Wedding Photography Services at $388
- Thread starter initialE24
- Start date
- Status
Belle&Sebastain
Senior Member
initialE24 said:
seriously dun think any working professional is offended by your prices
just want let you know when you do charge like that, expect the type of clients not to be appreciative as you want them.As far as my experiece goes, the more you charge, the better your clients treat and respect you. The lower you charge with discounts and freebies, the more the clients want from you. At the end, you may end up unhappy or losing the passion!
i think all of us (working pros) are trageting different market segments from you. No worries mate!
there are 12000 to 20000 weddings a year , more than enough to go by, not sure about events though when so many ppl offer free services. some even buy ladders and super duper lenses to shoot.
initialE24
New Member
dragos said:
I thought so too....
shinken said:Hey KennethFor old times sake, when I do make-up, u recommend me ok? I do free for your wedding :flush:
Seriously, couples are less willing to pay, because they compare prices. MUA, somehow, amongst themselves, even in the absence of any regulating body, have the integrity to maintain their prices. Somehow photographers don't. It's heartwrenching, like you said. I still explore DI on the photos I shot with you and so many others. I think some of the couples might have even forgot abt their wedding photos already, and yet I still think abt what I liked abt the shoot, how to do it better... I totally understand what you mean by the joy in doing the photography. But I rather be a MUA then to charge a price that's not a reflection of the value of the service rendered. But that's just me.
think cos MUAs mostly dun do it for passion ba? i duno la, but i think MUAs do it as a job lo, whereas there are lots of photogs out there who do it for passion, so they dun mind charging lower prices, thus "spoiling the market".
i'm not pro photographer myself, so i really duno how it feels for them to have people charging lower prices. to me, the rule is to match quality with the price. pro charge high price, newbie charge low price. here, no harm done(at least to me no harm done). yi fen qian yi fen huo(u get what u pay).
harm is done when the non-newbies charge low, and then people will ask,"how come the photos u take and the photos he take equally good, but u so ex he so cheap?" <-- is spoil market.
haha i'm keeping up with this thread cos i'm interested in wedding photography too. but i'm still super newbie la, as backup also duno can make it anot. haha...
hmm got 12000 to 20000 weddings a year... so can i have a piece of the pie too? i just take the crumbs... those cheapos that ok with newbies one. i confirm wont spoil market, cos my skill really not there at all...+ 0 exp.
just wanna ask, so if for a total newbie like me, market rate is how much for AD wedding?
hmm got 12000 to 20000 weddings a year... so can i have a piece of the pie too? i just take the crumbs... those cheapos that ok with newbies one. i confirm wont spoil market, cos my skill really not there at all...+ 0 exp.
just wanna ask, so if for a total newbie like me, market rate is how much for AD wedding?
initialE24 said:
You are not offended onyone. In fact I have to thanks you to start this thread, others wise I don't have the chance to tell others my bad exp.
Hope you don't feel bad, I think everyone also take this opp to "fa fa lao sao" only! Actually Wedding Day shoot is hard earn $$$, all the photographers should work together, try not sell our service like "kachang putay". Hope all the photographers "ming tian hui gen hao"!
initialE24
New Member
SLCC said:
thank you.....i will remember your advise.
jonnie84 said:
If you're keen, my advice won't be on how much to charge, but when you are ready to charge. Seriously, if you say there's no harm done for newbies to charge low prices, I disagree. KnightOng made the point very clearly. It's difficult to raise prices subsequently, because the referred couples would have told them your price. You will also realise that as you shoot, you will need to get more equipment. Unless you already have a very impressive setup. I found myself needing more CF cards, more batteries, another body, another flash etc etc. If I charge 388, my equipment acquisition simply cannot keep up.
On the notion that newbies come in, charge cheap because they have no portfolio. So charge cheap, build portfolio, raise price later, my concern is this:
We're talking about wedding photography here. There's no take two. At least we hope there won't be. For someone (not referring to threadstarter, but to whoever is taking an interest) who has insufficient experience to do solo, you cannot screw up. You screw up, the couple can't get married for you to shoot again.
