BEHIND THE LENS / YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT PRICING ANSWERED
Weddings are a bank account drainer, there’s no doubt about that and if you want your day to be as amazingly perfect as it looks in your head, than sometimes, racking up the bills is unavoidable. But instead of just looking at the large 4 or maybe even 5, digit number (minor heart palpitation) have a think about what that vendor goes through in order to deliver the product or service you are hiring. The cost of goods and equipment, the time it takes not only on the day but behind the scenes and the experience provided.
At a standard wedding a photographer can rack up two or three thousand photos. Outrageous! Who needs 3,000 photos of anything! But living in the digital age, that’s what we’re dealing with. Some people cringe at the thought of taking a hundred photos at a family event and others relish the luxury of having a smorgasbord of images available to select, cut, cull and edit to perfection then provide the a pretty little package to an appreciative couple. The latter, are photographers.
The added benefit of having such a large bank of images to choose from, ironically is also the con, due to the time it takes to get 3,000 photos down to a manageable sized album. Think about it, what’s the process you go through when you take some happy snaps at your nephews birthday party for example. (Well, some will dump the photos onto their computer never to be seen again) but some will copy the photos from the SD card to your computer, look through all the photos, delete the ones where you are looking terrible, sort and categorise the files, rename them, pick out the amazing ones to send to your family and then finally, you have a beautiful folder ready to share on Facebook. Simples! Right?
Apply that process to thousands of photos and throw in retouching, colour correction, cropping, file size adaption, removing the drunk uncle photobombing in the background of an otherwise stellar shot and deciding which of the 5 photos of the three bridesmaids all with the most microscopic differences, is the best one.
The love, care and attention that your photos need, takes time. Fancy expensive cameras and editing programs are great, and super helpful, but they don’t do all the work. There is significant time and effort that goes in to delivering the finished product to you, in the most easiest way that makes viewing and sharing the memories together with your fam an absolute breeze. And I promise, you won’t be thinking about the 4 digit number removed from your bank account when you’re sitting down with your lover getting those fleeting flutters of memories from your wedding day.
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