You got the 'So this is love...' email from us! You spent the evening together, just the two of you scrolling through every moment. Your parents + siblings + entire bridal party have hit the link faster than you could send it to laugh, swoon + remember all the wedding glory!
But what do you do now with these files? Let's talk about downloading, backing up, printing + the files themselves.
Downloading + Backing Up.
We don't keep the wedding galleries up forever. It's our way of presenting the files to you like you used to get a CD or thumb drive with files from your photographer. This way is easier and way more lovely to look through your images. It creates an experience for your family and friends as well! The good news is the gallery software we work with makes the downloading aspect so easy on you! One button and it's done!
We do not recommend saving onto your phone. I know, I know you've done the screenshot method before, but seriously: don't do it!
The image you're seeing is not the actual file. It's a compressed version for viewing, that means a file that's information/size has been reduced in order to save space. Your screenshot is an even more compressed file. This means you're going to end up with a blurry or pixel-y photo by the time you go to post! More on compression later...
So definitely don't save on your phone as your main source of files! Because the photos files are so large you will need a laptop/desktop to save them. We encourage backing these up in two separate places. A thumb drive and a hard drive. We sell amazing quality thumb drives with your gallery (and highlight film) uploaded to it already if that's easier on you! And we offer deals if you order in bulk for family/friends! Once you've received your thumb drive we definitely recommend a second place for them. Our favorite hard drive that's inexpensive is this one here. We trust them with our own files!
Printing.
We give all our couples full print rights + high res files included in their packages. This means the fullest quality image possible, as well as the rights to print your images wherever you want. This being said, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten emails from clients asking what is wrong with their photos, because they printed through a service like Walmart, Walgreens, etc. And every time I have to tell them that it's probably not their images, and definitely their choice of print company.
While we are big advocates of supporting local + small business the reasoning behind us telling you to print with our gallery linked shop is that you invest so much into us your photographers! And we don't photograph to post to social media, we photograph to remember. And part of remembering is printing!
We cannot guarantee the quality of print when you go through services that we do not personally work with. Too many clients have experienced blurry/wrong colors/pixel-y/bad quality through going through other printers. Our Print Shop is USA based + family owned. They use high quality machinery that matches colors + brings your moments to life.
Your images don't want to stay just on your phone to be shared to social media! They want to be breathed into gorgeous linen fibers + deep inks that match the tones of color you invested into us to bring to you! So anything larger than a 5 x 7 definitely consider investing into! You and your moments are art! You deserve the best!
High Res vs. Low Res + Compressed Files.
What even is high res vs low res? How does this affect you? Earlier I mentioned that our clients are given rights to the high res images through their packages. This means our signed couples have access to the highest quality available of their images. That being said, when you go to download your photos to your phone you only need the low res image. The high res file is so large its sole purpose is for printing. Though, if you try to print the low res you will get a bad quality image.
Algorithm compressed files are your enemy!! When you send a photo or video through iMessage, the algorithm compresses the quality! When you go to post to Instagram, but the upload fails so you hit "Try Again", the algorithm compresses the quality! When you upload photos to Facebook.... yep, algorithm compressed quality!
This may not be a big deal to you if it's not something you care about. I mean, your friends on Facebook probably won't notice. But it can also happen when you upload images to a printing company if you're not uploading the original file. Knowing this information will help even when your mom and grandma want to do some printing and sharing of their own!
While this blog only scratches the surface, we hope it helps to understand files + backing up your beloved moments! We have a whole other post on what to do with your wedding film here.