Photography Prices
Posted in Photos by Christina on October 3rd, 2005
Brian and I agree that the prices of wedding photography is completely unreasonable. 2000+ for a decent package? Since when was commissioning photographers that expensive? Especially ones that only spend half a day with you? It’s like paying the person 300 dollars an hour. Sure some of it includes an a 700 dollar album, but still. Take Alex Ham for example, you don’t get the album, but you get all the proofs which is probably about a dollar a piece to print out. Plus the digital negatives. So he’s charging about 1500 for 3 hours. Let’s say 500 of those goes to the proofs and negatives. That’s 333 dollars an hour. I am certainly in the wrong business, and wish I had the talent to take pictures…. People in the wedding business are raping naive brides by jacking up the prices to put off the sense of demand. Seriously, who would want to pay 2000+ for photography, or 100+ for a bouquet, or even 150 bucks for a 20 dollar veil? As fun as they are to plan, the prices just puts a damper on everything.
Edit: Well apparently there are a ton of wedding photographers out there that think I’m a moron, considering there were more than 200 hits from digitalweddingforum.com. Yet none of them suggested a discount :-p BOOOOO. Kidding. Although discounts are welcome!!!! I’m only complaining because when I first set my budget, the MOST I told myself we could spend was 2000 for photography. I actually thought that was alot. I thought we were splurging because I knew it was worth it. Then when it came down to researching, I found that the decent ones start at 2000! Hence the sticker shock. It sucks because it’s not the only thing we have to pay for. Thus, adding another thousand or two for photographs may not be feasible, nor would I be happy with a sucky photographer, so unfortunately I’m going to either have to stick with the budget or cut something really drastic, like a nice honeymoon to make up for it. We’re already trying to cut corners any way we can…I don’t think photographers are being overpaid, I just think it’s expensive. You vendors have to understand what it feels like from a bride’s perspective….
I think you are mistaken about the prices of wedding photography. Sure, it looks like the photographer is making $300 an hour, but just think, they are not making $300 an hour for 40 hours a week. Also, there is a huge amount of time involved in editing the images before you get them. It’s not as simple as just going back and burning a disc. I have a full-time staff person who’s only job during the summer is to prepare digital files from the weddings that I shot. Think about it this way…does the plumber who charges $65/hour actually take home $65/hour? Of course not. And I can assure you that most photographers charging $2000 for a wedding are taking home somewhere in the range of $35,000-$40,000. That seems about right for a skilled trades-person. My studio brings in almost $200,000 a year, and I take home about $45,000. Thanks for listening, I hope I was enlightening. If not, then simply erase this and forget you ever head of me.
Good luck in life,
James
October 8th, 2005 at 9:51 pm #
Every wedding ends up being about a 45-50 hour job between the time it takes for consultations, accounting, shooting the job, editing the job, creating a website, creating a DVD, creating an album, etc. etc. etc. Then there’s the time it takes for all the meetings, consults, and phone calls for people that don’t book. Then there’s the time it takes for continuing education in software, techniques, equipment, etc. When you add in all that, it ends up being easily a 60-70 hour per week job. Then factor in everything that James talked about above and you’ll realize that it’s not quite as ridiculous as you might have originally thought.
October 8th, 2005 at 10:29 pm #
A wedding photographer usually needs to shoot 30 weddings a year to survive.
say, 2,000x 30 = 60,000
About 1/3 of that goes to expenses (assistant, travel, gas, toll, insurance, equipment, a pro lens is still 1,500 bucks, albums also take a good chunk, lab fee, 700+ proofs can be pricy).
So you end up with 40,000 as actual income IF you are lucky. Then do taxes.
You are doing pretty well if you are making 30k to 40k a year after all these work. Now you think, it’s only the weekend. Well, it’s not. It’s 24/7:
Saturday and Sunday: shooting two weddings.
Monday: going over all the images (4000 to 6000 depending on how much you shot) from saturday and sunday, renaming, filtering out bad shots.
Tuesday: start correction and editing on over 2000 to 3000 images, good luck if you can sleep around mid night.
