# How do you deliver photos/video to clients?



## btaoka (Aug 13, 2014)

I just did my first photo gig this past weekend and I was wondering how folks deliver jpegs/mp4 files to clients when you're done. I have ~1000 photos and ~15GB of video to give. Do you do it the old fashioned way (i.e. burn to discs and mail)? Cloud services like Dropbox (need to sign up @ $10/month for 100GB of space) or Google Drive (15GB free space, not so great for sharing)?


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## rwmson (Aug 14, 2014)

flash drive?


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## privatebydesign (Aug 14, 2014)

Mostly Dropbox, but if it is impractical or too big then thumb drives, I haven't burnt a CD/DVD for years, too many people don't have disc drives now.

I was actually given an image to print on CD the other day and had to use my wife's computer to run it!


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## procentje20 (Aug 14, 2014)

I use kingston datatraveler usb flash drives that I put on the bill for a refundable 10 euro upon return. I never get one back. But this way I do not have to discuss the cost of this method of delivery when the size of the project goes over dual layer dvd capacity.

I do have to add that I don't do video projects.


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## Dylan777 (Aug 14, 2014)

rwmson said:


> flash drive?



+1


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## bdeutsch (Aug 14, 2014)

I still mostly stick with DVDs, though I often just upload a zip file to my own website and let people download from there. If you have decent web hosting, it's free and in many ways easier than dropbox. In some states (NY being one), if you only provide clients digital files transferred online, they don't owe any sales tax since there is no physical product.

Deutsch Photography LLC: NYC Wedding Photographer | Actor and Corporate Headshots NYC | Family and Baby Portraits


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## jsexton (Aug 14, 2014)

For her portrait business my wife does flash drives in a nice boutique box. Branded thumb drives are relatively cheap (no videos so the biggest she gets are 4GB) and a nice thing to offer as part of her package sales. It's also a nice way to gain some margin in the sale.


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## BLFPhoto (Aug 14, 2014)

Via online galleries on my Photoshelter site. I started with Photoshelter with the lowest level that allowed eCommerce sales of prints directly from the galleries. I'm at the full Pro level now with more than 75% of 1TB of gallery images up there. 

It makes it easy and fast to get images to clients, particularly clients who traveled from out of town for beach portraits or weddings. I can also give multiple distributions via email addresses or group passwords. 

For one-offs, or early in establishing business, USB drives are my recommendation. But online distribution gives so many advantages that I won't do physical media again unless specifically requested by the client.


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## Pag (Aug 14, 2014)

I subscribe to Microsoft Office 365, which comes with 1TB of space on OneDrive, their Dropbox-like service. If you need Office, it's a pretty good deal imho: you get Office for up to 5 computers and more online space than you'll ever need for $10 per month.


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## jdramirez (Aug 14, 2014)

Always in person... and last time I copied 24 gbs of images over to two 16gb sd cards. I charge five bucks each for them... fair deal and better than getting 6 dvd roms.


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## c.d.embrey (Aug 14, 2014)

bdeutsch said:


> ... I often just upload a zip file to my own website and let people download from there. If you have decent web hosting, it's free and in many ways easier than dropbox. In some states (NY being one), if you only provide clients digital files transferred online, *they don't owe any sales tax since there is no physical product.*



No sales tax in California for digital files.


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## leGreve (Aug 14, 2014)

We bought a WeTransfer account so we can uploader larger files… if the file size exceeds anyways we pack it up in several zip files.

The good thing about WeTransfer is that you get a download confirmation when the client has downloaded it.


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## ajfotofilmagem (Aug 14, 2014)

I am the only one who does not trust media that can be deleted? ???
Pendrive, hard disc, SD card and all rewritable media may have accidentally deleted your files, or caused by computer viruses. :
Call me old, but I trust more in DVD-R medias high quality.


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## mackguyver (Aug 14, 2014)

privatebydesign said:


> Mostly Dropbox, but if it is impractical or too big then thumb drives, I haven't burnt a CD/DVD for years, too many people don't have disc drives now.
> 
> I was actually given an image to print on CD the other day and had to use my wife's computer to run it!


+1 on Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.


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## jdramirez (Aug 14, 2014)

ajfotofilmagem said:


> I am the only one who does not trust media that can be deleted? ???
> Pendrive, hard disc, SD card and all rewritable media may have accidentally deleted your files, or caused by computer viruses. :
> Call me old, but I trust more in DVD-R medias high quality.


 Ok, you're old.


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## ajfotofilmagem (Aug 14, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> ajfotofilmagem said:
> 
> 
> > I am the only one who does not trust media that can be deleted? ???
> ...


Thank you. I already knew.


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## privatebydesign (Aug 14, 2014)

ajfotofilmagem said:


> I am the only one who does not trust media that can be deleted? ???
> Pendrive, hard disc, SD card and all rewritable media may have accidentally deleted your files, or caused by computer viruses. :
> Call me old, but I trust more in DVD-R medias high quality.



Not only are you old, but you are misguided.

