Photoclubalpha

I get too many of these in my email inbox!
Identity removed obviously.

This was regarding prices for shooting a wedding.

"Thank you for getting back to me so quickly.

I was looking for something a little less expensive - I had budgeted for approx around 2.5 hours in the late afternoon of around 300 euro - all we want are the images on a disc.

If you are still interested by all means get back to me.

Thanks for your help."


Not only do some folks expect you to work for silly rates, this particular one tried to bargain on a reduced time service. I have no objections to a shorter shoot, but at sensible rates! I dislike very much the disc only route, and I have been resisting it.

Some emails come in and they seem to try to dictate the prices they are willing to pay, and they pretty much say..if you want the job let me know! lol, I dunno..I have my rates worked out, and I ain't moving for anyone

It's about half the minimum rate recommended for a shoot to disc brief wedding coverage in UK pound economy - and I think the Irish euro economy probably should support higher not lower fees.

David

you should agree to do it and show up with a bag full of disposable box cameras and a walmart coupon for free processing

I agree about the ridiculous rates, but not the straight to disk. There are too many young couples who fore-go wedding pictures these days because of the cost. Digital gives us the opportunity to remedy that. After all, how many wedding albums are opened after the honeymoon?

My sister recently had her 20th Anniversary, and looked at her album for the first time since her 10th one! No-one else ever saw the pictures after the first go-around because of reproduction costs. Great wedding shots, too as I did all the staged shots on 4 x 5, the rest Medium Format.

As to rates - create a rate-list and tell people that they can always add more to the package, but there are no discounts. If they can't afford you, use someone of lessor quality, or hand out disposable film cameras and let the guests do the shooting.

Dusty

Well I have 2 problems with the straight to disc concept.

Ist is I know some mini labs can give good prints and results, but some are a bit dodgy to say the least. With my own experiments with them, some machines do apply auto tonal curves, and they can do a good demolition job on your exposures, leading to major white outs, too much contrast etc. It's a real mixed bag on that.
I don't really want iffy prints knocking about with my name associated with them!

2nd point is, well I feel they are paying for mostly "time" and not "prints", that actual cost of making prints (either yourself or via a lab service) is pretty small really. Time spend on the job, travel expenses, and additional time to sort and tweak shots etc..are most of what they are paying for. That's my view anyway.

Last minor point, I have an arrangement with my local lab, and I get discounted rates anyway, so they would not be getting them any cheaper. The prints are the final result. I need to see that and be happy before I let them go. But hey, maybe some folks just don't worry. I know some photographers are working off of print prices etc, but you're paying the same anyway..it's just a bit of marketing (I know a few places, studios, saying photo shoot is free..you pay for prints..yeah..and look at the price of em!!)

Cheap clients are the worst. If they need "just some pictures" I reccomend them going to the store, buy a camera and give it to their brother (and they can keep the camera for the honey moon)

I don't leave home for a "special event" (wedding, sweet sixteen, etc) for less than 1200 US$. You have to count the post-processing time, not just the shooting time. And the time you spend with the client before, during and after the D day.

I want to work for people for whom photography is important. And I have no problem lowering my prices if the project is interesting. But working for cheap: no way!

Regards

bfitzgerald wrote:... I dislike very much the disc only route, and I have been resisting it.

Or you can embrace it and get more clients

My wife and kids have cameras and they are all digital and they rarely get any images printed. If I was wanting photographs for a special occasion and paying someone then I would ask for a few big pints, electronic copies of the images and reproduction rights. People can use whatever charging structure they have, I don't mind. I'm generally showing images to friends on my big monitor or the TV when in the past I would get out the slide projector when people came around (as yet I don't have a digital projector). I would think our wedding albumn has been out only 3 or 4 times.

I almost never used prints but gone are the days when my wife would hand arournd the latest set of prints she had just collected.

The problem here is people tend to equate the prints (the tangible product) with value and not the photography.

Harvey

The key to good digital presentation is presentation. Don't just burn them to disc, include in your price structure a small video frame. Load them to the frame as you would an album - pre-wedding, the ceremony, the afterpics and the reception - or whatever way they want them, and they can set it on the mantle of entertainment stand and let it zip thru it's slide show as the guests come over for dinner.

Yes, you must include your time for PP, but you also need to educate the customer that PP time is extensive and needs to be paid for.

Dusty

My daughter's wedding photographer offered her a package that included x number of prints (can't remember the exact number) plus a DVD of all the edited photos. Her work was very good and I thought her prices were quite reasonable. On the other hand, I have recently been on some wedding sites that were charging as much as $12-15 US each for 4x6 prints. At those prices, I'll take the disc and take my chances with our local color lab.

One thing that absolutely amazes me compared to our rather modest-sized wedding album from the film era is the sheer number of images that some wedding photographers take. Some of my daughters' friends ended up with more wedding photos than I managed to take during a 2-week trip to Alaska.

I've only shot one wedding myself--my sister's, about 30 years ago. I'll never know how good a job I did because I gave her all the rolls of film to be developed--and she and her husband promptly lost them. No big deal it turns out, as that marriage didn't last too long, but I can emphatize with Barry's desire to maintain quality control over the resilts.

Andy, take the DVD to the local PRO shop and have them do the prints.

If you do a digital wedding, tell the customers that only the local pro shop can do a good job of printing. When they pay for them w/o your discount, they'll understand a bit better about your prices.

Dusty