# Digital Negatives - how much?



## Terri Walsh (Sep 26, 2008)

How much do you sell your digital negatives for?
I didnt really want to have that as an option, but alot of people are asking...

Digital negatives for portraits?  (newborn, child and family)

Digital Negatives for weddings?


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## Big Mike (Sep 26, 2008)

Figure out how much profit you would make on selling prints and that would be a good starting point.


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## ann (Sep 26, 2008)

your question is a bit confusing,

are you making digital negatives for alternative processes?

are, do you mean how much should you charge for the file resulting from taking a photo with a digital camera.

i am going to take a quess that you mean a digital file, as most people would not have the equipment to print a digital negative. 

some photographers now just include the files with the package they are selling as it has become difficult to maintain them. It will just depend on your view point , do you want to maintain control over these images forever, for a few years, etc.


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## Terri Walsh (Sep 26, 2008)

I guess a cd is what I mean....
sorry


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## Alpha (Sep 27, 2008)

When you say digital negative you're implying high resolution, in which case I would charge a lot because you're losing out on print revenue. 

If you're talking about low resolution jpgs for emailing to friends and family, I would charge less. 

How much, exactly, is up to you.


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## Mike30D (Sep 27, 2008)

Terri Walsh said:


> How much do you sell your digital negatives for?
> I didnt really want to have that as an option, but alot of people are asking...
> 
> Digital negatives for portraits?  (newborn, child and family)
> ...



Hi-res files on disc for weddings are no less than $500 (I haven't been doing this that long, this will go up as my experience increases)

I haven't had anyone ask for them from a portrait shoot yet.


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## Sarah23 (Sep 28, 2008)

Around here, for a CD of the images from a portrait shoot, its about $500 minimum. For a wedding, i would say a LOT more. You are losing a lot of revenue giving digital files...but sometimes the  market demands it I guess.


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## Big Mike (Sep 29, 2008)

The actual price will depend on your price structure.  Maybe you charge $500 for a sitting fee and the files are included.  Maybe you charge $100 for a siting fee and then $400 for the high rez files.  Either way, you get $500.


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## Terri Walsh (Oct 1, 2008)

Thanks guys!  Sounds like about $400-$500.  Sounds good thanks!


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## McQueen278 (Oct 2, 2008)

I charge a heck of a lot more than $500, but that's me.  I charge $2,500 to show up and take the pictures and then again for each print.  $45 for 8x10 etc.  For me to simply give out ANY kind of digital file, hi rez or not, it costs a lot.  I've never had anyone ask for low rez images, but I have sold the "digital negatives" hi rez originals for customers for $1,500.

As people have said before, it all depends on how much you charge.  I charge about $4,000 for an average wedding, so I either get it in print sales or I get it for the files.  I actually prefer to sell the files because I don't have to warehouse them and it takes less work than making prints.


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