The world of the digital photography business continues to change. Now, anyone with a high-quality camera can offer brides and grooms wedding photography for a low rate — or free.
While free is tough to compete with, it also means some things will not change easily. As long as free and cheap is an option, we will continue to hear stories from disappointed brides who left their big day in the hands of a friend with a camera.
But, if we change the standard business model, more photographers will be able to compete and make a better living. The bottom line is this: If you are a wedding photographer who shoots an average 25 weddings a year, who charges $500 per wedding and throws in the picture disc, you will not make more than $12,500 a year. Even photographing 50 weddings, at the same rate, does not add up to an impressive income.
I find it amazing that some photographers who charge $2,000 to $3,000 a wedding and offer so much in their packages aren’t making a quality living, either. In some cases, photographers are hardly clearing $1,000 profit or a reasonable rate for all the time they dedicate to each wedding.
There always will be high-end photographers who network in the right communities, produce incredible images and develop excellent reputations who will command top dollar for their services. I would not recommend changing the model that works for them.
But, for the freshly minted photographer with a shiny, new Nikon D300 in hand — allow me to share a few thoughts.
One of the quickest paths to the land of disappointment and having to get a real job again is to compete on price. In an age when just about anyone can take an in-focus, reasonably composed and well-exposed photograph, you need to offer more. If you can do that, your services will be worth more than a few hundred dollars. Each image should hold a special value to the bride and groom.
Occasionally, I write about per-image pricing, especially when it involves commercial work. But, I have also experimented with per-image pricing in wedding photography. Traditionally, wedding photographers use a per-image pricing system for reprint orders from proof books. Unfortunately, unscrupulous people began scanning the proofs and keeping them as their final images, leaving the photographer with little reward for her hard work. Due to advances in digital photographic technology many people don’t put as much value on photography as they once did. Wedding parties still want someone dedicated to capturing their big day, but don’t think they want to spend a lot of money. Also, they want control of the image files.
The practice of placing disposable cameras at each table with the hope that guests will capture memories of the reception generally produces either pranks and drunken funny faces or nothing as the camera often goes home with one of the guests as a door prize.
My solution? A hybrid option. The bride and groom hire a professional photographer to create images of their wedding day. They only pay for the images they want. No or low risk.
This system works for me because I have confidence that the bride and groom will see additional value in the images I’ve produced when compared with the ones taken by family and friends.
I usually don’t request a deposit. But, if my business was focused on wedding photography I would require one to save the date. The non-refundable deposit would be considered a credit toward the purchase of wedding image files.
* Web sites like PhotoShelter make it easy to display images in a gallery format with full e-commerce solutions: selling and the delivery of the customized image files is easier than ever. The bride and groom can select images to download for personal use. Specialty products and prints are available to order and they don’t have to contact the photographer directly. I’ve also seen new Web applications that let the couple design online their entire traditional wedding album.
One thing is certain, photographers are required to spend more time on the post-production of digital photographs than they did developing film. Spending time dealing with reprints, products and logistics can really cut down on the profitability of wedding photography.
Here is an example of a wedding I recently photographed:
It was the wedding of a close friend. I offered the couple $10 per downloaded image. They did have the option to order reprints online. Since anyone can scan an image, the smallest size I offered was a 4×6 for $10.
I worked for five hours covering the wedding and reception. It took another three hours to process the images after the wedding. I had the images uploaded and ready for purchase within six days. Three weeks later, I received a deposit in my account for $1,150 for the 115 images they purchased.
I’m not sure if I would have charged my friends $1,150 for a five-hour event. But, they were happy with the images and had the money available. I’ve found that if people like the work you do, they will find a way to purchase as many images as possible.
Photographers must test their market. Every photographer has a different workflow. She should consider the average number of images created, percentage purchased, expenses and target income when making adjustments in the per-image pricing structure.
It is important to learn how to sell your system as a low-risk solution, but not as a low-cost or cheap solution. It’s also important to qualify (screen) your prospects to make sure they have the means to purchase the images you create.
Once, I did find myself with a very low return on my time. I can’t complain; this is the system I signed up for. If I’m going to offer low-risk, per-image solutions and I don’t qualify the wedding couple as a good candidate or offer high quality images – I lose.
Financial success in the photography business is not about how much the package costs, but the net profit. The name of the game is to offer a low-risk alternative to the friend with a camera while still earning enough profit to make a living.
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If there is one thing you need for a wedding, It is a good photographer.
Interesting point of view Rosh. It may the new pricing model for wedding photographer but you have to admit that you are taking some risks.
Imagine you booked a wedding with this model, then another couple came along but you are not available so you can’t take this one and you have to refer it to a fellow photographer with a fixed rate. After the wedding, you only made $500 from the print and your friend, with his fixed rate made $2,500. So see where the problem could be. Also, if you book let say 20 weddings, you want to be sure how much you are going to make. You can also offer more services around your packages too.
Are you going to continue to offer this kind of model?
Intriguing post. I’ve been struggling lately with my own pricing. I feel that the package model is so outdated but I’ve been trying to come up with an alternative model that would offer brides what they want.
Of course you are taking risks. Unfortunately, in many cases taking risks is necessary to compete with cheap and free. I’m focusing much to the folks who are successfully offering $2500+ packages. This post is more for those that are offering $500- packages.
But, the fact is you may offer a $1000 package and have to refer a $2500 package to another photographer because you already made a commitment to another party.
