What to charge for a wedding photo shoot? (Page 2): and there are those ones too. I am talking about, as the other suggestions were, the real pros. The people that do this for a living...

Bobbee

bobmcculloch wrote:

Have to agree, last wedding we attended the pro was a joke, arrived late, didn't know how to pose people, had her 'Kodak' digital camera battery go dead.

and there are those ones too. I am talking about, as the other suggestions were, the real pros. The people that do this for a living and are good. If their reaction to those questions are not what I expect I will bow my heard in acknowledgement.

I met a lady photographer at a venue, I was talking one of the typical 2-3 lulls in a wedding to go outside and take the 22 pounds of equipment off my neck for 10 minutes. She was setting up her dress, shoes and ring shots for her 7PM wedding. I went to her with my tablet and showed her samples of piano shots and talked with her about possibilities. She turned around and said........"Your not like other photographers, your nice."

I cannot wait to hear your experiences to the posed questions. I may be surprised. That in itself would be a surprise. Not saying all, I met a guy at my cousins wedding who was really nice, just typical of what I have experienced.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

The minute you place a price on your work it has to be good and acceptable to the client.

What you are about to do is loose a friend and open yourself to all sorts of grief!

BTW don't forget to pay the tax man for your work!

Bobbee

ole sarg wrote:

The minute you place a price on your work it has to be good and acceptable to the client.

What you are about to do is loose a friend and open yourself to all sorts of grief!

BTW don't forget to pay the tax man for your work!

The last line is moderately important. Remember the wonderful professional photographers I was talking about in prior posts. Well they are so nice and comfortable with their established presence in the market that they will find out WHO you are and drop a dime to the State and Federal revenue people to report you for tax evasion. Then those people come breathing down you back.

Now you know why I was not amazed at that womans comment about me being nice. I have been set up and still upset them with my reasonable prices.

Reminds me of when I was in Queens College. I had come from a two year friendly college culture and was sort of a prodigy in the area of computers. Eat, Drank and slept computers..........24 hours a day. Could not get enough. It was an exciting time. It was a time of the 'processor', the magic of computers and all they could promise. It was what lasers are today. So in Queens College you 'protected' your marks and class position. NEVER would you help someone struggling. They would BRAND a BIG 'A' on your forehead. But I did, I used to have study groups for the people having issues. But when I needed help, there was only one group of people I could go to. Not only would they not help me because it was the culture, they would not help me because I was helping the people that were competing for the 1 A, 3 B's, etc. What helped me was I could eventually figure it out and the teachers liked me for helping others. LOL Take care.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

There is now a forum here for wedding photography. You might get more info by postibng there:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-118-1.html

carney2

If you're doing it for the experience or to help your friends it hardly matters. Just don't, as someone pointed out, get taken advantage of.

If you are really attempting to be a professional at this, it's a horse of a different color. I talk to wedding photographers in my area and can't believe what some of them charge. They have meetings and prep time (including scouting the locations), on-site shooting, and post processing (can be MAJOR). Some of them are working for less than minimum wage. Think it through. It's a lot more than showing up and hitting the shutter release.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Bobbee wrote:

There are two things to consider with Pros vs, let... (show quote)

Good luck with that!

AlMac Loc: Newcastle Upon Tyne - UK

Fahad wrote:

I've been recently given a project to shoot the wedding of an acquaintance and been asked to quote a price. This is gonna be my second wedding shoot, the first one I did for a friend, was free. I want suggestion on what kinda services/packages should I offer them and how should they be priced? Should I give them only printed photos or should I give them a dvd?

I have no intentions to rip them off in terms of money, I want to keep it reasonable.

Suggestions please....

2 year ago I suffered a heart attack and when I'd recovered, one of the barmaids at the social club where I am chairman, really looked after me. She ran up & down stairs for me & bollocked me if she thought I was doing too much. Last year, she found out her father had cancer (6 month to live) so she brought her wedding plans forward so he could give her away. As a result, her finances were tight so I offered to shoot her wedding as my present, and my way of thanking her for the care she had given me. I had shot one wedding before for a friend and showed her some of the photos

Along with her Album of prints, I gave her a CD of the pics & also a load of effects made with photoshop. Soon these photos were popping up all over facebook and I have been bombarded with requests from other couples.

I don't know where to start with giving a price, or even if I want the responsibility. I do know I spent a lot of time in pp getting everything the way I wanted it.

