another what to charge wedding Q.

[wendellt]

hi guys

been asked to shoot a wedding

it's a really small on on a beach
probably just 40 people or so

just wondering if $750 is acceptable payment?

they are a friend so im happy with that rate
just wonderign whats standard

shoot wedding, edit, -> images on disk no prints

[Raskill]

No. Given your level of skill and the quality of images you will give them, I would suggest more. Even if you just supplying on DVD, your not just some newb mate.

Don't sell yourself short, get what your worth.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[wendellt]

thanks for that i'll re-consider their 'first' offer

but their friends so i can't push too much

it's also my first wedding so i am actually a newbie in that area
got lots of research tro do

[Geoff]

Wendell - I think u could also up the 'charge' a bit more.

Hmmm..Wendell at a wedding - can't wait to see the results


Don't break anything

[shutterbug]

Hi Wendellt,

How long is the service for?

Since it is a friend I think $750 is reasonable

BUT are you giving them fully edited files or just a batch edit? Is this person confident with PS?

Vince

[wendellt]

hi guys

1 day morning till night

i have to edit images that means 'finishing'

thankyou

[Reschsmooth]

My view would be:

1. Work out how many hours you will spend in total (shooting/post processing).
2. Work out what you would normally charge, per hour, to a full paying client.
3. Work out what kind of discount, per hour, you would charge a friend.
4. Multply 3 by 1.
5. Add on the cost of any damages.

I guess you need to work out if you just want to receive some compensation for your time at 'mates rates', or want to provide just a reasonable discount to what you would normally charge a 3rd party.

(I have no experience in this area, so take my comments with appropriate seasoning).

P

[obzelite]

i suppose it depends on how much of friend they are.

[Antsl]

Hi Wendellt

I enjoy your work and think this couple will enjoy using you as there wedding photographer. Given that this is your first wedding and a rather small one at that I think $750 is a very fair price.

Unlike Fashion events which are scripted to the n'th, weddings can be rather fluid and challenging environments for the photographer.... your subjects will be awkward having their photos taken and chances are you will be working hard to find the right design and lighting for the images.

In this instance, and given that fact that these people are friends I would be happy to run with that figure and treat it as a paid opportunity to discover if you're good at them. If you are asked to do more in the future then at least you have a working knowledge of what they are about and what you can deliver. At this point you can then look at amending your price to what is going on in the market place.

Hope this is a help,
Ants

[jben_net]

Hey Wendel,

I reckon $750 is a good price if they are a friend. Otherwise I'd be charging them up to 2k for your services.......

[Heath Bennett]

Hey Wendel,

I reckon $750 is a good price if they are a friend. Otherwise I'd be charging them up to 2k for your services.......

More than 2K even. Just make sure you have the quality - and from the stuff Wendell does, he has the quality. If he got a good portfolio together, and it wasnt a friend, $5K plus is do-able.

[shutterbug]

hi guys

1 day morning till night

i have to edit images that means 'finishing'

thankyou

hmmm, that is a long day and heaps of work after too...

Is this person a close friend? If yes...$750 is fine. or I would even do it for free.

[PiroStitch]

Wendell, $750 is fine if it's for your friend and starting off. I think photos on a CD/DVD will be fine as well for them to pick and choose what they want to print.

[obzelite]

jeez i must have some good friends, cause i don't know anyone who would think of charging me for doing work for me unless it was just for covering costs. and I'm the same.
its a bit different if its an acquaintance, but for pretty much all the ppl who are close enough to get an invite for a bbq/beer get stuff for free+costs.

[padey]

It really depends on how much work you want to put into it.

An average wedding for us takes about 4 days work from pre-shoots and post work, inc album design and creation. Then you'll be looking for several thou.

Yet, if my mate was getting married, and he was a tight-arse, i'd just do it for nothing, batch convert the RAWs to JPGs to DVD = done. We never drink at any reception, but if my tight-arse mate was getting married i'd make sure I drink the bar dry at the reception!

One thing you'll want to look at is how to pose groups of people and couples without the photos looking posed.

Good luck and enjoy.

[jdear]

are you going to give them full sized JPEGS from your camera or will you supply them at 4x6" physical size so they can only make 4x6" prints... ?

Alot of pro's do this more and more, (supply up to 4x6") and charge for enlargements.

Giving them a DVD with large files will most likely cause their DVD player / computer to grind unless it is top range equipment.

In this case - supply them with a CD which has say web versions - 72dpi at 25% say of the original size so at least they can then browse quickly and access them on any DVD player.

My LG player has a heart attack with full-sized JPEG's out of my 8MP DSLR.


Are you going to post-process each file? If you are, I would certainly charge more, full coverage from morning to night is a very big day, and when you work it out with time in photoshop, you'll end up working for like $4 and hour!

[wendellt]

hi guys

thanks for all the help

they are just expecting a nice set of available light portraits it's going to be a contemporary wedding at a beach/shoreline location

so it's a very different format to a traditional wedding

in terms of post processing ill try to shoot smart so i dont have to process too much

my commercial rate is high but for this sort of thing especially a first around 750+ is fine with me even though its a whole day plus post work

i wont be supplying any bonus packages like prints or albums just my time effort and the results on disk

the couple look very good together and their friends so i anticipate little problems with getting a clean meaningful shot

their pretty tech savvy so they will be o.k with just images

thanks again

[Yi-P]

I'm not a very experienced wedding photographer, so take what i say with a grain of salt.

From all being said above, talk to them previously about how many shots you will be delivering. With a specific number in mind, you will know when you've hit the quota and start on getting what's next on the list, eg. props around and some other unnoticed details.

Wendell, dont try to get them on a very arty poses with arms and legs here and there. Simplicity usually works a treat in these situations. You've mastered the way light falls and blends into the subject, so I cant say anything for you regarding this.

All in all, take account into how many hours you will be shooting and how many hours of post processing work you will have to do. Say 8hrs of shooting, delivering 600 pictures, you spend roughly 6 hours work on post process to get rid of unwanted objects, cropping etc... that is 14 hours of work, charged by $750 you end up getting roughly $50 per hour.

Best of luck for this one

[firsty]

my only comment is that weddings are about the wedding (it must go on)
so you won't have time to take a shot check the histogram re shoot re check the histogram while the couple just stand around
so maybe if you still want to use your camera in your normal manual settings way you should just concentrate on setting the depth of field you want and have the camera set up to bracket the shot and fire 3 shot bursts to get a range of exposures so you can keep up and not have to check all the time

[wendellt]

thanks for all your help guys i appreciate it

[PiroStitch]

Also if you're a really really nice friend, maybe try organise some really funky urban style of shooting that you're used to as part of the portraits A bit different perhaps?

[Alex]

Wendell,

Enjoy it! I'm sure you will produce outstanding results no matter what, you always do.

Looking forward to the images.

Alex

[MATT]

jeez i must have some good friends, cause i don't know anyone who would think of charging me for doing work for me unless it was just for covering costs. and I'm the same.
its a bit different if its an acquaintance, but for pretty much all the ppl who are close enough to get an invite for a bbq/beer get stuff for free+costs.

I think the same here, are you invited to the wedding?? Then I would not charge. If you weren't cause it going to be small or some other excuse, getting paid $750 for the experience seems OK.


Good Luck
MATT