Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Certified wedding photographer. Really?
Many large studios talk about their certified, experienced wedding photographers...This is how they are hired! And don't forget to pay attention to the date this was posted and when the photographer should be available for a wedding assignment. A studio will obviously rely on their few samples and consider 5 days enough time to certify someone hired from Craigslist . Just some food for thought.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Why is wedding photography so expensive?
Why is wedding photography so expensive?
Author: John T. Bryant
This is the age-old question that usually gets asked right after the lead-in question of “How much does it cost?” Most couples are shocked at what even decent wedding photography costs. Most think “you’re only taking a few pictures – why so expensive?” Sometimes you’ll hear “geez, that’s like $400 to $500 an hour – I don’t even make that kind of money!”
The reality is that most people aren’t aware of what actually goes into making great pictures that you’ll cherish for the rest of your days. They’re not familiar with the processes that most photographers go through – it’s much more than just showing up to take the pictures and then handing you a CD or printed proofs. There is actually quite a bit that takes place before, during and after your wedding that contributes to the final result.
Before the Wedding
Most good wedding photographers didn’t just wake up one day able to make the kind of beautiful images that you see in their wedding portfolios. Most of them started their careers with education – both formal and informal – on how to make great pictures. Professional photography is definitely an acquired skill. Most photographers spend years learning how to master their camera equipment, lighting scenarios, image composition and different posing situations that work (and ones that don’t work). Formal education is often supplemented with internships, on-the-job training and many hours spent making, evaluating and re-making picture after picture.
Having gotten this far in their photography careers, once the photographer decides to take the plunge into wedding photography, a significant additional learning effort must be undertaken to learn and perfect the science and the art of photographing weddings. Many, if not most photographers will start this process by working (usually for free) on anywhere from a few to a dozen or more weddings as a “second shooter” with an experienced wedding photographer. Much like driving an 18-wheeled semi-truck is different than driving your passenger car, making great photos at a wedding is completely different from making great pictures in a studio or for a newspaper or magazine.
Once the photographer has a handful or more weddings under their belt as a second shooter, they will often perform a couple of weddings for free or near-free as a primary shooter. It’s critical for the photographer to continue to gain experience in the dynamic wedding environment. This experience is invaluable, as you never truly understand the demands of dynamic event photography until you’re “on the hook” to deliver the final product from start-to-finish.
During the Wedding
During the wedding, your photographer (or photographers) will arrive many hours before the ceremony to capture the details – often this includes the bridal party getting ready (hair & makeup, putting on the dress, etc) as well as the groomsmen and groom getting ready. Also, as the ceremony and reception areas are set up the photographer will capture the details of the decorations, table settings, etc. Of course, the photographer(s) will then make photos of the ceremony and reception, as well as any send-off.
After the Wedding
This is the component of the process that is probably the most misunderstood by the average person, as it is the one that they have little-to-no exposure to, generally speaking. On average, your photographer will spend anywhere from two to four hours on the back end – selecting, processing, enhancing and tweaking your images – for every hour that they are in front of you. That means that an average 8 hour wedding will require, at a minimum, a total of 24 to 40 hours of work on the part of the photographer. A “one day” wedding has suddenly turned into almost a full week of work.
Other Considerations - Equipment
Most photographers will need at a minimum of two professional quality camera bodies (usually three or even four including backups), which can cost anywhere from $1500 to $6000 or more. Add to that an array of lenses costing anywhere from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars each, lighting equipment,
Here’s what the average professional photographer’s equipment bag might look like:
ItemQuantityCost - EachCost - Total
Camera Bodies – primary2$3000(average)$6000
Camera Bodies – backup1(+)$1500(average)$1500
Assorted Lenses4$800 (average)$3200
Lighting Equipment Kit1$2500(average)$2500
Flash(es)2$500$1000
Total$14,200
Add to that a robust computer and monitor plus required software, etc and the costs can be more than $20,000 just in basic equipment to be able to make, edit and process photos. And like most technology, much of the above equipment will be obsolete in 3-5 years due to advances in capabilities and industry trends.
Other Considerations – Location
This is an important one to keep in mind as well. Southern California is a very expensive place to live. Real estate alone is ridiculously expensive. Add to that the very real costs of health insurance, some of the highest fuel costs in the country, general costs of doing business (marketing and advertising, printing, utilities, etc) and you can see that it can get very expensive, very quickly just for someone to make the move into the wedding photography business.
In Closing
The intent of this article is simply to attempt to illustrate that which most couples shopping for a decent wedding photographer never realize – that there is much more than “show up and shoot” on the day of your wedding that went into your photographer’s ability to be there and make images that will be cherished for the rest of their lives.
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_462167_41.html
Author: John T. Bryant
This is the age-old question that usually gets asked right after the lead-in question of “How much does it cost?” Most couples are shocked at what even decent wedding photography costs. Most think “you’re only taking a few pictures – why so expensive?” Sometimes you’ll hear “geez, that’s like $400 to $500 an hour – I don’t even make that kind of money!”
