photographer prices??

Each photographer offers a different skill set and operates there own price range so there is no set standard.

Price is important but when comparing photographers has little baring as there are expensive photographers who are useless and some cheap photographers who are very good. Just work out your budget and get the best with in that.

Look to whats offered, Do they offer the images on cd? if they do what size are the images and are they watermarked?

How long will they be there for and what is the charge if they stay longer?

If an album is offered in the price what sort of album is it? is it one of those cheap storybook albums you can pick up from tescos for £30 or is it something a little more special and robust.

Always see a few photographers before making your choice.

We budgeted 1800 for our photographer. We seen our togs work on the net and fell in love with his work. He came to our house and spoke with us for over 2 hours, no shady sales pitch at all, he was so passionate about his work it was excellent and we chatted at ease.

As we are getting married in the winter and mid week he offered us a fab package. I was adamant i wanted a storybook album and i am still getting that even with his cut package.

Even though we knew we really like him i still said to OH i wanted to see another .. so we seen another guy, whos work also looked god on the net. When we met him , we got a sales pitch from the off, slagged off other photographers work ( not by name but still) and when we looked at 5 of his storybook albumns they all looked the same, same repetitive shots throughout the lot..

Needless to say we left and immediately phoned the first guy ( who by the way had not hassled us for a booking, and this was 10 days later)

sorry i went on a bit there but i think its one of the most important parts of the day, your album is what you will show your grand kids,people who cant make it, what you will look through when your marriage is having highs and lows!! you want it to be special and unique. set a top budget but don't just stick to seeing people at the upper end of your budget, and most of all there is always room for haggle!!!

Were paying less than £300 for the photographer! For that he will be with us for 4 hours, and we get 2 discs with all the pics and no copyright. Hate having my photo taken anyway, so really could not warrant spending that much! x

I'm paying £995 and get..

I dont really think the price matters aslong as you like the work.. We just booked our at the weekend for £850 this includes 2 photographers both there all day from preperations to first dance, we get all our photos printed off in 6x4 with a little album for them, we also get a disk so we can print them off ourselves (this was on of my main stipulations) we get a free italian storybook album.. and he was really nice and friendly. He came as a recomendation from a friend who used him earlier in the year (which i think is also important if you can get it)

We saw loads at wedding fayres all ranging from around £1100 to £2500!!!! which i think is ridiculous if the photos and the service is the same whats the need to pay more?

I agree, it's about priorities.

£850 for ours: http://www.weshootweddings.co.uk

• FREE Pre-wedding mini photo-shoot at venue
• FREE Fast track editing, photos online next day
• FREE 12 month web gallery with ordering facility
• FREE Low res teaser images (12) sent next day
• FREE 16x12 poster print [single image or collage]
• FREE All images (full res) on copyright free DVD
• FREE All images (low res) on copyright free DVD
• Two professional photographers for 8 hours
• A4 h/b Storybook or £250 album/print credit
• 2x grey 6x4 mini albums 60 pics in each

Just seen they're also doing free photography for some Herts & Essex venues.

Prices vary hugely, but we found that every tog's work who we really loved was £1k+ and that was without any prints or albums, just images on disk. Partly this is because OH and I have quite specific tastes for the images, plus my OH is an amateur tog so he's even pickier about things like lighting, focus, backgrouns, colour balances and so on. I'm more interested in the tog not giving me a double chin!

We narrowed it down to 2 local togs; the packages we were choosing between were around £1500 and all included:

- Full day coverage, from getting ready until the end of the day, with 2 togs

- High res images on disk, ready for printing (ie tweaked and edited) and license to print

- Smaller low res images for things like emailing to friends and family, putting on FB etc

- Online gallery and all the usual ordering options

In the end, an AMAZING tog who we never ever thought we'd be able to afford (prices started at £1600) offered us an amazing deal because we went to him via a mutul friend and it turned out I know his wife through another non-wedding forum (small online world!) so we got all of the above for £1250. We know we'll have to pay a reasonable amount for albums and prints on top of this, but at the end of the day, the photos are the most important bit IMHO as they help preserve the memories.

