Wedding photographers?

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r44flyer

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Hello everyone,

Firstly, is there a more appropriate place, ie. a wedding photography forum!?, somewhere that someone can point me at? If not, I think this is the best place I can find, certainly the most active! Anyway...

We're getting married in Oct 2010 in Birmingham and we're looking for recommendations on wedding photographers. We have large families, larger than our budget can comfortably allow, but thankfully we don't believe we need a wedding with all the bells and whistles and as such we're trying to cut down costs as much as possible. Ideally, we would like a photographer that can offer a 'dvd only' service, who can take several hundred photos and allow us to print our own and make up our own album(s). My fiancee is quite adept at this already, with dozens of albums from the last 10 years!

I appreciate I might be inviting advertising of services here, but maybe people can PM me? I don't really know where to look, the majority I have found on the internet so far offer packages that include photos and album for £1000+, which is too much.

Thanks for your help
Jim
 
Jim, unfortunately I think you will have problems finding a photographer who will give you a DVD will all the images on fir you to print yourself for under £1000. You are asking the photographer to give up the copyright of his images without the prospect of any future sales. What you are asking for will be more expensive, very few photographers will give up there copyright at any price but might give you a license to do a album. Good luck and have a great day in 2010.
 
Hi Jim
As a working wedding photographers myself I will let you know that taking a 100 or more pics is a hell of a lot to ask for less then £1000. For every hour a photographers spends taking picturtes they will spend around 2 hours procesing the digital files. Plus you also have to take into acount the cost of equipment, insurance and a hell of a lot more as well. A good wedding photographer could not work for less then £100 - £150 per hour, and then giving you the copyright pictures as well. I do a CD only option for £475 but with that package comes things like travel costs, travel time costs and around 50 pictures on the CD with a max of 2 hours coverage.
 
Thanks for the replies so far.

Please appreciate that I don't have any experience in how this industry works, so I don't want to offend anyone expecting to get lots for little outlay. I have now managed to find a few on Google that will hand over all the photos, and the copyright, for under £1000, so I might be getting somewhere.

If anyone has any more advice/recommendations please keep them coming.
 
Hi Jim

i was asked a couple of weeks ago to review some wedding photographers for a friend. I looked at 4 in total. The best one being the most expensive, between 1500 and 3000. And my second favourite being the cheapest out of the 4.

She was charging £700 for just the images on CD, so no prints or albums. So there are people out there that do offer the service you require but it's not common. Unfortunately the photographer i was looking at lives in Loughborough which is a little far from Birmingham.

But good luck with your hunt.
 
Sadly im seeing this more often in this economic climate people wanting it on the cheap

"We just want the pictures on a DVD so we can print them" :bang:

good luck if you find "a photographer" who will supply you several hundred pictures on a DVD for a couple of quid but you will really be only getting the bottom of the barrell stuff (imo)

this week i had 2 enquiries one said "every photographer he rings wants to extract as much money from his wallet as he can, what do we get for £500" he then went on to tell me the venues (not your average venue) and about the 150+ guests that he was paying for to eat an expensive lunch.

Just kind of grinds on me when people getting married fork out thousands for everything else but then want the pictures on the cheap.:shrug:
 
Loughborough to Birmingham 50 - 60 minutes
 
I usually tell people. Once you've had the wedding, eaten and drank all at the reception, had the honeymoon. The only thing you have left is the photos.

Sadly a lot of people are of the opinion that if the pictures are from a digital camera they are basically free. They don't see the upfront costs. Cameras, back up camera, Flash units, lenses, Software, insurance. The list is getting longer and longer.
 
There's a lot of competition at the moment, I had a look at:

http://www.creamphoto.co.uk/

And that's incredibly cheap for wedding photos. I don't think there's anything wrong with a buy-out of images, as long as it's at the right price.
 
photographerian said:
The only thing you have left is the photos.
Click to expand...

And the marriage ;)


Jim,

You will no doubt definitely find someone who will do this for the price you require. However, I am sure that from some of those, the standard of work might be less than what you may expect.
Before you commit to a photographer, look at examples of previous work, see if their style suits you and doubly make sure that they are up to the job. With a lower price, the possibility of getting a 'chancer' increases. There are some cowboys out there who do it on the cheap and take photos no better than Auntie Mabel with her 35mm Instamatic.

