How to deal with CHEAP wedding photography clients | Photographer business tips
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 เม.ย. 2022
- #photographers #weddingphotographers #cheapclients
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Are you a wedding photographer? Are you a beginner wedding and event photographer? Well I got the right video for you. I've been doing this for some time now and I've learned lessons the hard way. This video is all about sharing my time doing business as a wedding photographer and how to deal with clients that want to lower your price.
We talk about price, contracts, client excuses and much more. Wedding photography/photographer business tips for all on how to deal with clients lowering or trying to lower your price and value as a professional working photographer.
These tips can also be used for all types of business, not just photography.
Leave me a comment and let me know what you had to deal with in the past when in comes to clients and pricing.
Enjoy
VAHAGRAPHY - Rock & Roll Photography Channel
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Great advice. My first year I spent more on advertising than on gear. A lot of it was because I know it would be depressing sitting around waiting for the phone to ring then begging for the job. I spent a good deal making the portfolio than marketed it the best I could for a full year so I didn't have the beggars complex. The second year I was able to drop our advertising by half. It really is tough out there, good luck to all photographers.
Thanks for sharing your strategy. It is really hard out there. Specially when this is all you do full time. ALlot of guys I know took on a full time job and still do weddings on the weekends just to make end meet.
I love your videos, awesome stuff 👏
Same here. Keep up the great work Carmine.
Rock & roll.
Hell yah ROCK N ROLL
Art directors etc think that photographer just hold the camera and presses the button on top and say their iphone has the same resolution and want it cheaper...
Yup, Its really sad that people think this way yet they go and hire a pro to take pictures at their event. lol
Thank you for this !
Thank you Vahagn! Have a great week!
You are very welcome Fel. Never knew you are from NY. How did I miss that one. :)
@@Vahagraphy Lol yeah, I think maybe because my first language is Spanish so maybe the way I write can be misleading hehe, by the way, this morning, I just got the 28mm lens, feels like it is going to be super fun doing street photography with this thing or just to capture moments when I hang out with friends. And of course, it won't replace my 35 S lens, this is just for when I don't want to carry a big lens around :)
Very nice video Vahagan !!
Glad you liked it Bars.
Great tips!
Glad you enjoyed the video Daniel.
Good stories of experiences with thrifty customers and how to deal with them when cockroach spray is powerless, LOL. Your tips and stories are great for people that want to learn the trade and understand that it is a very sophisticated one which is not to be taken lightly.
Glad it was helpful! This is why I started this channel. To help anyway I can. :)
Learned a lot .. Thanks 🤘
Glad it was helpful Andrew.
I spoke with my uncle, and we were talking about cinematographers. He watched something on you tube about a cine gear convention. He looked up how much the average cinematographer makes a year and it was like $56k a year. So he exclaimed well they are overpaid. He said he felt that anyone can point “a camera” where it needs to go. This is what he truly believed. Mind blowing. He was talking specifically about the “director of photography” on a movie. I tried to explain how complicated it is and could be and how much knowledge these skilled artist individuals have
Thats common in most peoples minds. Just because we don't have degrees for law or medical that we have no right to make a living wage or better yet be successful and make something out of ourselves. If you ask me. going to school for years and getting a degree doesn't make you a better man or woman. I know so many book smart people that are just plain dumb when it comes to common sense stuff.
Great tips.
Glad you enjoyed the video Derrick.
thank you so much for this. I relate on the situations a lot
Glad it was helpful! I like to share my real life exp with others so they are aware what to look for and not get used by clients and other photographers.
Oh man, we are of the same cloth. This is EXACTLY what I preach to newbies in my area.
Its so amazing that working pros like us always have similar exp. Good ones too. but when we are taked to the cleaners its not a pretty feeling. At the end of the day. we are there to pay the bills and get the job done regardless. Try to learn from our mistakes. We can try to prevent it from happening again but its somehow there is always something different on the event date you as a photographer not prepared for or not expecting.
I like these kinds of videos!
Glad to hear the feedback. Thank you bngr.
Keep up the good Business related conversations on your vids!
