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Why wedding photography is expensive

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Why wedding photography is expensive Empty Why wedding photography is expensive

Post by asinqs 2009-02-07, 12:33

It’s a good article to explain why wedding photography is expensive.. Just read on k..

Taken from this Link > http://www.caughtonfilmphoto.com/costofphotography.html
(This article has been very well received by the photography community, and is now referred to by countless Photography websites, blogs and forums (such as LDPT, ILP and DWF) around the world).

In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners and home “photo printers”, when people upload their photos to a local drug store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the time - How in the world do Professional Photographers charge $55 for an 8×10 when they cost just $1.50 at the drug store?

Here’s why.

Simply put, you’re not just paying for the actual photograph; you’re paying for time and expertise. First, let’s look at the actual time involved. If you don’t read this entire page, at least read this first part.

For a two hour portrait session:

- one hour of travel to and from the session
- two hours of shooting
- 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc.
- 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 - 4 Gb of data)
- 30 minutes to back up the files on an external drive
- 3 - 4 hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a copy for print and a copy for the internet and backing up the edited photographs
- 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive their order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment and drop package off at Fed Ex.
- For local customers, we also print a set of all of their photos, and meet them at our studio to review the photos and place their order. Meeting and travel time averages 2 hours.

You can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than ten hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a $200 session fee for a two hour photo shoot, you are not paying them $100 / hour.

For an eight hour wedding:

- I won’t bore you with the details, but an eight hour wedding typically amounts to at least two to three full 40 hour work weeks worth of time. Again, if they are charging you $4,000 for an eight hour wedding, you are not paying them $500 / hour.

Now for the expertise.

Shooting professional photography is a skill, acquired through years of experience. Even though a quality camera now costs under $2,000 taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.

Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their first decent camera to making money with their photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website etc.

And let’s not forget that you actually have to have people skills, be able to communicate, make people comfortable in front of the camera - and posing people to make them look their best in a photograph is a skill all by itself.

Think of it this way - the next time you pay $X to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50. But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a Professional.

What about the cheap studios at the mall?

Please don’t compare us to the chain store studios. But if you must, consider all of the time and work that we put into our photographs, compared to what they do. Good luck getting a two hour photo shoots at a chain store. Not to mention they won’t come to the beach! And of course, look at our work compared to theirs. You get what you pay for.

The truth is, most of the mall and chain store studios lose money. In fact, in 2007 Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios because of the financial drain they were putting on the company. What the chain stores bet on is that you’ll come in for some quick and cheap photos, and while you’re there, you’ll also spend $200 on other things. They don’t have to make money, they are just there to get you in the door.

Conclusion

We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs cost so much more than the ones that you get from your local drug store.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Shawn, Pamela & Gavin Richter
Caught on Film Photography


So, for my conclusion, this article can be applied to any event captured by the photographers.. every click that the photographer press have a value. Even though it is digital, they also have a depreciation for the shutter & the shutter have a limited lifetime.. DSLR camera is different with a compact camera.. what my point here is.. what you pay is what u get.. skills yang photographer tu dah develop makan masa yang lama (dari segi pengalaman, masa, dan jugak kos yang dikerluarkan untuk develop their knowledge). Everything counts..

Mari kita sama-sama bincangkan benda nie.. and for me.. don’t expect people with skills to shoot for free melainkan that photographer is willing to do it for free..

Best regards,
asinqs
asinqs
asinqs
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Number of posts : 99
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Why wedding photography is expensive Empty Re: Why wedding photography is expensive

Post by arcivil 2009-02-09, 17:56

Gua sokong 100% psl kenyataan di atas, sbb isu nie memang sensitif pada mereka yang merasakannya...Ia adalah satu seni yg harus dihargai.

Memang betul masa yg diluangkan adalah lama dan jugak kos yang diperlukan adalah tinggi serta melibatkan ribuan ringgit untuk mencipta satu hasil yang berharga ini.......so harap2 dpt kita renung dan fikirkan bersama ...
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