Wedding Photography and Videography Forum

XP: Insanely expensive photos??

My friend's photographer sent her a link to the website where he has all of her wedding pictures, and we can purchase the ones we want. I went through them and picked the ones I wanted and then I saw the price:  $22 PER 4x6 PHOTO!!!  Are you fucking kidding me???  Is this a normal wedding price for a standard 4x6 color picture? And that's on top of what the photog was already paid for his time the day of.

Re: XP: Insanely expensive photos??

  • That's crazy.  I'd wait until things settle down for her after the wedding and see if she has rights to the photos.  If so, just ask her for the jpegs of the ones you want and send that to shutterfly or one of those photo printing sites.
  • I actually asked her if she had a CD with the pics on it that I could borrow instead and she never got one. The wedding was in early June and she won't get digital proofs of the photos until 18 months out, and I think she'll only get proofs of the ones she orders off the website. Thankfully there's only one photo I really REALLY want, and my birthday is coming up so I'll ask my parents if they'd be willing to buy a few of them as my bday present.
  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    My daughter had a fairly expensive photographer.  His 4 X 6 price was $7.50....and I thought THAT was crazy.  

    Although we also had rights to the pictures, we also had to wait 1 year to receive them.  I'm sure photographers delay that turnover deliberately in the hopes that brides/families will be too excited to wait.  Luckily, we had enough good informal pictures to satisfy our immediate excitement.  The delay also worked in our favor.  Had we gotten the pictures closely following the wedding, I know our tendency would have been to "over order" many pictures.  Seeing the pictures a year later was actually a lot of fun.  Making you wait 18 months seems downright mean!
  • MajideMajide member
    Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment
    Yeah, I'm so glad my photographer is providing a DVD with the photos.  This is the main reason I went with her, too.  We get a DVD, all rights to the photos, but no prints - only $650.  And it's with the full day of coverage, and two assistants who will also be taking photos.  I've seen so many where you have to pick what you want from the photos they take, and that drives me crazy!  Plus, like mentioned, it's so expensive!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • As a wedding photographer myself, this is daylight robbery. I know some photographers don;t provide a CD of images (which i'll never understand) with a hope to make money on the purchase of proofs, however, $22 is ridiculous. I know that a 4 x 6 can cost less than $2 (depending on the lab) so the margins they are applying is ridiculous. Ok if it's a one off fine art piece but I'm guessing these are just standard wedding photos. Additionally, how can they justify a wait of 18mths for the CD?! most of us turn around in 2-4 weeks

    This all comes down to making sure the contract states this stuff...maybe the couple were ok with this - who knows?

    Either way - this photographer will not last long in this market..
  • I just learned that he'll give us a "discounted" price of $18 per photo. Woo. And about 50% of the photos are blurry or dark (even the ceremony & first look). He made us wear sunglasses during the WP pictures, and he totally missed the WP introductions at the reception because he was outside taking pictures of the decorative bird cages. My mom has MS and she was shaking like crazy with her camera, and those pictures still turned out better than most of the professional ones.

    Thankfully the few pictures I do want were taken by his assistant and are much better.
  • edited July 2013
    Rnclarke You're showing your photography "experience" in your response. It's not your place to say that $22 is ridiculous without knowing the photographer's cost of doing business or the amount of editing/work they put into each print.

    Many photographers hold on to files for a year or more to encourage print sales so they can, you know, stay in business. This is a photographer running a profitable business, not a shoot and burn give everything away kind of business.
  • anajax said:
    Rnclarke You're showing your photography "experience" in your response. It's not your place to say that $22 is ridiculous without knowing the photographer's cost of doing business or the amount of editing/work they put into each print.

    Many photographers hold on to files for a year or more to encourage print sales so they can, you know, stay in business. This is a photographer running a profitable business, not a shoot and burn give everything away kind of business.
    Considering most wedding photogs are charging in the area of $2K just to take the photos, there is no reason to charge $22 for one standard size print of a photo.  It's just not a smart business decision. 

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • I am also a pro wedding photographer with 40 years experience.   This situation is a perfect example (and lesson learned for other couples) of not asking the right questions BEFORE you signed the contract with this photog!  Wedding photographers, like anyone else in retail business have the right to charge whatever they want and can choose whatever business model they prefer.  It's called free enterprise.  But among wedding photographers,  there are many varying opinions as to what the "right" way to handle this pricing and image rights policy.  

    At the initial consultation with the photographer,  ask if you get the image DVD of all photos and WHEN do you get it.  Do you get rights to reproduce the images?  How much do reprints cost?  How long will the online gallery be available to order from?  Etc.

    I provide the images DVD with rights immediately after the wedding, usually within 5 days or less.  It's my opinion that holding an image DVD for 18 months IS holding those images hostage and should be obvious to the consumer.  The only reason to hold it that long is to limit the purchase of photos to that studio.  (penny smart, dollar dumb!)  But as a business person he (she) has the right to choose their business model and deal with the consequences.  

    It's unfortunate that the couple didn't know these things BEFORE they signed his contract.

    Buyer Beware!
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