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08/04/2007 07:47:38 AM · #26 |
Yeah, wedding photography can be stressfull. I just shot a wedding with 32 people in the wedding party alone. Not to mention these people paid $250 per plate for over 150 guests.
Anyways about your question on the albums check out
www.zookbinders.com
They offer a an outstanding product for a great price. Also check out my "the story" page on my website. I designed all those albums. I charge $90 per spread, and I always pre design the couple an album with at leat 30 pages.
Once the album is designed and they see the story of their day, well its hard for them to say no.
Travis
Message edited by author 2007-08-04 07:48:34. |
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08/04/2007 11:00:10 AM · #27 |
I'm with jerowe on this one. One cannot get work if they price themselves out of the local market. I live outside St. Louis, in a small country town and there is NO WAY I could charge 2k a wedding UNTIL I make a name for myself. Once my experience, skills, portfolio, and word of mouth feedback improves, the prices improve with it. (as long as one does adjust prices as they improve) I think that one must evaluate the market they work in, and settle on a good pricing system that works, for the time being. Since I come from the same Ozarks countryside, I feel that Jerowe is perfectly right on track with his pricing and has the room to grow into a big name in the area someday.
However, I disagree with the transferring of copywrites. Reproduction rights should be extended to the client but not the copywrites. That keeps you from EVER using the images in any form (not even the portfolio!) Also, get model releases for any image you want to use in your portfolio and hang on the wall of the studio/gallery. Make it a standard form when they sign up for wedding services.
I guarantee you that Mr. 30K a wedding didn't jump off the corporate ladder and say 'Im going to be a wedding photog and Im going to charge 30K each" He built it up and climbed a different corporate ladder.
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08/04/2007 11:32:10 AM · #28 |
I was working waiting tables and a coworker was a part time model, her husband an aspiring photographer/hobbyist (they do/like glamour). He suggested I try shooting a wedding, i might like it, or i might hate it (stressful).
I asked around and found someone that had no photographer (budget reasons) and gave it a go. I loved it. I did another as a guest at a friends' wedding, then asked around and did another for free for a second wedding where they were having no photog.
I then went into business, cheap at first - it's what most people do - but after a couple of years you begin to get referrals - you were cheap so you get cheap referrals.
The only way to make money working cheap is to do VOLUME. But there are only so many weekends in a year, so there is a limit.
I know work when I see it, and shooting weddings is work. You need gear - including backup gear - and that costs money too.
I have better lenses and more experience now than I did a year ago, but IMO except for posing I am not doing anything much different, but am getting 2.5 times as much money - for the same work.
You can certainly do charity work if you want, and I too felt that those that can't afford wedding photography should have nice pics of their day - but you have to realize something very important - people will spend money on what they value, and not spend it on what they don't.
I've seen yuppies in fancy houses with fancy cars and no furniture.
I've seen peolpe living in ghettos driving brand new cadillacs.
And I've seen people pay a church $1500 for 2 hours of use and pay me $800 for 8 hours and an album.
Sorry, but my work has more value than that. What does the bride have the day after the wedding? A man, a ring, and the photos. The food is gone, the honeymoon will soon be a memory, the flowers are in the trash...
For good or bad, you get respect based on what you get paid. The CEO of a company gets more respect than does the man in the mailroom or on the factory floor. I worked for a photog that gets $2,000 an hour - yes, that much, PLUS the album! I saw how she was treated. I know how I was treated at $800 weddings. I like the treatment she got better. :D
For $800 you do what they say - you're hired help, and if things get tight (time wise) you're pics are not important. You also get ugly venues, no limos and less cooperation from the bridal party.
Get $8,000 and suddenly things are WAY different. You are the boss, and whatever your artistic vision is you can pursue it. You get nice venues, pretty cars and very cooperative wedding parties. And you actually don't have to work as hard!
Remember - photography is a LUXURY item, no one needs it to survive. Not everyone can afford luxury items, and I don't see Ferrari or Gucci or Prada doing a charity thing for people.