Here are some of the pics that turned up on facebook

Bride getting ready

(Download)

Bridesmaid getting hair done

(Download)

Bridesmaid at reception

(Download)

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

You have to sit down with your friend and his bride to see what they expect. If you don't have a lot of experience, then I'd probably just offer to do it for $100 but that you'd only give them the images straight out of the camera on a thumb drive they provide. The only thing I'd do is eliminate all the bad shots and include all the in focus, properly exposed images on the thumb drive. This will give you some experience, give your friend a great deal, pay you for a little of you time and gas, and not put too much of the decision making on you.

They can take the images on the thumb drive to Costco or some other place and make prints or have the printer create a book. Many will do that for a fee.

Fahad wrote:

I've been recently given a project to shoot the wedding of an acquaintance and been asked to quote a price. This is gonna be my second wedding shoot, the first one I did for a friend, was free. I want suggestion on what kinda services/packages should I offer them and how should they be priced? Should I give them only printed photos or should I give them a dvd?

I have no intentions to rip them off in terms of money, I want to keep it reasonable.

Suggestions please....

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Two things I haven't seen mentioned yet.

(1) Contract. Even more important if it's a friend or acquaintance, soon to be a former friend.

(2) Liability insurance. Both for injuries and "sins of omission", some of which can be side stepped by #1, contract.

Otherwise, see you on People's Court. :)

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

OddJobber wrote:

Two things I haven't seen mentioned yet.

(1) Contract. Even more important if it's a friend or acquaintance, soon to be a former friend.

(2) Liability insurance. Both for injuries and "sins of omission", some of which can be side stepped by #1, contract.

Otherwise, see you on People's Court. :)

:thumbup: :thumbup:

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Bobbee wrote:

Here r your hours.

:thumbup: great chart!

To do it professionally, seek professional help from WPPI and PPA.

It's a tough business to do well.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Fahad wrote:

I've been recently given a project to shoot the wedding of an acquaintance and been asked to quote a price. This is gonna be my second wedding shoot, the first one I did for a friend, was free. I want suggestion on what kinda services/packages should I offer them and how should they be priced? Should I give them only printed photos or should I give them a dvd?

I have no intentions to rip them off in terms of money, I want to keep it reasonable.

Suggestions please....

Since you don't maintain a studio with all the overhead associated with one, most likely do not pay for insurance, do not have an attorney on retainer, don't pay for staff, do not have a "kitty" to put money in for equipment replacement or upgrade, you could be operating at a near zero cost depending on what you are offering. A decent 8x10 or 10x10 album will run 250 - 300 dollars with another 75 dollars for each one or two parent albums. This would be on the higher end. If on the other hand you offer images on a disk, your expense can be less than 50 cents. You need to determine what you feel is a fair price for your time then add what your expenses will be. If you shoot an afternoon wedding at say 3 p.m. and leave the reception at 11, you 'll have worked 8 hours. I would say 50.00 an hour for inexperience would be fair so that would be 400 plus your costs. Tell the couple you recommend a second shooter because it will give additional coverage and will tell "their story" better. Tell them it will add 100.00 to your price. You should be able to hire someone for that price or maybe just a few dollars more. Back in film days, it was common practice to charge 3X cost for a wedding but digital has changed the dynamics somewhat. You can't charge 3X the cost of a DVD, you just wouldn't make anything.

Bram boy Loc: Vancouver Island B.C. Canada

Fahad wrote:

I've been recently given a project to shoot the wedding of an acquaintance and been asked to quote a price. This is gonna be my second wedding shoot, the first one I did for a friend, was free. I want suggestion on what kinda services/packages should I offer them and how should they be priced? Should I give them only printed photos or should I give them a dvd?

I have no intentions to rip them off in terms of money, I want to keep it reasonable.

Suggestions please....

second wedding, you should pay him for the chance . no really it takes about thirty weddings to get good at it . and at least ten before you know your good enough to charge . I would do it for my cost only and charge him no more or less than my cost . you should have a helper with a video going and a second camera guy also before you charge .

Bram boy Loc: Vancouver Island B.C. Canada

bobmcculloch wrote:

If I thought I could do all the running around , I'd charge at least $100/hour + expenses, remember you have at least 12 hrs of shooting work, checking out the rehearsal, the brides house, the church and the reception, then the darkroom/computer time, Bob.

if it was your second wedding , get real