First, the question is about delivery, not archival storage. If a thumb drive goes missing or gets erased just do another one, but it has never happened to me. 

Second, I had so many CD's and DVD's write badly, get scratched, get broken etc etc I can't understand anybody but a china plate merchant finding them any good for anything, that is why I have not used them for years.

Third, time has passed you by, you can protect images from erasure on a thumb drive, just lock them, then it takes a concerted effort to "accidentally" delete them. Indeed it you limit permissions on the drive it can't get a virus either as nothing can be written to it.

Burning discs is slow, unreliable, and expensive when compared to reusable thumb drives or free online folder delivery.


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## dcm (Aug 14, 2014)

I switched to USB thumb drives and SD cards for delivery a while back when their capacities began to exceed optical media, optical media became optional in laptops, optical media was not supported in tablets/phones, SD card slots became widespread on laptops (even the lowest end machines), and televisions added USB ports with software to play photos/videos directly. 

It really depends on the media needs of the client. For example, my 80+ year old mother-in-law much prefers SD media for pictures of the great grand kid. It's the same as printing at the store kiosk, her home photo printer, or loading onto her iPad from the SD card in her P&S camera. It also fits in her purse better than optical media


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## LDS (Aug 14, 2014)

ajfotofilmagem said:


> I am the only one who does not trust media that can be deleted? ???


Not only deleted, but modified also...

Delivering images on read-only media could still be a good idea - not an old one - because it can shield you from customers complains if *they* (or someone else on their behalf, say a print service) do something silly and/or irreparable with the images, and then try to assert that is what was delivered by you. If you ever need to demonstrate what the original was, you can point at the DVDs, and it is better if the DVDs contain digitally signed and time stamped hashes of the files delivered also. That will thwart any attempt to recreate a DVD.

Of course that depends on your kind of customers, how much you need to protect yourself from troubles, and for speed/versatility you can also make the same files available as downloads. Digital signature with a timestamp could also be a good idea for them also.


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## Joe M (Aug 15, 2014)

I use branded usb drives now. They are very inexpensive, quick to load and easy to mail if need be. I have nothing against discs but little sticks are so much easier and optical media, as I see others have encountered, just don't have the capacity anymore. Boy, the days we thought 700 megs, and then 4700 megs was a lot! Now it's piddling. I also use Pixieset and the clients can download from there. Pixieset is only for images though but I've never done video so it's not been an issue (though in that case I'd provide a usb drive again).


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## Tabor Warren Photography (Aug 21, 2014)

I am burning a client DVD now actually. The DVDs we send out come in a DVD case with custom printing and print release adhered directly to the disk with a business card on the inside and boutique packaging on the outside. Clients love them, though we have had two, that I know of, who had no way of reading the disk in which case, I sent them a flash drive.

My recommendation, as someone who deals with hundreds of DVDs a year, would be thumb drives. 

If you can get the personalized ones, awesome, but if it needs to be a generic, so be it. If the packaging is great, they will love having something to put their hands on.

Cheers,
-Tabor


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## eninja (Sep 18, 2014)

I used both dropbox and DVD-R. DVD-R for them incase, i need to delete their files in dropbox.

Since 2 years ago, I've been paying dropbox 9 usd for 100 Gig. Now, they gave free upgrade to everyone to 1TB. 

Cool What!


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## jepabst (Oct 15, 2014)

I use BITCASA - for my storage and sharing. UNLIMITED storage for 1000 bucks a year. I store gb and gb on the cloud, it's where I backup everything. You can get 1tb for 100/year - which is 1000gb. Pretty awesome, and it integrates really smoothly into the OS, just becomes a drive letter. I love it. 

I currently have 918gb on the cloud with Bitcasa for what it's worth. There is an App too, so you can access any photo, raw or JPEG, from any computer, anytime...

https://bitcasa.com/personal/pricing


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## guralesko (Oct 4, 2016)

Good idea for photo delivery is that elegant Wooden Boxes. Looking good and so elegant. Check http://www.woodywoodclick.com/ website and be a professional photographer!


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## Zeidora (Oct 4, 2016)

A couple of GB go through ftp upload to my website. Client can use any web browser to download. For your amount of data, I'd also do flash drive.


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## mtam (Oct 6, 2016)

Congrats on your first gig! That feeling is great, remember it. Dropbox is the easiest and cleanest. It is the method that I use now. I started off with CD, but quickly realize when one of my client told me they have no CD drive on any of their computers to read the disk. Moved to Dropbox and never looked back. Good luck again with your photography gig, share some of the best photos with the forum!


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## j-nord (Oct 19, 2016)

If I was a paying customer, a CD/DVD would quite simply be unacceptable. However I'm sure a lot of customers, who are technically illiterate, would still like a CD/DVD here in 2016...


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## GammyKnee (Oct 19, 2016)

Right now I'm mostly using Giga.nz who give 50 gb free; for me that goes a long way as I don't do video and typically each client gets < 50 jpeg shots. However when that fills up I'll probably switch to Dropbox, as it seems to offer the best paid deal.