However, on the flip side there are plenty of photographers who are good enough to do the job but don't charge the earth. There are plenty of amateurs trying to break into the wedding photography market who might be just right for you.
Make sure you take the time choosing your photographer....just dont take the decision lightly, and dont base your decision on cost alone....
 
r44flyer said:
Hello everyone,

Firstly, is there a more appropriate place, ie. a wedding photography forum!?, somewhere that someone can point me at? If not, I think this is the best place I can find, certainly the most active! Anyway...

We're getting married in Oct 2010 in Birmingham and we're looking for recommendations on wedding photographers. We have large families, larger than our budget can comfortably allow, but thankfully we don't believe we need a wedding with all the bells and whistles and as such we're trying to cut down costs as much as possible. Ideally, we would like a photographer that can offer a 'dvd only' service, who can take several hundred photos and allow us to print our own and make up our own album(s). My fiancee is quite adept at this already, with dozens of albums from the last 10 years!

I appreciate I might be inviting advertising of services here, but maybe people can PM me? I don't really know where to look, the majority I have found on the internet so far offer packages that include photos and album for £1000+, which is too much.

Thanks for your help
Jim
Click to expand...

Coincidentally just talking about photographers with my daughter who is getting married in 2 years,anyhow saw adverts for 2 Dudley based photographers who seem to match your criteria

David Hardwick Photography
No website so that's a bit worrying

Adam Smith
http://www.adamsmithphotography.co.uk/

I don't like his style but that's probably just a throwback from my days as a wedding tog

Hope you manage to find someone you like at the right price
 
I'm courious why your asking here rather than checking out your local photographers? Look in Yellow pages, or your local business directory, I'd be supprised if there are no photographers in a city the size of Birmingham. Wayne
 
swanseamale47 said:
I'm courious why your asking here rather than checking out your local photographers? Look in Yellow pages, or your local business directory, I'd be supprised if there are no photographers in a city the size of Birmingham. Wayne
Click to expand...


The OP has already said that he doesn't know much about the wedding tog industry so maybe he's looking for recommendations and advice here - I'm sure the OP is doing their own reseach too but I'd say a photography forum is a pretty good place to go if you were looking for some help.

r44flyer - I don't know much about wedding photography myself but what Marcel said makes a lot of sense to me. Good luck in your search and I hope you have a great day.
 
I am currently looking with the other half at wedding photographers, your looking at starting prices of a £1000 for basic packages.

One of them suggested an attendance fee something around £400 and then buying the cd with copyright at £600. Which we kindly explained thats exactly thesame as your basic package with albums included. Basically id be surprised if a wedding photographer will just do a load of photographs and sell you them cheapish.

Good luck *** im getting married 5th december and its a bloody headache lol

Rob.
 
Thanks again everyone.

Studio16 - taking advantage of anyone is certainly not what we're looking to do, we simply cannot afford to spend upwards of £1000 on a photographer. I appreciate it's going to be a challenge to find someone well recommended who will do a good job and not charge the earth or object to providing a dvd centred package. As for spending thousands on everything else bar the photos, short of getting married in a pub it's as cheap as we can make it. No bridesmaids, no flowers in every orifice, the money is going on having a good time with as many friends and family (big, close family) as possible and so to physically feed and water them is nigh on absorbing the budget. We're not cheap, we just don't want to pay for something we don't need. We're very happy selecting and printing our own album and quite enjoy doing it. I don't see how a dvd package is asking the photographer to do any more work for less money? Perhaps optimise an agreed number, as he would do for any other package, and include the rest as raw photos, and stop there. Should I be forced to take a selection of prints if I don't want or need them?

photographerian - totally agree, and I'm under no illusions about the setup costs involved, camera equipment easily runs into the thousands for basic, professional kit and the time spent optimising digital photos is considerable for a large number of photos. As I said above, I don't want it for nothing, I just don't want to pay for things I don't need.

Marcel - Thank you for the advice. This is part of my research into avoiding the pitfalls. It's not really experience you can gain by yourself so all I can do it ask around, and it's been great advice so far!

CaptainPenguin - Thanks for the link, I've seen Adam Smith's website already and it looks promising.

Swanseamale47 - We're living in Leeds until the end of this year, and then relocating to Birmingham. No yellow pages for the midlands here sadly, so the internet is my first port of call!

Daysleeper40 - spot on! Thank you.

robhullfury - I now understand that prices can be higher to buy the dvd as the photographer is giving up any opportunity of you buying additional prints when he sells you the copyright. I don't know how many people actually go back to their photographer and spend another small fortune on additional prints, however.


