Pricing of wedding photography question??ethical ?

[EOS_JD]

I've always told myself that I would never do weddings (too much responsibility for my liking) yet I've had 3 calls in the last year so I may consider it one day.

try and do one where you are not the main photographer first.A friend/family member is an ideal way to start knowing the guy getting paid will get the required shots and you can be a little more creatice with detail shots and guest candids as well as some nice portraits.

This gives you a feel for how you would get on. By reading and watching you'll learn lots and once you have (if you don't already) suitable equipment to do the job professionally, and you have the capability (and nerve) then go for it.

 

[Deminia]

Hi all! Newbie here... and I just wanted to throw a few thoughts in here. I was "the bride" (doomsday chords and all) just a month ago. I'm happily married now and feeling mediocre about my wedding photos.

I agree with mostly everyone and think you need to consider travel time. I also agree that you're charging to little for your time - however, considering your experience with weddings (or lack there of) and experience with photography (I dont' know how much that is) I would think that only you and the bride will be able to determine just how much you are worth.

I will say this, I value about half (if that) of the 337 photos my photographer took. I paid $1300 for him to be there for 6 hours. He photographed almost none stop. I don't know he if had more then 337 photos but that's all I was given to see. There were more candid shots of the wedding attendees then I cared for and most were shown a lot in a not so flattering light. Overall, I'm happy with them - I have to be.

I was given only low-res proofs to look at to pick for the prints in my package. Anything outside of the package costs extra. The standard for most weddings. I will be able to get a CD of the low-res photos with "proof" written across them. However, I will have access to any prints whenever I want. This is, from what I've gathered, is standard as well. At first I was a bit upset by this (just because I photograph and wanted to do somethings to them in photoshop) however, I do realize that these are copyrighted to him and this is his "bread and butter" and I have to respect that.

It was unfortunate that I ran out of money because I was going to hire a friend to take some shots in addition to him... more "conceptual". My Aunt took about the same amount of photos as the Photographer did and I found that I liked more of hers.

Another topic for another day... I feel that it truly is the eye of photographer and how they regard their subject. Some shots that my bridesmaid took of me, in the same setup, turned out to be a far more interesting angle and just overall better of shots of me. When I look back, I wish I would have had more contact with him and discussed more in depth just exactly what I was looking for and me being unhappy with the shots probably has a lot to do with just that. So, it's partially my fault I wasn't 100% happy.

Anyhoo, I've babbled enough and I'm sorry to have gone off a bit. Howeve, maybe you can utilize this information to help you with the wedding shots.

~Demi

 

[Christie Photo]

Anyhoo, I've babbled enough and I'm sorry to have gone off a bit. Howeve, maybe you can utilize this information to help you with the wedding shots.

~Demi

This is valuable insight. Thanks for taking the time!

Pete

 

[neea]

try and do one where you are not the main photographer first.A friend/family member is an ideal way to start knowing the guy getting paid will get the required shots and you can be a little more creatice with detail shots and guest candids as well as some nice portraits.

This gives you a feel for how you would get on. By reading and watching you'll learn lots and once you have (if you don't already) suitable equipment to do the job professionally, and you have the capability (and nerve) then go for it.

I've done this and it was alot of fun. I think the funnest part was knowing that it would have not been the end of the world if I screwed up 6 rolls of film:mrgreen:

Most of pictures weren't creative at all really. Near the end all it really was was me taking pictures of the bride and groom mingleing with their guests. Lots of hug shots and the like. I do believe that they made a seperate album of them (i have yet to see them to this day... 3-4 years later haha).

My friends wedding in Mexico should be fun. However I fear that she's secretly putting more on my shoulders than she's leading onto. She was willing to pay my ticket for taking her pictures. I said NO without hesitation.
Maybe one day... who knows.