Glad you enjoyed this Tom.
V great knowledge! There are so many facets to that business that I've never even considered. Thanks for laying it out for us. Very organized and you went from point to point to point just very good!
Thank you Mike. Appreciate it and I'm glad you got a thing or 2 from this video. Knowing this inspires me to make more videos like this.
That's experience right there. Sage advice for anyone in the business of Wedding Photography.
THank you so much Chuck. Live and learn and share with the audience. :)
Good video. Know your worth. Show your value.
exactly and rock n roll!!!!
Great video V . This applies to almost any business. When I started mine in the 90’s I had people asked me for discounts and one hundred business cards to pass around to people they know. A loose loose scenario.
Good point Sal. Ohh yah. give me your business cards. let me pass them out. You know most times those cards go in the trash or used at tooth picks. I used to leave business cards on wedding reception tables back in the day and one day I saw a guest at a wedding use one of my cards to clean the steak between his teeth. I was like WTF . I stopped doing that the next day.
I think the real haggling is more so in general Event photography less than weddings perhaps
Both have their fair share. lol.
Good advise V😅🤟
Its very common these days how people lie and book you and later they mess around.
Exactly! When doing business, any business, specially photography, you come across many amazing clients and some not to amazing. I guess its part of making a living in this world. Thank you Mobilo.
I wish I'd have had you for a business mentor 30+ years ago. Good video V.
Thank you so much Charles.
Many, many greats points from an experienced professional. My wife suggested I do wedding photography the other day (and no disrespect) it is just not my passion and you have to be passionate about what you do, I did a few weddings as basically gifts for close friends but have no intentions of doing any more. I'm sure part of the comment was she felt well you can at least make some money (not making and not trying hard to make money with Nature wildlife photography). I shoot because it brings peace and joy to myself, that's good enough for me.
Thank you Jeffrey. Weddings are not for everyone. Ill be honest. not my ultimate passion. I mean, Don't get me wrong, my fav part of the wedding is the creative part, park shots. you know, portraits, nothing to do with the ceremony or dancing. The artisitic side ohh yes, my other fav part of it is when its over. haha.
This happened to me yesterday for the first time. I sent this bride my full price guide and she booked a consult they asked for 10 hours for the the price of 6. I was honestly stunned. I just said , I’m sorry, my base packages aren’t negotiable but I am willing to offer a discount on upgrades.
Great video, thanks Vahagraphy. I'd like to second shoot for you sometime.
Thank you so much Nick.
I always resisted weddings because they are not fun dealing with headstrong mothers and demanding brides and preferred other client work. It is a later career for my, after 25 years of owning a large recording studio and being one of the recording engineers. I made the most money with candid snapshots that ended up on album covers or liner notes back when they were important. Labels would offer fractional points instead of pay for service because on average albums did not sell in high numbers for new artists so were out nothing for many albums if they did not sell over a set threshold(it all comes out of the artists share anyway) but we were lucky in being booked by top producers bringing in major clients or new artist who would explode onto the scene. So those monochrome moody snapshots of an artist conferring with the producer in a dark corner ended up paying far better than they should have. As a side business after recording started doing commercial photography, mostly fashion, and portraits, lifestyle and some boudoir, mostly for fun and modest rates. At the time I owned a high-end dress store so came in contact with many designers and models. In 2000 I moved out of California to a beautiful highly cultured Eastern European city and have been shooting for drama theater and staging actor masterclasses for stage actors wanting to transition to the cinema so I am around a lot of actors who are constantly needing photography, and casting directors where i might shoot headshots and full body for 60 actors plus video business cards.I do not charge much because actors do not make much here but the cost of living it so low, low income only hurts when traveling back to the US or western Europe. I only do weddings for free, as a wedding gift for friends, 90% of my friends are young attractive talented actors and I do about 1 formal wedding every other month. They are much longer and more involved than weddings in the US. but the going are for a formal wedding is about $800 for higher-end clients and $400-500 for more modest. I would rather give it away than accept low gigs,
The lowest price a photographer or any service provider charges as a favor becomes, as you stated, the value of your work. The person getting the bargain brags about how he warranted such a deal because of his importance, so word gets around very fast what your lowest rate becomes identified as your brand.
