Wedding Photography
A lot of brides have asked me why wedding photographers charge so much for just a few hours of work on the day of the wedding. As most of you know, my hubby and I have recently started Evonne & Darren Photography together, and last Friday, I had the privilege of shooting an 8-hour wedding with Joanna Tano and Kim Aihara. Let me explain a little how photography works.
Even though the photo session is from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm, the photographers have to leave their studio way before 1:00 pm to get to the location. Then they shoot non-stop for the hours that are contracted, and that’s also the time that you actually “see” your photographers at work.
After the event, the photographers have stacks and stacks of memory cards of files (probably thousands) to download to their computer hard drive, their external hard drive, a remote server somewhere. Then they start looking through all of the photos and do slight edit and color correction on each of them, so that they can upload to an online proofing gallery for the client. Editing is a very time consuming process.
Photo Credit: Evonne & Darren Photography
And after the client selects the photos that they want, the photographers then further edit those photos and make sure they look perfect before they either burn them on a disc or order prints for the clients. And if the client orders an album, that can take weeks to design the entire album and months to get it printed.
The few hours that the client sees the wedding photographer on site, is actually just 20% of what the photographer does. A lot of work is being done AFTER the event to ensure that each client has amazing photos and memories of their most special day. Hopefully you all have a better idea now as to why photographers charge what they charge.
Tags: Maui wedding photography
January 19th, 2010 at 7:36 am
Great blog Evonne! I was so happy when I saw the first photo and realized, “Hey thats my wedding!” Love the detail shots!
February 1st, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Great explanation of the cost of wedding photography! I could see how clients would think it’s expensive but there really is so much too it.
February 1st, 2010 at 8:26 pm
And thank you so much for shooting with us! GOOD TIMES!
February 7th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Great details Evonne. There is so much time and effort that really good/professional photographers invest into the editing and post production of an album and until you hang out with a photographer, you just can’t really appreciate how much work comes after the day of. Your description does a great job of explaining.