For me, I won't charge if my works don't deserved to be paid for. I won't use anyone's wedding ground at the expense of me making a quick buck or getting experience, and yet charge at the same time. I have requests for assignments on subjects I had never tried, I either let them know I have no experience and refer them to someone else, or let them know the risk they're taking by letting me shoot. But that's just me.
jnet6 said:hmm.. i think you got to "thank" alot of ppl contributing to yr thread...
Yes! We should thanks each other who share their bad exp and share their feeling. :cheers: :cheergal: Let's work together don't let those people who can afford to pay for everythings but can't afford to pay for photographer to "bulie" us!:sticktong
I shot many weddings, but hardly encounter couple using free make up artist, one make up artist can serve up to 4~5 brides on wedding hot dates, can even ask brides to compromise their appointment time or else no make up artist. Why is that so? Why many couple want to give in to make up artist? And wouldn't consider use student or free make up artists? Think about it.
If you want to help wedding couples in budget problems, your intension is good, but you are not doing it the right way.
Firstly, to many of them this is not a essential parts, so never put a budget on this, so just let it be.
Secondly, there have many people around them have cameras, the couple think that will be good enough, why should pay someone to do it for them, even it is lower then market rates.
Thirdly you will let some couples taking advantage on you, you will never know this until the day you shoot their wedding.
Lastly, if the wedding couple value good photography truly and have a genuine budget issue, that would be their problems, not photographers' problem, and they have many avenues to solve this, like let their love ones sponsor the wedding photography.
For you info, in the market, many volume shooters charge $350 to $500 for providing photography service plus supply original images (means no post production, just download, burn and handover to customers) for whole day wedding, your price mention here is not that attractive compare to them, especially these people are far more experience and can shoot faster than you, maybe they are shooting their third weddings of the week and you still post processing the image and put into the slide show.
You want to shoot wedding with a passion? Sure you can, Shoot it with a Good Price, Shoot it with Your Pride and Don't Shoot in Volume.
If you want to help wedding couples in budget problems, your intension is good, but you are not doing it the right way.
Firstly, to many of them this is not a essential parts, so never put a budget on this, so just let it be.
Secondly, there have many people around them have cameras, the couple think that will be good enough, why should pay someone to do it for them, even it is lower then market rates.
Thirdly you will let some couples taking advantage on you, you will never know this until the day you shoot their wedding.
Lastly, if the wedding couple value good photography truly and have a genuine budget issue, that would be their problems, not photographers' problem, and they have many avenues to solve this, like let their love ones sponsor the wedding photography.
For you info, in the market, many volume shooters charge $350 to $500 for providing photography service plus supply original images (means no post production, just download, burn and handover to customers) for whole day wedding, your price mention here is not that attractive compare to them, especially these people are far more experience and can shoot faster than you, maybe they are shooting their third weddings of the week and you still post processing the image and put into the slide show.
You want to shoot wedding with a passion? Sure you can, Shoot it with a Good Price, Shoot it with Your Pride and Don't Shoot in Volume.
initialE24
New Member
catchlights said:
I would love to shoot at a good price..... but is there a benchmark and wat the pricing should be like?
Very often, pricing is determined by the demand and supply in the market. If demand exceeds supply, pricing goes up. However, if supply is more than the demand, the price will fall into equilibrium.
I certainly take pride in everything I do.... afterall, if given a choice,I will charge a premium when I have earned a name in the industry. Meanwhile, I just concentrate wat I enjoy doing for an interest....
I once shoot for a friend who does not come from a rich family. Till today, he remains to b a good friend of mine for not charging him a high rate. he was very broke at that time cos of recession. I am doing tis for friendship and he appreciates it.
I always believe in Passion. Without passion, nothing will ever succeed. If everything is based on the value of money, I would not be happy.... Afterall, to be the richest person in the graveyard is not my dream.
- Status
Similar threads
