First of all, it's not your eyes. The image you see to your left is not very good. It's what we call 'pixelated'. This is what happens when a low resolution digital image is enlarged beyond its intention. When you purchase a digital image, it's important to understand what you're getting.
Historically, professional portrait photographers did not sell their film negatives, they sold photographic prints. The negative was the photographer's means of reproducing the prints their customers desired.
Selling or giving away the negatives meant that the photographer could not control the quality of the finished product, nor derive any further income from that image. Not a very good business model by any means.
Today
Today's digital image file is the equivalent of yesterday's photographic film negatives. Selling this digital negative has the same outcome as selling the original film negative... no control over the final product and a loss of potential revenue for the photographer.
Professional photographers take great pride in their craft. We are no less committed to providing the best quality we can. All of our portraits and other images are carefully colour balanced, custom cropped, enhanced, retouched and printed to high standards. This gives us complete control over the quality of the final product.
We are not in the business of selling paper, photographic or otherwise. Our expertise lies in the creativity, control and understanding of light, composing (or posing) the subjects, the photographic techniques, the post-processing and the printing process to provide our clients with portraits that they can enjoy and cherish for many years. For more information about our printing processes, visit The Fine Art Print.
The Print
Professional photographers know that the taking of the photograph (in camera) is only the first step in a quality product. Having the original negative, film or digital, cannot guarantee quality results. So by not controlling the entire process, the photographer cannot guarantee the final results. And it's the final result, the print, that reflects on the ability of the photographer.
Since the digital revolution, technology has made the creation of photographic images much easier to take, distribute, store and use in a variety of ways, namely the internet, and the ability for consumers to print their own images with low cost printers. However, for professional photography, these printers cannot provide the same quality, or longevity of product that professional printing processes provide.
Of course, when a print is made that is not up to the professional's standards and put on display, it reflects on the reputation of the photographer, not the methods of the print-maker.
Digital Portrait Files
Digital Images can come in a variety of flavours, but basically, there's low resolution and high resolution. Low resolution images are designed and processed for use on the internet. They are optimized for quick downloading and display and the colour is optimized for monitor display. The internet does not respond well to hi-res images. They're simply too large for efficient and timely display.
For this reason, you'll often find low-res images available at a reasonable cost from many professional photographers. You simply cannot print anything worth while from these images and they are optimized and processed for viewing on the web, or in the digital photo frames that are available from many retailers.
On the other hand, the hi-res images are usually excellent quality and with proper control, can produce larger images quite well. This is why many professional photographers either don't offer these for sale, or the price is much higher.
Summary
This somewhat explains the reasoning behind the sale of digital portraits. To maintain quality and remain a viable business, professional photographers will charge a premium for high resolution digital negatives or they are simply not offered for sale. The low resolution image is a, usually, lower priced alternative when an actual photographic print is not required.
Let's face it, if you could purchase the hi-res images at a low price and print them yourself, would you order prints from the pro? Doubtful.
Mike Guilbault, MPA
