Wedding Reception?

TheBoombaGnome · May 15, 2010

Hey guys...

I'm still pretty new to photography, but a friend of mine approached me with an offer today...

Her Aunt is getting married in mid-July, and they have a photographer for the reception. They decided NOW that they want a second one, but were asked to pay somewhere in the area of $1500 to get another photographer from the same place. Now, I do understand the prices (short notice in terms of a wedding and everything), but she is unwilling to pay. That's where I come in...

They know I'm still by all means an amateur, but would still like me to come and take some pictures during the reception. Now, knowing i'm not the only photographer there, that makes me a lot more willing to do it, considering that there will also be a whole lot of P&S cameras there, so it's not all on me to chronicle this night forever...

I was asked what I charge, and I looked at my friend and told her that I have absolutely no idea. I am still a amateur, and I do not want to charge her a lot and have the pictures all turn out like crap, but I don't want to sell my self short, as I know that I can take good, quality, worth-while photos. I'm obviously going to keep it under $500, but how far under is too far? I could really use your opinions on this one...I don't wanna jip her or short myself in my first "professional" gig...

Thanks guys!

TBG

fiveoboy01 · May 15, 2010

All things considered, offer to do it for free. That's the only fair price to charge for your inexperience.

Vinny · May 15, 2010

Many years ago I was in a similar situation with a friend's wedding. They had a professional photographer and asked me to take shots with my camera. Since I wasn't the pro, I wasn't able to get "pro" shots and the pro kind of didn't like me possibly upstaging him. I did it for free (actually paid for it - gave them a gift LOL!!) but most of what I took was only OK - kind of hard to get people to smile for the camera when they're not paying for you.

My advice is to either do it for free to get the exposure or if you need a certain piece of equipment (flash for this shoot) make your price enough to pay for it.

bigtwinky · May 15, 2010

Charge them nothing.

The opportunity to shoot for free in such an event should be payment enough as you have a lack of experience, and I would assume gear and knowledge as well

Scatterbrained · May 15, 2010

Do it for free. If anything you can consider it a wedding gift. From what I've seen in you're gallery you don't have a lot of experience with candids, or you haven't gotten to the point where you feel they are good enough to share. A wedding reception will be like a crash course, make the most of the opportunity.

myfotoguy · May 15, 2010

I agree with the others. If you don't have experience with a flash, and the lighting (the entire environment) you will be shooting in, I would not charge them.

tdz16 · May 16, 2010

I literally just got in from my first wedding shoot. I did it for free and I'm glad I did. I took around 500 photos and will definitely have some nice candid shots, some ok formal group shots and the standard issue reception shots. If I were charging for this shoot I would have probably freaked out at least 20 times because I'd be too scared I wasn't going to give these people what they wanted.

I'm so happy that I was able to get the experience of the shoot under my belt, especially dealing with all of the people and the difficulty of shooting the group shots with the sun high in the sky. I'm now able to say, "ok, well this didn't turn out how I wanted it or how it should have, and this is what I now KNOW will fix it next time.

My vote is do it for "free" and take the experience and bank that.

~Tom