You CANNOT compete with the low end of the market - target and walmart do 'portraits' for less than my cost of the paper to print them on! No thanks.
People will pay you $2000. You just have to ask.
Here's how to judge your prices- you meet the B&G and show your work. They buy or they don't, right? IF more than 80% buy, raise your prices. If less than 60% buy, lower your prices (or change your sales technique, etc). It works.
Originally posted by Jmnuggy:
Prof,
Im glad you responded to this question because I always read your posts about weddings and business because the advice you give is always great in regards to execution of a professional wedding. Although I agree with all the things you say on the "how to" part, I usually disagree with your advice to beginners. I look at your business as someplace I would like to be and I think my business is someplace you have already been.
Im not trying to start an argument, but i do have some questions about some things you have written to aspiring wedding photogs..
1. Is charging $600 devalueing my work?
2. Is charging $600 for a wedding really taking anything away from your business as a true pro in the industry. (not being sarcastic when I say "true pro")
For me, the $600 gigs are essentially my good sumaritan/practice/killing time type weddings. I live in a heavily college populated town w/ a large group of young professionals and an even larger group of less than affluent young people. The gigs I book for low prices are people who will never or already turned down the $2000+ wedding photog so their options are me for $600 or disposables on the tables. Also, a lot of these cheap weddings, Im hired on a moments notice so if I am available I might as well take the job because otherwise I will just have an empty day. I also take them because its fun and practice and the amount of work after the wedding is usually minimal. I have my first "real" wedding in April next year. Charging $1900 w/o an album. They are asking for a lot. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to even attempt this gig if it hadn't been for the cheap weddings I did this summer.
At least in my area, there is room for both. The $600 wedding and the $2000 wedding are swimming in different ponds. What helps me around here also is the fact that I will customize a package to anyone's needs and alot of the wedding photogs won't do that. I will offer someone a half day and a CD of images for $500 when another photog will say its full day and an album or we won't do it. To me this kind of shows that the bigger pro got first chance to land it, but it wasn't for them so they passed.
I am obviously trying to build up to charging more and more, and I will with time. I needed to start somewhere.
Where did you start in wedding photography, what were your steps? I know you are a full time career photographer, but how did that happen? Again, not sarcastic just curious of your steps taken.
For the record, I always have backup equip and excessive memory regardless of the cheap wedding. I take the mindset that its a cheap wedding for me, but it is their special day. I treat it just the same as I would a $2000 gig.
JM |
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08/04/2007 11:41:11 AM · #29 |
You know Prof while I agree to a certain point what you are saying. The reality is that every market is not the same. What works in your market isnt a sure thing in another. I've seen way too many small business go under trying to use your method to make more money doing less work, in a market that just wont bear it. Sometimes the market is what it is. While I do think that its always best to make the most you can under a certain situation and not devalue your own worth, you also cant price yourself out of the market and go broke sitting on your equipment.
MattO
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08/04/2007 11:42:30 AM · #30 |
Originally posted by jerowe:
which is exactly why i'm trying to get away from the small city business. i'm a recent graduate with a double degree in Computer Information Systems and Business Administration, so I'm not doing this full time now, just on the side and on weekends to help funds (loans). maybe one day when i'm doing it full time i will charge $2,000 for a wedding (fingers crossed) but i'm going to build my credentials until i feel like i'm worth it. right now, with the market and with my experience in the field, i'm taking what i can get while enjoying the hell out of it.
and i will add some color shots, no doubt. thanks you guys / gals, i really appreciate all the input. |
McDonalds wants part time help. Paying $2 a day. Will you do it? No, of course not. Part time is worth the same as full time you say?
Then you should charge the same price as a full time photographer, or even more as you have fewer weddings to spread your costs over.
COSTS:
Insurance: 500/yr -gear and liability, computer, etc is covered
Camera - need 2, a new one every year (good for 70 weddings based on shutter life) so i have a new and a backup. $1200/yr
computer new every 3, so $400/yr
advertising (biz cards, website, phone, etc) - could be anything, $1000/yr
lenses/flash - new ones, wear and tear, repairs...$800 (on the low side!)
