It’s Rudy. Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of requests for DVD’s or USB’s filled with the digital negatives from the sessions that Marta and I shoot. I want to explain to everyone what that is, and what we do to prepare digital negatives for printing.
“I want to explain to everyone what that is, and what we do to prepare digital negatives for printing.”
First off, let me say that I love having options. Marta, and anyone that knows me personally, knows that I hate to be restricted or controlled into one path. I like to have my decisions made with full thought of all the options, and all without the big guy telling me what to do. That being said, I can continue my view on the matter at hand.
Many people want digital copies. I completely understand why. We all want to share those pictures on Facebook/Myspace/Twitter/Instagram. Sometimes I have to hold myself back from posting some of the work that we do online. I love to share everything that we do with everyone. As cheesy as this sounds, I love love. I love life. I love the smiles that I’m able to catch in a photo. Who wouldn’t want to share that with the world?
Let’s get back on point. For those that have worked with Marta and I in the past, you know that we only strive for the best when it comes to our photography. We only put out what we believe 100% to be the best of what we captured that day. Rarely, and I mean rarely, do we ever give anything that we don’t believe in. We rigorously look over our content and make sure that it’s up to par with our photography and brand. In our opinion, it would be a disservice to give someone Digital Negatives and let them go to their local pharmacy to get print products.
“The exposures on the film are “Negatives”. In digital photography a negative is a picture without any enhancements, hence the name digital negative.”
You decide to to get the Digital Negatives, which is great. But what are Digital Negatives? When you have film photos, you have the roll of film. The exposures on the film are “Negatives”. In digital photography a negative is a picture without any enhancements, hence the name digital negative. The light comes through the lens, hits the image sensor, the image sensor creates an image, and that is a digital negative. Most of the images that you see in anything (Billboards, newspapers, etc.) have been altered in one way or another. So what’s the big deal? The pictures are going to be good regardless, right? That’s why you hire a professional photographer for your wedding/portrait session, right? Here’s a quick view of something that we would do for an image that we would send to a lab versus what it would look like before we do anything (the digital negative).
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The left is what we call a Digital Negative. This is what you would receive in a DVD or USB from most photographers. The right is what you would receive in a print. As you can see, the right image is crisper, clearer, and all around more colorful. This is when you get your investment’s worth. You can see the softening of the skin, the extra detail put into each strand of hair, and the color that was brought out in the photo. This is what you pay for.
Like I said, I like options. I know plenty of people that would rather have a DVD/USB with their digital negatives and a copyright release form so they can go to CVS the following day. More power to you. These are your photos and you can have them any way you like. I just think you should show people photos of you that aren’t good, but great. You want them to look at them and feel the joy and happiness that comes out of you. It’s part of what we do. Until next time. Happy Snapping!
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