“Why is there so much variation in pricing for photographers?”

by Jim White

This is a question that passes through every potential customers mind and one I probably answer in great detail a couple times a week.  In reality, as with all things in life…you get what you pay for.  Certainly there are exceptions, but odds are there is always someone who will do the job cheaper but do you really want to trust this once in a lifetime event to anyone with a camera or your Uncle Bob?  The simple answer is NO but let me explain why.

With the advent of the digital camera just about anyone who spends a few hundred dollars can purchase a fairly good digital camera.  Maybe they have taken a few good shots, so hey, why not become a wedding photographer?  I am sure this thought has gone through the minds of many would be business entrepreneurs.  Being real a wedding photographer is serious work and not for the light of heart. 

These are the questions you need to ask any serious photographer aiming to gain your business and why there is so much variation in pricing.

Reliability:

Does the photographer have a reliable vehicle?  This sounds crazy, but I have heard this horror story more than once.  Some of these photographers barely get by and you know what? They do not maintain their vehicles as a consequence.  What about just being there on time or double booking on the same day?  I am certain you would not want to get a phone call the day of the wedding when the photographer states “I’m running a bit late…my other wedding ran over” or “sorry, I’m going to be late, my car broke down”. You would think this would be a no-brainer but if they can’t get there, I don’t care how good of a photographer or price they offered, it doesn’t matter.

We book one wedding per day, that’s it. I have served over 20 years in the military; I know how to be on-time! 

Licensed:

Is this a licensed photographer or someone who keeps the books under the table? Odds are if you’re asked to pay cash, write a check to a person (not to a business), or not charged state tax, it’s not a real business. You would have little recourse if something goes wrong.  Ask to see the business license or call the city in which they operate.

Our business license is based out of Portsmouth Virginia. We charge tax, and we have a professional CPA review our books every year.

Insured:

Again this is another easily overlooked item.  If it is a professional photographer, they have a tremendous amount of money tied up in equipment.  They would require a commercial insurance policy for their equipment and liability insurance in the event that something unfortunate happens at the wedding.  Trust me if it can happen it will if you have been doing this as long as we have.

We carry commercial insurance and a liability policy.

Experienced:

This one is easy.  Does their portfolio reflect enough varying shots to express the look you want?  Do they sound like they know what there are talking about? Have you met the photographers? Anyone can show you a few good shots from this wedding or that; can they show you multiple wedding from start to finish?

We meet all of our potential clients because we want to establish a relationship; we want to know the details of your wedding.  We have our initial meeting to show you our work, provide samples, options and choices for final products. We can show you dozens of photos from many weddings; we have numerous contacts all throughout the industry.  We can recommend caterers, florists and DJs.  We have seen all the good weddings and a fair amount of bad over the years.  We know that most ceremonies no not allow the use of flash photography; therefore we have lenses that are capable of capturing photographs in very low light.

Equipment:

Okay, this is a fun one.  How many cameras does the photographer bring to a wedding? Does he/she charge the batteries the night before, what about studio strobes, and wireless capability?  The list goes on and on.  Can you imagine the nightmare of a photographer saying to you on your wedding day; “ah.hold on, I need to charge my batteries” or “let me call my friend, my camera just stopped working.”

We carry two professional camera bodies at every wedding and we shoot with the very best lenses money can buy. Contrary to popular belief it’s not the camera that gets the quality photo, it’s the lens.  It’s about glass, this is why point and shoot cameras have such horrible pictures indoors; the lens is too small to let in enough light.  Typically most weddings call for very low light shooting throughout the entire event.  We have two Canon 5D full frame cameras; we use all “L” series lenses (Canon Pro line) and a variety of professional studio equipment and flashes.  It is not uncommon for us to show up at a wedding with $10k in camera gear.  Look at it this way…the cost of a good photographer might cover the rental of just the gear; you get the experience and labor for free!

Editing

This one is a real shocker to me. There are actually photographers out there that show up at a wedding take a thousand pictures and put them on a disc and give it to the bride and groom.  Are you kidding me? What the heck are they going to do with all those photos, take them to Wal-Mart and sit for hours in front of the kiosk?  You pay for a professional you should get professional results, such as eliminating the bad shots, correcting the color, cropping the photos, formatting them in an easily viewable format.

We take approximately 1,000 photos at every wedding between two photographers. We narrow the photos down to about 10-15% of the very best shots.  We correct for lighting, color, temperature and have them posted on-line typically within two weeks of your event.  Do you still want photos on a disc? If you want all the digital negatives you can have those as well.

Artistic touch

Does your potential photographer have real editing software?  I’m not talking about some on-line program or free quick fix software that came with the purchase of the camera.

We use the Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom 2.0 with a variety of other “plug-in” programs to make your photos the absolute best they can be.  We may spend 8 hours at your wedding, but be assured we’ll spend an equal amount of time fixing blemishes and choosing the best templates or color combinations to make your wedding album “one of a kind”.

Access and storage:

Does your wedding photographer just put the pictures on a disk and edit them later?  What about webhosting and viewing?

The benefits of digital can also be a curse if there is no scheduled work flow to handle raw images (un-edited).  Upon returning from a wedding we download all photos into our computer while simultaneously we back them up to an external hard drive, then an additional copy is uploaded to a remote on-line storage site before the first photo is edited.  This ensures that all images are protected against peril or accidental deletion.  We also host photos on-line with Smugmug which is a very popular photo hosting site that many professionals use.  It’s not exactly cheap but they provide excellent security (no right click copying), and they provide consistent and high quality products for you and your guest to order photos from.

Portraits with Jim White Photography