That's $3900. Do ten weddings a year? then you COST for this is $390/wedding!
Do 30 weddings and it's $130/wedding.
Sure, your camera bodies will last longer with fewer weddings, but your computer won't, and CS4 will come out, and that new lens, and you drop your flash and need one NOW for the wedding tomorrow....
If you're charging money, then you are by definition a professional. If you don't have the gear, insurance, attitude, etc to do it professionally then DON'T CHARGE for it. Do it for fun, for free. If it's 'too much work' to do it for free then refer them to a professional or become one, don't do it half way for half price because ' i told them i'm not a pro so i did it for $100 '. That only hurts the profession that you want to be part of.
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08/04/2007 11:47:59 AM · #31 |
Originally posted by MattO:
You know Prof while I agree to a certain point what you are saying. The reality is that every market is not the same. What works in your market isnt a sure thing in another. I've seen way too many small business go under trying to use your method to make more money doing less work, in a market that just wont bear it. Sometimes the market is what it is. While I do think that its always best to make the most you can under a certain situation and not devalue your own worth, you also cant price yourself out of the market and go broke sitting on your equipment.
MattO |
The average employer here pays $8/hour.
The ONLY city in the entire country to have lost more population in the last 10 year was New Orleans.
One of the the biggest employers is Walmart - we have 2 stores.
Old Navy left - not enough business
We have only 1 japanese car dealer, and it's only been here 2 years.
We have 2 cities in the county - both are on the state's list of cities that are bankrupt.
Guess what?
A loaf of bread costs the same as in your town. So does gasoling, a new car or a hamburger, and that Nike shoe is the same price too. Healthcare isn't any cheaper last time i checked.
So why should we photographers charge less?
I guarantee the market, YOUR market will pay $2000 for a wedding. Not everyone, just as not everyone drives a cadillac or BMW or lives in a 4000 SF house.
One thing I can guarantee is they won't pay more than you ask. If you don't have confidence in your work they won't either.
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08/04/2007 11:55:50 AM · #32 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Here's how to judge your prices- you meet the B&G and show your work. They buy or they don't, right? IF more than 80% buy, raise your prices. If less than 60% buy, lower your prices (or change your sales technique, etc). It works.
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So we're all agreed. It's market, and marketing, not any forced sense of "proper" pricing that makes the bottom line here.
I think both the jerowe and jmnuggy already said that when they raised their prices they get an extremely low number of responses, so I think all this harping about pricing is a bit overdone.
If what they need to learn is marketing and sales techniques, that's a different story.
Personally, I think I could sell this type of product. We all believe very strongly in the value and long-lasting importance of photography. We can sell this stuff because we are the believers.
What most people have a problem with (me included) is selling ourselves. Sure, we know what these memories that we create really mean in the long run. We can tell anyone about how happy they will be to have great photos of what is probably the most important day of their life. But if you can't go to that person with a track record, and a long portfolio and a list of client referrals and all the things that we know you should look for, sometime you feel like a charlatan asking for more money. Even when you know you're probably better than the competition.
You can price out all the needs of the business, but most of us would buy those things anyways. That's all really only important when you really make the switch to full-time business. If I got to that point, I would only take $2000 wedding also, and I could probably get it. Having your own established business (even if it's a home studio) carries a weight of respect and authority that those of us still in business infancy just can't conjure up out of the air.
Message edited by author 2007-08-04 11:56:42. |
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08/04/2007 11:55:54 AM · #33 |
Originally posted by ragamuffingirl:
Originally posted by kyebosh:
Originally posted by ragamuffingirl:
Now, my sister's boss got married and I'm sure dropped a bundle. My sister told me that they paid over $2000 for the photographer. The photographer brought two assistants, more than one camera, strobes, the whole works, and you know what? I was completely unimpressed with the quality of the pictures. Most of them looked like snap-shots to me. |
I wouldn't hire a photographer that didn't have more than one camera. |
I THINK they meant that they had more than one camera set up. I only own one camera, but I can easily rent a second from Glenn's Fair Price which is what I'd do in the case of a wedding. A second body is on my short list of things that I want, but it will probably be AT LEAST the end of the year before I get it. |
A photographer is an idiot if they are getting paid to shoot and wedding and don't bring extra/backup gear - bodies, lenses, flash, etc.
