The Gallery to Print Delivery Checklist

Before the session

• Ask where the finished portrait will hangGet the room, the wall and roughly the width in feet. A family who names a spot above a sofa is telling you they need a 24x36, and you can shoot for that ratio instead of discovering it later.
• Set the aspect ratios you will shoot toDecide before you pick up the camera which sizes are on the price list, then frame with headroom for both the 8x10 and the 16x20 crop. Good looks like every hero frame surviving both without losing a shoulder or a hand.
• Confirm the release and gallery permissions in writingFor minors this includes the guardian signature and whether images may appear in your portfolio or gallery examples. Store the signed copy where you can find it in under a minute a year from now.
• Quote the print price list out loudName the wall sizes and their prices during the booking call, not after the proofs. Clients who hear the numbers early order larger, and nobody feels ambushed at the ordering conversation.
• Agree the delivery date in the client's own wordsWrite down the date they actually need prints in hand, including any holiday or graduation deadline, and work backward from your lab's turnaround plus shipping.

Building the proof gallery

• Cull to a number a family can decide onSomewhere between twenty five and forty five proofs for a portrait session. Beyond that, decision fatigue sets in and the ordering conversation stretches across two more weeks.
• Check skin tones on a calibrated screenReview the whole set at one sitting for consistent tone and color, particularly across any lighting change mid session. Good looks like no single proof jumping warmer or cooler than its neighbors.
• Preview every hero frame at wall cropLook at each strong image cropped to 16x20 and 20x30 before publishing. Anything that loses an elbow, a hairline or a second person at that ratio should be fixed now or left out.
• Name files the way your lab reads themUse the naming convention your lab expects at the source, not at order time. This is the single change that removes most reprint calls in a portrait studio.
• Watermark proofs, never deliverablesProofs carry a light mark so screenshots do not become the print. Delivered files are clean, and the two sets should never live in the same folder on your drive.
• Set the gallery expiry and the reopen ruleDecide how long it stays live and what happens when a grandmother asks for two more prints in February. Reopening a gallery with favorites intact beats rebuilding it from scratch.

Sending the link and collecting favorites

• Send one link, never attachmentsA single gallery link to the person who is paying, with a short note naming the deadline. Attached files fragment across devices and start the file name thread you are trying to end.
• Give a favorites cap and a dateAsk for their top eight by a named day. A cap forces a decision, and studios that set one close print orders noticeably faster than studios that leave it open.
• Watch the favorites before the ordering callLook at what got starred and what got starred then removed. Walking into the conversation knowing the two contenders lets you talk about sizes instead of relitigating selection.
• Answer the paper question once, in the galleryPut your lustre, deep matte and metallic guidance where the client is choosing, so it is not a separate email thread. Mention the room lighting, since that is what decides the answer.
• Confirm the billing name and shipping addressCheck the address before the order goes to the lab, especially for graduation season when families ship to grandparents. A wrong address costs you a reprint or a reship, both on your account.

Order, lab and delivery

• Build the lab order from the marked favoritesThe order sheet should come from the record the client approved, not from a message you retyped. Every retype is a chance to send the wrong frame at the largest size on the list.
• Retouch only what was orderedFinish the ordered files properly and leave the rest as proofs. Retouching the full set before the order arrives is the most common way a solo studio donates a weekend.
• Match the order to the paper you promisedConfirm the surface on the lab order line matches what you told the client during the paper conversation. Deep matte quoted and lustre delivered is a conversation nobody enjoys.
• Record the sales tax treatment for your stateNote how the state treats the print, the session and any digital files on this order, and keep it with the invoice. Rules differ by state and audits look at consistency.
• Inspect the box before the client sees itOpen every shipment yourself, check corners, mounts and color against your proof, and reject anything you would not hang in your own home. The client should never be the first person to inspect a print.
• Release the digital files when the balance clearsDeliver files against a paid balance, not a promise. Set the rule once in the gallery so you never have to enforce it personally in a message.