Another Business Failing To Adjust: The Wedding Photographer
from the nice-try dept
While most of the stories about businesses failing to adjust to a digital and computer age focus on things like the music or movie industry, there are some other, smaller, industries struggling against the tide as well. For example, the business of the wedding photographer is facing certain challenges. Traditionally, the wedding photographer retains the copyright on all photos he or she takes. Of course, these days, with the easy ability to scan and print new copies of photos that look just as good, many people are starting to route around the high fees photographers charge to get access to reprints. And, then, just think how wedding photographers are going to deal with it when newlyweds simply want their photo albums online, rather than in expensively bound books?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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So charge upfront!
Professional photographers are just that - professional. When a professional is hired for an event, professional results are expected. The photographers fees are for his or her services and results, not necessarily for the finished prints or reprints (while they may be part of a package deal).
So .... I know my clients want the pictures. They want to share them online with their friends and via email and whatnot. Why pay me $5 each for 25 4x5 reprints for their friends when a 1024x768 pixel digital image is more resolution than most people can use, and can be emailed to a few hundred friends and relatives "for free?"
The days of counting on reprints for a large portion of sales are over. (Not sure how many of those days ever were.) My clients have choices for wedding-day packages: most include proofs in some form (increasingly CDROM over 4x5 album), a wedding album in a range of sizes, and large (16" x 20" and above) portraits. I know my clients want to be able to share images digitally, and I know it's folly to try to stop them. Give the customer what they want! The number one item in all my wedding packages is: my time. My fees simply include the usage rights for low- to mid-resolution digital images and my time up-front. Problem solved.
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my photog was with it
my proofs were on two different type cd's (one with adjustable thumbs and one with an animated slide show plus
we got a huge proof book printed on photo paper of course plus
you pay for professionalism (like the guy said)
my photog had an online album but found the cost of letting another company run part of his business a little to high, especially considering the cdroms he gives out
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another industry I would like to welcome to 2005
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Re: another industry I would like to welcome to 20
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
That, and register you work with the copyright office, and persue infringers - as a busy studio owner has time. Professional Photographers of America is where I turn - http://www.ppa.com/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=16.
If you have other suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them.
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It's the skill
All of the boring stuff, copying files, putting them on a CD etc, tough luck photographers, I'm gonna do that, and you're not goign to make any money off it. Just give me copyright free TIFFs, and I'll pay for your service.
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Wedding Photos -- don't sweat 'em
Who spends more than a minute or two looking at other peoples' wedding photos anyway? Even if you were there, it's the snapshots that are more fun and more interesting.
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Re: Wedding Photos -- don't sweat 'em
Sure the occassional snapshot is fun, but a lot of them are dark, blurry and almost worthless.
I don't want to remember my wedding from the view of a drunkard. I would like sharp, well lit pictures composed with an artistic eye.
There is a market for both.
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Re: Wedding Photos -- don't sweat 'em
The *real* issue is how they deliver those photos, and whether they'll still be able to make so much money charging for reprints.
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Re: Wedding Photos -- don't sweat 'em
However, the tone of the Inquirer piece also seems to say that pro photographers are irrelevant now which is not the case at all.
I have already addressed this on my blog before and with friends.
The really laughable part was comparing our industry to that of the MPAA.
Bottom line, it was a poorly written and researched piece that will be used as ammo against photographers.
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Re: Wedding Photos -- don't sweat 'em
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Re: Wedding Photos -- don't sweat 'em
Finally, I have never really raked in the geld from reprints, I and a growing number of pro's whom I respect charge a package fee and that's the deal.
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Re: Wedding Photos -- don't sweat 'em
Some go out of their way to make themselves look better than they are by giving digital slideshows, showing up, almost hounding the couple with unnessary time before and after the wedding, etc. What next: a promise of a threesome with photographer on the wedding nite, with porno stills included.
A lot of smoke and mirrors because there is the smell of $.
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Re: Wedding Photos -- don't sweat 'em
I'm making more now than ever, except that there is more competition for everyone.
And the ones saying bla, bla, bla, about the competition are the new "digital wonders" who spread the jobs thinner.
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old joke about pro v. amateur photogs
So, arm every table with a cheap digital camera (a new idea for a rental business?), and you end up with hundreds or even thousands of wedding photos. Instead of wedding photogs, maybe a new business idea would we wedding editors who cull the crap, and photoshop the rest.
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Jk
A: A large pizza can feed a family of four.
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Re: Jk
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No Subject Given
It always amazes me how with every technological revolution in any field that brings it to the masses, people assume that industries professionals will go by the wayside.
Photography is not easy. Sorry if you think that but the majority of amateurs I see just can't shoot a pic. Only the really dedicated ones who are semi-pro can do it.
But then again, if peoples expectations are so low, then I guess it doesn't matter.
