While most private photo editors have a certain and unique system to follow, I will share with you what the process would look like to work with me as a starting point!
I typically recommend and encourage starting with a complimentary phone call to get to know the client and their needs. I will send you a free Pricing and Services guide for you to review beforehand and it will also give you a more detailed look into what it will be like to work with me! Having a phone call is a great time to get to know your private photo editor and for them to get to know you as well! You can use this time to ask them questions about what working with them will look like, what their turn around times are and how they can best fit your needs.
After this initial phone call, and you want to move forward working with said photo editor, you will fill out a contract that states the terms of working together, (ie. pricing and payments, length of working together and so on). After these initial forms are filled out, I would send over a free PDF with information on how to export and send over your catalogs that you need editing.
One of the first steps that a photographer will need to do before sending over the catalog, is take time to cull down their catalog to the desired amount of images they wish to have. I do offer culling services, so if this is something the photographer does not wish to do, they can outsource that to me as well communicating the range of images they need in a catalog. Next, I typically ask that clients take a little bit of time to create anchor images for me (no more than 10), to ensure that each catalog has the consistency that the photographer is looking for. These images would then be tagged in a unique way so I am able to easily identify which are the anchor images. It really is up to the photographer to decide how this looks; it could be flagging the anchor images in a color coding system as, let’s say, “red” or using a 5 star system. It is totally up to you! Keep in mind as you work with your photo editor, they will continue to learn and grow in their skill that is specific to your style! You may find that after a while of working with them you wont need to create 10 anchor images to send to them, but maybe just 3, or none at all! Work with your photo editor to get to this point so you will do even less work on the prep side to get the catalog to them.
To export and send over your catalog to your photo editor, I prefer to use smart previews as these are smaller files that will be sent over to your editor and will not take too long to upload or download. To safely and securely transfer the files, I use WeTransfer. It has been a really simple and seamless process to send over and receive. You have an option of making it really secure with passwords as well and have an option of how long files stay in the transfer system (a day, a month, you choose).
After this it really is just a sit back and relax process! Your photo editor will take it from there and get the images edited and back to you in a timely manner! My turnaround time has been 1-3 business days for a catalog with images under 400, and 3-10 business days for a catalog with images 400 and over.
Once you receive your catalog back you will simply download it through the WeTransfer link and import it back into the catalog that it came from! I ask my clients to send me a lot of feedback in the beginning of working with them. I want to grow in my skill being your private photo editor and want to know the areas I can improve in! I use a free system called Loom to send this feedback back and forth, but am always open to a phone call to talk through anything that is more complicated. In my experience though, Loom works really efficiently for both parties.
A few notes to this! Each photographer is different with different needs. Maybe you want to send over a catalog that has no anchor images and needs to be culled down or you can only send over weddings and not family sessions. Make this work for your company, your photo editor should be willing to partner with you in this process and make a system that will work for the both of you!
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