Sorry to ask this again but...

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Betty

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... can anyone help me with a going rate for a friends wedding? Taking the below into consideration:

I need to take a day off work for it, and I earn about £70 a day - £70

Petrol costs to venue and back, its not too far, so lets say - £10

Post processing of all images after the wedding - Unsure what to charge

Anything else I need to consider? They know I am not a pro and are trying to keep costs down, but I dont want to undervalue my days work.

What do you guys think? :)
 
don't forget insurance
someone may trip over your tripod, camera, bag, shadow and sue you!
 
Betty

Are you providing them with an album, or just a CD?
 
Just the CD LeeP, thats all they've asked for, keeps costs down :)

Further to the insurance question, can I get it just for a day, or would I need to take out a policy for a whole year? I think I know the answer though ;)
 
I believe you can get it on a 7 day or 28 day term with PhotoGuard.

You want indemnity Guard too ... !
 
Erk, anything else Ive forgotten? :bonk:
 
Betty said:
Just the CD LeeP, thats all they've asked for, keeps costs down :)

Further to the insurance question, can I get it just for a day, or would I need to take out a policy for a whole year? I think I know the answer though ;)
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I think (and I stand to be corrected here) that most kit insurers (E&L etc) offer a reasonable policy covering this kind of thing - but you MUST tell them that you are earning money from your work, else the insurance could be void.

As far as the other costs - you need to add in the fact that not only have you taken the day off, but you have used a day's holiday (unless you call in sick ;) ) - I would work out the actual costs, get a number of pictures that you are willing to supply (you might take 500+ are you really going to process them all?) and ensure that the copyrights to the pictures remain yours, enabling you to use them in the future should you want to (for advertising etc)

Once you have your costs... I (personally) would add a percentage on - there's bound to be things you forgot, and you need to make at least something out of it...

Good luck!!
 
Thanks Outlore :)

If I have over 500 shots then, and I say I am going to process them all, should I set a price per image? Like 50p per image or something, rather than a set price?
 
ps
you've allowed for a day of your time to take the pics
how much time (at what rate) have you allowed for post-processing?

just a thought!
 
mmcp42 said:
how much time (at what rate) have you allowed for post-processing?
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Thats the bit I am struggling with! No idea what to charge...

I did some photos last weekend, took about 40 and took around 4 hours to process them all...
 
so that's about 10 per hour (pretty good going imho!)
500 pictures = 50 hours
8 hours a day = 6 1/2 days work!!!!!!!!!!!
adds up doesn't it
@ £70 per day = £450
PP swamps the cost of being there on the day
of course, you could do the work "in your own time" - evenings, weekends,
I'm not suggesting you should charge what now adds to up to more than £500
just be aware of how much you are giving away here!!!

oh - and good luck on the day

will you have a sidekick to fetch and carry (spare camera - you are taking a spare?, tripod, spare batteries, memory cards, lunch, water, step-ladder)
 
I can't for the life of me imagine why you'd want to process 500 images individually!!!

For this sort of this all I'd do is run a series of batch processes on them so there's hardly any time at all, just like getting to the first viewing stage on a typical wedding shoot

Individual shot processing is only then done on the ones they want in their album, and most charge extra for that too

So, what PP do you expect to have to do Betty? Surely you're not going to be cloning people out and 'opening' eyes etc. so just what is it you're expecting?

DD
 
You see, I didnt even know you could do a batch process, there's so much I need to learn! ;)

And mmc, I never considered charging that much! Ill have to rethink this I think :D
 
once you tot up all the bits here and bits there. and the time spent here and there. and the insurance's for this and that.

its easy to see why the pro's charge what they do..

the thing to remmeber here betty is " i am doing a wedding for a friend"

what would you want to pay a friend if it was the other way around..

if you keep totting up your bills it will be cheaper for your mate to get a pro in..


imo


md:thumbs:
 
I certainly can see why pros charge what they do!

Ok, lets say:

Day charge - £100
Travel - £10
Insurance - £20?
PP images - £70

£200 sound reasonable for a mate rate? I think I am happy with that :)
 
Didn't know about Batch Processing !!!

WOW

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Next you'll be saying you've not heard of the 'wheel' - :lol:

Seriously, you MUST get your head around this or you'll spend all your evenings cursing your mate for getting married !!!

500 shots, including removing the bad ones, correcting exp, sorting WB, sharpening, contrast & saturation; and turning a selection of them (if not all) into BW, toned BW, borders (if any) should take about...

...an hour of your time and perhaps a few hours of the computer whirring away (depends how fast it is)

DD
 
I should probably have worded that better eh? :D I knew there was some sort of batch processing feature, but not to sort all the WB/exposure etc all in one go... :)

/me looks for some tutorials

Thanks DD :D
 
The what? The wheel? :shrug::lol:

Thanks for all the advice guys :)
 
Do you have a backup camera, lens and flash or if you don't just make sure your friend knows what will happen if your camera fails.

Good Luck, just stay calm.
 
I have backup lens, but no backup camera. And no DSLR's that I can borrow either!
 
Betty said:
I have backup lens, but no backup camera. And no DSLR's that I can borrow either!
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what do you shoot with betty..:shrug:


md:thumbs:
 
If you don't already have it you might want to download a copy of Adobe Lightroom. You can use it for 30 days as a trial. Will help you edit those 500 or so images and has some great batch processing options. For a one off it's difficult to justify the £200 for Lightroom, but the 30 day trial may just make things go a bit quicker.

