Gotta strange question...

JerryLevin · #1 08-02-2005, 06:59 AM

Hi all.

So, a new customer of ours requested that we get a photo of their beloved dog jumping over a piece of agility equipment (an A-frame).

Their intent is to use this to produce a decal for the back of their new, custom RV.

The question - do we put a "signature" on the photo that says who produced it? Haven't talked with the client yet, it's a question that just occured to me. They're not using this for advertising, just being proud parents who love their dog immensely and will be traveling the country participating in various dog events.

Thanks in advance!

SteveEllis · #2 08-02-2005, 10:47 AM

If you are hoping to get more of this type of business, then it would be good to put some sort of signature on it. Probably something small and unobtrusive would be good. I bet the client would not mind and it would be good promo for you. You could always give the client a "deal" in exchange for this if you felt it necessary.

Eric_llasenko · #3 08-02-2005, 11:15 AM

The only potential downside of putting your name too big on it is that if they are too cheap to replace the graphic when it starts to fade and get ugly with age. Nothing like a bright green discolored faded dog portrait with your logo on it driving across the US!

Our local newsrag here did big colored cardboard "UNITED WE STAND" inserts in thier papers right after 9/11 and they sprouted up in cars, homes, business windows ALL over town and looked great. Fast forward a few years and you see a lot of them still in windows with so much of the flag color faded due to FL UV light that all you can read now are the "United" part and papers logo....

Advances in large format vinyl printing have been made, but be sure they are getting a good print that is on the proper type vinyl for heavy outdoor use to postpone the fade best as it can be.

JerryLevin · #4 08-02-2005, 02:12 PM

Great point about fading! I can see it now, "Yup! We're the proud producers of this finely faded photograph..."

Thanks for the replies!

DouglasUrner · #5 08-02-2005, 03:29 PM

How about giving them a small stack of cards to use when they brag about their fine portrait? You might also see if you can get a photo of it when it is installed and looking its best.

Doug

Mike_Guilbault · #6 08-05-2005, 09:43 AM

I like the card idea... and you could even make the card up using the dog photo. I will often give a client a set of wallets of their favourite photo, with my logo on it, as a free gift for their business.

JerryLevin · #7 08-16-2005, 05:40 AM

Well - this evolved into something very different...

Turns out the client had images from another local photographer as well, and had him assemble a "collage" of three photos. One of ours, two of his. To be very blunt, the other two images were pretty bad, and the "collage" was embarrassing (IMNSHO). Unbeknownst to the customer, this other photographer is known to be extremely unethical in the local community; we've had one encounter in which he ripped us off pretty blatantly - we opted to not pursue legal at the time although the temptation was vast.

Client sent us email with the proposed final result, and wanted our honest opinion of how it looked.

Until that point we had no idea the other photographer was going to be involved or we would have bowed out up front from this little exercise.

Very slippery slope indeed.

I elected to keep our reply professional, and not offer an opinion of either the work or the other shooter. Instead, suggested politely that she ask herself if she liked the final result, as her opionion was the only one that mattered. I also explained that since another photographer was involved, it would be in appropriate for me to critique his portion of her final product.

Haven't heard back from her since... We've been paid for our work, but this didn't leave a very good taste to say the least.