 Michele King |
Selling Wedding Prints I am pretty new to the wedding photo business and work a full time job besdies. What is the best way to make sure you are getting paid for your work. Right now I shoot for a full day, edit the photos, give a 4x6 print of all the best shots and all the digital negatives on a dvd plus a complimentary engagment session and a 11x14 enlargement plus the engagement negatives. Next year I will also be doing a dvd slideshow set to music for $100.00. I understand at different points in your career you have to charge differntly according to your expertise etc. Suggestions?
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Joan Bellinger |
Hi Michele! You have not given us a range of what you charge for your package. Check the websites of other local wedding photographers to determine if what you are selling and charging is in the same range or no where close. Although you may be new at wedding photography, that does not mean your work is not as of much value or more value than others.
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Michele King |
Thank you, this year I charge $1,000 for a full days coverage, basically $100.00 per hour. I use a Canon 30d with a 10-22mm lens, f2.8 24-70mm lens and 70-200mm f2.8 lens, 580 Ex flash and have backup equipment. I use a stroboframe flip bracket with my flash mounted on top. The last 2 weddingsI did I could barely open my cramped hands and arms at the end of the day. I hurt!
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Joan Bellinger |
Michele, what about the hours you spend editing, printing, making the DVD and the engagement session? Also, your meetings with the bride and groom before the wedding should also be considered. I do not know if you wish to decrease the hours of coverage or increase your charge, that would be up to you. Just think you should be compensated for your time, talent and effort.
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Erin Johnson |
$60 an hour for anything you do outside of the wedding day.
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Jerry Frazier |
You charge what you are worth, and your perceived value. It's simple. Keep increasing your rates until things slow down a bit. You are actually not charging by the hour for anything. You are charging for finished work. So, whatever the market will pay for that is what you should charge. 90% of wedding photographers undercharge for their services. There was an interesting study that the PPA put out that said that the avg wedding photographer makes around $19k/yr or something. What a bunch of schmucks we are, huh? Charge as much as you can. There are alot of wedding photographers getting very large amounts of money for what they do. Create buzz, market your brand, and find ways to do things that are different. Stop looking at what other wedding photographers are doing. Look at art. Look at other artists and find inspiration outside of weddings. When you see a wedding photograph somewhere, ignore it. Don't study it or even look at it. Keep fresh. the only thing that differentiates photographers is their eye. If you can keep that unique and aviod copying others, you can differentiate yourself in our overly saturated market. Wedding photography is about emotion and finding meaningful images for your clients. You don't find those by rehashing ideas that everyone already does and what everyone has already seen. You do that by creating energy in an area of being different and unique. People will pay big bucks for art. For pikchers, they will only spend $1k for all the high res files and a box of 4x6 prints.
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Michele King |
pikchers???
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Joan Bellinger |
As opposed to professional photographs.
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Samuel Smith |
great spelling. all this is real michele.as for starting out,fine.name gets out there,raise your prices.ppa is bogus.most clear 6 figures.no,not women. geeeez.
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Jerry Frazier |
Yes, I was referring to people who refer to your work as pikchers, rather than images, or photographs, or art. It's about how to sell yourself so that you get beyond selling pictures to people. I'm not sure what's so bogus about what I said. I'm also not sure why the PPA study was bogus. Actually, it was pretty damn detailed. Most photographers make crap money, and they struggle. All the hyperbole you hear about how successful everyone is is complete crap. Why do you think they all sell DVD's on 'how to make it rich in wedding photography'? Because, there aint no money in it...well, there's some, but it's not as good as they make you think. Most of the professional wedding photographers that I personally know either do it part-time, or they have someone supporting them. The ones that really do it full-time all by theirselves, mostly struggle. There are only a very few exceptions to that.
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Samuel Smith |
i thought you got it right jerry. as most say,it's just taking pictures? I lost a photo from a story I submitted,well,not really,but it was given away by the paper to a g-parent.rude?well,yeah.i guess employees of small local papers make mistakes. what is a days worth of shooting,please ignore equipment,knowledge and preparation. surprises me they don't hire anybody.i have never met him/her. hmmm.
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Erin Johnson |
"Why do you think they all sell DVD's on 'how to make it rich in wedding photography'? Because, there aint no money in it"
I charge by the hour, plus 40hrs of PS and double the album cost. If your prices are the same as other photographers in your area that is all you will book. The trick is, charge more, get them in the door , make them fall in love with your shots and then give them a great discount. People that price shop are the weddings that I don't want to shoot.
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Jerry Frazier |
Erin, That's cool. People can make money. But, most burn out, and they decide to do seminars and sell DVD's and actions. It's not out of kindness, but mostly out of need. Don't buy into the fact that they want to help you. That's bunk, although, it does help them sell more stuff to say that. I didn't say I under charge. What I said is I know ALOT of photographers in my area that start at say anywhere from $4,500 to $6K a wedding for coverage only, and they don't really live all that great. I know people with regular jobs that make a normal salary and are WAYYYYY better off than those photographers in almost every way. It's easy to sit and preach when you don't really know the score. But, I'm telling you that it's very tough. And, the ones selling DVD's are not doing it to help you, they are doing it because they have a name, they can, and they need the dough. What all the photographers have figured out is the way to make money in this business is to sell stuff to other photographers. It's the new photography economics. New photographers are hungry to know how to make it. So, all the experienced photographers have put together things that help. Of course, none of it teaches you how to actually make great photographs. Anyway, I don't need to go all into this, but it is a fact. Why would a $10k per wedding photographer spend their time telling you how they do what they do? You think it's because they are nice? If you think that, you are very gullible and a bit green. That's not a dig on you, just reality of the situation. It's like people that sell books on "how to get rich". It's funny because by buying the book, that is how they got rich. But, many miss that point.
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Samuel Smith |
this covers all proffessions.yet the reverse is also true.some times the highest price isn't the best deal. quite the point jerry. sam
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Erin Johnson |
Maybe they are really good at the business side of it too and like to help and make money at the same time.
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Erin Johnson |
peanut gallery fell asleep
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