A friend of the family has asked me if I would be willing to take pictures to remember her wedding. They are getting married in a courthouse so, the pictures would be rather formal. I'm not sure if she will wear a dress or if it will be more like engagement pictures. I have only photographed one person since I have gotten into photography, and it was just for practice, basically to see if I would even like photographing people. She wants to know how much I will charge her to do the pictures, and I have no idea where to even start.
I had told her I would do them, edit them and then put the pictures onto a CD, so she could print what ever type of pictures she wanted, wherever she wanted.
Advice, please!!
The best advice I ever got on this point was to consider, quite honestly, ALL the time you will have to put into it, multiply that by an hourly rate and use that as a starting point. For a friend's wedding the total may be way too high (maybe it won't). In that case think about donating some or even all of your time as an in-kind service (e.g. because the experience is valuable to you). Eventually you'll come to an amount that 'feels right' but without devaluing your time. You are just giving a discount :) To get your hourly rate, find out what a professional would charge and consider your relative experience. That should get you in the ballpark
Interesting problem you have. I totally agree with @dieter . You need to work out how much time it will take and then how much you want to get paid an hour. Time x Hour rate = How much.
Well that's the simple version.
I think in reality, both looking through your photos and what you have said, I think you may need the practice. Taking portraits is not as easy as it seems, especially when it is an important as a wedding.
You have many things to deal with that are out of your control and the more people you take at once the harder it is. You will have lighting issues, people management issues, location issues and time issues.
Now having said that if I were you, I would do it for free but set the expectation up front that you are not a professional and its on a best effort basis, and highlight any expectation of post processing. i.e. will you do it, if so on how many images.
The last thing you want is your good deeds to be turned into something different.
I am personally photographing two friends weddings this year. One I am doing completely for free as he is a very close and long time friend and the other is a friend who I am giving a 30% discount.
With both of these I have given them a clear understanding of how many pictures they will get and how many will be post processed. I have also broken down the number of pictures they will get for the different times of the wedding. i.e. getting ready, couples meeting, formal photo, actual ceremony, reception, etc
I hope that helps without scaring you to death. :)
If you search this site, there are several discussions that might help. I can't recall the exact discussion titles but Jinx is one of the contributors to look for.
A couple of years ago my niece asked me to do her wedding photos. As an absolute amateur who just likes taking photos, I was a bit nervous as it's not like you can do it over if there are no good ones. I took lots of pics, knew nothing much about editing, so about all I did was some cropping. There were far more rejects than acceptable pics, shadows on faces, people in the background, group shots that looked " lop sided". All the things that I didn't notice until I was reviewing on the computer. Good ending though, she was delighted with the disc I gave her, and I left it up to her to choose which photos she wanted to print. @agima - I will put a couple in my other album tomorrow, and if you have time at some stage I would love to hear your thoughts on them. After starting this project a couple of weeks ago, I want to go back to those wedding photos and do some editing...
I have done a few weddings and I was very upfront with my experience so there would not be the highest of expectations..fortunatly they were good friends that trusted me enough to do them and also gain alot of experience...I had asked my boss at the time ( who is a Professional Photographer) what the going rate was and he himself had only done relatives and friends but he put it to me this way ...Your time is worth the most...if a Professional gets 500.00 per hour lets say and they are going to be there for 3- 6 hours.then you could charge half of that for your time and then give another discount for "friends and family" .Now i was at both weddings all day and night and only charged 500.00 for one and 250 for another...Once again I am no Professional and i dont mean to throw out these numbers because i do not know what they actually make or charge..They are all different anyway..Just make sure you get some so they dont take advantage of your time....and be sure you have extra batteries and a back up camera just in case something was to happen...If they are your real friends they will love you just for doing it for such a low price..Mine Did!!!..I hope this helped a little if not for anything eles at least you know your not alone...If you have a camera and you love to take pictures your friends and family will always try and get a deal...believe me I was a massage therapist for 15 years and i cant tell yoiu how many free massages i have given away!! LOL!! Make them pay something so they dont think you will do everything for free!!
@shadesofgrey - I am really new to this, I searched the discussion forum and couldnt really find what I was looking for because she wants me to take pictures that will be more like engagement pictures. They won't be like actual church pictures or reception pictures.
@ellimae you make are very good point. I know if I it for free I make sure they know why I am doing it for free this time. :)
Just on a side note. My wife showed me the proofs from a friends wedding and I must say I was not very impressed with them as the quality was no where near what I would expect. Now having said that, I am very particular and much the perfectionist so there was no surprise that I didn't think they were up to scratch. The clients/friends on the other hand thought they were the best photos they have ever seen and they loved them.
Its kind of like that saying - "The face only a mother could love!" If someone has a personal connection with the photo, they will see it in a very different light and will love it no matter what flaws it may have. :)
Good luck. Oh just before I go. Pricing.
You would expect to pay around $12,000 for a great photographer here but on average it would be around $3-4,000.
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Well that's the simple version.
I think in reality, both looking through your photos and what you have said, I think you may need the practice. Taking portraits is not as easy as it seems, especially when it is an important as a wedding.
You have many things to deal with that are out of your control and the more people you take at once the harder it is. You will have lighting issues, people management issues, location issues and time issues.
Now having said that if I were you, I would do it for free but set the expectation up front that you are not a professional and its on a best effort basis, and highlight any expectation of post processing. i.e. will you do it, if so on how many images.
The last thing you want is your good deeds to be turned into something different.
I am personally photographing two friends weddings this year. One I am doing completely for free as he is a very close and long time friend and the other is a friend who I am giving a 30% discount.
With both of these I have given them a clear understanding of how many pictures they will get and how many will be post processed. I have also broken down the number of pictures they will get for the different times of the wedding. i.e. getting ready, couples meeting, formal photo, actual ceremony, reception, etc
I hope that helps without scaring you to death. :)
@agima - I will put a couple in my other album tomorrow, and if you have time at some stage I would love to hear your thoughts on them. After starting this project a couple of weeks ago, I want to go back to those wedding photos and do some editing...
@dieter @agima @onie @onie @ellimae - Thank you all for your advice.
Just on a side note. My wife showed me the proofs from a friends wedding and I must say I was not very impressed with them as the quality was no where near what I would expect. Now having said that, I am very particular and much the perfectionist so there was no surprise that I didn't think they were up to scratch. The clients/friends on the other hand thought they were the best photos they have ever seen and they loved them.
Its kind of like that saying - "The face only a mother could love!" If someone has a personal connection with the photo, they will see it in a very different light and will love it no matter what flaws it may have. :)
Good luck. Oh just before I go. Pricing.
You would expect to pay around $12,000 for a great photographer here but on average it would be around $3-4,000.
http://365project.org/discuss/articles/5092/why-pro-photogs-charge-lots-of
http://365project.org/discuss/general/5956/how-much-to-charge-for-photoshoots
http://365project.org/discuss/general/4566/how-much-to-charge
http://365project.org/discuss/general/7751/what-to-charge
http://365project.org/discuss/general/1981/help-with-amount-to-charge