I'm happy to look at packages between £500 and £1000, and I'm not paying £250 for a happy snapper to fill up a CD for me. This is all initial research into what packages I can actually get, and what they will cost, that's all. It costs what it costs, I'm not trying to belittle anyone's profession, but I do have a budget.
 
r44flyer said:
Thanks again everyone.

Studio16 - taking advantage of anyone is certainly not what we're looking to do, we simply cannot afford to spend upwards of £1000 on a photographer. I appreciate it's going to be a challenge to find someone well recommended who will do a good job and not charge the earth or object to providing a dvd centred package. As for spending thousands on everything else bar the photos, short of getting married in a pub it's as cheap as we can make it. No bridesmaids, no flowers in every orifice, the money is going on having a good time with as many friends and family (big, close family) as possible and so to physically feed and water them is nigh on absorbing the budget. We're not cheap, we just don't want to pay for something we don't need. We're very happy selecting and printing our own album and quite enjoy doing it. I don't see how a dvd package is asking the photographer to do any more work for less money? Perhaps optimise an agreed number, as he would do for any other package, and include the rest as raw photos, and stop there. Should I be forced to take a selection of prints if I don't want or need them?

photographerian - totally agree, and I'm under no illusions about the setup costs involved, camera equipment easily runs into the thousands for basic, professional kit and the time spent optimising digital photos is considerable for a large number of photos. As I said above, I don't want it for nothing, I just don't want to pay for things I don't need.

Marcel - Thank you for the advice. This is part of my research into avoiding the pitfalls. It's not really experience you can gain by yourself so all I can do it ask around, and it's been great advice so far!

CaptainPenguin - Thanks for the link, I've seen Adam Smith's website already and it looks promising.

Swanseamale47 - We're living in Leeds until the end of this year, and then relocating to Birmingham. No yellow pages for the midlands here sadly, so the internet is my first port of call!

Daysleeper40 - spot on! Thank you.

robhullfury - I now understand that prices can be higher to buy the dvd as the photographer is giving up any opportunity of you buying additional prints when he sells you the copyright. I don't know how many people actually go back to their photographer and spend another small fortune on additional prints, however.


I'm happy to look at packages between £500 and £1000, and I'm not paying £250 for a happy snapper to fill up a CD for me. This is all initial research into what packages I can actually get, and what they will cost, that's all. It costs what it costs, I'm not trying to belittle anyone's profession, but I do have a budget.
Click to expand...


I do hope that comment wasn't aimed at me regarding the PM I sent you as I stated that and everyone knows that I charge that to build my portfolio asap and I then said I noticed that you were getting married in 2010 so the price would be double at least. :shrug:
 
A good place to start looking would be Google - search for "wedding photography birmingham" and the first thing up is the list from the Google Local Business directory.
 
Luke I promise it wasn't. It has been suggested above that those entering the industry and looking to build a portfolio might be something to look at if the budget is tight, and I understand this is why your prices are currently lower, even though you may well be more established by the time late-2010 comes around.

It's fair to say there are cowboys out there who have bought an SLR and then become a 'professional photographer', with little or no training or experience, and this is what I mean to avoid.

I've bookmarked your website (which is very good) already, and the wedding portfolio looks good so far. Well done.

Really, no offence intended towards you.
 
r44flyer said:
Luke I promise it wasn't. It has been suggested above that those entering the industry and looking to build a portfolio might be something to look at if the budget is tight, and I understand this is why your prices are currently lower, even though you may well be more established by the time late-2010 comes around.

I've bookmarked your website (which is very good) already, and the wedding portfolio looks good so far. Well done.

Really, no offence intended towards you.
Click to expand...

no worries mate, you can understand why I may have thought that. Good luck with your search and keep an eye on me ;)
 
hmmmm, well i dont know about you guys but I know that in the Herefordshire area, there are literally handfuls of photographers that supply all the images taken from the day on CD with copyright release for like £600-700 and cover big radiuses, it's a killer for my business, but hey, I don't cater to those price brackets and hold out ofr the larger wedding scales, still sometimes I wonder why they all try and undercut one another like they are tins of baked beans on a supermarket shelf.....
 
mr_v_s said:
There's a lot of competition at the moment, I had a look at:

http://www.creamphoto.co.uk/

And that's incredibly cheap for wedding photos. I don't think there's anything wrong with a buy-out of images, as long as it's at the right price.
Click to expand...