Loads of LR tutorials on the web, and it's very intuitive to use

have fun
 
I know this is a job for a friend, but I'd still be v reluctant to do it without a backup body. You'd be surprised what can go wrong. :) I did some photos a couple of weeks back (not a wedding) but I slipped on some slimy concrete slabs and fell over. I landed on my back and had my camera backpack on. I wasn't hurt at all, and laughed it off (it was a most excellent fall).

5 minutes later I open up the bag, take out the D3 and try to put the flash on. It won't go on. Thought I was being stupid, everything looked ok, but it just would not go on. Start to sweat. On very close examination the hotshoe metal runner had slightly depressed on one side and I sh*t myself. Upshot was I had to use the backup (D200) as this absolutely needed flash (even with the D3's ace low light skills).

Once home and after collecting my composure and shouting a little bit, I later bent the hotshoe back into place, and all is well.

Moral of the story - don't fall over, and get a backup body if you can.
 
Dangleman said:
I know this is a job for a friend, but I'd still be v reluctant to do it without a backup body. You'd be surprised what can go wrong. :) I did some photos a couple of weeks back (not a wedding) but I slipped on some slimy concrete slabs and fell over. I landed on my back and had my camera backpack on. I wasn't hurt at all, and laughed it off (it was a most excellent fall).

5 minutes later I open up the bag, take out the D3 and try to put the flash on. It won't go on. Thought I was being stupid, everything looked ok, but it just would not go on. Start to sweat. On very close examination the hotshoe metal runner had slightly depressed on one side and I sh*t myself. Upshot was I had to use the backup (D200) as this absolutely needed flash (even with the D3's ace low light skills).

Once home and after collecting my composure and shouting a little bit, I later bent the hotshoe back into place, and all is well.

Moral of the story - don't fall over, and get a backup body if you can.
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eeek!
 
Betty said:
£200 sound reasonable for a mate rate? I think I am happy with that :)
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If that's the rate you have come up with - go for £250.

As far as processing goes, why not offer them a "proof CD" - with low res images on it, let them choose what they want, and then have a per pic charge? You could even give them some processed shots in the deal... So - £250 you do the event, they get 15 processed images, and a low res CD (with watermark if necessary). For £50 more, they can have another 25 or whatever... You'll be surprised who in the family will pop up with some cash when they find out the happy couple haven't got many pics.

Whatever you do - they are saving hundreds if not thousands, so don't scrimp unless the reason they need you to do it is because of cost... I just got married, and our tog cost a total of $2000 - but this included engagment pics, a hardback book with 65 printed pages (IE a real book, not a photo album), and a high res DVD with all the images from the day.

Speak to them and see if they want some engagement pics taken before hand - this has the added advantage of getting to know what they are like in front of a camera, how to pose them, how to make them smile and laugh and will make them more comfortable with you being around on the day. For you, it's like a practice run - you can fire away and find out what works and what doesn't. Of course you don't get the same light, location, dress etc, but it all helps.
 
Betty said:
I should probably have worded that better eh? :D I knew there was some sort of batch processing feature, but not to sort all the WB/exposure etc all in one go... :)

/me looks for some tutorials

Thanks DD :D
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so is it not possible to get the w/balance and exposure right when you take a photo with digital ? glad im a luddite then ,,,:D
 
donutagain said:
so is it not possible to get the w/balance and exposure right when you take a photo with digital ?
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If you get it just right, of course! But 9 times out of 10, they will need some PP on them :)
 
And good advice Outlore, cheers! :)

/gets thinking some more
 
you have to be very carefull with freinds. they dont expect a mate to charge em too much.(bad past experience , i,m afraid.did a freinds wedding,as a wedding present.and a fair few reprints at cost.
they asked us for a hi res dvd too, free.so they could print their own. we refused, and they havent spoken to us since. and were a pro tog setup.incidentaly , they had a package for free, hat we charge over £1000 for.
i,d go for all the edited shots on a hi res dvd at £250.
youve got experience, and made a bit. theyre happy, and your happy.
just make sure your name is on the dvd.(publicity)
explain to them that they can get their own reprint done.
mark.
 
Something else to think about, thanks guys :)
 
donutagain said:
so is it not possible to get the w/balance and exposure right when you take a photo with digital ? glad im a luddite then ,,,:D
Click to expand...



You Luddites have it even harder mate, so don't be so happy !

:razz:

:lol:

DD
 
Um...if you are talking about charging, then one would have to ask, why pick you over a proper tog? Is cost a factor? If so then working everything out to the last minute wont' help either you or your friend. Even after you've worked out your time, what sort of experience do you have shooting a wedding that justifies your time? If you've never shot one then believe me, it ain't all just pointing and clicking. :p

Another thing that you may, or may not have, thought about is your longer term aim with the wedding photography. Will this be a one off? If not then will you be looking for more weddings to shoot? If so then will you need to build up a portfolio?

I remember the very first wedding I shot for a friend. I told her straight up that I wasn't a pro and that I couldn't guarantee anything. She in turn was straight with me and said that if I didn't offer, she'd couldn't have afforded a wedding tog anyway (I was already invited as a guest). At the end of the day, I got experience and she got lots of pics that she was happy with. One thing that didn't occur to me at the time was that through that freebie wedding I got a few more enquiries that got me more experience and some money too.

Charging for petrol for a friends wedding? Surely you would have had to pay that to attend the wedding in the first place...one would have thought.
 
Its actually a friends niece, so no, I wouldnt have been invited ;)

Yes its a one off, yes they know I am not a pro, and yes its all to do with keeping costs down. Do you think £200 for everything is unreasonable then?
 
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