The reality is that most people aren’t aware of what actually goes into making great pictures that you’ll cherish for the rest of your days. They’re not familiar with the processes that most photographers go through – it’s much more than just showing up to take the pictures and then handing you a CD or printed proofs. There is actually quite a bit that takes place before, during and after your wedding that contributes to the final result.
Before the Wedding
Most good wedding photographers didn’t just wake up one day able to make the kind of beautiful images that you see in their wedding portfolios. Most of them started their careers with education – both formal and informal – on how to make great pictures. Professional photography is definitely an acquired skill. Most photographers spend years learning how to master their camera equipment, lighting scenarios, image composition and different posing situations that work (and ones that don’t work). Formal education is often supplemented with internships, on-the-job training and many hours spent making, evaluating and re-making picture after picture.
Having gotten this far in their photography careers, once the photographer decides to take the plunge into wedding photography, a significant additional learning effort must be undertaken to learn and perfect the science and the art of photographing weddings. Many, if not most photographers will start this process by working (usually for free) on anywhere from a few to a dozen or more weddings as a “second shooter” with an experienced wedding photographer. Much like driving an 18-wheeled semi-truck is different than driving your passenger car, making great photos at a wedding is completely different from making great pictures in a studio or for a newspaper or magazine.
Once the photographer has a handful or more weddings under their belt as a second shooter, they will often perform a couple of weddings for free or near-free as a primary shooter. It’s critical for the photographer to continue to gain experience in the dynamic wedding environment. This experience is invaluable, as you never truly understand the demands of dynamic event photography until you’re “on the hook” to deliver the final product from start-to-finish.
During the Wedding
During the wedding, your photographer (or photographers) will arrive many hours before the ceremony to capture the details – often this includes the bridal party getting ready (hair & makeup, putting on the dress, etc) as well as the groomsmen and groom getting ready. Also, as the ceremony and reception areas are set up the photographer will capture the details of the decorations, table settings, etc. Of course, the photographer(s) will then make photos of the ceremony and reception, as well as any send-off.
After the Wedding
This is the component of the process that is probably the most misunderstood by the average person, as it is the one that they have little-to-no exposure to, generally speaking. On average, your photographer will spend anywhere from two to four hours on the back end – selecting, processing, enhancing and tweaking your images – for every hour that they are in front of you. That means that an average 8 hour wedding will require, at a minimum, a total of 24 to 40 hours of work on the part of the photographer. A “one day” wedding has suddenly turned into almost a full week of work.
Other Considerations - Equipment
Most photographers will need at a minimum of two professional quality camera bodies (usually three or even four including backups), which can cost anywhere from $1500 to $6000 or more. Add to that an array of lenses costing anywhere from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars each, lighting equipment,
Here’s what the average professional photographer’s equipment bag might look like:
ItemQuantityCost - EachCost - Total
Camera Bodies – primary2$3000(average)$6000
Camera Bodies – backup1(+)$1500(average)$1500
Assorted Lenses4$800 (average)$3200
Lighting Equipment Kit1$2500(average)$2500
Flash(es)2$500$1000
Total$14,200
Add to that a robust computer and monitor plus required software, etc and the costs can be more than $20,000 just in basic equipment to be able to make, edit and process photos. And like most technology, much of the above equipment will be obsolete in 3-5 years due to advances in capabilities and industry trends.
Other Considerations – Location
This is an important one to keep in mind as well. Southern California is a very expensive place to live. Real estate alone is ridiculously expensive. Add to that the very real costs of health insurance, some of the highest fuel costs in the country, general costs of doing business (marketing and advertising, printing, utilities, etc) and you can see that it can get very expensive, very quickly just for someone to make the move into the wedding photography business.
In Closing
The intent of this article is simply to attempt to illustrate that which most couples shopping for a decent wedding photographer never realize – that there is much more than “show up and shoot” on the day of your wedding that went into your photographer’s ability to be there and make images that will be cherished for the rest of their lives.
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_462167_41.html
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
My Wedding Photography Clients Video Testimonials!
Since I personally do not believe in Clients testimonials every Web site has written - Hey you never really know who actually wrote those so called "Testimonials" so I decided to start doing Video testimonials with my clients when they come to get their final Wedding Photo Products (Albums, Prints, DVD's, etc) !
If you are interested to see what my previous clients have to say about me and my work please click on YouTube link:
www.youtube.com/MarkFilliesdotcom
Thank you!
If you are interested to see what my previous clients have to say about me and my work please click on YouTube link:
www.youtube.com/MarkFilliesdotcom
Thank you!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
What about voted "Best of The Knot”?!
Let me explain how that “prestige” Knot’s certification works!
A studio that shoots over 500 weddings and spends over $ 100.000 a year only for advertising got on average 200 brides referred from TheKnot.com. After the wedding, because studio is big multimillion dollar company, it cannot provide full personal attention to every couple. There are many times when things go wrong; of course you won’t hear about those upset brides who are on the edge of suing the studio…you will hear ONLY about the brides who provide most positive feedback.