For the few clients who prefer something physical I deliver a DVD with a custom-printed label.


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## takesome1 (Oct 20, 2016)

mackguyver said:


> privatebydesign said:
> 
> 
> > Mostly Dropbox, but if it is impractical or too big then thumb drives, I haven't burnt a CD/DVD for years, too many people don't have disc drives now.
> ...



I think this is great advice.

I am not a pro, but in todays world of shared files Dropbox would seem to be the best idea.
You can edit to your dropbox file on your computer, it uploads to the web in the background. 
Click share on the folder and the pics are instantly at your clients disposal to download.


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## peterzuehlke (Oct 20, 2016)

i use Wesendit for internet delivery or physical dvd-r. don't use dropbox as i think you have to allow it access to your local hard drive.


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## takesome1 (Oct 20, 2016)

peterzuehlke said:


> don't use dropbox as i think you have to allow it access to your local hard drive.



Not true, although if you just share the file they get edit options and the edits they make download to your computer. They could also add files. But this is not how you would send them the pictures.
There are ways to send download only. They will have no access to your computer.
You just send a link by email and they can access the file.


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## Zv (Oct 20, 2016)

For small stuff I use Dropbox. I like the sharing options better than Drive. I'm a cheapo so I just have the free version of Dropbox limiting the amount I can share. I tell them to download the pics so I can delete the folder later. 

For local work with large amounts of data I give them the files on a USB drive and then they can hand it back at the next meeting. Maybe buy them a coffee for the effort. Note - I'm talking family, friends and acquaintances not anyone super important 

If it was a VIP or non local client I'd buy a USB drive and have it mailed to them by next day delivery. But since I'm not a working pro I don't have to do that. I'd make sure that they've selected the ones they want using the LR web gallery link (Looks really cool on an iPad btw).


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## pwp (Oct 20, 2016)

If I'm delivering to an agency or design house, it's often 2-3 Gb of data (or more), so FTP delivery would mean a 3-4 hour upload with my reasonably fast ADSL+ line. More typically it's a bit over 1Gb. Designers still have DVD readers. DVD's are a useful opportunity for self marketing. I print the DVD's with my branding plus the job description, date and the clients logo. Nicely and simply packaged, it just looks good. The same custom Adobe Illustrator template works for everyone. I file regular clients branded templates. It's a handy mark-up too, I charge $40-$50 per DVD depending on the client. I buy DVD's 500 at a time so the unit cost for premium Verbatim DVD's is next to nothing. There's a modest markup on the courier delivery as well.

But it's true more & more clients can't read a DVD. I have a bunch of 8gb thumb drives printed with my branding. It's not as nice a presentation as a custom printed DVD, but that's the way of the business. The mark-up on thumb drives is not as good as DVD's...they usually go out at $50 and the unit cost for branded thumb drives is still over $10, depending on how many you order. Pretty soon clients will transition to USB-C. The new Macs are being announced next week.

I have my own high speed virtual private server so around 20% of jobs get zipped and uploaded there. The client is emailed the address which is _myURL/client/job_name/date_. In 2019 or 2020 my area will be upgraded to very high speed fiber optic so at that point DVD's and thumb drives will become obsolete overnight. Still settling into pricing for FTP uploads. A 1Gb upload will typically be invoiced at $35-$40. 

Treat every single client however small as blue-chip and you'll be rewarded. 

-pw


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## Drum (Oct 20, 2016)

or the few that I have done, I have priced it so that it's easier to let me print them, then if I have to give them the digital files I use a Usb stick. I don't worry about branding.


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## bart13 (Oct 20, 2016)

People get payed to upload? I upload unedited video files to my 'cloud' service and my client downloads them. Most of the time it is about 50-100 gb. 50gb x $35 = $1750 for dragging and dropping some files that upload while I do other stuff. Maybe it feels weird because where I live fast internet is widely available and people use services like wetransfer and dropbox all the time but right now I have a feeling you need to teach me how to do sales.

I use a service called stack from a dutch company so this might not be helpful to most of you as I'm unsure how their products work in English(I have a customer from the usa who downloads my stuff). 1tb is free 2tb for 10 and 10tb for 50 euro. You can even link a domain to it.
https://www.transip.nl/stack/?gclid=CKC64ruZ6c8CFeUV0wodZxQGBw


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## pwp (Oct 20, 2016)

bart13 said:


> People get payed to upload? ......



Hell yes! Look at as many areas of your business which are billable. And charge for it. Do some intelligent Google research and you'll quickly reveal the common items that are regular billable items. 

In this case it's File Upload & Delivery - $xxx.00 It's never been challenged.

My business has been strong and highly viable for over 25 years and I've always adopted the position of being reassuringly expensive. 

-pw


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## bart13 (Oct 20, 2016)

You did give me an idea! When combined with a backup service it might actually work. "Online delivery and back up for a month." Thx!


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## Don Haines (Jul 2, 2018)

I’ve been at this so long, that I started with Pony Express  but lately it’s been handing over a flash drive.....


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## YuengLinger (Jul 2, 2018)

Prints.


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