And don't expect every shot from a working pro to be hero shots - I turn out 500-600 proofs every week - and that's what goes on the web. They are from the camera shots and they're not impressive(wb and exposure corrected only). I've seen other photogs work and IMO my proofs are better that theirs.
What a bride is buying is the FINISHED PRODUCT - the album, etc. That's where the hero shots, the PS work, etc is shown off, that's where the value is - it's why one guy gets $8000 and the other $1500.
Unfortunately, only the B&G and immediate family ever gets to see the final product.
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08/04/2007 11:59:13 AM · #34 |
Originally posted by wavelength:
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Here's how to judge your prices- you meet the B&G and show your work. They buy or they don't, right? IF more than 80% buy, raise your prices. If less than 60% buy, lower your prices (or change your sales technique, etc). It works.
|
So we're all agreed. It's market, and marketing, not any forced sense of "proper" pricing that makes the bottom line here.
I think both the jerowe and jmnuggy already said that when they raised their prices they get an extremely low number of responses, so I think all this harping about pricing is a bit overdone.
If what they need to learn is marketing and sales techniques, that's a different story.
Personally, I think I could sell this type of product. We all believe very strongly in the value and long-lasting importance of photography. We can sell this stuff because we are the believers.
What most people have a problem with (me included) is selling ourselves. Sure, we know what these memories that we create really mean in the long run. We can tell anyone about how happy they will be to have great photos of what is probably the most important day of their life. But if you can't go to that person with a track record, and a long portfolio and a list of client referrals and all the things that we know you should look for, sometime you feel like a charlatan asking for more money. Even when you know you're probably better than the competition.
You can price out all the needs of the business, but most of us would buy those things anyways. That's all really only important when you really make the switch to full-time business. If I got to that point, I would only take $2000 wedding also, and I could probably get it. Having your own established business (even if it's a home studio) carries a weight of respect and authority that those of us still in business infancy just can't conjure up out of the air. |
I agree.
Also remember this - if they've seen your work (on the web, a referral, at a bridal show) before they see you then the already like your work! Have the confidence to sell you and your work on it's quality, not just on price alone.
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08/04/2007 12:03:09 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by wavelength:
Yep,
I'm only 20 minutes from the contiguous metro area of KC, and you'd be surprised at how cheap people get out in the "country".
It's changing as the city expands outward, but there are still a LOT of people who wouldn't even dream of getting a pro photographer, or even a semi-pro, to shoot their wedding out here. Just doesn't make sense to them. 20 minutes north, and suddenly $1500 is the cheapest you can find a pro going for. |
I'm 30 minutes to Pittsburgh and have a friend there, a year ahead of me in this biz, getting an average of $3500, to my $2200. Another is starting up full time next sunday (his first bridal show) and withing 3 years plans to have $100,000 a year in sales (30 weddings at 3300 each..seems feasible to me) Again, in the city.
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08/04/2007 12:03:54 PM · #36 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Unfortunately, only the B&G and immediate family ever gets to see the final product. |
That doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't you use the best of the best in your own portfolio? Or is that just because you don't get model releases from most of them? |
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08/04/2007 12:42:19 PM · #37 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
The average employer here pays $8/hour.
The ONLY city in the entire country to have lost more population in the last 10 year was New Orleans.
One of the the biggest employers is Walmart - we have 2 stores.
Old Navy left - not enough business
We have only 1 japanese car dealer, and it's only been here 2 years.
We have 2 cities in the county - both are on the state's list of cities that are bankrupt.
Guess what?
A loaf of bread costs the same as in your town. So does gasoling, a new car or a hamburger, and that Nike shoe is the same price too. Healthcare isn't any cheaper last time i checked.
So why should we photographers charge less?
