Second photographer question

achiduck

So I got an e-mail from my photographer yesterday to ok her brining a second shooter who's a recent photography school grad. She'll be taking some candid pictures throughout the day and then helping with lighting, etc during our first look, wedding party and family photos. Because the second shooter is a trainee we don't have to pay anyting for her but have to provide a meal. We will get all the photos that the trainee takes, but they will (probably) not be nearly the same quality as our hired photographer.

The main photographer we hired is self-employed and works out of her home so I wasn't planning to tip her. Do I need to tip the trainee? I would feel weird tipping one but not both.

Thoughts?

OliveOilsMom

We had a second shooter and an assistant.  We tipped them both.  Our main photographer owns her business and we "tipped" her by ordering an album from her. 

itzMS

I personally would not. Though tipping photographers of any sort is not really a common/traditional thing in my area.

Avion22

I guess I don't see what it can hurt.  I mean, yes, it will cost you the price of a vendor meal.  You don't have to tip her if you're not happy with her work.

We had a second shooter, and it turned out really well.  She got some really great shots:-)

StephBeanWed61502

I feel like the trainee is going to be there for her own benefit, not yours, so I don't think you have the same obligation to tip her as you would if you had hired her. That said, providing even a nominal tip would be a nice thing to do, since you will be getting the shots she takes.

ootmother2

The photographer had an assistant and we did tip them

samantha24p

We'll be tipping our photographers assistant.

Meegles4

We had two shooters, but they were co-owners of the company and I didn't tip either.

In this case I might. It's possible the trainee isn't getting paid at all, like not even out of your photographer's cut, so it might be nice to give them a little cash. Yes, they're there for their own benefit, but it's still a lot of time to photograph a wedding.

QueerFemme

I would absolutely tip.  Yes, she is getting the experience/training, but she is still spending a lot of time at your wedding and doing edits after.   It would be a nice gesture to give her $75-100 bucks or something. 

For what it's worth, we had an amateur/still learning photographer as our second shooter, and her pictures were absolutely fabulous.  She got some REALLY great shots.  And, my primary photographer's camera locked up during "the kiss", but my second photographer had like 10 shots of it. 

SlothGoals

Achiduck I've seen you around on the toronto board, I'm in the GTA. What photographer are you going with, if you don't mind my asking?

achiduck

Kristbot - YGPM!

theelusive1

You could send her a thank you later with a gift card or a tip in it.  I would not tip the owner.

lauralaur

We ended up with three photographers: the primary, her assistant, and the primary's friend who is trying to get into the business. We weren't charged for the third photographer. We tipped all three but tipped the primary less than the others since it is her business. I tipped the primary though because for one, she was great, but also because she had to drive a bit for our wedding and didn't charge us for it.

achiduck

Thanks for the advice ladies!