Need a wedding photographer

[funkyrobot]

Think this should be posted in here.

The fiancee and I are after a wedding photographer for our special day in September (Friday 16th). We live in Lincolnshire (about half an hour from Peterborough) and am after someone to take photos of the wedding and maybe (if possible) film some footage of the reception.

We have looked around the local town and haven't really been impressed by what is on offer. I know a little bit about photography and media etc but not much about copyright and what to expect, so we are stepping a little bit into the unknown.

So far we have had prices ranging from £366 (for a photo album and some thumbnail images on a disk) to around £500 for a bit more. Does this seem like the going rate or is this expensive?

Anyway, I informed my fiancee that there is a great photography section on here, and I would ask to see if anyone had any advice, or may be available to attend the day (would prefer to utilise a fellow PH'er). We aren't after anything too complex, just some photos of the wedding, photos or maybe a bit of video of the reception, then said photos on a CD or DVD so that we can use them. Any advice about what I should be asking for (e.g. owning the copyright etc?) would be useful as well.

Thanks all.

Edited by funkyrobot on Monday 11th July 12:13

[gary71]

funkyrobot said:

The fiancee and I are after a wedding photographer...So far we have had prices ranging from £366 (for a photo album and some thumbnail images on a disk) to around £500 for a bit more. Does this seem like the going rate or is this INexpensive?

I'm sure the wedding tog section will be along in a moment but for £366 I wouldn't set your expectations too high.

[MOTORVATOR]

Simpo is Cheap.


Just saying, I have no idea how much he charges but it was too good an opportunity to pass on.

[andy-xr]

If it's outside the zones of the normal PH'ers, I have a friend based in Lincoln (Market Rasen) who'd be able to do this. Feel free to PM me for their details if you'd like them

[Stu R]

Jag-D

[BliarOut]

http://www.peterredheadphotography.co.uk/

Is local to you. I know nothing about photography so can't comment on if his images are *good* or *bad* but I like how he poses the pictures.

[Castrol Craig]

Stu R said:

Jag-D

this!

[dumbfunk]

gary71 said:

I'm sure the wedding tog section will be along in a moment but for £366 I wouldn't set your expectations too high.

Agree. For somebody to turn over a complete wedding with album for that price implies they would be basically snapping and handing images over rather than spending up to a week working on the processing as many wedding photographers do. And if they can offer a service for that amount then good for them; the difference will clearly be reflected in the image quality but if that's how much somebody has to spend then so be it.

For comparison however, I've consulted on pricing strategy for a very artistic documentary style wedding photography business and after painstakingly reviewing the costs plus the immense amount of work conducted *after* the wedding day arrived at a base package price of £1500. This in my view is a solid but average price so if you find somebody significantly below this who fulfils your needs exactly then you should be very pleased. You can of course easily spend a great deal more.

Also remember that the cost of wedding albums can differ enormously from £50 for a web print book to £1000 for an incredible leather Queensbury album so this part of the package needs to weighed accordingly. Regarding copyright this legally always remains with the photographer and what you are buying is essentially a license to use those images. All image licensing is based upon usage (e.g. a global ad campaign vs. shop window poster) so expect to see different prices for different resolution files.

One piece of advice is that it's not like hiring a car or renting a suit in that this is a creative medium and you're choosing somebody for their artistic ability rather than their hours. So look at lots of photographers and trawl through their blogs and portfolios to find a style that appeals to YOU. Hopefully these photos will be important to you for many decades so trust your instincts.


There's a very passionate debate on this over here:
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...

[funkyrobot]

BliarOut said:

http://www.peterredheadphotography.co.uk/

Is local to you. I know nothing about photography so can't comment on if his images are *good* or *bad* but I like how he poses the pictures.

Thanks, i'll take a look.

[GetCarter]

funkyrobot said:

So far we have had prices ranging from £366 (for a photo album and some thumbnail images on a disk) to around £500 for a bit more. Does this seem like the going rate or is this expensive?

Coffee > keyboard moment.

I would suggest double that is cheap, and triple the norm.

[funkyrobot]

dumbfunk said:

Useful stuff.

Thanks Dumb. I've taken what you have said into consideration and it is very useful. I've never had to work with a photographer before and never hired one. Looking at it from the perspective of hiring a creative medium, not a tool, is very helpful. We are trying to keep the weeding to a strict budget, but do not mind paying a little more for something that is good.

Incidentally, we have managed to find a local chap who will do the photos, and give us the copyright for about £500. We aren't after too much fuss really, just some decent photos on a CD I do understand that this still isn't a simple as it sounds.

We did intially think that £500 was a lot of money, but that was because we didn't understand what was involved. We do now

I'll pass your comments on to my fiancee and we'll take a look at what people have to offer.