I guarantee the market, YOUR market will pay $2000 for a wedding. Not everyone, just as not everyone drives a cadillac or BMW or lives in a 4000 SF house.
One thing I can guarantee is they won't pay more than you ask. If you don't have confidence in your work they won't either. |
I'm not sure how much traveling you have done, but I can assure you that the price of a gallon of gas, a gallon of milk, and even the cost of a happy meal varies quite a bit throughout the country. Thats why the cost of living is higher or lower depending on where you live. Meaning that the cost of everything else has to be adjusted as well, including the price of a photographer for a wedding. If you need simple proof of what I'm saying go to this site and check the price of gas in your area to that in Missouri, and also California. You can also do the same with sites for other things.
MattO
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08/04/2007 02:59:18 PM · #38 |
Originally posted by wavelength:
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Unfortunately, only the B&G and immediate family ever gets to see the final product. |
That doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't you use the best of the best in your own portfolio? Or is that just because you don't get model releases from most of them? |
The final product is the physical album. The thing you can hold in your hands and look at. |
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08/04/2007 03:18:03 PM · #39 |
nevermind
Message edited by author 2007-08-04 15:19:10. |
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08/04/2007 05:12:13 PM · #40 |
what a can of worms this opened ;)
thanks everyone for the input...carry on :D |
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08/04/2007 08:11:59 PM · #41 |
Originally posted by wavelength:
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Unfortunately, only the B&G and immediate family ever gets to see the final product. |
That doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't you use the best of the best in your own portfolio? Or is that just because you don't get model releases from most of them? |
You missed what I was saying.
Ever been in a wedding? Ever been there as a guest? Ever see the bride's album?....yes, yes, and no are your likely answers.
Lat wedding had about 240 guests, and I get about 100 unique visitors to the proof site for my weddings. The final product - the retouched images, the album, etc are given to the bride and groom. Their parents see it, and perhaps close friends. Of those 240, perhaps it's 20. The other 220 see me work on the wedding day, and some see it on their (probably maladjusted) computer screens.
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08/04/2007 08:20:21 PM · #42 |
Originally posted by MattO:
You know Prof while I agree to a certain point what you are saying. The reality is that every market is not the same. What works in your market isnt a sure thing in another. I've seen way too many small business go under trying to use your method to make more money doing less work, in a market that just wont bear it. Sometimes the market is what it is. While I do think that its always best to make the most you can under a certain situation and not devalue your own worth, you also cant price yourself out of the market and go broke sitting on your equipment.
MattO |
To you and those that are charging $600 or what not and say the market won't bear their prices, let me ask this:
How do you know?
First, how did you arrive at your price and package? Have you asked $1000 or $2000 and been told no?
What are other photogs in your area getting for weddings? What are they giving for that money?
First bridal show I did there were 3 photogs. I was the cheapest. The most expensive booked - signed contracts - that day. Her average is a bit over $5000. I signed no-one. I didn't ask anyone either...
I can do your wedding for $1200, or $2500 - what you get is not the same. For more money you get more hours, a bigger album, and printed proofs, a CD, and some other tidbits. Point being, perhaps you're not getting $1500 or $2500 cause you're not asking for it, or not providing the right product.
When you meet with a bride what do you show them? A computer slideshow or framed 16x20s? A box of 4x6s or a 11x14 40 side album?
Show them what you want them to buy. Show a big album, tell them it's $2000. If they buy it - WOW! If they say that's too much, then offer them a 10 side 8x10 album (your cost is under $100) and tell them it's $300 (or $500 even) and see what they do. I bet they buy it. But if you never ask, then you'll never know.
Try this: $60 an hour to shoot, 5 hour minimuim. A CD is $300, or a CD and album (see above) for $400. You have not raised your price if they buy a CD only, but you have given them the option, the choice, to give you more money.
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08/04/2007 08:43:17 PM · #43 |
Prof is right. I live in a small town as well. If I don't make a $1000 of the engagement shoot alone, I am doing something wrong.
You can't sell what you don't show.
Plus all this about small towns... why are you confined to these places? Is there something weird going on in southern small towns that I don't know about? Don't be afraid to travel and get your name out there.
