amateur dinner wedding shoot rates.

[ducky88]

Hi brother sister. My friend is keen to ask me help her shoot for her wedding. She had view my portfolio therefore she ask me about it. I however I'm not sure how much shoot I charge as I'm first time doing it. Any advice & how much should I charge? Thanks.

Wedding night w tea ceremony(picking up bride):
Wedding photoshoot:

 

[Rashkae]

1. How much is your time and effort worth to you?
2. Why did you not read the 5,000 similar threads in "The Photo Biz" section?
3. Asking us (your potential competition) for how YOU should price YOUR business is not really logical, right?
4. You can easily charge from 0-4k. Or more. Figure out how many shots, coffeetable books, photo albums, do they need instant upload to their projector in the banquet hall, etc.

If you are not 100% sure you can get all the important shots at all the right times at all the right angles, TURN DOWN THE JOB.

 

[Blur Shadow]

Any amount that you are comfortable with lor. It is an illiquid market anyway. Use the lack of perfect information to your advantage if you are astute enough.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

Figure out how much time, effort, and resources you will have to put in (in $ terms) to get the job done.

Don't forget to include time spent on post-processing. All the little things add up.
If you think your time is only worth $10-20 per hour, then likely you can price quite low

 

[ducky88]

Thanks people. Keep the advice coming. Would like to learn more.

 

[JasonB]

I am going to give you 3 response, you choose the one you like and ignore the rest.

Response 1

Are you freaking kidding? If she is your friend then you should not be charging her a single cent. She is giving you a chance to act pro, play your hobby at her expense, giving you a chance to experiment and learn on her big day and here you are trying to take further advantage of her? Come on man! Do the right thing and do it for her free. She can easily hire someone way more capable than you for a fair price she can afford but she give you chance I cannot imagine you got the cheek to ask for money. Kau!

Response 2

You should totally charge at a basic pro rate man! Don't spoilt market for the real professionals their children are eating jacob soda biscuits for months liao since every freaking amateur is a FREE wedding photographer nowadays nobody hire real pros. Charge her $200 per hour and $300 per hour if its after 12 midnight and make sure she sign a contract stating you are the copyright owner and she allow you use the photos as portfolio and you disclaim all liabilities for bad performance in case pictures dont turn out well. Just in case she pull the Caleb Chong incident trick on you, sue you or destroy your reputation. Better protect yourself, don't be make used of by her and still donno. All these people they got money one they just want to exploit your kindness and friendship, thinking you have nice camera they can leverage on your kind heart. How you know on that day itself she found a few more goondoo like you?

Response 3

Don't mention about money IMHO, just go in as form of help out and shoot. Give her freedom of purse to pay you in form of Ang Bao later. If she likes the picture she will pay you more, if she didn't doesnt mean she dont like your pictures it could be because she over shot her budget and not much money left. Or if you not sure you can always say you not free that day. Hope this helps.

 

[ducky88]

Hi Jason. Your advice is good. However I would like to clarify on response 1. She is just an acquitance. Just that recently I help my friend to take photoshoot & this is how it came about. Hence I believe she saw my first ever portfolio. Contacted me to find out more about what I'm doing.

 

[Rashkae]

Hi Jason. Your advice is good. However I would like to clarify on response 1. She is just an acquitance. Just that recently I help my friend to take photoshoot & this is how it came about. Hence I believe she saw my first ever portfolio. Contacted me to find out more about what I'm doing.

Then I believe option 4 should suit you:
4. Discuss with her what the expected result is - printed photos, what size, coffee table books, etc etc. Will she expect all pictures in full resolution (this counts as purchasing copyright from you). Then add up the cost for all that, factor in how much money you feel you should earn for a day's hard work, equipment depreciation, possible accidents/damage to your gear, transportation, etc. Then charge her that rate or a flat fee.

 

[kei1309]

*facepalm*

JasonB is being sarcastic, TS.

now i'm curious. where's your portfolio.

did the bride offer to pay you? or hint that she wants a freebie?

even then, my opinion is to say 'NO". because a photoshoot is heck of a lot of difference from a wedding AD shoot.

and looking at your recent inquiries on images... i hardly think that you're up to the task:

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/newbies-corner/1036030-something-wrong-photos.html

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/newbies-corner/1055018-photos-come-out-weird-way.html

 

[Octarine]

Response 1

Are you freaking kidding? If she is your friend then you should not be charging her a single cent. She is giving you a chance to act pro, play your hobby at her expense, giving you a chance to experiment and learn on her big day and here you are trying to take further advantage of her? Come on man! Do the right thing and do it for her free. She can easily hire someone way more capable than you for a fair price she can afford but she give you chance I cannot imagine you got the cheek to ask for money. Kau!