Thanks to everyone who has posted useful info on here.

[Jag-D]

funkyrobot said:

Thanks Dumb. I've taken what you have said into consideration and it is very useful. I've never had to work with a photographer before and never hired one. Looking at it from the perspective of hiring a creative medium, not a tool, is very helpful. We are trying to keep the weeding to a strict budget, but do not mind paying a little more for something that is good.

Incidentally, we have managed to find a local chap who will do the photos, and give us the copyright for about £500. We aren't after too much fuss really, just some decent photos on a CD I do understand that this still isn't a simple as it sounds.

We did intially think that £500 was a lot of money, but that was because we didn't understand what was involved. We do now

I'll pass your comments on to my fiancee and we'll take a look at what people have to offer.

Thanks to everyone who has posted useful info on here.

Thanks to the guys for the recommendations

To the OP:

I am not primarily a wedding photographer, but have done weddings in the past. I'm based in Northampton now so it's not really that far to travel so if there's anything you want to ask, just drop me a line

[funkyrobot]

Jag-D said:

Thanks to the guys for the recommendations

To the OP:

I am not primarily a wedding photographer, but have done weddings in the past. I'm based in Northampton now so it's not really that far to travel so if there's anything you want to ask, just drop me a line

Thanks a lot Jag. I shall discuss my findings today with the 'boss' and will let you know if we require further info from you.

[Simpo Two]

MOTORVATOR said:

Simpo is Cheap.


Just saying, I have no idea how much he charges but it was too good an opportunity to pass on.

Not as cheap as your boat Sir


Unfortunately I can't deal as I'm booked on 16 September, but Lincolnshire would be just in range if I used drop tanks.

Copyright: You are very unlikely to get (and don't actually need) copyright; what makes the difference is licence to use, ideally from hi-res images on disk.

Video: I doubt any decent tog will be happy to stop doing what he does best and shoot video on a strange camera. Whilst I find that only about 10% of couples have a professional video guy in (prompting the great elbow-in-the-chops tripod race), more have a tame guest lined up to do it.

Other advice: Meet your proposed tog before you sign up. Ask to see more examples of work and whole weddings. Ask him loads of questions; see if he can answer them all. And equally important, see if you like him!

HTH

[McMacro]

GetCarter said:

funkyrobot said:

So far we have had prices ranging from £366 (for a photo album and some thumbnail images on a disk) to around £500 for a bit more. Does this seem like the going rate or is this expensive?

Coffee > keyboard moment.

I would suggest double that is cheap, and triple the norm.

I agree. We paid between these prices just for the album, with no photos.

Edited to add, I wonder what happened to that album. Gathering dust in some cupboard, I guess. Women and their "I want that album/thing, it's my our special day"

Edited by McMacro on Monday 11th July 15:42

[pugwash4x4]

http://www.alexharephotography.com/

ok so he's one of my best friends, but really is an exmtrely talented photographer- its getting him on a weekend that he's free that is now beginning to be difficult.

[spiralp]

My wife does wedding and portrait photography, and is based just south of Lincoln (probably about 30 mins north of you). Send me a PM if you want more details.

[Steve Evil]

From the research I did for my wedding, a lot of the local 'togs were charging around £2000 as a minimum, including loads of extra guff that I didn't want or need. I've got Simpo Two booked to do ours now, bit of a trek for him to get all the way over here, but he was happy to provide everything I was after (for example I wanted the RAW files so I could have a play in lightroom afterwards).

As someone else has mentioned above, £500 will probably just get you a disc of images that won't have had any work done to them, and whilst I'm sure a few will look great, there will be others that aren't quite there. If they'd just had a bit of time spent on correcting the exposure and adjusting the colour balance etc. they'd be 10 times better.

[funkyrobot]

Thanks everyone, and thanks for the emails. It looks like we may have found a photographer in our local town. He is charging £500 to photograph the wedding and the wedding breakfast. He'll then pop 80 to 100 images on a dvd and will also give us prints of these images (they will be edited, apparently).

He has informed me that the images on the DVD are printable, and that we will have the licence to use them ourselves. He did say that he would give us the copyright too, but on inspection of his T&C's it states that he holds the copyright?

Anyway, at the moment it looks like we'll use him. But if anything changes i'll follow up some of the leads that have been posted on here and emailed to me.

Thanks again everyone. I'll be in touch with the relevant people if I require their services.

[McMacro]

Is it just me who gets a bad feeling about the cost? I am a great believer in the old saying "you get what you pay for". Just wouldn't like you to regret your choice, after all, it's a once-in-a-lifetime day (hopefully).

I'm guessing you've seen his portfolio, funkyrobot? Got a link to his site?