Wedding slideshow creation for $300?

Hi there folks. I�m a junior wedding photographer and totally loving

it. I�ve been getting rave reviews about my latest wedding slideshow

so I�m thinking about doing it for other photographers as well.

 

My latest show can be seen here and you are required to download the

proshow photodex plugin:

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=2593533&alb=0 .

Comments appreciated on everything part of that show.

 

Now this one took me a very long time to create, but I think that

with more volume I could do similar work at a quicker pace.. hence

making it worthwhile for me and for the photographer who would use

my services. I�m thinking that I could do it for $300 US, which can

be sold as part of a package or separately for $600 or more. How

does that sound? Is it too much? Not enough?

 

Now before you answer that some people do it for $50, please do

watch the show. I don�t wanna boast but it�s quite something. I even

got a �wow!� from Mark Ridout himself. I�d like to quantify the

quality of my work.

 

Your comments and thoughts are much appreciated on this.

I cannot imagen too many people paying $300 for a product viewable only to those

unfortunete enough to still use internet explorer and on a PC at that...

Your skills with ProShow are certainly admirable, but I believe $300 is quite steep for the end result -- a slideshow of images. In our market, I would have a difficult time recouping that cost.

 

Jen

Sebastian, I like it too. It is nicely done, however,I currently produce my own and charge $250 to the client.

 

I include more images and a more customized flow than this too. So, for me it would not be worth it.

 

BTW, I take about 2+ hours to do these now that I have done some 50 or so.

Actually I just said "a more customized flow" and meant for that part to say "less". Sorry.

I charge 50 GBP ($95) for a slideshow on CD, and one on the internet, so far no one has bothered...

You might wish to look at what some other people are charging for the very same thing, and the bride can get this directly from this site. Which software are you using, are you using Producer? Here is a site of someone who is doing the very same thing that you want to do. You must remember that if you charge that price then the photographer�s mark up could place it around $500, and that is a lot for a bride and groom to pay. Look at this site http://www.pictureperfectslideshows.com/packagesandprices.htm

Thanks for all your replies. Just wanna make a few clarifications here. First, yes I do use proshow producer.. it�s the best there is. But all my slideshows come on a real DVD with a regular DVD box, a nice picture on the box and on the actual DVD. It is viewable on any DVD player, and it also includes interactive menus, with possibility of adding videos, pictures and so on as a bonus. That takes care of the PC only issue. I did check out the pictureperfectslideshows website and� ouf.. I�m trying real hard to find a polite way to say what I think of their samples� I could do one like that with my eyes closed (and the eyes really do have to be closed to do one like that� *smirk*). At half their cost I would feel like a thief.. I would have thought more photographers would have seen the benefits of offering a �high quality� show as opposed to a �thrown in� show. So if I produced a show in the same quality as pictureperfectslideshows for a $100, this would be more attractive to some of you?? I�m not here to sell myself.. just want professional opinion. Thanks again.

I am not speaking so much of the quality of their work, I am just pointing out that there are site where brides can get them done real cheap. There are more and more brides out there who know that they are in the age of digital photography and that they can take a CD to a lab, or even take a CD home with them and just print their own images. That is all that I am saying, you have to try and compete against that. I also use Proshow Producer and I feel that it is a very good piece of software. With my background in both art education and photography I create my own slideshows for my clients. That is another hurdle that you will have to get over.

If I were to pay you $300 and then I charged my customer $500, and then they logged in and saw the same "...waiting for server..." message I just saw for 5 minutes, I wouldn't blame them $500 later if they were pissed! Also, asking my customer to download a plug-in to see a show they paid $500 for? No way... I realize the customer would get a DVD, but if they wanted to preview the show online, or share it with friends or family via the internet, it's an nightmare... no thank you. By the way, I never was able to view it.

Personally I think your show was a little heavy with the special effects and some of the zoom ins and outs/transitions were also a little too much. I'm surprised the music copyrite police haven't made an issue of the music.

 

I don't sell the slideshows but offer them as part of a package and as a comp item when family/guests place reprint orders over $100. I see the greatest value in marketing my wedding photography studio rather than marketing as a product. I think $300 is very pricey.

