Originally Posted by
Paul
I really don't think he is undercutting himself. In fact I would think that if more photographers were pricing in this range, they would get far more business.
Lets face facts, these photographers are using digital photography almost exclusively. Maybe $3000 was justified when the photographer had to keep a dark room, and be a chemist as well as a photographer to develope their film. Plus editing digital is far easier than editing film. There is no cutting or stripping. I can appreciate that there is work and time that goes in to doing a photoshoot. But $3000... If it takes 4 hours to shoot the wedding. 6 hours to do the set up and the printing that is $300.00 an hour. If it takes 4 hours of shooting, and 26 hours for set up and printing, that is still $100.00 an hour. It is excessive.
Shut the hell up. Im so sick of you sticking your head in shit you know nothing about. You think you know about everything. Are you speaking from experience as a photographer? If not just stay the fuck out of it.
The reason photographers charge what they do is for their services. Thats it. Its not somthing anyone can do. The better you are the more you can charge. Your gonna pay a ASE mechanic more than some back yard hick right? There is usually more hours put into post than was spent at the actual event. Just because you leave the wedding the work does not stop.
Every wedding I have done, including preperation, ceremony, reception and departure take about 6-8 hours. Then lets just say another 4 hours in post to edit and clean up 600 useable photos. Thats just 12 hours. So far that breaks down to $125 an hour. Sound expensive? Now lets talk about travel time and wear and tear on all my gear. How about the $600+ programs photgraphers use to process the photos? And how about the cost of getting the film developed? Now we are talking about getting less than $100 an hour for a job that not everyone is cut out to do.
And as far as using digital only. Most pros DO NOT! They mostly use digi. yes, but for all the most imortant shots, usually medium format film will be used because it can pick up the highlights and shadows in the white dress and black jacket that a digital sensor just cant get.
If its so easy and cheap to do why dont you just shoot his wedding for him bud? Until you have had a few years in this field under your belt I wouldnt be so quick to judge what price is fair and what price isnt. Im sure Jason will be upping his prices once his name gets out there and he gets more recognition.
I starder out charging $500 for a wedding and after 2 realized I was screwing myself out of money. Now after working with a few pros who charge upwards of $20,000 for a wedding I think my $2500 is a very good price.