helgaphotography

Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?

I found an interesting article which can be found HERE .

Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?
This article has been very well received by the photography community, and is published in the December 2009 edition of Professional Photographer Magazine.

In this digital age where everyone has cameras, scanners, and home “photo printers,” we hear this all the time: How do professional (or personal) photographers charge $X for an 8x10 when they cost just $1.50 at the drugstore? Simply put, the customer is not just paying for the actual photograph; they’re paying for time and expertise.

The average one-hour portrait session

First, let’s look at the actual work involved:

• Travel to the session
• Setup, preparation, talking to the client, etc.
• Shoot the photos
• Travel from the session
• Load images onto a computer
• Back up the files on an external drive
• 2 - 4 hours of Adobe® Photoshop® time, including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, and backing up edited photographs. Proof photos are also ordered.
• 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment, and ship.
• Possibly meet clients at the studio to review photos and place order. Meeting and travel time average 2 hours.

You can see how a one-hour session easily turns into an eight-hour day or more from start to finish. So when you see a personal photographer charging a $200 session fee for a one-hour photo shoot, the client is NOT paying them $200 per hour.

The eight-hour wedding

A wedding photographer typically meets with the bride and groom several times before and after the wedding. And it’s not uncommon to end up with 1,000 - 2,000 photos, much more than a portrait session. Many photographers spend 40-60 hours working on one eight-hour wedding if you look at the time that is truly involved. Again, when a wedding photographer charges $4,000 for eight hours of coverage, clients are NOT paying them $500 an hour!

(Don’t forget that the photographer runs the wedding day to some extent. A comfortable, confident wedding photographer can make a wedding day go more smoothly.)

The expertise and cost of doing business

Shooting professional photography is a skill acquired through years of experience. Even though a DSLR now costs under $1,000, taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.

Most personal photographers take years to go from buying their first camera to making money with photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera, there is a mountain of other equipment and software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website, etc. And don’t forget backdrops, props, rent, utilities, insurance, etc!

In addition to the financial investment, photographers actually have to have people skills to make subjects comfortable in front of the camera. Posing people to look their best is a skill by itself. You could argue that posing is a more important skill than actually knowing how to use the camera. A poorly exposed photo can be saved, but a badly posed photo cannot.

The chain store photo studio

Chain stores do have their place. For a very cheap price you can run in, shoot some quick photos, and be done with it. But you get what you pay for.

Consider the time and effort that a personal photographer puts into photographs, compared to a chain store. Store sessions last just a few minutes, while a personal photographer takes the time to get to know the people, makes them comfortable, makes them laugh. If a baby is crying at a chain store, they often don’t have the time (or the patience) to wait because everyone is in a hurry.

The truth is that many chain store studios lose money. In fact, Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios in 2007 because of the financial drain. What the chain stores bank on is a client coming in for quick, cheap photos…and while there, spending $200 on other items. They are there to get you in the door.

The real deal

Professional, personal photographers are just that—professionals. No different than a mechanic, dentist, doctor, or electrician. But a personal photographer often becomes a friend, someone who documents a family for generations with professional, personal photographs of cherished memories.

Maybe we need to help clients look at it this way: A pair of scissors costs $1.50 at the drugstore. Still, most people will gladly pay a lot more to hire a professional hair dresser to cut their hair.

The added attention and quality that a personal photographer gives is worth every penny.

Conclusion

We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs, created by a Personal Photographer are so expensive.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Shawn, Pamela and Gavin Richter - cofphoto@aol.com

Our website - Caught on Film Photography

Our photography fourm - Learning Digital Photography Together

Early in February, we had the privilage of photographing Coco & Lei on their big day. We met up at the Muttart Conservatory before the Ceremony to take some pictrues outside. It was pretty cold but you wouldn’t know it just by looking at their photographs; the love was definitely warming the air that day! The ceremony was small and contained inside one of the four Muttart biospheres, with about 50 friends and relatives. Coco & Lei are both from China so they don’t have much family over here, but as university students they wanted to tie the knot here in Edmonton. The service was both in English and in Chinese; it was nice to know that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ was glorified throughout from the Scripture-readings and prayers, in both languages.

We wish you both a very happy marriage!  Thank you for including us in your big day. Keep Christ in the center and He will direct your path.

Helga & Peter

We had the privelage of photograhing Kim and Graham’s wedding back in August. My husband had to do some last minute work before our departure so I took a student from NAIT with me to do the photographs.

The day started early at Kim’s place where her bridesmaids and cousins were busy getting ready. The small condo was packed with people and close, so I decided to take the wedding dress out to the balcony on the 4th floor. I hung it up to the ceiling and woooosh! a big wind came and almost blew it away! The day really started out great, since I managed to catch the dress.

We met the boys and the guests at the Devonian Garden, and experianced a wonderful outside ceremony. The sky was great the wind was blowing, and the people were really happy as Kim walked down the aisle in her blue snekers (which was hidden from view to the onlookers!). We stayed at the Japanese garden for pictures, then our lovely couple took off in a beautiful Jaguar to the Edmonton Military Base. The ride was long, as the summer constructon was everywhere in the outskirts of the city. When we arrived, Kim noticed that she had forgotten her garter, so her mom came up with a quick fix: take the shoelace out of her sneaker and tie it together to make a garter; it worked out pretty well. Then poor Graham took a turn for the worse, and his stomache couldn’t keep him on his seat. Thankfully he got better while the speeches were finishing, and afterwards we enjoyed a wonderful evening with lots of dancing, laughing and great company. Here are some photos of that fun day:

What a great day guys, I wish you all the best for your life together.

Photo #7 is the winner with 17 votes. Congratulation, you will receive an 8x10 print of your baby boy.

This past Saturday we had a great time photographing K&M on their wedding day. It was a fantastic time with lots of sunshine and the wedding party were awesome company! Thank you guys for putting up with me, even when I was bringing you out into the cold winter elements. You Rock! Here are some shots of the day:

Enjoy your time in Panama, we wish you all the best for your life to come. Keep Christ in the center of your marriage and always look to Him in prayers!

God Bless

Thanks for having us at your wedding

Helga & Peter

Photo #7 with 5 votes. Congrats to the winner you will receive an 8x10 portrait.

Photo #5! Congratulation, you will receive an 8x10 print.

Sorry I posted a day after I was suppose to, but yesterday we had a wedding to photography. M&K got married and Ill post their pictures in a couple of days. They turned out very great so I can’t wait to share with you.

Congratulation to A&J to win with 11 vote on the pictures. You will receive an 8x10 of this print.

Its a tie again! Here is the two photos that got 3 vote each. Please vote again on these two and we will announce the winner on February 21, at 6pm.

#7

 #8

The winner of the best Wedding Couple is # 10, which had at least 4 times the votes of any other (even after the double- and triple-votes were removed). Congratulations M&A, you will receive an 8x10 of this print!