Wednesday: continue working on the images. What a drag on computer. Hard drive just ran out of space, another 2 to 3 external drives are needed for new weddings and backups: 150 (with enclosure) x 3 = 450.
Thursday: putting everything into CD or proof online.
Friday: IF you had everything done in a timely fashion, you have a day off. Or maybe not, because you have 3 or 4 client meetings either in the studio, or if you don’t have a studio, driving all over the places. Good luck if you had time for lunch.
Sat and sun : repeat.
It’s not ridiculous. A lot of photographers do it because they love the excitement and joy they get out of covering one of the most important days of their wedding. 2,000 is simply a very very reasonable price for over about one week of work for ONE wedding.
October 8th, 2005 at 11:43 pm #
I am a wedding photographer, and it never ceases to amaze me how couples will spring for stretch Hummers, stretch Excursion SUV’s, and willingly pay over $300 per hour to rent that vehicle. Yes, that’s right- $300 per hour….. for a ride.
As a photographer, I have the hardest and most important job out of any of the vendors. The dj can be lousy, the limo driver can make a wrong turn, the food might not be that tasty, but none of that really matters the way the PICTURES matter. Oh, god forbid anything be wrong with the pictures…yet people say the things they do about photographers as if we are the least deserved to be paid out of all the vendors when our jobs are by far the most crucial.
When I first started out, I had a couple paying me $850 for 5 hours worth of non-stop photography, multiple locations, including a chapel, beach, and venue. Then I found out they paid $900 for the bus that was carting them around. I work really hard. Being a wedding photographer is not an easy job. I raised my prices after that.
1000 pictures per wedding, 10 hours per wedding. 600 would be a picture per minute, at 1000, it’s almost 2 pictures per minute for EVERY MINUTE I am with my couple for 10 hours straight. And then everything that comes after. Tell me what other vendor works that hard for the couple? Photographers and videographers, that’s who.
I don’t blame photographers for raising their prices- it’s much easier to just rent you a limo for the same money but instead we choose the most under-appreciated yet most skilled part of your wedding- capturing the memories.
Hmmm….renting limo/photography….renting limo/photography…renting limo/photography…man, I think we should go for the Hummer and let Uncle Bob shoot our wedding, he just bought that new digicam…we’ll have a lot of fun partyin’ in the Hummer…
October 9th, 2005 at 2:14 am #
To start my wedding photography business out of college (last year), I invested $34,000 in business loans just to get myself off the ground. I’m still paying my school loans, my car loans, and credit cards. I’m not looking at a steady paycheck yet, only because I’m still starting out, and have to hustle just to get brides to meet with me…which may or may not result in a booking. About $12,000 of my initial investments went to upgrading my camera gear. $4,000 of that went to a web designer (who still hasn’t finished my site). $1,600/mo goes to the rent of my office/studio space. To place an ad in a wedding magazine can easily run me $10,000 for three months. The furniture you couples come in to sit on sure cost me a pretty penny, too. The albums I offer can cost me upwards of $700-950, frames can cost $250-1500, and the shipping costs of everything certainly adds up over time. What I’m getting at is that it costs A LOT of money to be a wedding photographer. There are also no guarantees that a bride will like my work, my personality, my choice of leather for my office sofa. A $2000 package probably costs a photographer $800-1000 in pure materials. That leaves $1200 from that job…let’s say $750 after taxes. If that’s my only job for the month or even if it’s my fourth, I’m still in the hole after paying my bills. So if you want to complain on why the wedding industry charges so much, you should ask yourself if the vendor I’m hiring has a huge conglomorate behind it financing everything with public offerings or if they’re an independent bustin’ their ass, risking their financial future on the line, lucky just to get by? If you still think a wedding photographer is too expensive, you could always buy your guests disposables, let them take the pictures, you could take them to Costco, get them printed yourselves, and be pissed that all the photos suck for the rest of your married lives.
October 9th, 2005 at 2:34 am #
Im in the uk and I usually spend about 4 hours actually shooting the wedding.
I charge approx $3,000. Sounds good right?
