The frustrating part of getting new photos done is how much time and money it takes to get to the part where you can actually hold a picture in your hand. There's the interviews to find a photographer, the cost of the photo session, the time it takes to get the proofs and choose the blow-ups to 4x6, the cost of and time to turn around the blow-ups order and choose with your industry contacts/agents/whomever which to blow up to 8x10 as your fiber-based master print, the cost of the fiber-based 8x10s and time it takes to print those, then the cost and time involved with touching up the print if necessary, then the cost and time involved in duplicating the masters to photo dupes, lithos or what I believe Reproductions (LA and NY only) calls "master prints." This last step often involves going back in to proof some test dupes to make sure your full order comes out the way you want.
I'll detail the process from where I left off and tally my own expenses to give you an idea what you could be in for.
In my last article on the subject, I mentioned that I was having 4x6 prints made up to get a better look at them. This is far cheaper than blowing up a certain number of pictures of up to 8x10. Mine cost a dollar each, which is on the expensive side, but my photographer also took care of the order for me, so I didn't have to do anything except give him the numbers for each negative I wanted to see printed at 4x6.
I ended up printing quite a few because my photographer did such a great job. It came down to nuances, which are more easily seen at 4x6. After a few days, I got my prints and spread them all out on the living room floor. It was pretty easy to eliminate pictures that didn't pop, or the expression seemed slightly off, or they didn't really represent the "me" that most people see when I walk into a room. I saved these to send to family, most of whom complain they don't have enough current pictures of me and wouldn't know the difference anyway.
I narrowed it down to about a dozen and showed them to some industry friends, and to my agents, who had selected a few they specifically wanted to see blown up. We pretty much all saw eye-to-eye on four pictures, so I went back to the printers to place my order.
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