Soldato
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I've not heard great things about venture to be honest.
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Wedding photographers rant
- Thread starter mejinks
- Start date
ig⋅no⋅rant /ˈɪgnərənt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ig-ner-uhnt] Show IPA
–adjective 1. lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned: an ignorant man.
2. lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact: ignorant of quantum physics.
3. uninformed; unaware.
4. due to or showing lack of knowledge or training: an ignorant statement.
If thats what you want then you may as well pay a friend or relative a few quid and get them to churn out thousands of below par shots that also get poorly post processed and shoddily bunged into the cheapest album they can find
If its a busy event then 2 photographers may be required, or one may help with lighting & equipment and what not, its true that they will get a few shots that won't be of the required quality but even the best photographers don't get 100% keepers
Depends what you're getting for the £100
The photography for my friend's wedding last year cost £2000, which happened to be the most competitive option. That was for two people and they stayed until the first dance, so about 16 man hours total. Certainly is a pretty lucrative business, I think anyone should be happy with a grand for a days work to be honest. It's also the kind of thing you could probably do as a sideline. But these guys were charging a lot for prints of the photos, and the flash based website was useless. It just seems a bit of a rip that my mate paid a good chunk for the photos to be taken then has to pay for the privilege of having the photos in their highest quality. I wasn't really impressed with the photos either, it was obvious they were taken with good cameras and lenses although the composition felt more like snapshots. All the best shots were ones we told them to do.
Yeah there are a few out there who are a bit shoddy , its a good idea to do lots of research on any potential photographers
you're only confirming that you know nothing of what is required to do a class job at what should be the most important day of the couple's life.
Spot on!
One of my friends had a photographer lose all the films from the church a few years ago. He reckons he put them on top of his car and drove off.
The next day I got a call from my mates wife in tears, I thought someone had died. It was in the early days of digital photography and I was the only one there taking many additional pictures.
The pictures I took was all they had of their wedding day.
I think it's a l lot of responsibility for a photographer to get right. As with many things you pay for quality. It's the one area of my wedding I didn't want to be tight with. Especially after having a mate have it go all wrong.
They used our pictures in a display at wedding events for the photographer. Well they used my Mrs and cut me out of all the pictures
The next day I got a call from my mates wife in tears, I thought someone had died. It was in the early days of digital photography and I was the only one there taking many additional pictures.
The pictures I took was all they had of their wedding day.
I think it's a l lot of responsibility for a photographer to get right. As with many things you pay for quality. It's the one area of my wedding I didn't want to be tight with. Especially after having a mate have it go all wrong.
They used our pictures in a display at wedding events for the photographer. Well they used my Mrs and cut me out of all the pictures
With a quick back of the fag packet calculation and assuming 52 weddings per year, the absolute minimum operating expenses would be £100 per wedding, that's not even including professional printing and albums which would further eat into the £500 income.
Lets say in all the photographer uses a relatively cheap album, this takes the operating expenses and materials (prints+album) combined to £300, that gives £200 profit.
From the £200 profit you need to take tax, NI and pension contributions. Considering the photographer can easilly spend 15 hours in meeting the client, at the wedding and post processing the hourly rate of pay is tiny. The ammount of work and stress that goes into shooting a wedding is significant, I wouldn't do it for that much on a full time professional basis.
Lets say in all the photographer uses a relatively cheap album, this takes the operating expenses and materials (prints+album) combined to £300, that gives £200 profit.
From the £200 profit you need to take tax, NI and pension contributions. Considering the photographer can easilly spend 15 hours in meeting the client, at the wedding and post processing the hourly rate of pay is tiny. The ammount of work and stress that goes into shooting a wedding is significant, I wouldn't do it for that much on a full time professional basis.
I've always thought that 'they' screw you at those times in your life when you are either vunerable or don't want to look cheap ie ....... baby equipment, wedding pic's and funerals.
That said, there is some merit in the 'get a pro' to do it', it just depends.
That said, there is some merit in the 'get a pro' to do it', it just depends.
Not all are the same. The photographer that my sister had for her wedding recently was very relaxed. His only request was that when he composed a scene, others did not stand right over his shoulder to try and get the same shot. This was with four other people at the wedding with DSLRs.
No wedding I have shot as a primary or secondary have I experienced any of the bad sides of anything mentioned in this thread...are people just picking photographers using eeni meeni mini mo from a page on the yellow pages or something?