Each wedding takes 20 hours of my time and a further 20 hours of staff time. To be paid from this money.
Also, I can only shoot so many weddings a year as there are only so many weekends a year.
steve
October 9th, 2005 at 9:30 am #
There’s a choice as well of course!
You’ll find photographers who offer you packages much cheaper than $2000 and many use them, get a cd and happilly print their stuff at walmart.
I have to assume you’ve got to the $2000+ people because you’ve looked at cheaper options and discovered that you usually pay more for the folks with considerable experience and artistic vision. Like anyone, as you gain more experience and get better at what you do, a photographer will be able to charge more for their work.
The answer really is simple. Don’t concern yourself with how many hours you think they’re working, simply look at the results and what you’ll get to keep forever and consider how much that’s worth to you. If it’s worth $2000 then buy it, if it’s worth $500 hunt round, you’ll find someone to do it for that (although almost certainly, unless you get very lucky, the results will reflect the cost)
The harsh truth is, there are those for whom $20,000 on wedding photography is well within their budget and worth it to them. There are those who have to seriously save to afford the $2000 but realise that it’s those photographs that will be with them long after the day has past so they’re willing to spend the money… and there are those who think “it’s just someone with a camera pressing a button! Outrageous costs!”. If you fall into the latter category, I say this not to be nasty but, you may well be better saving your money because 1) you won’t appreciate the results 2) the photographer will almost certainly detect the vibe that you think you’re overpaying and it’ll affect the relationship to both your detriments.
Good luck with your arrangements :)
October 9th, 2005 at 10:39 am #
I am not saying that these photographers are overpaid. This is their career. It’s just the talk of sticker shock. I didn’t realize things cost this much, including pictures. I thought senior pictures were expensive, but of course wedding pictures are even more so.
October 9th, 2005 at 11:55 am #
The sticker shock might seem how to people who first start looking for a wedding photographer. But, I spend about 40 to 60 hours on each wedding I book. So, if I were to charge $2k per wedding, that’s less than $2k per week I am making. Take about half of that away and give it to the Feds, the lab, the album company, the software companies, the camera companies, continuing education, etc. and I wind up with $30k for the year. In Los Angeles, that is close to poverty level living wages. Would you want a photographer who couldn’t make it to your wedding because their car over heated on the way? Of course not. People expect me to be there, on time. No excuses. That means, that in order to have a good running automobile, I have to be able to afford one. It doesn’t have to be luxurious, but I need to buy a new car every 3 years or so just because I don’t want any trouble. That’s just one small example. Everything in my life has to be like that. All my equipment has to be top-notch and ready to work like a dog. You can’t do that charging $2k per year. Also, there is marketing, insurance, and all kinds of expenses associated with this.
What you are paying for is a competent working professional. Anyone charging $1k or less is either in a really low cost part of the country, or they just don’t understand what they are doing yet. But, it will catch up to them, if they last. And, when it does, they will either run away, or they will step up to the plate and start charging appropiately.
I think the basic problem here is that the client doesn’t see the costs. They think we are at the site for 7 hours or something and that’s it. I often hear, “$4k for 7 hours work, eh? Must be nice” Followed by a chuckle. I ignore it. Most people don’t get it. Luckily, though, once clients educate themselves, they realize taht that’s just how it is, whether they understand it or not.
October 9th, 2005 at 12:17 pm #
Jerry, I just viewed some of your samples. Great photographs. Too bad you’re not in the DFW area. For your kind of work, you seem to be undercharging compared to what some of the people in dallas are.
October 9th, 2005 at 12:59 pm #
Just to add to the above, what is being created here is art. Priceless art that will be cherished for decades. When we pay $4-5 for Starbucks or $$ for many of the other things that give us one time gratification, paying $2K for an artist who gives you unforgettable art from your wedding day for your kids and grandkids to enjoy does not seem that much.
have a great wedding :)
October 9th, 2005 at 2:51 pm #
A reply to Sally – I don’t plan on renting a limo.
October 9th, 2005 at 8:58 pm #
A note to Jeebus, we can design you a flash site within 2 weeks for less than 2000!
