Cost of Wedding Photography

I am a bride-to-be and a photographer, not an expert, but I thought I would share with you some thoughts as to why wedding photography costs as much as it does since I sit on both sides of the equation.

I am most familiar with Canon products, sorry Nikon lovers.

Wedding photography is possibly the most important investment you will make for your wedding day – after the rings and the dress – so why does it cost so much? Many people don’t understand why somebody would charge $2,000 plus for “snapping some photographs”. That is where the confusion is; wedding photography is so much more than that!

The Equipment

An example list of a wedding photographer’s equipment is as follows:

- A main camera

- A back up camera

- A wide-to-telephoto lens

- A telephoto zoom lens

- A 50mm lens

- An 85mm lens

- A battery grip

- Memory cards

- A flash

- A bag

The photographer makes most, maybe not all, but most decisions to make their clients happy. They want to choose a camera that gives you good quality images; a popular main camera choice is the Canon 5D Mark II. One of Canon’s higher performing camera’s, it’s is fast and provides good quality images. The body alone costs $2,499.00. As a backup camera the Canon EOS 50D works very well and costs $915.00 for the body.

Telephoto lenses keep the photographer from being in your face throughout your entire wedding! They also help guarantee 100% candid shots because chances are, you won’t realize that there is a photo being taken. This makes telephoto lenses like the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM ($1,499.00) and the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS ($1,999.00) an absolute must!

Though telephoto lenses are great for those far away shots, the Canon 50mm f/1.2L USM lens ($1,619.00) and the Canon 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens ($2,199.00) are great for getting those small group portraits, as well as the vows, the kiss, and the rings!

There would be nothing worse than your photographer’s camera running out of battery power in the middle of shooting your wedding! Which is why a battery grip is a very good thing for them to have, the extra batteries aren’t as much of a burden to carry around as the battery that goes directly into the camera. The Canon BG-E6 battery grip costs $245.00.

On the topic of running out, the photographer takes as many pictures as they can. The more pictures they take the more amazing images they have to offer you! Though memory cards don’t sound like they would be a big deal but because most professional photographer’s shoot in RAW (RAW will be explained later) their images take up more space and they need memory cards that can hold large amounts of information. A reliable 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB can cost from $100.00 to $350.00.

Receptions run into the night so a flash is needed to continue catching all of those moments. A photographer wants a flash that gives them a lot of options. The Canon Speedlight 580EX II does that as well as has a fast recharge. Its cost is $499.00.

Of course, with all this equipment, a photographer needs a bag to carry it around in which is the least of their cost worries, a good bag can be found for $80.00.

Some photographer’s rent some of their equipment or buy it from other locations than the one I use so the costs may vary, but the list I just gave you total’s to about $12,000.00

The Images

I mentioned earlier that most professional photographers will shoot in RAW. The file type that most people are familiar with is JPEG; it is what every camera is automatically set to shoot with. Say you have a 4GB card in your camera, at JPEG it will hold 600 plus photographs whereas at RAW it will only hold about 200. The reason photographer’s chose to shoot in RAW is because it gives you more possibilities; it can almost be compared to shooting with film. In the JPEG setting, when you take a photograph, before saving the image to the memory card the camera throws away 82% to 96% of the photograph. This lessens the detail in the photograph (so less detail on that beautiful wedding dress you spent so long searching for) and the photographer’s ability to edit the image. RAW, however, saves 100% of the photograph! Another thing about shooting in RAW that makes in more expensive for you is that RAW images take a lot more hours to work with than JPEG, so your photographer has to give more of their time to editing the photographs. Trust me, it is worth it!

The Editing Systems

As I just finished saying, the editing takes hours of the photographer’s time, but what about the cost? I am new to editing systems and there is a variety so I am going to name only the ones I have worked and am looking into purchasing for myself. Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended, which I have worked with and enjoy very much, costs $999.00. A system I am looking into (my wedding photographers actually use it www.abicyclefortwo.com) is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, it costs $299.00. One more system I am looking into is actually a plug-in for Photoshop, Plug-In Suite 5 by onOne Software and it costs $499.95.

The Business

This is the main thing people seem to forget, even I forgot about it when looking for a photographer until I started my own business. Photographers aren’t just there the day of your wedding to shoot your wedding. They are running and operating a business! Just like in any business marketing, research, and customer service is happening all the time. Websites need to be kept updated and bills need to be paid. Some photographers chose to take only one wedding a month, but others take one every weekend which means your wedding probably isn’t the only wedding they are working on. Also, they have employees or contactors to pay, such as a second photographer. Not only do they have to pay the second photographer, but extra equipment has to be purchased for the second photographer. I haven’t met a wedding photographer that did absolutely love what they do. However, they still want to make a profit, so keep all of this in mind when you are looking at those prices!

A helpful tip: A lot of photographer’s are aware that people over look these details and are always wanting a discount, so they price their packages at a price that can be negotiated. Never give up on photography you love because of its price without talking to the photographer first! Remember, they are trying to make a living doing this!

Thank you for reading my hub www.shelbyleaphotography.com