How Much To Charge For Wedding Photography: A Freelancer’s Guide
Weddings would be incomplete without the best photographers. As a wedding photographer, it is your role to capture the couples' every moment on their special day. In an exchange with your service, you must discuss how much to charge for wedding photography with your clients. This is an important matter, right before the wedding. The decision lies between both parties, as this can be a critical matter.
However, wedding photography is indeed a valuable and long process; therefore, you need to set a value for your work. So if you're planning to shoot and cover a wedding, and you can't decide how much to you charge for wedding photography, then you've come to the right place. In this article, you will get ideas about the proper pricing for wedding photography. You can now explain to your clients when negotiating for your fee.
Factors to Consider in Setting Your Wedding Photography Fee
Are you confused about how much to charge for wedding photography? Perhaps, you’re overwhelmed about the factors to consider when you set your price for wedding photography. To help you with this, check out these factors that you should always consider before deciding for the final fee.
Know your skills
Since wedding photography is highly specialized, then you must always assess your work from others, especially the bride and the groom. You should be honest about where you stand, for there’s a chance that you’ve done a lot of wedding photography in the past, but your portfolio is weak. Improve your skills to make it remarkable, and then you can charge it fairly.
Estimate the time you will spend
Measuring the time for wedding photography is tough. It's truly a long process from the prenup photoshoot to the wedding day shoot until the physical album you produce. You need to let your clients understand about the time you are going to spend when explaining how much to charge for wedding photography. Estimating the time that you're going to invest in their wedding comes with a professional price.
Budget for Equipment and Assistants
Aside from time, don't forget to know your price for the photography gears and equipment. Yes, you have your own professional camera, but think about how pricey it was when you purchased it, not to mention your upgrades, add-ons, and all your other expenses for the preparation. Moreover, you would also be needing someone to assist you during the shoot and the wedding day. You also need to allot for your assistants and company.
Evaluate or Compare with Your Competition
One of the things that you must always consider in knowing how much to charge for wedding photography is the other photographers' prices. Make sure you survey their fees to prevent overcharging or undercharging. Taking this information doesn’t mean you’re an impressionist, but this is just merely building a position and price for yourself.
Breakdown of Costs for Wedding Photography
Perhaps you can’t decide how much to charge for wedding photography just yet. Worry no more, as I can help you decide what price you’re going to charge that is fair and competitive at the same time. Since you know what to consider when it comes to pricing wedding photography, check on this guide for the pricing.
As a photographer, your price could be anywhere between $400-$600. Now, you probably think that this is a large amount, and you’re a bit confused if you compare it with the other photographers in your town. However, let me give you a breakdown for the prices of camera gears you’re going to charge for the wedding, whether if it’s a package or pay per session.
Camera
The camera is the most important gear you’re going to use for weddings. Cameras are priced at about $300-$2000 for just the camera body. It can even cost up to $3000. In short, the cost of your camera is expensive. Therefore you need to have a return on investment for it somehow.
Lenses
Unfortunately, your camera’s default lens can’t capture a photo that is a detail found for your clients. That being said, you’re going to spend some cash on upgrading and buying for another lens that costs from $200-$1,100. Upgrading for high-quality lenses can always capture wedding images from good to great.
Tripod
Let’s face it – weddings are one of the few events that require you to capture moments while on-the-move. However, you might still need a tripod, especially when your camera is heavier and larger. Investing in a tripod starts from $20-$100. This must be considered when you want to know how much to charge for wedding photography.
External Flash and Reflectors
You need to have a speed light to capture photos in dim light environments. The reflectors as well are needed to come up with a dramatically improved quality for your image. An external flash may cost at about $200-$500 dollars, while reflectors cost about $100.
Memory Cards and External Hard Drives
For proper storage, you should have these to store all the photos and images. You should have high-capacity and high-storage memory cards to keep the photos protected. The memory card and external hard drive could cost up to $200.
Software for Photo Editing
The photo editing software is important for photographers, and you need to purchase this for professional editing and improve images you have taken. Of course, you will not just rely on one editor alone, as you need to purchase multiple ones for the pictures. It also needs a subscription per month, which usually costs $10-20.
Conclusion
Now that you know what to consider if you want to know how much to charge for wedding photography are; it would be easier to discuss it with your clients. In total, you can spend an average of $1000-$5800 on equipment alone, less expensive workshops, and classes that cost up to $1400. That’s why you need to carefully cut the expenses that your clients would be paying you.
Of course, you must consider your clients as well. You can negotiate, and if it’s a done deal, then it’s up to you how you’re going to adjust your services. Always remember, being considerate to your clients will encourage other potential clients in the future to avail of your services. Find out more about wedding photography.
