Global Image Group
800.260.7899 Award-Winning Images and Photographic Services | Back to site overview | home | Email: info@gigr.com
Digital Capabilities, Costs and Benefits
About 75% of our work is done digitally today. Digital capture allows for a more immediate experience of the work being produced. Previously, we shot polaroids, for client review and approval. Polaroids had significant limitations. Color, brightness, shadow detail, and the small size meant that Polaroids were not the optimal method for previewing just how an image will look, but until digital came along, they were the only game in town.
With this leap forward comes a significant expense on our part. From digital workstations, cameras, scanners, onsite laptops, specialized software, and new archiving systems -- all must be integrated alongside our existing systems.
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Digital Workflow Benefits for you
Turnaround times: For film, our normal turnaround time is 3-6 business days, depending on the job and volume. For digital work, this time can be reduced. For images which require no post-production work, and where we have a digital workstation on site at the shoot location, images can be delivered same day, before we leave the site. For images which require post-production work, our turnaround is an additional 48 hours on average.
Eliminating Liability: When we produce film, it cannot be duplicated exactly as it is on the original film, and when irreplacable film is damaged or destroyed, the lost/damaged film charges can be very high. With digital, once the images are written to the CD we deliver to you, and our two archival CD's, the liability that normally is a part of the reciept and handling of original film is eliminated.
Distributed Image Review: In some cases, our immediate client is an art director or advertising agency, who is working to facilitate the needs of a corporate client, and with different parties being in disparate locations, the ability to simultaneously review and make decisions can be difficult. However, we can provide a solution using the internet. Depending upon circumstances, we can produce and deliver a virtual "contact sheet" on site for clients elsewhere in the country to review, or within a few days or completion. Please ask for more information on these possibilities prior to the shoot commencing.
Costs: Depending on the volume of reprints or CDs needed, digital work can save you money. We've made a significant investment in the process of digital production. We are not replacing our film-producing capability, we are investing in the parallel cabability of digital production. In addition to the costs of new cameras, powerful computers, and state-of-the-art software suites, there has been an enormous amount of time involved in the learning curve for our office as we evolve with the times. We have also developed a specialized and redundant archiving system for the files we produce, and this undertaking has also been an enormous task.
We will be glad to quote specific prices depending on what you need. Below is a general idea of the costs for digital work. When compared with film costs, processing, Fedex and other delivery costs, duping and other physical costs involved with traditional film capture, digital is very competitive. When you add in the other benefits mentioned above, namely time savings, liability, and the ability to reprint exact copies of the original years from now with no loss of quality, digital is clearly a win-win situation for everyone on almost every imaginable project.
On-site and Post-Production Charges
Note: We deliver "photographer selects" which are images from the shoot selected by the photographer which give you the best and most complete results from the shoot. Please indicate if you would like every image, rather than the photographer selects. Selecting every image will increase your overall costs.
We have several different methods to deliver images to you. They are:
CD-ROM - JPEG files $2.50 each, $75 minimum. For on-site review*, add $250.00
CD-ROM - TIFF files $4.00 each, $100 minimum, For on-site review*, add $250.00
Online Review** $2.50 each, $75 minimum
4x6 Preview/Proof Prints $4.00 each, $60 minimum
Contact sheets*** $25/page, $25 minimum
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* On-site delivery means we will have a digital workstation on-site to produce the output to you. This is onsite review capability carries an additional $250 charge. Online review will also require us to have computer network access.
** We have a wide variety of online portfolio samples. Please contact us to recieve a few URL's that will show you how this inovative service works. The normal length of time these images remain online is 30 days.
*** Our contact sheets are produced on high-end inkjet printers, and, similar to contact sheets of the past, an overall color correction is a part of that process. The truest color and density may still not be exactly the same as the actual content of the digital files, but will certainly be enough to determine preferred poses and best angles and composition.
Archiving & Color Management
We operate an open-loop color management system, meaning that while we take-in and work on the images on color-corrected displays, and output for contacts on profiled printers, but when we deliver them outside of our system, we deliver the files with embedded "Adobe 1998" profiles. For other standard profiles, or for us to use a specialized profile that you provide, please let us know before processing begins.
Our digital archives are housed in the same environment as the film we have generated for over a decade, with little or no film degredation. We store two identical copies of the images--both on external hard drive and long-lasting CD-ROM discs, based upon our research into the best archival CD taking into consideration a combination of long-lasting materials with a consideration for costs. We strongly advise clients to safely store the delivered images in a fireproof, temperature and humidity controlled environment for at least as long as the images have been licensed. Although we take extreme precautions and have enacted safeguards to store our own copies of the images, we cannot absolutely guarantee that the images will be available past the date we first delivered to the client their copy of the images.
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