But that's precisely the point, the photographs and service aren't the same, which is why the prices vary so greatly.

The first choices you should be making are what style of photographs you would like, how long you'd like the Tog to be around on the day and how you would like the finished pictures to be (electronic/album etc). When you have made these decisions and start searching you'll probably find a few which fit your needs, which you can then narrow down by your budget. Meet with whoever remains in the running to see who you have the best rapport with.

Good luck!

There are great ones out there for £800 and rubbish ones at £1800

It has to depend on what you want from your tog. An album? Prints? or just coverage and supply?

Don't be distracted by freebies with a perceived value.

Judge a photographer on a few complete and recent albums as supplied to the bride and groom and on their persona.

Then consider the price. I've seen really good togs lose business to mediocre ones all because they offered a cheap £30 photobox album.

My camera with one lens attached is £6500, (I need two cameras for backup and carry 6 more lenses) my yearly insurance is £600 - This doesn't make me amazing but us togs operate to different 'standards'. Some will walk around with a £400 camera and a kit zoom lens worth another £200.

I've a wedding in a few weeks and will be staying overnight in a hotel just in case it snows, at my own expense as I can't let the couple down.

All these things add up and need to be paid for

I think we're saying the same thing - I wasn't saying that expensive = better. I was saying that not all Togs provide the same service/photographs etc so that's why there are so many different prices. That's why I was saying it was important to work from first establishing what you want first, then seeing what different people are charging for it.

I understand not all the service and photographs are the same what i meant was what is the point in paying £2500 for a service when you get just as good a service for £800, thats all My personal opinion is that my photographer is excellent and does excellent work so why should i have gone with someone more expensive when they would give me the same judging by their galleries and packages.

Http://www.bigdayproductions.co.uk/includes/cheap-wedding-photographer-manchester.html

I am contemplating using this service. I was bit concerned that perhaps it seemed too good to be true but then again my main focus now is a video of the day as we have a lot of friends coming with fancy cameras, none of whom dared take my wedding photos!

I have spent months agonising over various togs and prices but my budget is what my budget is

We paid £300 for disc only- there are some fab pics in them- and yet he's kinda missed some of the shots i wanted- but since your on a ''buzz'' the whole day you kinda forget what pics have and havent been taken.. i think outta 320 pics theres only 2 i really like ... so shopping around is a defo must do and to be honest we should have stuck witht he first tog we saw -just at £700 it was more than what we could afford

Photography prices are quite wide ranging, and I think what is "typical" to pay depends on what you're looking for, including but not limited to: number of photographers (if the wedding is large enough you may need 2, the photographer + his/her assistant); number of hours (do you want photos from the time the wedding party is getting ready through the reception?); photographic style (e.g., photojournalistic, formal, etc.); ownership of copyright; albums; and most importantly, talent and experience!

One photographer is not as good as the next, and as others have pointed out there are "cheap" photographers who may be very talented and "expensive" photographers who aren't worth what you're paying for. (That being said, given the advancement of digital photography, it seems that every "Tom, Dick and Harry" is calling himself/herself a photographer these days. I've seen a lot of awful, untrained photographers who set up shop and start advertising super-low prices for the types of photographs Aunt Judy could take.)

I think it's important to find one whose portfolio you like, as well as assess how important photographs of your wedding are to you in the overall balance or your budget. It's one of the areas that we didn't want to compromise on, and so balanced more of our budget towards photography. In looking at photographers in Glasgow, the ones I liked were in the £1500 range, and that was for full day coverage (10-12 hours); post-production (editing); and copyright of all images. We ended up, however, going with a photographer from the States (I'm American), who's also a friend.

A few things to note (i.e., just my two cents/pence):

Copyright/License: I would make sure that whatever package you purchase includes the copyright or license to images, allowing you to reproduce images as many times over to your heart's content. Years ago I used a photographer (not for a wedding), and had to pay her X amount every time I wanted an image reprinted!

Post-Production (Editing): Remember, you are not just paying for the photographer's time at the wedding. You are also paying for post-production time. You should ask what his/her experience is with photographic editing software and how much time he/she typically spends on post-production.