Look at David Beckstead, (cool guy by the way), he lives in the midwest, super small town in the middle of nowhere, and his average wedding is over $12,000.
I'm not saying the people in his town pay that, but he shoots world wide.
Never under estimate yourself. If your confident in your work your clients will be to. If not you should be second shooting.
Thats all I have to say about that.
T |
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08/04/2007 10:24:05 PM · #44 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Originally posted by wavelength:
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Unfortunately, only the B&G and immediate family ever gets to see the final product. |
That doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't you use the best of the best in your own portfolio? Or is that just because you don't get model releases from most of them? |
You missed what I was saying.
Ever been in a wedding? Ever been there as a guest? Ever see the bride's album?....yes, yes, and no are your likely answers.
Lat wedding had about 240 guests, and I get about 100 unique visitors to the proof site for my weddings. The final product - the retouched images, the album, etc are given to the bride and groom. Their parents see it, and perhaps close friends. Of those 240, perhaps it's 20. The other 220 see me work on the wedding day, and some see it on their (probably maladjusted) computer screens. |
Ah, okay.
You must not have talked to Matt after he dropped off of DPC.
You CAN show stuff at the receptions, apparently. //showitfast.com/
Apparently he's able to show stuff from the ceremony at the same reception. Sure, it's probably a quick and dirty edit process, but it also looks like it works.
Hey, marketing right? |
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08/05/2007 12:01:04 AM · #45 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
To you and those that are charging $600 or what not and say the market won't bear their prices. |
Prof, I dont even shoot weddings, never have, and probably never will. I'm not in competition with you or anyone else in your market. The part of this field that I work in, I work for scale of what every other newspaper stringer gets paid. I'm simply telling you the facts of economics as I see them and have experienced them in this area. The wedding photogs who have been in business for years here are not charging anywhere near what you say. The ones that try and come in and charge what you are go away empty handed. The market wont bear it here. If you think it will I'd offer that you come here and do it.
MattO
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08/05/2007 12:21:31 AM · #46 |
| for my area, let me clarify something...there are established STUDIOS in my town that charge $1200 a wedding, and people gripe about that. i have established myself as a reliable portrait / portfolio photographer in my area, but i have no studio, and therefore no solid credentials that would allow me to marketably position myself with the going rate of "professional" quality weddings, at least in my area. as far as venturing out and doing other areas, that will come...but like i said, i just graduated and have a full time job which limits...um...everything, so i'm just trying to get myself established...and unfortunately, charging $1500 a wedding would kill my name in my town, rather than weed out the cheap people who do not value quality work. i would get no work whatsoever, and have no portfolio to offer in 6 months |
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08/05/2007 12:29:03 AM · #47 |
Originally posted by jerowe:
i have established myself as a reliable portrait / portfolio photographer in my area, but i have no studio, and therefore no solid credentials that would allow me to marketably position myself... |
I say bullshit. You, my friend, contradict yourself. You don't NEED a studio in order to have "credentials." Being a "reliable photographer" is all it takes.
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08/05/2007 12:48:18 AM · #48 |
Originally posted by _eug:
Originally posted by jerowe:
i have established myself as a reliable portrait / portfolio photographer in my area, but i have no studio, and therefore no solid credentials that would allow me to marketably position myself... |
I say bullshit. You, my friend, contradict yourself. You don't NEED a studio in order to have "credentials." Being a "reliable photographer" is all it takes. |
i'm sorry, but i don't agree. if someone in my town, who obviously makes their living as a professional photographer, and is established...yes, has a studio (wether that says anything to you or not, it does to me), and if they charge say, $1200 for a wedding...how can i expect to charge upwards of that if i am not an established wedding photographer? i'm in the beginning stages of getting into the industry. i can be established as a portrait photographer all day long, but as long as i don't have a portfolio to show for weddings, why wouldn't they go to the established, studio owning photographer with framed wedding photos in his storefront window for the same price as i would charge?
