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01/24/2007 02:49:11 PM · #51 |
Originally posted by midnightblue:
Just wanted to make a comment in terms of the fees charged for a wedding or any event...
If the clients are friends, you can charge them at your own discretion. For someone you don't know, you should charge them the way professionals would charge them (e.g. packages your offering and other details). I don't think $400-$600 is enough to pay anyone (even for beginners with some good set of skills).. especially if you have to sit at your computer to post process the photos. I think it's a very time consuming process overall. Unless you can work quickly and still obtain good results, then that's all right. Either way, I think you should get compensated for your time and skills :-). Blah blah... just my two cents. |
The way I look at it, in addition to monetary compensation, a beginner wedding photographer is also getting images to use in their (probably sparse) wedding portfolio and the customer is taking some additional risk by engaging a photographer with less experience.
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01/24/2007 02:55:44 PM · #52 |
Originally posted by Ristyz:
High End WEDDING customers don't care what it costs, they base it on the images they will get. It's one of those once in a lifetime events.... well it's supposed to be. Second weddings are not as often fussed over such and more price shopping happens. And buget weddings are, well budget weddings. So I guees it would depend on what clients you are after. |
ONCE IN A LIFETIME? Your on crack or your parents never remarried lol! |
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01/24/2007 07:10:27 PM · #53 |
Originally posted by Cutter:
Who wants to add a link or two for wedding albums, examples and places of purchase?
I am shooting my first wedding in two weeks and really have everything else covered in my mind except that. Thanks. |
For great albums and the price its hard for me to pass up zookbinders. My clients just love them. www.zookbinders.com But for the selection try out www.albumsinc.com. You need an account but the selection and prices are great.
As far as my 2 cents on pricing there are simply too many factors to really list. For me it was a little harder as we are in a really bloated market, there are tons of wedding photographer in the Kansas City area. Plus my wife and I had no wedding experience. We started pricing very cheap (under $1000 per wedding) and have just slowly increased the prices with experience and client demand.
My best advise is to explore what you want to do with the business. If you just want to shoot a couple weddings a year for extra money then it isn't that big of a deal as long as you feel good about what you are doing. For us we wanted to grow very fast and hard. Stay competitive and offer items and services that others don't. Most importantly is to advertise hard. We have an extremely aggressive marketing plan that is turning huge dividens as we enter our 3rd year.
My last little piece is just to make the traditionalists mad. Most people will tell you not to show pricing until your consultation. We, on the other had, work off of a platform of being completely up-front about everything. I can't tell you how many events we book just because the bride feels that we aren't trying to hide anything. It is really a trust issue. Many people don't want to feel like they are shopping for a used car when they interview photographers.
Regardless of what you do.... good luck.
If you want to see how we do the pricing just go to our website. The link is in my signature and our profile. If you want to see the product packet we send to our leads then just send me an email through the website and I'll send one.
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02/02/2007 03:37:27 PM · #54 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
The way I look at it, in addition to monetary compensation, a beginner wedding photographer is also getting images to use in their (probably sparse) wedding portfolio and the customer is taking some additional risk by engaging a photographer with less experience. |
That's exactly my point of view. I'm shooting my first wedding in April on a tip from a coworker who knows this couple that couldn't afford a professional photographer, so I'm only charging them $300 plus about 100% markup on any print/album orders afterwards. I've given them the option of buying a DVD with all the full-res, but un-retouched photos.
I've never shot anything professionally before, so more than anything they're doing me a favor by trusting me with their wedding day (based on a group of random "personal best" photos that I showed them) and allowing me to gain some experience and begin building up a portfolio. Right now I'm a hobbyist and a "nobody" in the photography business. Once I have a portfolio to show people what they can expect, only then would I feel comfortable charging in the thousands of dollars. |
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02/02/2007 04:18:56 PM · #55 |
Originally posted by Creature:
I've given them the option of buying a DVD with all the full-res, but un-retouched photos. |
Personally, I would never give anyone the unedited photos. If you are serious about wanting to get into the photography business you want nothing but your best floating around out there. Even on a cheap job your work will be shown to other potential couples. Word of mouth is your best advertising.
Never give them anything but your best.
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02/02/2007 04:31:07 PM · #56 |
Originally posted by debitipton:
Originally posted by Creature:
I've given them the option of buying a DVD with all the full-res, but un-retouched photos. |
Personally, I would never give anyone the unedited photos. If you are serious about wanting to get into the photography business you want nothing but your best floating around out there. Even on a cheap job your work will be shown to other potential couples. Word of mouth is your best advertising.
Never give them anything but your best. |
I see your point. The only reason I did that is I know they don't have much money, so I didn't really figure any post-processing into the price. By offering them the unprocessed photos, it might get me out of spending hours doing post-processing that the print markup won't nearly pay for.
In reality, because I am my own harshest critic, I probably wouldn't let any "bad" pics go out on the disc, in which case that plan will backfire anyway. I will definitely try to talk them out of that option if they ask for it. |
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