First, don’t sell or give away your film cameras and equipment. Some clients may not feel comfortable with digital photography, and may want to switch back to film on occasion. You don’t want to limit yourself. Besides, the cameras may be collector’s items in the future.

Secondly, clients may prefer a hybrid situation; you may shoot film (color negative), and provide contact sheets for making selections. Then you make high-resolution scans and prepare the files for printing. I suggest color negative as it has the most latitude for scanning, and can easily make good contact sheets. I have found some clients, particularly magazines, who prefer this type of traditional/digital workflow. They still use printed images for editing and enjoy having examples of final reproduction to show their printer, editor, or pre-press department. Using only uncalibrated monitors for this purpose can lead to incorrect color decisions.

A third suggestion in the digital environment is to plan image storage for your clients. You need to archive collections of assignments for future usage, as well as replace the inevitably lost files.

You must absolutely keep your computer running cleanly and have a good contact with your tech support when necessary. Depending on your shooting software, you may have to consider saving raw files, jpegs, previews, and high-resolution files from each assignment. You will be seeing more and more terabyte drives in the near future. Archiving images is now paramount to preserving your client base, and it takes up a lot of computer storage space. Don’t forget your screen must be calibrated, and your drives should be organized and working well.

I would also recommend that you be on top of your Photoshop skills. Learn as much as possible about your clients’ production department, printers and methods of receiving images and digital files. When there is the inevitable problem with printing, and you cannot understand the terminology of printing, you will be held responsible for any challenges brought to your client. In other words, know your stuff and you won’t be left holding the bag.

Clients new to receiving and producing from digital files will have to learn to deal properly with new workflows and challenges. They may rely on you, the photographer, to help adjust to the new routines. It’s a good opportunity to assist your client in adapting to new technologies.

Printing companies have for years been in charge of receiving film and scanning it within their own closed loop calibration to make sure files and plates are ready for press. Once files arrive from all kinds of cameras and systems, printers may have to struggle to achieve the same quality as their own system offers. This can be expensive for you and your client if you find yourself paying for more color proofs, since any problems probably lie with the original files from the photographer. You must realize that a digital camera or digital back for a film camera is an image capture-scanning device with optics. You have replaced the printer and his quality control with an image capture file, raw or processed. Most likely there is no closed loop calibration system involved.

Printers may be left in the dark when they receive files that are outside their system. That is why you’ll start hearing clients ask the photographer to “profile” or provide an image capture device factor for the camera being used. The printer can incorporate that information within their system. Profiling can be expensive, complex and time consuming. It is also something that can be subcontracted to an image management service company. The printer needs to know how the photographer’s camera sees certain numerically defined colors in order to make sure printing files from that device will be accurate. Now the photographer needs to become more of a technician.

Many times photographers can shoot a Gretag Mcbeth or similar color chart that is very evenly lit and provide that file to the printer for reference. Other times the printer may provide a profile to the photographer to apply to each image in order to prepare it for pre-press. It’s crucial to discuss these issues with your client, his or her production department, and the printer before poor results occur. At very least you should run a test to preview examples of files to be printed. These issues are better dealt with in advance and can actually serve as a bonding process with all parties involved. Once you’re zeroed in to your client’s printer, your client may like the idea of a continuing relationship with a photographer who has had the wrinkles ironed out.

Now, you need to consider capture fees in order to retrieve some of the investment made in transitioning to digitally photography. When designers first started buying high-end computers, and began providing their own typesetting with jobs, a few things happened. Designers spent a lot of money. Desktop publishing was born and the successful designers either got very busy or raised their rates to cover the costs of investment in their industry.

Photographers are spending upwards of $10,000-$35,000 of additional capital to upgrade their businesses from film to digital image capture. Can they recover that investment? Capture fees are also necessary to insure financial recovery for computer workstation time. The digital client no longer has the expense of Polaroids, film, contacts, prints, or separations. Is it reasonable to expect the client to reimburse the photographer for time spent taking in captures and processing high-resolution files from raw captures. Should this be in addition to a shooting fee? It’s up to each business to decide.

This is a new age where photographers are now image capture specialists, and technicians, who are retrieving and archiving files, and retouching blemishes. They should be compensated for their work. An industry standard could be set for image capture, to recover investment capital and to educate clients with regard to the work done on the photographer’s end. Photographers who spend hours working on files and retouching client’s pictures at no cost do a great disservice to an industry striving to keep in economic balance with technology. Be sure to rework your financial plan accordingly.

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Rick Hornick has been one of New England’s top Assignment Photographers for twenty-five years, and has worked on national campaigns for clients such as Alaska Airlines, Benjamin Moore, Boston Acoustics, Crabtree and Evelyn, Philips, Seagrams, Thermo Electron, and TJX. He has taught the Business of Photography at The Art Institute and writes regular articles for publication.