October 9th, 2005 at 9:03 pm #
I think several of the responses above show that there is much more to wedding photography than just the number of hours on the wedding day. Hiring a photographer is more than hiring an hourly employee to captpure your wedding day – wedding photographers run a business. Most wedding photographers put in well over 30 hours per wedding, sometimes closer to 60 hours.
Approximately 1/3 of a photographer’s sales goes towards running their business (insurance, equipment, employees, lab costs….) with almost another 1/3 going towards business taxes. In your example, a $2K photographer will net approximately $675-750 for approximately 50 hours of work – that’s closer to $15/hour for a skilled professional who is there to make sure your wedding is captured properly.
October 9th, 2005 at 10:08 pm #
I just want to say that I find your comment about wedding vendors “raping naive brides” of their money incredibly offensive, for all the reasons listed above by other photographers. As for not knowing people willing to pay $2000+ for wedding photography, I do not know anyone willing to pay less, since that is where our pricing starts. Not only do I put at least 50-60 working hours into each wedding booked, I strive to build a personal relationship with my clients and offer them the best service and product possible – surely that is worth more than just a dollar value?
October 10th, 2005 at 2:28 am #
I think what most of the photographers here aren’t grasping is that a great majority of people just flat out can’t afford a $2,000+ photographer. (We’re not necessarily one of them.) To say you “do not know anyone willing to pay less” is completely ridiculous. Just like with everything else in life you get what you pay for, and those of you that charge close to $4,000 or more for your services I’m sure you do great work but there’s also a need for quality at the lower price levels. It just seems there’s a huge drop off in quality and in style when you get below a certain dollar amount.
Plus, as Christina said, it’s not that we’re not willing to pay the money and we agree this is one of the most important facets of the whole day. It’s just shocking to a young couple to find out how much it’s going to cost to get a decent job done.
October 10th, 2005 at 9:52 am #
Hi guys, another friendly Digital Wedding Forum person here.
After reading through these posts, I have little to add that has not already been written. What I feel is important to ME as a photographer is to manage my clients’ expectations – it is sad that there is sticker shock, but equally sad that there is little coverage on what to expect. Some things I have read state that 10-15% of the total wedding budget is about par, while others say that 15% is low, while still others say ‘get it as inexpensively as possible’. I am glad you have posted this blog, and I am eager to see how you both continue your process, I am sure that there are many vendors that will be interested in getting your take on this journey.
-M.
October 10th, 2005 at 12:59 pm #
Hi,
My husband and I got married last year and had the exact same problem. I have and art degree, work as a graphic designer, and good photography was very important to me – and we couldn’t afford it. After that experiance my husband and I started our photography business – to try to fill the gap with good pictures at a reasonable price. I know how you feel.
Janelle
October 10th, 2005 at 4:43 pm #
I also got married last year and started a photography business trying to offer good photography at a reasonable price. Then I found myself working my butt off and only making the equivalent of minimum wage. Now I realize that those prices being charged actually are reasonable! I love what I do, but don’t we deserve to make a decent living at it?
I understand 100% what it is like from a bride’s perspective, and I have to say that brides just have no clue what it’s like from a photographer’s perspective. Until you try running your own business and realize how little of that money actually goes into your pocket and how much work goes on behind-the-scenes, you just can’t appreciate your photographer as much as you should.
Just FYI, professional labs charge more like $2 per 4×6″ print +shipping (since a lot of us don’t have great labs locally and we want to offer our clients a quality product). So you might think that prints are overpriced, but do consider the time spent sizing, sharpening, uploading, sorting, packaging, delivering, shipping etc. Heck, you don’t go to Walmart and ask them if you can buy something for the same price that they paid, why expect that of a photographer?
October 18th, 2005 at 6:36 pm #
Hi Christine, If you haven’t decided on anyone yet, I do travel. You would have to pay for one of my packages, plus airfare and hotel.
Let me know. When is your wedding date?
October 30th, 2005 at 11:18 am #
Would you skip the cake and have cupcakes instead?
December 17th, 2005 at 10:58 pm #