This one gets my vote.
TS: I find it quite disturbing that despite of your admitted low level of skills for such an occasion you start thinking about charging as first point. Whatever your portfolio is, it simply doesn't matter if it does not cover event / AD / wedding photography. If you cannot deliver what is expected you will spoil a big day in her life.

 

[edutilos-]

Hi brother sister. My friend is keen to ask me help her shoot for her wedding. She had view my portfolio therefore she ask me about it. I however I'm not sure how much shoot I charge as I'm first time doing it. Any advice & how much should I charge? Thanks.

Wedding night w tea ceremony(picking up bride):
Wedding photoshoot:

What is your intention of doing shoot for her? Help her save money and get warm fuzzy feeling in your heart? Build up portfolio so that you can do more shoots in future? Use your camera?

I have zero interest in shooting people. So every request coming my way I will decline politely and suggest a few names depending on their budget. Knowing what you want is equally important?

 

[lenslust]

Charge 3K, then drop to $600.

Bring a D3S, all the pro lenses with a D700 as spare, then accompany the couple down to the ballroom check lighting, and on actual day itself, focus behind the intended subjects, or shoot such that exposure is off, take your time to change lenses. Not forgetting ask the sisters and bride to pose but only shoot the feet.


Ok ok...Jokes aside... $600 no PS might be a good rate to kick off.

 

[kei1309]

Charge 3K, then drop to $600.

Bring a D3S, all the pro lenses with a D700 as spare, then accompany the couple down to the ballroom check lighting, and on actual day itself, focus behind the intended subjects, or shoot such that exposure is off, take your time to change lenses. Not forgetting ask the sisters and bride to pose but only shoot the feet.


Ok ok...Jokes aside... $600 no PS might be a good rate to kick off.

very inappropriate to bring up that story. i don't think the groom nor caleb would appreciate you digging up the past here

and no. none of us think TS should even do the shoot considering the level of experience he has

 

[lenslust]

very inappropriate to bring up that story. i don't think the groom nor caleb would appreciate you digging up the past here

and no. none of us think TS should even do the shoot considering the level of experience he has

Creativity is not built with experience, can see TS has no qualms on shooting and is confident, however, just lacking the heart to know how much to charge.

We all started out somewhere, didn't we ?

 

[JasonB]

Not being sarcastic lah, just presenting the common responses and arguments all into one post so that I won't be mistakened as being overly opinionated or have vested interests.

Brides who value photography will hire real pros and be very excited about the process. Brides who don't - will hire camera owners and sometimes that works out fine too. But its the brides who are unsure that suffers when a bad decision is made.

TS has to make sure he is not at the suffering end or become that main cause of her suffering.

*facepalm*

JasonB is being sarcastic, TS.

now i'm curious. where's your portfolio.

did the bride offer to pay you? or hint that she wants a freebie?

even then, my opinion is to say 'NO". because a photoshoot is heck of a lot of difference from a wedding AD shoot.

and looking at your recent inquiries on images... i hardly think that you're up to the task:

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/newbies-corner/1036030-something-wrong-photos.html

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/newbies-corner/1055018-photos-come-out-weird-way.html

 

[ducky88]

This is one of my first portfolio photo. Hope I do better in future. http://i46.tinypic.com/2hn9mhi.jpg

 

[Rashkae]

This is one of my first portfolio photo. Hope I do better in future. http://i46.tinypic.com/2hn9mhi.jpg

If you are going to shoot the happy couple, at least get their faces visible, ok?

 

[JasonB]

This is one of my first portfolio photo. Hope I do better in future. http://i46.tinypic.com/2hn9mhi.jpg

Brother you will earn more money shooting sunglasses advertisement. That picture works even better with a tighter crop.

 

[kei1309]

Not being sarcastic lah, just presenting the common responses and arguments all into one post so that I won't be mistakened as being overly opinionated or have vested interests.

Brides who value photography will hire real pros and be very excited about the process. Brides who don't - will hire camera owners and sometimes that works out fine too. But its the brides who are unsure that suffers when a bad decision is made.

TS has to make sure he is not at the suffering end or become that main cause of her suffering.

well, you sound really sarcastic :bsmilie:

i think the bride is another one of those out to get a good bargain. and i still feel that TS should not take this risk.

furthermore, i don't think TS is ready to handle an AD session. there's so much to consider.

 

[kei1309]

Creativity is not built with experience, can see TS has no qualms on shooting and is confident, however, just lacking the heart to know how much to charge.

We all started out somewhere, didn't we ?

Confidence and Screwing up can go hand-in-hand too. if one doesn't have any wedding (AD or Photoshoot) experience, i would advise against doing it. Remember the case of the AD Wedding Videographer?