However, I think the market for good work will always be there.
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Charge a Shooting Fee
Thier solution; charge a much higher fee. It used to be you would charge $1000-2000 for shooting the wedding and expect to make $1000-2000 on prints. Now they just charge $2500-3500 for shooting the wedding and give you an edited CD of images.
I have a slightly different take, I do not want to hand over my high quality, color corrected, edited images over to somebody who will print them on a $99 HP printer on plain paper - thus making my work look like crap. I instead will give the client a CD of low-res copies of the edited images that are suitable for email. They use this CD to determine the photos they would like printed then I send those images to a printer for them and the printer will send them directly to the customer.
I make absolutely nothing on Prints, I would rather hand that off to another professional who does nothing else in the world than print.
I am not interested in albums.
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Re: Charge a Shooting Fee
On the other hand, teaching clients 'what they want' is a more progressive approach. When they say 'just hand over the digital files when you're done,' show them some before/after images of how your skill in Photoshop can yield much better final images... most likely they will be happy to pay for some post-production work IF you can show them the difference it makes!
Same goes for prints... show them the comparison between a home-printed image and what you get from a pro. Let THEM decide what they want.
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Re: Charge a Shooting Fee
Either way, the point is that there is still a market for professional photographers, but they need to change their business model to match their cost model.
My church just had a photo directory done, and the photographer is still doing the sitting for free and trying to recoup costs by charging $30 a sheet for prints. Which is stupid, and I won't be at all surprised if they lose money on it. Part of the deal was that everyone who went in for a sitting got a free copy of the directory and a free 8x10. Which means every one of those people can get their photo scanned and print of as many copies in whatever size they want for a couple bucks a sheet.
Photographers aren't going to go out of business just because digital cameras are cheap, because the type of digital camera an amateur can afford (even the super-sweet SLR's like the Nikon D70) don't have the resolution of even 35mm film, let alone larger formats. And they don't have the know-how to take good photos. However, photographers are going to have to fix their pricing model and quit trying to hide the true cost by hooking you with a low up-front fee and then gouging for prints, because they no longer have the leverage to do that.
It should cost the same amount to get a print done by the photographer as it does to get it done at a photofinishing store. You don't can even outsource that (if it isn't already). However, there's a level of service in between trying to monopolize the prints and just handing over a disk and letting the customer screw themselves. It sounds like you've found that middle ground at least, hopefully others will.
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image quality of digital SLR's
I have moved from medium format film to digital SLR's (6 & 11 MP) and can say that the new generation of DSLR's are far superior to 35mm film. Sharpness and detail are equal, if not better, and there is NO film grain. They compare very favorably to medium format and are much more versatile. I have enlarged 6 MP images from my Canon 10D to 24x36 inches and 11 MP images from my Canon 1Ds to 96 inches x 24 inches (cropped) and clients are very impressed. In fact, so am I! I do still shoot 4x5 inch film, but only until I can justify a digital scanning back.
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it's about the brand
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The Wedding Photog article makes an assumption
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Online Albums are no answer
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Re: Online Albums are no answer
Yeah that's why they want their originals so that they can not only reproduce images at will but safely secure their master images also.
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Future of wedding photographers
I STILL have some clients that want to order large (18 X 22) hard copies of the formal portraits (I sell those by the inch)but for the most part they are very happy with their digital albums- and yes, I can still make a lving
I was the second photographer in town to go digital- even though all the pros have much better gear than me now- very few do any editing. I'm still ahead on that one.
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DIGTAL PHOTOGRAPHY
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Digital has opened up many new sources of income
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We provide both paths for the customer
Our wedding customers are given the option of buying prints from us, or coffee table style wedding books (which are rather popular and aren't as easily made by the consumer as straight prints) or they can get a DVD with all of the original and edited high res files suitable for printing, among other things. We still retain the copyright on the files but we provide them a license to reproduce prints from the files for their personal use - they even get a form they can take to the photofinisher. The only exemption on the license is that the images not be used for commercial purposes. The customers are totally happy with the license. They get to make their prints however they want - we keep the copyright so we can use the images for our future marketing efforts.
Someone on the board said give the customer what they want and that all they want are the digital files - that is easily said because you are ONE customer. Not everyone wants the same product, otherwise a WalMart store would be the size of a gas station and all cars would still be black. As a business you continue to carry products that are still selling. Not all of our customers want their digital files, some want the wedding books, some want straight prints, etc. Until such time as all of our customers are demanding we do nothing but photograph the wedding and give them files we will continue to provide other products.
We provide watermarked online digital previews because that is pretty much the expected method these days. Even though we offer a proof book we had ONLY ONE customer actually want a proof book this past year. Guess what? The proof book will go away for our 2006 season.
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wedding photography
Graham
Graham and Graham Photography
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Union
http://www.ourweddingphotography.com
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