Studio that does so many weddings a year can soon have enormous number of feedbacks posted on the Knot.com website. So, when they have couple hundred positive feedbacks they are automatically “pick of the Knot” …or “Best of the Knot” …
On the other hand, photographer who limits number of weddings he/she shoots per year. Let’s say 50 weddings comparing to couple of hundreds the big studios shoot. Even if every bride is more than happy with entire service provided, a small studio simply cannot become “Best of the Knot” because number of the feedbacks provided is much smaller than what larger companies/studios will get. So basically at the end that special “Knot certification” actually does not mean that 10 out of 10 brides are fully satisfied with the service they received from the certain company/studio. It just means that the studio did many more weddings than anyone else and that might be because they can afford hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising to attract potential brides.
It is about getting every client in so that “sweet talk” and time spent with a bride at the beginning is necessary. Those high advertising costs need to be covered somehow. Now you signed the contract, that attention is not necessary anymore. Let’s be realistic…how can you keep prompt responses and excellent customer service when there is hundreds of brides waiting to get an answer to their question. Ok, let’s say they have many people hired to work with the clients. But how personal is this service. Wedding after all is very personal and one of the most important days in people’s lives.
Compare that “excellent” service to your cell phone company provider….every time you call you talk to a different person off course if you have enough time to wait on the line to actually get to talk to someone. But then again, you get what you pay for!
Here are just few samples from the reviews you can find online-if you do very deep research :D
….but I will agree with another poster here who said their sales staff is incredibly pushy.
…but I wish they had a "small business" approach because we felt a little unimportant through the process….
…pushy sales staff that have been bombarding me with phone calls and junk mail after I attended a bridal show. Not a way to win my business….
…. now it is one year later and I still don't have an album or my pictures. They promise you that you will have a person assigned to you to work with (so called “Personal photography coordinator”) but what they fail to mention is that their turnover rate is ridiculous. I have never in 18 mos dealt with the same person…
… The photographer was terrible, he showed up late and the pictures were amateur at best, then they lost my photos for several months and when the album did arrive, they had put the wrong initials on it. In the end it took me over a year and a half to get my photos and they were nothing to brag about. They gave me some money back on the pictures and the proofs, but really, I would have much rather had some decent wedding pictures to hold onto….
…. We got married in Nov 06. It is now 7 months after my wedding. The proofs came back in about 3 months. We ordered pictures from the proofs in April, it is now June. We were never told the digital wedding album would take 20 weeks to complete. I have yet to receive the pictures I ordered in April. My digital proof has been received for review. That came before the pictures I ordered! …
…. Before the wedding, they were quick to respond, and very accommodating. We've been working with them since ….. but after the wedding it just became a nightmare…
After all, it is really your decision and knowing what is really important to you. Do you prefer “Pick of the Knot” or a studio that will provide you with attention and make sure that you are important as you deserve to be!
Friday, April 17, 2009
What is a difference between Wedding Proofs DVD and Digital Negatives/High Resolution DVD?
Wedding proof DVD is a DVD containing small resolution image files of your wedding (or slideshow) and might also have a watermark “PROOFS DO NOT COPY “over every image. You are not able to make any usable prints from those files because the resolution of those files is normally 72dpi (dots per inch=monitor resolution) but for quality photo prints you need resolution of at least 300dpi.
I suggest you to be AWARE of that very important fact before signing the contract with any photographer. I heard too many stories from couples signing the contract which says that package includes Wedding Proof DVD thinking they will be able to make prints in any Photo lab. A lot of photography companies would not explain to you those professional photography terms so they get you to sign the contract. Unfortunately, after the wedding it is too late already when you realize how the actual photography package exceeded your budget.
Also, a lot of Photography companies on the market today advertise that you will receive FREE digital Negatives DVD, but then “fine print” in the contract usually states that you can receive those 12-18 months after your wedding date. Well, in this case you again end up paying more money for your prints, since most couples are just not willing to wait for a year or two to finally receive their DVD so they can make prints on their own.
I would consider this a clear scam because every photographer or company should explain in simple language to their customers what exactly they are getting for their money.
My personal policy regarding Digital Negatives is very clear; after you and/or your guests and family spend certain amount on online print orders you receive DVD for FREE. Because I am very good at what I do my online orders always exceed the limit for qualifying FREE DVD written in the contract: D
I suggest you to be AWARE of that very important fact before signing the contract with any photographer. I heard too many stories from couples signing the contract which says that package includes Wedding Proof DVD thinking they will be able to make prints in any Photo lab. A lot of photography companies would not explain to you those professional photography terms so they get you to sign the contract. Unfortunately, after the wedding it is too late already when you realize how the actual photography package exceeded your budget.
Also, a lot of Photography companies on the market today advertise that you will receive FREE digital Negatives DVD, but then “fine print” in the contract usually states that you can receive those 12-18 months after your wedding date. Well, in this case you again end up paying more money for your prints, since most couples are just not willing to wait for a year or two to finally receive their DVD so they can make prints on their own.
I would consider this a clear scam because every photographer or company should explain in simple language to their customers what exactly they are getting for their money.
My personal policy regarding Digital Negatives is very clear; after you and/or your guests and family spend certain amount on online print orders you receive DVD for FREE. Because I am very good at what I do my online orders always exceed the limit for qualifying FREE DVD written in the contract: D
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