i fail to see the logic in why someone would come to me rather than them, if mine was higher, or even the same price as they are charging |
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08/05/2007 09:35:12 AM · #49 |
Originally posted by jerowe:
Originally posted by _eug:
Originally posted by jerowe:
i have established myself as a reliable portrait / portfolio photographer in my area, but i have no studio, and therefore no solid credentials that would allow me to marketably position myself... |
I say bullshit. You, my friend, contradict yourself. You don't NEED a studio in order to have "credentials." Being a "reliable photographer" is all it takes. |
I fail to see the logic in why someone would come to me rather than them, if mine was higher, or even the same price as they are charging |
Most wedding photographers I know work out of a home office NOT a studio. Does this mean they are not professional wedding photographers in the eyes of the general public? I seriously doubt that a bride cares.
It's your portfolio that is going to impact whether you get the job. If people truly say that your work is better than this other photographer, I say it doesn't matter where you do the processing. Go crash a few weddings and/or do some jobs as a second shooter. Do whatever it takes to get your portfolio built up.
Then compete head on with the established wedding photographer at his rates or just below. Don't sell yourself short though.
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08/05/2007 10:17:53 AM · #50 |
Having a 'main street studio' costs money, but lends credibilty.
The problem with $1200 weddings it's not enough money to keep shooting weddings.
25-30 hours of work go into a wedding (from meetings, shooting, PP, the album, etc). If you do that for say 1300, and the album,prints, etc run you $180, that leaves $1120 for 30 hours work, right? That's just over $37 per hour.
HS seniors - It's HOW you sell it, not what you shoot on this one folks. I changed NOTHING but what I sell and how I sell it - same market, same clients, same gear, same backgrounds. I went from $275/client to over $700. A senior session, complete, takes about 6 hours (more PP work, and I projection sell, so there's 90 minutes there) Cost of product is $80-90. That works out to $102 an hour. (700-90-610, 610/6-102)
I shot a HS reunion - 5 hours on site, 3 hours on the computer. Net after costs was $630 - $78 an hour.
I did a baby portrait session - no session fee, $280 sale, cost of goods $48, time 3.5 hours, $66 an hour.
Guess what? There is more money to be made shooting other things besides weddings. This is usually why most wedding photogs work from home - they can't afford a business location.
---------------------Missouri-----------------------
MattO - I don't know missouri, so I googled up some wedding photogs. Nice sites, nice work.
//www.turnercreative.net/pricewed/pricewed.html - 'packages start at' - but no other prices. I've advertised like this in the past and you get what you adversite for - low price, cost focused brides. It works for McDonalds and Walmart, but premium brands (in EVERY market) don't advertise on price first, do they?
//www.garywellsphoto.com/pricing.html - again with the prices, and a discount on top of that! Prada, Starbucks, Fifth Avenue don't sell on price, or do coupons. GM, Ford, Chrysler have rebates, BMW, Rolls, Porsche do not.
//www.kristycummings.com/wedding-photography-rates.php - packages start at $1950 says her site. She's been in business 3 years and now has a studio location. Charge a price you can make a profit on and you too can grow your business.
//www.mattnichols.com/wedding_rates.html - starts at $2000
//www.photovideoimage.com/html/info.php?section=2 - prices start at $2500
//www.lisaarnoldphotography.com/maternity-price.htm - I can't get her wedding prices to come up, but a maternity sitting fee is $500. ONE session folks.
//www.allweddingcompanies.com/photography/photographers/missouri/index.html is where I found those photogs.
If you do not have the confidence to ask what you are worth, then you will get paid what you deserve.
Go to a bridal show or 3 (call the show promoter, you can get in free as a potential vendor). Visit the photogs advertising there - see their work, their albums, their prices, and watch the brides looking at the displays to see what they like, or don't. Can you do what those photogs are doing? Can you do better? What are they charging? I say visit 2 or 3 shows as each one is differnt - one show last year had 3 photogs and I was the cheapest. The next had 7 and I was the second most expensive one there.
Starbucks gets $4 for a cup of coffee. And they are one of the fastest growing companies in the country. It's NOT ABOUT PRICE!
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