The wedding season is in full swing and many newly engaged couples are now looking for their wedding vendors for their 2013 weddings. Many couples choose to have their weddings photographed by professional wedding photographers, but they don't know why wedding photography costs. what it costs and what is involved in the background work that occurs. This article hopes to describe how much work, time, and financial investment wedding photographers spend on the final product provided to couples. This is meant for couples to understand the value behind the art that photographers are creating.
Our work as photographers has been greatly glorified by the media and is featured as America's Next Top Model. Everyone seems to have this glorified vision of what our jobs are like. We all sit at our computers all week in our pajamas, then we work an 8-hour day on a wedding day and suddenly we make a ton of money. Unfortunately, this is not how the photography business world works.
In addition to being photographers, we are small business owners. We have a responsibility to market our businesses, manage clients, create our own websites, be our own IT department, advise others, constantly learn, blog, write on Facebook, research, and the list goes on.
There are many uncles Bob and mothers with cameras who claim to be professionals. Wedding photographers spend thousands of dollars and even more time on education, training, attending seminars, etc. to provide our clients with the best creative genius we can. That is just the beginning.
So once we have all this knowledge, what happens next? That beautiful album couples get, the software used costs around $ 500 just to design it. Those beautifully edited photos that require programs like Photoshop costing thousands of dollars and photo management programs like Lightroom and Aperture. Why not also add some effects with OnOne Perfect Photo Suite? None of this is cheap. Every year or a couple of months there are updates. Yes, wedding photographers are always updated and that also costs money depending on the program.
Wedding reception venues require wedding photographers to present proof of insurance. That professional liability insurance is not cheap. Not to mention equipment insurance because replacing one of those Canon 5D Mark IIIs would be the cost of a wedding shoot for many photographers and more.
All serious photographers register as businesses in their state. They also owe Uncle Sam taxes.
Couples may have found their photographer through a wedding directory through a Google search. It costs money to advertise on those sites. That beautiful website where photographers host their photos is also charging an annual fee. There is also an annual subscription fee for the site hosting the website and product orders.
That's just a quick rundown of what wedding photographers need to keep to keep their businesses running. This is where the fun part begins.
Before the wedding, couples often send emails and talk to their wedding photographer in about 10 hours. Many times photographers also visit places with couples to ensure the best possible experience.
Wedding photographers spend the entire wedding day with the couple at the event photographing an average of approximately 4,000 images. Couples receive approximately 500-1000 images, which means the wedding photographer spent many hours selecting the best images.
Once the images have been selected in a range of 500-1000, the wedding photographer begins to review each image with a fine-tooth comb. It's the couple's wedding day ... one of the most important, if not the most important, days of their life. Wedding photographers want couples to remember him by looking their best. Each image is made to look its best and everything that seems out of place is retouched.
Once the couple has all the images beautifully honed, it's time to create an album. Images are now reduced to 100-200 images. This will take a wedding photographer 2 to 5 business hours.
Designing the perfect wedding album also takes time and experience. The albums are designed in sheets and layouts that can take another 10 hours of work time. https://sweetpapermedia.com/
Once the couple has all the images beautifully honed, it's time to create an album. Images are now reduced to 100-200 images.