The other thing to do is find out what competitors near you are charging. You will find a wide range from low to high, but that will give you a better idea what you CAN charge. Lately with this economy, I have seen myself and many others with bookings down and people not willing to spend as much. I have also seen more people getting into the business.
There are two major aspects to do it well. One is the technical knowledge and skill to work the cameras and equipment. The other is the creative eye for posing and working with people. The technical skills can be learned and the newer electronics certainly help out those who are not very knowledgeable. The other is much more difficult to learn. You have to look at yourself and decide if you are/can be creative in your posing and if you enjoy interacting with people under pressure (or at least tolerate it well). -- Best regards, Bruce Thursday, March 19, 2009, 6:29:02 AM, you wrote: JM> John, JM> Take a long hard look at your costs including business licenses, taxes, JM> materials, equipment, advertising and insurance. How much is your time JM> worth? You will be spending more time after the event than you imagine. JM> Exposures of a bride in all white are harder to get right when you're a pro JM> as opposed to a family member or friend. You cannot go back later and raise JM> your price because it cost more than you think. Even if all you do is JM> deliver a disk you will have to package it attractively, just a jewel won't JM> cut it. The client will need a release from you in order to get prints made JM> if you are just delivering a disk and not selling prints. We have finally JM> gotten Wal-Mart et al to respect copyrights. JM> As for contracts there used to be a book available that came with a CD with JM> boilerplate photographers contracts and model releases. I cannot remember JM> the name. It got lost when we moved. JM> jm JM> ----- Original Message ----- JM> From: "John Celio" <[email protected]> JM> To: <[email protected]> JM> Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 9:28 PM JM> Subject: Wedding photography, starting price? >> What do you guys think is a fair price to charge as a guy just getting >> started in wedding photography? >> >> I was thinking $500 (US) as a base starting point, and going up depending >> on how involved the event is and if they want extensive editing and such. >> Is that reasonable, or too low? >> >> Also, someone (Paul?) mentioned having a contract. Where can I find >> reliable info on putting together a contract for this sort of thing? >> >> Thanks for the help, >> John >> >> -- >> http://www.neovenator.com >> http://www.cafepress.com/calemp >> http://www.cafepress.com/neovenatorphoto >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. >> JM> -- JM> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List JM> [email protected] JM> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net JM> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
