cost for shooting wedding pics

<p>I have a friend asking me to do their engagement/wedding pics, I have only done one wedding and that was to see what I think about it. She has been quoted 500.00 to 1000.00 just for the photographer to show up, now I am no professional at all but do ok on pics, I want to get some input of what I should charge ecspecially just handing over the pics and letting them get them printed, I would do all the touch up needed before delivery, I thought at least 300.00 since they would get pics without me printing them, input welcome</p>

 

<p><blockquote>MODERATOR NOTE:</p>

<p>Please do not post the same question in multiple forums: doing so adds to confusion and is impractical to maintain ONE flow of conversation.</p>

<p>For reference, your other, original thread is here: <strong><a href="/wedding-photography-forum/00c5zp">http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00c5zp</a></strong></p>

<p>Add the hours you'll spend preparing for the event plus the hours you'll spend working at the event plus the hours you'll spend doing "all the touch up" and divide 300 by that total. Then ask yourself if you're comfortable working for that hourly rate. You might also want to consider wear and tear on your equipment and your vehicle. And don't forget the taxes you should be paying on the income. I won't even go into what might happen if your light stand falls on someone.</p>

<p>This is simply a direct answer to your question. You may expect very sound advice from others regarding your decision to take this job.</p>

I don't know the specifics of what your friend expects, but be warned that couples who want to pay the lowest price for photography also often have the highest expectations. Before you figure out a price, you need to know exactly what services and images you'll need to provide. They may expect you to spend ten hours shooting/traveling and to deliver 500 excellent photos, most of which require touching up to make them look like models. After deducting your expenses, you could easily end up earning well under minimum wage for doing a job that was both stressful (at the wedding) and quite tedious (post-processing).

<p>The Dallas PPA (my home) had Roberto Valenzuela as a guest speaker a few months ago, for the whole evening. If you don't know him, he's one of the current superstars of wedding photography — and the author of a rather good book. I remember him mentioning that he shot <em>thirty</em> weddings for free before charging. I'm not sure if he was pulling our legs or what. I mention Valenzuela partly because he's so eminent and partly because, well, I confess that I shot fewer than 30 before I started to charge at least a little. </p>

<p>Anyway, the question is: <em>Why on earth would you do this? </em>There are basically three answers to that question.</p>

<p>1. You want to become a wedding photographer yourself and you're looking to get experience and build your portfolio. </p>

<p>2. You are the World's Greatest Friend and you just want to do a favor for your friend. An enormous favor.</p>

<p>3. You want to make money.</p>

<p>These days, my reason is #3. I'm in it (in major part) for the money. I don't get the impression that #3 is your reason, though. And if you're not trying to make money, then don't charge anything. You're apparently not experienced enough to charge any amount that makes the effort worthwhile. I mean, charging a friend $300 — well, you might as well do it for free.</p>

<p>Now, doing it for free means you can give answer #2: You're the World's Greatest Friend (WGF). I say WGF because shooting a wedding takes a great deal of time. (I'll completely skip over other issues like the cost of equipment, the stress involved, etc.) I usually reckon 30-40 hours for a wedding. Before the wedding there's at least a couple of hours spent talking to the bride and making plans and arrangements. There's 3-4 hours the night before the wedding, driving to and from the rehearsal and attending the rehearsal, then getting all my gear prepped and packed. The day of the wedding is pretty much a total loss. Even if I'm only with the bride and groom for, say, five hours, once again, there's the time getting there and back, getting dressed. That's 8 hours minimum, for me. So we're pushing 14 or 15 hours already and I haven't even started the work involved in backing up, processing and delivering the photos (usually about as much time as I've spent already), or the time spent making an album (another 5+ hours), or the time uploading files to my web site, or handling print orders, etc.</p>

<p>Now I know I'm inefficient. But I am friends with quite a number of other wedding photographers and many of them spend almost as much time as I do. It's a lot of work. </p>

