Shooting weddings

[Greiver]

If by using this as a typical model, why then would this person even shoot weddings? If he is in the hole at the end of the year he has been shooting them for free. The camera equipment is a 4-5 year write off. He is not buying brand new gear every year, or a new computer every year or building a studio every year. But it is a well thought out break down to help convince someone the reasons behind the fee.

It still goes back to the question. If he is losing money every year why shoot weddings?

After seeing a senior member here post his own horrible experience about his wedding photographer taking garbage photos, I can guess that these people wanna make sure that people get really good photo's for what is probably the biggest day of their lives. And sadly such a high price is necessary.

 

[Buckster]

OMG. Schwetty is now "a senior member".

Something about that just tickles me...

 

[imagemaker46]

snip

I know that if I shoot for 4 hours and clear $500 that's pretty good for shooting sports, and I am dealing with all the same conditions as a wedding photographer that is charging $5000 for the same time period, apart from me being in the wrong area of photography. I know what the sports market is like so I know what I can charge, and it's a lot less than what wedding photographers make. Maybe I should just start shooting weddings.

The two are most definitely NOT the same. Our studio did weddings, sports, fine art portraits and schools. There is a protocol for each situation and you can't compare any of them to each other besides the fact cameras are involved. A good professional wedding photographer will be with the bride from dressing, hair and makeup until she and her groom say good night and the party's over (about 12 hours). A second shooter should be with the groom. Both randoms and posed shots are taken. Each photographer should have more than one camera, a pile of flash cards and several batteries. That's a wedding shoot.
Sports shoot: Stand on the side of the field/court and shoot. If doing team portraits,set up backgrounds and lights, pose them and shoot. Have extra equipment as well, similar to the wedding gig.
Regarding the wedding shoot, there could be in excess of 200 images, sometimes close to 1,000 that have to be edited down. Once that is done, a proof book will be made and the happy couple get to choose what they want in their books and on their walls. Once that's been done, retouching and designing the book pages start. More approvals before the final product is delivered, which, depending on the speed of the happy couple, could come down to about 6-8 months. We have, however worked on wedding shoots that were done 2 years prior because of the slowness of the couple.
Sports shoots: Post pictures on a website to sell. No retouching, no proof books, no albums to design. Maybe design posters or borders.
We would have brides taking months to make their choices, then while we're retouching and designing and editing, they're calling in a panic wondering where their books are. I am actually surprised that people in the photography business are just as clueless.

Here's one for you. I've shot eight Olympics, I put in 20 straight days working 15-20 hours per day, Shot in -45c conditions for hours at a time, being on a ski hill 3 hours before an event starts and 2 hours getting down off the hill after the event is over, responsible for all the Id's and transmission of edited images. Equipment required more than most wedding photographers could carry around, 400 2.8, 500mm, 600mm, three bodies. When was the last wedding that required 6 layers of clothes to stay warm or working in 130 degree heat for 10 hours? Getting up at 3am to get to a good photo spot "on the sidelines" to sit and wait for a 10 second race that is happening 11 hours later, and not being able to leave that spot. You can try and tell me that shooting weddings are difficult, but don't try to even understand the sports side of photography.

 

[kathyt]

snip

I know that if I shoot for 4 hours and clear $500 that's pretty good for shooting sports, and I am dealing with all the same conditions as a wedding photographer that is charging $5000 for the same time period, apart from me being in the wrong area of photography. I know what the sports market is like so I know what I can charge, and it's a lot less than what wedding photographers make. Maybe I should just start shooting weddings.

The two are most definitely NOT the same. Our studio did weddings, sports, fine art portraits and schools. There is a protocol for each situation and you can't compare any of them to each other besides the fact cameras are involved. A good professional wedding photographer will be with the bride from dressing, hair and makeup until she and her groom say good night and the party's over (about 12 hours). A second shooter should be with the groom. Both randoms and posed shots are taken. Each photographer should have more than one camera, a pile of flash cards and several batteries. That's a wedding shoot.
Sports shoot: Stand on the side of the field/court and shoot. If doing team portraits,set up backgrounds and lights, pose them and shoot. Have extra equipment as well, similar to the wedding gig.
Regarding the wedding shoot, there could be in excess of 200 images, sometimes close to 1,000 that have to be edited down. Once that is done, a proof book will be made and the happy couple get to choose what they want in their books and on their walls. Once that's been done, retouching and designing the book pages start. More approvals before the final product is delivered, which, depending on the speed of the happy couple, could come down to about 6-8 months. We have, however worked on wedding shoots that were done 2 years prior because of the slowness of the couple.
Sports shoots: Post pictures on a website to sell. No retouching, no proof books, no albums to design. Maybe design posters or borders.
We would have brides taking months to make their choices, then while we're retouching and designing and editing, they're calling in a panic wondering where their books are. I am actually surprised that people in the photography business are just as clueless.

Here's one for you. I've shot eight Olympics, I put in 20 straight days working 15-20 hours per day, Shot in -45c conditions for hours at a time, being on a ski hill 3 hours before an event starts and 2 hours getting down off the hill after the event is over, responsible for all the Id's and transmission of edited images. Equipment required more than most wedding photographers could carry around, 400 2.8, 500mm, 600mm, three bodies. When was the last wedding that required 6 layers of clothes to stay warm or working in 130 degree heat for 10 hours? Getting up at 3am to get to a good photo spot "on the sidelines" to sit and wait for a 10 second race that is happening 11 hours later, and not being able to leave that spot. You can try and tell me that shooting weddings are difficult, but don't try to even understand the sports side of photography.

You should have met my last bride!