Associate
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Just like anything else, you mention weddings and the price shoots up. DJs, flowers, venues, photographers. We gave up asking and will just have a quiet wedding somewhere nice abroad on our own next year.
Soldato
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A friend of my wife paid £595 for her photographs. She is still devastated 5 years later that she has a total of 21 that came out properly from the pro who was kind enough to offer it half price!
We paid £895 for someone I know very well and who has been in the business 25 years. She did it at discount for us, would normally have been over a grand and she was ace. We visited her twice before the wedding and twice after. She knew the church and venue inside-out and took us to the places for the best shots. She knew that my wife would be stressed out getting ready and didn't get in the way and she gave us time when we needed it. In short, she was a professional, who advised us, gave us the total care package and recorded amazing photographs that we'll cherish for life. £895 was cheap tbh.
For those complaining at £100 for a CD of photos, there are going to be hundreds on there - Janet took neck end of 1000 photos on the day between her and her assistant. The album is Italian leather, and beautifully trimmer and laid out perfectly. Cameras are £100's and so are the lenses, the gear costs a fortune and isn't just 'buy it and forget', it has to be serviced. You can't just take one dSLR camera in case something happens to it so you need a back up. Our wedding was a 70 mile round trip for her.
A good wedding photographer is worth every single penny, a cheap-ass one is worth less than nothing.
We paid £895 for someone I know very well and who has been in the business 25 years. She did it at discount for us, would normally have been over a grand and she was ace. We visited her twice before the wedding and twice after. She knew the church and venue inside-out and took us to the places for the best shots. She knew that my wife would be stressed out getting ready and didn't get in the way and she gave us time when we needed it. In short, she was a professional, who advised us, gave us the total care package and recorded amazing photographs that we'll cherish for life. £895 was cheap tbh.
For those complaining at £100 for a CD of photos, there are going to be hundreds on there - Janet took neck end of 1000 photos on the day between her and her assistant. The album is Italian leather, and beautifully trimmer and laid out perfectly. Cameras are £100's and so are the lenses, the gear costs a fortune and isn't just 'buy it and forget', it has to be serviced. You can't just take one dSLR camera in case something happens to it so you need a back up. Our wedding was a 70 mile round trip for her.
A good wedding photographer is worth every single penny, a cheap-ass one is worth less than nothing.
To the person who said DJs have more moneys worth of equipment please give me a breakdown of that gear? I find it hard to believe that the typical event DJ I've seen has more money in his gear than I do?
Also they've got a far less stressful job, set up a playlist before hand and say a few words every now and then, otherwise sit back and supervise the equipment.
Tom
Also they've got a far less stressful job, set up a playlist before hand and say a few words every now and then, otherwise sit back and supervise the equipment.
Tom
Add some zeros mate
my main body is £5500 worth! Lenses over a grand a pop and flashes £450 a piece.....
Soldato
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Add some zeros mate
lol, that's what I meant - 1 too few 0's!
Add some zeros mate
You didn't pay 5500 now did you
I have the unfortunate prospect of photographing my brothers wedding reception next month, now after thinking about it for a week, i dont think ill be able to do him justice, the amount of gear i think im going to need to buy just to do a decent few snaps will be silly.
I need a reflector a flash gun, a tripod and im proberly going to rent out a couple of extra primes as all i have is kit lens and a 50mm 1.8, after that i need to actually get the feel of the reception, where the sun shines and when, how the couple should pose to do them both justice, how to set up the family in the "group" shot, this is all before i even take a photo! and im just doing a favour.
Are wedding photographers worth £500? Yes, by miles they are worth that just for the stress reduction on the day, having the couple know that their wedding will be more than just a memory of a good day.
I need a reflector a flash gun, a tripod and im proberly going to rent out a couple of extra primes as all i have is kit lens and a 50mm 1.8, after that i need to actually get the feel of the reception, where the sun shines and when, how the couple should pose to do them both justice, how to set up the family in the "group" shot, this is all before i even take a photo! and im just doing a favour.
Are wedding photographers worth £500? Yes, by miles they are worth that just for the stress reduction on the day, having the couple know that their wedding will be more than just a memory of a good day.
Soldato
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They don't. Unless they are carting around one hell of a soundsystem with them, the decks/mixer aren't even going to come to the cost of a top notch lens.
And I quite agree - djing at a wedding is never going to be anything like as stressful as doing the photography, it's a pretty poor comparison to make.