. I suggest an external hard drive. Western Digital is a great company I highly recommend. You should then have your photos on your computer drive as well as an external drive (double backup). Consider keeping this backup hard drive in a different physical location (ie: a family's house).
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Then, as a third safe option, I suggest backing up your photos to a cloud.
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Do not adjust the quality, DPI, size, etc of the photographs in any programs.
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Please do not edit your images by adding filters or adjusting color
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Be sure you use the high resolution files, do not screen capture and use those as actual files.This is for printing and social media as well. I have seen many people screen capture their photos from my online proofing site, then post those images to Facebook/Instagram. Screen captures are very low resolution versions of the actual photo, not the original file. Then FB and IG downgrade the size again when you upload, so they will turn out very poor quality on social media because they are then downgraded in quality twice. So, Please, do not take professional photographs and post them in poor quality, its like pouring a glass of wine all over a beautiful white dress!
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Backup over and over again as the years go on. I suggest checking on your files yearly and re-copying to new hard drives every few years. Especially when inevitably, technology continues to change storage platforms again and again. (Example... Think about those 35mm film photographs that were transferred to DVD's in the late 90's, then transferred again to a hard drive in the 2000's, and then moved again to a cloud server more recently. Or home movies that went from super 8, to VHS, to DVD, and then to hard drive) Continuing to backup in the future will be important.
Printing your photos
Digital files are great, but don't forget to print your photographs too!
I suggest using www.mpix.com for your printing needs like prints, cards, or small albums.
PLEASE DO NOT USE ANY ONE HOUR PHOTO LABS LIKE WALMART, WALGREENS, ETC. The color calibration and quality is far below standard and will not represent the quality of the photographs at all. After all the effort and investment put into professional photographs... you don't want to print them on the lowest quality printer! Its like taking a 5 star restaurant meal and letting it sit out for hours getting cold before you eat it!
Are you interested in an amazing one-of-a-kind wall art piece or wedding album??
Awesome! Well - You know where to find me! I have specialized in using professional print labs for wall art since I started my business over 15 years ago. I highly suggest using the website above for your prints, or even small albums for family. But when it comes to a really amazing piece for your wall, like a print mounted on barnwood! Or a custom Italian leather wedding album, I'd love to talk to you about some options I can order for you! You can do a zoom meeting for me to show you some amazing pieces I have in studio as samples, or make an appointment to come in!
Calibration:
As a professional photographer, I only work with a color calibrated camera and monitor when I shoot/edit your photos. What does this mean? Well, it means that the way my monitor is displaying the photos is showing to my eye the closest possible match to what it looked like in real life, as well as the way the camera photographed it. Color calibration starts with the first photo at your event/session. I will calibrate my camera to the lighting in the area we are shooting (in studio vs outdoors for example). This will tell the camera was the true colors are when capturing a photograph. Essentially... whites look white, reds look red, blues look blue, and thus skin tones look natural and real to true life. I'm sure you've experienced a slightly blue or yellow tint to your own photos or tv monitors at some point or another to be able to relate to how this would be an issue for a professional photographer! The second phase is during the edit. Through the editing process, I have a professional color calibrated monitor to be sure that when I slightly adjust the yellow or blues of your photograph by 1-2% to make it just perfect, what I see is actually correct. If the monitor is tinted improperly to yellow, red, blue or green... then your skin tones will have that color cast as well. What does this mean for you? It means that you can trust my color when you get your photos printed (when using a trusted lab like I mentioned above). Now that you have your digital files, the responsibility to print the images with quality is in your hands. Don't be alarmed, this isn't difficult to do. Just follow the steps below and you'll have amazing prints, as close to my professional lab as I can hope for you to get!
1. Do not adjust color according to your monitor. If you have photoshop or any editing software, please do not edit the files in any way.
2. Do not add filters from your phone or any editing software. (Including instagram please! I spent a long time meticulously editing the color, exposure and contrast of your photos, I prefer it is not downgraded with filters)
3. Be aware that if the photos look too blue, red, green etc on your monitor, its likely your monitor and not the photos.
4. Use a quality lab. We suggest mpix.com for the best quality. Do not use a one hour photo lab like walmart, walgreens etc.