 

[Ballistics]

The two are most definitely NOT the same. Our studio did weddings, sports, fine art portraits and schools. There is a protocol for each situation and you can't compare any of them to each other besides the fact cameras are involved. A good professional wedding photographer will be with the bride from dressing, hair and makeup until she and her groom say good night and the party's over (about 12 hours). A second shooter should be with the groom. Both randoms and posed shots are taken. Each photographer should have more than one camera, a pile of flash cards and several batteries. That's a wedding shoot.
Sports shoot: Stand on the side of the field/court and shoot. If doing team portraits,set up backgrounds and lights, pose them and shoot. Have extra equipment as well, similar to the wedding gig.
Regarding the wedding shoot, there could be in excess of 200 images, sometimes close to 1,000 that have to be edited down. Once that is done, a proof book will be made and the happy couple get to choose what they want in their books and on their walls. Once that's been done, retouching and designing the book pages start. More approvals before the final product is delivered, which, depending on the speed of the happy couple, could come down to about 6-8 months. We have, however worked on wedding shoots that were done 2 years prior because of the slowness of the couple.
Sports shoots: Post pictures on a website to sell. No retouching, no proof books, no albums to design. Maybe design posters or borders.
We would have brides taking months to make their choices, then while we're retouching and designing and editing, they're calling in a panic wondering where their books are. I am actually surprised that people in the photography business are just as clueless.

Here's one for you. I've shot eight Olympics, I put in 20 straight days working 15-20 hours per day, Shot in -45c conditions for hours at a time, being on a ski hill 3 hours before an event starts and 2 hours getting down off the hill after the event is over, responsible for all the Id's and transmission of edited images. Equipment required more than most wedding photographers could carry around, 400 2.8, 500mm, 600mm, three bodies. When was the last wedding that required 6 layers of clothes to stay warm or working in 130 degree heat for 10 hours? Getting up at 3am to get to a good photo spot "on the sidelines" to sit and wait for a 10 second race that is happening 11 hours later, and not being able to leave that spot. You can try and tell me that shooting weddings are difficult, but don't try to even understand the sports side of photography.

I saw that coming lol.

 

[Ballistics]

The two are most definitely NOT the same. Our studio did weddings, sports, fine art portraits and schools. There is a protocol for each situation and you can't compare any of them to each other besides the fact cameras are involved. A good professional wedding photographer will be with the bride from dressing, hair and makeup until she and her groom say good night and the party's over (about 12 hours). A second shooter should be with the groom. Both randoms and posed shots are taken. Each photographer should have more than one camera, a pile of flash cards and several batteries. That's a wedding shoot.
Sports shoot: Stand on the side of the field/court and shoot. If doing team portraits,set up backgrounds and lights, pose them and shoot. Have extra equipment as well, similar to the wedding gig.
Regarding the wedding shoot, there could be in excess of 200 images, sometimes close to 1,000 that have to be edited down. Once that is done, a proof book will be made and the happy couple get to choose what they want in their books and on their walls. Once that's been done, retouching and designing the book pages start. More approvals before the final product is delivered, which, depending on the speed of the happy couple, could come down to about 6-8 months. We have, however worked on wedding shoots that were done 2 years prior because of the slowness of the couple.
Sports shoots: Post pictures on a website to sell. No retouching, no proof books, no albums to design. Maybe design posters or borders.
We would have brides taking months to make their choices, then while we're retouching and designing and editing, they're calling in a panic wondering where their books are. I am actually surprised that people in the photography business are just as clueless.

Here's one for you. I've shot eight Olympics, I put in 20 straight days working 15-20 hours per day, Shot in -45c conditions for hours at a time, being on a ski hill 3 hours before an event starts and 2 hours getting down off the hill after the event is over, responsible for all the Id's and transmission of edited images. Equipment required more than most wedding photographers could carry around, 400 2.8, 500mm, 600mm, three bodies. When was the last wedding that required 6 layers of clothes to stay warm or working in 130 degree heat for 10 hours? Getting up at 3am to get to a good photo spot "on the sidelines" to sit and wait for a 10 second race that is happening 11 hours later, and not being able to leave that spot. You can try and tell me that shooting weddings are difficult, but don't try to even understand the sports side of photography.

You should have met my last bride!

Go on

 

[rexbobcat]

Let's play the "You think THAT'S bad?" game.

I know a wildlife photographer who built a cabin, and then camped out without running water or electricity in the winter for months on end in order to get shots for publications.

Do I win? Is there a prize?

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Once my camera got splashed by salt water 5 times.

Once.

 

[Greiver]

OMG. Schwetty is now "a senior member".

Something about that just tickles me...

I didn't know what other term to use. XD More advanced member.

 

[Ballistics]

Once my camera got splashed by salt water 5 times.

Once.

 

[Greiver]

Once my camera got splashed by salt water 5 times.

Once.

That escalated quickly...

 

[imagemaker46]

As I expected. I asked a simple question and some of the people that weigh in make uneducated comments. It seems that when I make a comment correcting the uneducated about the area of photography that I work in, the idiots decide to add to their post totals without offering any intelligent information.

 

[Buckster]

As I expected. I asked a simple question and some of the people that weigh in make uneducated comments. It seems that when I make a comment correcting the uneducated about the area of photography that I work in, the idiots decide to add to their post totals without offering any intelligent information.

Quit being so modest.

 

[Ballistics]

As I expected. I asked a simple question and some of the people that weigh in make uneducated comments. It seems that when I make a comment correcting the uneducated about the area of photography that I work in, the idiots decide to add to their post totals without offering any intelligent information.

Hey now, I weighed in. No one responded to me though lol.

 

[kathyt]

These wedding threads are causing me to online shop excessively and frivously. Carry on.

[h=1][/h]