I think someone must be a duh to pay you $300 for a dvd slideshow. Most of the DVD-Player now can create slideshow directly from picture on cd/dvd and it cost less than $100. If the price is between $75-$150, then most customer willing to pay for it.

 

I think my customer like it better if I offer them a DVD-Player and picture on CD/DVD for $150-$250.

I'm on a Mac and was unable to view the slideshow, which is a huge deterrent for me!

However, if you believe in your product then go for it. Why are you trying to sell it to other

photographers? Why not just take advantage of your unique skill and sell it to your own

wedding clients? What works for one doesn't work for everyone; but that doesn't mean you

shouldn't pursue it!

I wish I could view your slideshow but I'm on a mac. Consider posting it in a Flash Video

format.

 

For those of you interested in slideshows, I used to do video production and have

done a number of slideshows for myself. The problem is that they take forever to edit and

I definitely consider a $300 price cheap.

 

But I would like to let you know of a new program that was created specifically for

photographers to create fast and easy slideshows.

 

 

I no longer create slideshows in my video software. It just takes too much time. But I am

able to create one of these slideshows in about 15 minutes.

Are you able to do anything more complex that simple fade/zoom/pan type transitions?

 

thanks for sharing, D.

You're not able to do any crazy effect. But to be honest I'm quite alright with that since I

can have this slideshow up and running in 15 minutes.

I create a slideshow the night of the wedding, so I use this program to also post the same

slideshow online that same night or the next day. It really helps create a lot of buzz. If it

took any longer than 15 minutes I wouldn't do it for every event that I shoot. And I

wouldn't be getting the great referral business that I'm now getting as a result of these

slideshows.

 

It's well worth the investment. check it out. If you go to the site you can download the

program and it will run in a demo mode, but you'll be able to see what all it can do.

 

Coming from my video background I know that it would have taken me around 3-5 hours

to create the same slideshow in Final Cut Pro all timed out to the music and with the

zooms how I want them.

 

Check it out. It's so easy!

 

JT

I did check out the link and well.. it certainly seems to do what the name of it says.. shows it fast.

 

As far as I�m concerned I�d like to create slideshows that blow away people. I�m not going to say that I�m the best, but I know enough and have spent enough time to recognize a slideshow that has been worked on like it should (a production). I don�t need to sell this service but a lot of people seem to be impressed by what I have done so far so I thought I�d see how other professionals feel about this. I�m not even sure that I want to do it for another photographer (a good slideshow is like a movie, and everybody has to be on the same wave lengths), but I can tell you that if I do it has to be worth it for me, and the photographer.. and so.. my conclusion after some thinking and getting comments from others: $100 yeah I�ll do a crappy show like the uncle Bob can do.. (and some people are quite happy with uncle Bob :). But if you want pro stuff it�s $300 to $800.

Good luck with your venture Sebastien.

 

I would be interested to hear how it progresses.

 

Best, D.

Sebastien,

 

Excellent job using ProShow. If you want to take your work to the next level try Final Cut Pro. It's a true professional application. See some of the work the Final Cut Produces at http://www.emotionmedia.com/demos.html

 

Enjoy!

You can use Wondershare DVD Slideshow Builder which is very powerful and very popular now, many friends and I like it very much. It's very easy to create a customized DVD slideshow with photos and videos, and to add music, transitions, and cool pan/zoom effects and make beautiful DVD menus. Also, you can create .mp4, .wmv, .avi, .3gp movies from videos in other formats for our iPod, Zune and 3GP Cell Phones, Youtube .etc.

 

To be important, it has great photo and video editing function that can meet all our needs. For example, you can perfect your photos with attractive frames, special mask effects, and rich Cliparts, Wordarts or Text. And it is easy to crop music to sync with slideshow. You can use the video edit function to trim the video, add the caption and frame to the video, and change the original audio with your favorite music, etc.

 

You can download it free here

http://www.photo-to-dvd.com/dvd-slideshow-builder.php?sid=8

 

And a specific tutorial is here

http://www.photo2vcd.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1452

 

Some useful information such as tips to make slideshow awesome is here:

http://www.photo-to-dvd.com/other/popular-way-to-hold-memory.html