<p>So doing all this for free, well, you see why you'd be the World's Greatest Friend. I think bride's ask their friends because they have no idea how much work is involved. Why should they? Of course, when they hire me, they don't care how much time I'll spend and there's no reason they should. But if they had an idea how much time was involved, brides wouldn't ask their friends to shoot their wedding. It's like asking a friend if you can move in with them for a week, rent free. </p>

<p>Which leaves us answer #1 (you're trying to get into wedding photography and want to build your portfolio). If this is the case, well, I'm inclined to say again, you should shoot the wedding for free. </p>

<p>Will</p>

 

<p>I have never and will never work for a friend or family member. That's just me.</p>

<p>I would personally recommend her to a professional in her area.</p>

<p>If you do proceed, make sure you set expectations VERY clearly both in person and in contract. As for what to charge, it's a difficult one really, hence no clear answer. Some will argue you should do it for free if it's a friend and you have no experience. You should probably offer to do it for free, and if they offer "something for your time", go for it. I personally never did anything for free when starting out, however, it's a debate in itself - what I'd add is IF you do work for free, never give the files away for free too. Unless, of course, you just hate yourself ;-)</p>

<p>The prices your friend has been quoted are not high.<br>

She's paying for:<br>

1) the time it takes<br>

2) the right gear to do the job<br>

3) the knowledge how to prepare, shoot and postprocess a wedding<br>

4) the experience it takes to perform under stress and to handle unforseen problems</p>

<p>You might want to ask yourself how much of the above you can offer and set your price accordingly.<br>

I can only guess and it may very well be wrong but from how you worded your question I'd say you need to do it for free with very low expectations from the bride and groom on what you're actually able to deliver.</p>

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<p>Until you know exactly what you're doing and can guarantee results, don't charge anything at all. Shoot the wedding for free and use it as an opportunity to build up your skills.</p>

"The prices your friend has been quoted are not high.

She's paying for:

1) the time it takes

2) the right gear to do the job

3) the knowledge how to prepare, shoot and postprocess a wedding

4) the experience it takes to perform under stress and to handle unforseen problems"

 

At the prices mentioned she's probably paying for none of that. Probably more like someone's next gear purchase.

<p>Kind of late to the party here, but, a simple formula I have always used, figure out how much an hour you want to get paid. For two hours shooting figure one hour of processing and charge accordingly. So, if you want $50 an hour (which is low) and you shoot for 6 hours, that's 9 x $50 = $450.<br>

of course, you might want to charge less since you don't have the experience with weddings and I am assuming you already have the gear. $450 is low, if you did more weddings equipment cost need to be factored in, but just doing one for a friend . . .</p>

<p>If you are a good friend of his/her, do it for free. Many people advised you to ask the couple to increase their budget, but photography is obviously not important for the couple...a guest at a wedding costs the couple $250 and the average wedding photographer in the US charges $2500-2600. That being said, it looks like your couple does not want to spend a lot of money on photography. <br>

I would tell my friend not to expect great photos (it is always better to over deliver and under promise) and that I would do it at no charge. Now, I saw the photos of the bride at the only wedding you shot. I would have posed that bride completely differently. I would have picked a higher perspective, shot her with a long lens and asked her to move the body AWAY from the light and her face INTO the light...that has a slimming effect on curvaceous brides. I photographed plus size brides and they are beautiful, but it takes a bit of practice to know how to pose them...sorry, pose is a dirty word...direct sounds better...to know how to direct them...<br>

I am not in your shoes and photographing for free is ok in my opinion. To the other photographers, if the couple does not want to pay $500-$1000 they are not your target market...there are plenty of brides who appreciate photography. I saw some stats and about 25% of the brides wish they spent more on wedding photography. Well, we all know that when all is over, the wedding album is what remains to document the big day, but it is our duty as wedding photographers to educate the brides. <br>

Cheers, <br>

Calin</p>

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