Photography - Opinions needed!

caressamba

If I may, as a wedding photographer I'd like to just clarify some things regarding prices. I quite agree that on the face of it wedding photography can seem extremely expensive - many people see it as paying hundreds of pounds for someone just to turn up with a camera, and more and more we see people allowing guests to take many of the photos. Having a professional means your guests are free to enjoy the day that you want to share with them

One thing which others have touched on which is important to remember, is that it is a question of quality and professionalism. Photographers who are worth the amount they charge will guide you and take control of the formal pictures, capture beautiful candids and details, and be on hand throughout the day without getting in the way (I have been known to do bridal hair, help ser the buffet out and run errands!). They will give you an appropriate amount of photos which will create a record of your whole day, and if you've chosen to have an album they will spend time designing the look of the album and the flow of the pictures. Furthermore, a decent wedding photographer will retouch or treat your photos in the style you want (I know for some people this is not required but for anyone looking for a particular 'style' this will probably involve a fair amount of postprocessing or at the very least spending time choosing the best photos from the day). On top of that, they will package your photos up with care, whether that means a printed album or a CD/DVD with a personalised cover, and they'll stay in touch and get to know you personally throughout this entire process. Most of all, if they are any good they will love weddings and genuinely want to do it.

My point really is that whilst £600 or £1000 may seem an awful lot of money - and it is, a good wedding photographer will be spending many more hours on your wedding than just the 8 hours on the day. That price will include their overheads; travel, insurance, printing, books, consultations, possibly paying an assistant, etc etc before they take a wage. So the hourly rate becomes not astronomical but actually rather reasonable. Of course some of this stuff will be optional and the price should reflect that but any photographer worth their cost will not compromise on quality.

I would be very wary of this chap; it sounds like he's not going to build a personal relationship with you, and I agree with others that there is an alarm bell ringing at the fact he is booking 2013 weddings through Groupon. Although he has lots of other weddings on his site, are you sure they are all his photos? If he is so experienced, why does he need Groupon?

Cheaper is not always better. One final point - by the time your wedding comes around, you'll have spent many months planning fine details, lovingly picking out all the things which are going to make your wedding special. After the wedding, it's quite likely you're going to feel that it flew by (in a nice way!) and your photos are going to be a key part of your memories for the rest of your life. I would suggest this is not the area to be going for the cheapest option if you can avoid it

Hope that's helpful xx

Snowfall

caressamba wrote: »

If I may, as a wedding photographer I'd like to just clarify some things regarding prices. I quite agree that on the face of it wedding photography can seem extremely expensive - many people see it as paying hundreds of pounds for someone just to turn up with a camera, and more and more we see people allowing guests to take many of the photos. Having a professional means your guests are free to enjoy the day that you want to share with them

One thing which others have touched on which is important to remember, is that it is a question of quality and professionalism. Photographers who are worth the amount they charge will guide you and take control of the formal pictures, capture beautiful candids and details, and be on hand throughout the day without getting in the way (I have been known to do bridal hair, help ser the buffet out and run errands!). They will give you an appropriate amount of photos which will create a record of your whole day, and if you've chosen to have an album they will spend time designing the look of the album and the flow of the pictures. Furthermore, a decent wedding photographer will retouch or treat your photos in the style you want (I know for some people this is not required but for anyone looking for a particular 'style' this will probably involve a fair amount of postprocessing or at the very least spending time choosing the best photos from the day). On top of that, they will package your photos up with care, whether that means a printed album or a CD/DVD with a personalised cover, and they'll stay in touch and get to know you personally throughout this entire process. Most of all, if they are any good they will love weddings and genuinely want to do it.

My point really is that whilst £600 or £1000 may seem an awful lot of money - and it is, a good wedding photographer will be spending many more hours on your wedding than just the 8 hours on the day. That price will include their overheads; travel, insurance, printing, books, consultations, possibly paying an assistant, etc etc before they take a wage. So the hourly rate becomes not astronomical but actually rather reasonable. Of course some of this stuff will be optional and the price should reflect that but any photographer worth their cost will not compromise on quality.

I would be very wary of this chap; it sounds like he's not going to build a personal relationship with you, and I agree with others that there is an alarm bell ringing at the fact he is booking 2013 weddings through Groupon. Although he has lots of other weddings on his site, are you sure they are all his photos? If he is so experienced, why does he need Groupon?

Cheaper is not always better. One final point - by the time your wedding comes around, you'll have spent many months planning fine details, lovingly picking out all the things which are going to make your wedding special. After the wedding, it's quite likely you're going to feel that it flew by (in a nice way!) and your photos are going to be a key part of your memories for the rest of your life. I would suggest this is not the area to be going for the cheapest option if you can avoid it

Hope that's helpful xx

Some excellent points there, caressamba. My OH almost had a heart attack when I told him how much we need to budget for a photographer!! In your opinion, what should a decent photographer offer, in terms of copyright? I see a lot of people just getting DVDs, and I assume you can't print from these regardless of copyright..Any advice would be much appreciated. Finding it very difficult to find a photographer within budget!

Idiophreak

alipops1986 wrote: »

he's willing to honour it and upgrade it to high resolution pictures for free

Serious alarm bells ringing here...what was he going to give you before!!?

TBH my suspicion is you'll either a) end up paying much more than you think to get your photos out of this guy or b) won't end up with many photos to remember your wedding by.

In answer to your question, snowfall...we got 2 DVDs with our photos on them - and a letter stating that we're allowed to print the images (which was actually asked for in boots once...who knew!?).

northern_munky

Snowfall wrote: »

Some excellent points there, caressamba. My OH almost had a heart attack when I told him how much we need to budget for a photographer!! In your opinion, what should a decent photographer offer, in terms of copyright? I see a lot of people just getting DVDs, and I assume you can't print from these regardless of copyright..Any advice would be much appreciated. Finding it very difficult to find a photographer within budget!

Snowfall, lots of clients now want a DVD with high resolution files so they can print as and when they like. As a photographer myself, I always keep copyright of the images but sign over full reproduction rights to my clients so they can print every image in full resolution.

If this is what you require be wary of photographers who just offer a DVD of low resolution images (suitable for facebook) or just a limited number of full resolution images (maybe 100) with the rest available to buy in an online gallery.