[Leica] pro printing for an event - shutterfly?

[reid at mejac.palo-alto.ca.us (Brian Reid)]

> I want to turn over all my files to a site that will allow guests to view
> and order their own prints.
> A small profit would be great too..

I use Exposure Manager for this, and I am very happy with it. The print 
quality is high enough that I sometimes use it to make prints for myself, 
but mostly it's for clients.

I make a folder for each client, give it a password, then upload that 
client's pictures into the folder. Exposure Manager lets me decide which 
print options (and prices) are available to which clients. I've discovered 
that too many choices scare people away, so I have a couple dozen "Picture 
Packages" that I have Exposure Manager offer to clients, and then some fun 
high-end stuff like canvas prints wrapped on a wood frame.

My procedure is to use low markups on the low-end stuff (I usually charge 
$0.50 for a 4x5 glossy) and to use high markups for the high-end stuff ($500 
for a 16x20 mounted canvas print).

I have a folder that I use for distributing images to friends and family 
that has a 0% markup; if my cousin in Ohio wants a print of some picture I 
took of his mother, he can buy it at cost. And when I want 100 prints of 
something I usually let them do it for me, using the same zero-markup folder 
technique.

I stay away from 4x6 prints (don't offer them at all) because I've found 
that my client base associates that print size with cheap bulk developing. 
4x5 is perceived as a "pro" size, and 4x6 as a "drugstore" size. Go figure.

I've probably sold, oh, 3000 pictures to 90-100 clients this way, and some 
of them have been very profitable.

http://www.exposuremanager.com/