Also, using the new pricing model would allow you to make $3500 from people shopping at the $2500. Especially if you do a great job.
Risk and reward.
Rosh
Yes, I would offer it again, because I tend to make more money when I work hard and offer creative images.
I focus most of my photography around commercial work and have used this approach with my clients. It’s worked very well for me in this area and I think it would be a great idea to explore for the wedding industry.
I have two friends that recently got married both of who chose a pricey fixed packages. One photographer “made” a lot of great pictures and the couple was extremely happy with the results. The other couple had a photographer who “took” a lot of pictures and were very disappointed with the results. In both cases, if the photographers offered per picture pricing, they each would have earned what they were really worth for their time. The first couple would have purchased a ton of images along with albums. The other would have only purchased a few images but the photographer would have had a great learning experience and hopefully would improve for the next time.
In these tough economic times a per picture pricing structure would be a great solution for the couple getting married on a budget. It would also give the young photographer incentive to work harder and be more creative with their images without “watering down” the wedding photography industry offering free or cheap packages.
As you mentioned, screening the prospective client is very important. If your gut tells you they aren’t going to purchase a high enough volume of images to make it worth it, and your skill level can’t support a high package price, then declining the job may be the best approach. In the long run it will be better for the photography industry as a whole and will benefit the young photographer once they’ve gained the needed experience.
I totally agree you can’t compete on price. For me though I would much rather get paid for my work upfront and include some prints vs. trying to sell them afterwards on a per image basis. My time and talent is very valuable and I don’t work on speculation, but thats just me and what I am comfortable with. I also don’t try and compete with price at all and even with tight times my pricing for coverage is going to go up this year (2010) and probably pretty significantly.
Mark you make, as others above, some excellent points. I don’t expect people to stop what is working for them.
But, the same thing happens in the commercial world. Fear of any possible loss. That is why many commercial photographers offer day rates. By offering per image pricing – I make a lot more than the average day rate photographer.
I’m still feeling things out and testing the waters. I first charged $5 per image for weddings. Now I’m at $10. If I notice that the average customer purchases at least 100 images and I want to make $2000 profit per wedding I’ll start charging $20. Chances are I’ll make more.
I can require a $500 down payment to save the date. Prints and products can still be purchased. I really don’t push extras in my business model, because the profit for my time is not very high.
More and more couples don’t want prints and the extras. Just a CD. Photographers have been having trouble competing. This is a solution that focuses on what the customer needs with little risk to them. I don’t consider per image pricing speculation, because I tend to make more money. I look it as a reward for my good work.
Remember Net profit vs. Gross profit.
Rosh
I would heavily stress the need to screen your clients, and the fact that you CANNOT pitch this as a low-cost solution. A client driven by dollars and not quality deliverables will still yield a low return for your time and effort.
I have been pricing my commercial work in a similar way. I charge my clients a creative fee that covers my cost of doing business and profit as well as what it costs to produce the job (models, locations, stylists, props, …).
In addition to this I charge a per image digital processing fee, which includes color neutralization – not color correction – some basic retouching – nothing fancy. I do offer additional services at additional costs.
Splitting the job up into two categories avoids two pitfalls:
1) Charge by the image alone – photographer tries to shoot as many images as possible in a day, client tries to get as much time from the photographer as possible.
2) Charge by the day rate alone – photographer tries to shoot the in as many days as possible, client tries to shoot as many photographs in a day as possible.
That being said – none of my pricing is set in stone and I do clients, whom I shot for a lot, favors all the time (photography is a service industry, remember?). This system does however give me a good basis to negotiate my bids. My creative fee is tied to the usage and my digital processing fee is tied to the number of images and complexity of the work I have to do to them.
If you want to read more about my work and how I implement technology in my photography (mostly in the Customer Relationship side of things), check out my blog at blog.depuhl.com
… catching the light!
Photography by Depuhl
Pascal
that is an interesting pricing model Rosh. i realize that pricing model’s success would really have to rely on the photographer being able to screen or read clients as potential candidates. I think having success over “low balling” photographers is going to come down to having an engaging and successful initial client meeting. I think its important to let the client know what security, experience, and fine tuned craftsmanship you bring to the table. being a successful professinal photographer these days really requires one to be a successful salesman during the initial client meeting.
You are 110% correct.
Im new to wedding photography and believe the pricing structure is the most important factor when it comes to getting into the industry.
What I have done in the past is charge the couple a per hour rate for my time on the day, $50 per hour, they pay this up front for the amount of hours they want me for, say 5 hours. $250 gets paid up front and I charge them $10 per image and the first 25 images are FREE. Of course these are in credit for the up front cash deposit they give me no sooner than 4 weeks before the big day. I have found 80% of the time I make more than $250 and average approx $800-$1000 per wedding with 2-3 hours post production.
Cheers
Just a few questions about this interesting idea….
1. $50 per hour X 5 hours = $250 which would give the bride and groom 25 “free” picture downloads (at $10 each)… What if they only wanted 20?
2. Is the $10 for the 4X6 size (and them more for other sizes) or for the actual file that they can reproduce? What is the file format and image size that you use?
You can certainly set a minimum dollar amount to cover any costs. no matter how many they order. I do think that if they only order 20 images the photographer didn’t do their job.
The $10, as an example, would be the price for the full resolution files. The same price as the smallest print available. This way people can’t just purchase the cheapest print and scan them.