That does seem cheap when you factor in PP and the cut they will be taking from the photographers shooting the wedding. I noticed this Q&A on their FAQ page and I have to presume there is little or no processing applied to the shots:

Q
“When do you send us the preview DVD?”
A
We aim to post this to you a day or so after your wedding.
Click to expand...
 
Hacker said:
That does seem cheap when you factor in PP and the cut they will be taking from the photographers shooting the wedding. I noticed this Q&A on their FAQ page and I have to presume there is little or no processing applied to the shots:
Click to expand...

I had a look at their albums Hacker, got to agree, they are definitely getting what they pay for with regards to the pp and the originality.
 
Interestingly they charge their client £50.00 an hour and have advertised for wedding photographers who get paid £25.00 an hour.

Hmmmmmm...........
 
This raises an interesting point about print sales. Negs used to cost a fair amount to run prints off each time. There was a genuine cost involved beyond time, and most wedding togs charged far less for attendance because they knew they could earn plenty down the road for print sales.

Now, most of my clients are mid-20's to mid-30's. They're web-savvy, they know what an 8x10 costs to print online (and no I'm not talking about pro labs but for a lot of people they're happy with the likes of Photobox for small frames around the house etc), they interact with friends and family online and want to be able to share their wedding with people who may be overseas.

I'm not so sure we (as wedding togs) can expect to charge much more for our time (because we know we're making far less after the event on print sales) and then charge £1000 for a CD of JPG's that takes us what, 5 minutes to knock up?

It appears that we want our cake and then want to eat the whole thing.

So, I took the decision last year to provide a DVD of images that my clients can use for non-commercial purposes (they can come to me for pro prints and canvas work, and they do - but they can also take them to Photobox or similar if they want without being asked for £20 for a small print that they knows costs way, way less to do). I charge for my time and an album and I make a point of explaining my logic to them. I know for a fact that I'm picked up 6 weddings this year over other togs who charge similar money but wanted £300-600 for a discs afterwards. Am I losing £600 of print sales? No, I doubt that. But I have picked up a £1500 booking that I may not have got. I look at it as playing the long game - the single best bit of this is that I get referral bookings from just about every wedding I do.

It seems to me that there is no 'one-size fits all' approach here.
 
Daysleeper40 said:
The OP has already said that he doesn't know much about the wedding tog industry so maybe he's looking for recommendations and advice here - I'm sure the OP is doing their own reseach too but I'd say a photography forum is a pretty good place to go if you were looking for some help.

r44flyer - I don't know much about wedding photography myself but what Marcel said makes a lot of sense to me. Good luck in your search and I hope you have a great day.
Click to expand...

I would have said google wedding photographers Birminham would have been better bet, at least they are in the right area, people on a forum could be anywhere in the world, but then he doesn't want to pay for a wedding photographer does he, he's looking for a cheapie! Wayne
 
mr_v_s said:
There's a lot of competition at the moment, I had a look at:

http://www.creamphoto.co.uk/

And that's incredibly cheap for wedding photos. I don't think there's anything wrong with a buy-out of images, as long as it's at the right price.
Click to expand...
I get a weird error when I try to access their pages;

Content Encoding Error

The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.

The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.

* Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.
Click to expand...

Never had that before!
 
http://www.creamphoto.co.uk/index-2.htm

No problem here.

I have seen this company advertise for photographers ***. So it may be a case of "pick of the draw". I would say nay but I do know couples who will either rely on family and friends or advertise for student photographers to snap for free, so it's not too far off being an ideal budget option.

I wouldn't recommend it ***, for obvious reasons...... ;) :D
 
Thanks for all the help and advice everyone, very helpful. We've got a short list now, we just need to set the exact date, which is dependent on other things at the moment.

Radiohead, some interesting thoughts, thanks.

Wayne, I can't say we are looking for a 'cheapie' as you suggest, are you saying we should pay thousands to be make ourselves credible? If I'm honest, I've looked at many portfolios now, and I'm pressed to tell the difference between some of those at £650 and those at £1650+. I came here for general advice and recommendations, and of course I've been using Google, but a forum like this a good place to get matter-of-fact advice beforehand and thus avoid offending or insulting a professional photographer with an unreasonable request with no prior knowledge of what's involved or 'how it works'.
 
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