Equipment: This is getting a bit technical, but you may be interested in knowing what body and lens the photographer uses. I won't go into the pros/cons of certain lenses -- as there are many opinions on the subject, and you can find debates all over the internet. But, personally, I feel that Canon is the gold standard.

Inside/Outside: Again, this might be getting picky, but I think this distinction could be crucial. Lighting is a central element in photography, and if I were having my wedding/reception outdoors would not hire a photographer who did not have much natural light experience (and I suppose vice versa).

Again, these are just my thoughts for considerations. In the end, you'll just have to balance your budget with what you like and want!

Sevices do vary as much as prices. Just make sure the one you use is using decent equipment that can cope in low light ( and here I say Nikon is really the gold standard ?) but more importantly see that they have evidence of coping with differing lighting situations and can offer reportage and posed approaches - a balanceis always best. Any decent photographer willl carry liability and indemnity cover to provide back up in the event of unforseen hitches / mechanical failure but inevitably will never have used it because of their skills and back up arrangements. I always have 2 or 3 of everything I use available on the day and shoot with pro lenses and a camera that can shoot in the dark to cope with those wawkward occasions when flash is not allowed or is intrusive. I also use a range of diffusers for flash work for those special shots - if your photographer is not equally comfortable with flash and natural light and does not expound the virtues of both when occasions demand them don`t use them. I have some great special offers just now and will tailor fit a package just for you with negotiable prices.

As a photographer I see your point. However if I told a bride I shoot Nikon and low light doesn't phase me, the bride is none the wiser. Most potential couples would not know the difference between a Nikon D1 or a Nikon D3x Or the difference between a 85mm1.4AFS prime and a 70-200 3.5 zoom lens. You are paying the photographer to know his or her stuff, and have the right gear to do the job. You wouldn't ask a plumber what spanners they use, or a plaster what make hawk he uses etc..

It is irrelevant to the B&G what they shoot with, so long as the result and the way it is shot is agreeable for the price. For the record, I have a range of cameras I routinely use at weddings, including film, rangefinders (film and digital), DSLR (crop and FF) and MF-DSLR. For different shots, I get a different camera out. I could happily shoot a wedding with nearly any one of those cameras alone. We were not worried about low light 20, 30, years ago, I dont see why wedding photographers seem so obsessed with it now. All a wedding photographer needs is right skills and then the right tools.

It also isn't about if they can shoot documentary and posed, it is about matching what the B&G want with the shooting style of the photographer. I turned down a job this week, because the couple wanted mainly formal photography. Now I can shoot formal photography, I am very good at it, but my natural style is documentary & observational. A B&G will not be getting the best out of me if I am shooting formals all day long. What I do do is shoot documentary all day long with half a dozen must have formal shots thrown in.

What is really really important for a bride and groom is see the photographers work.... Do you like it? Is it in a great style? Does it look tidy and well composed? Is there a reasonable volume of it? Is anything missing from it? Next up it is really important to "click" with the photographer. You and your family are with them all day, and all night

Our photographer is costing £200 for 4 hours, so we are having him cover me getting ready, the men at the venue, the service and photo's afterwards and then maybe the wedding breakfast.

He will then cost £50 per extra hour after this.

Included in the £200 is all the photographs on a disc, and then if we want him to do an album after this, we can get him to do one at extra cost.

I am happy with this because don't want to spend too much on a wedding album, so may find an online company to do one.

Oh no, not the start of a Nikon v Canon debate!!!? ?

Truth is that there are things on Nikon cameras that are marginally better than Canon, and vice versa, things about Canon cameras that are marginally better than Nikon. All in all, at the end of the day the only true gold standard is the quality of the photographer behind whichever camera they are using.

Peter

Greanleaf makes some excellent points imho...

Peter

It's also important who's behind the camera too.

You might say someone with a good portfolio and lots of weddings under their belt along with a great attitude is the gold standard.

Camera info does count though, I've had loads of couples this year who are either media buyers or photographers themselves...as in proper earn a living from photography types. I've been asked what I use quite often.