Contracts are essential, there are more misunderstood or expected services in the confusion of a wedding so make the contract in plain language, and read it together with the client, stopping frequently to sake them what you just read means. ANY changes need a new contract or revised one with signatures.
Unlike most businesses, there is almost no need for an office or commercial space so it is easier to create an image of your business with very few symbols of the image of your business. any documents should be beautifully designed, any samples need to be perfect, any service or gesture needs to be tops in feel and appearance. That is far cheaper and easier than having an elegant office, If you do a wedding book, make sure it is top quality, because it will represent your image for years. That is where your clients come from. That book is the cheapest form of advertising so have one included in your standard package. Take and edit some square frame images optimized for social media, since they will be your advertising also. Supplying some images you pick, as a gift not charged for, optimized for Instagram with a stylish watermark so you get some ad millage.
Dress well for the event, you are your best advertising. If there are rehearsals, attend and make reminder snapshots or shot videos of make points so you are ahead of the action on the wedding day, nothing (hopefully) happens faster than you wee being ready..
Insist on guest photo zones so aunt Maude is not staking in your way for essential shots. If the client does not want to assure guests iPhone shooting does not get in your way, turn it down. You get the shots expected if 20 of the guests are bumping you out of the clear sightlines because that will reflect on you, not the guest who constantly got in your way. I suggest a special area to the side out of your way and out of the way of the attendee's view, a roped-off area for all guest photographers, a rope line with a sign "Reserved for Photographers".Announce it early that anyone who wants to take photos, go to the roped-off area to the side before the ceremony starts. designate someone in the family as Sargent at Arms to assure that everyone is where they need to be before it starts.
Have at least 2 competent shooters, preferably a female so she can head the bride's dressing in the morning and you can cover the grooms' preparations. If they want a video, 1 or two people are needed for that, and the video needs a storyline so they are set up at the right place at the correct time in the ceremony. Two cameras per shooter so both cameras have the optimum lens on each. There is a good reason why the 24-70 and 70-200 are your survival kit, and they are more important than that blur master 85 1.2
Man, you laid it all out here. thank you for taking the time and sharing some of your time with business. Thats so cool that you were running a music studio. I've spent allot of time recording drums and it was a time in my life I will never forget. Very happy times. I would love to get back in a studio and record again. Maybe record and do videos too. hehe
I will also add that for years I never had elopement packages due to folks trying to cram a full wedding into 4 hours, etc.
However, 2020 I offered them (to stay afloat during the pandemic) and they went well until just last month.
The “elopement” consisted of a 20 person wedding party and 400+ guests and large family groups.
So yeah, even after 14 years of this you sometimes get duped.
I know what you mean. Clients sometimes forget to mention important details you later find out when you are there.
bro I hate the little tricks people use. one dude wanted to get one shoot cheap and the next one he was going to pay then I did exactly like you said. No full price now discount later...bro this was when I was charging like 300 dollars too....dude actually said exposure pays bills.
haha yah , watch out for people like this. One guys actually tried to con me into giving him a discount because he said, there will be celebs at his wedding and this would be a great chance for me to get gigs. haha. guess what. I booked him at full price and no celebs at weddings. :)
@@Vahagraphy 🤣... ya that dude ended up hanging up on me cuz I wouldn't willingly do a 250 dollar video
It todays world where everybody has a phone, its hard to charge a decent amount. The answer is to go up market and be exclusive. I do two weddings a month. I charge $5000 and provide 30 proofs. Printing is extra. The market perceives how good you are by how much you charge. Want to make $10k a month, you will never get there by charging $500.
PS. for 2 k USD I am coming from Romania to do it! Hahahaha! Cheers
heheh cheers. Be free.
LMAO....go to Mercedes Benz and ask them why they charge so much for their cars, and Hyundai is just less than half of Mercedes Benz price ! LMAO ( they will give you Hyundai address to make it easier for you)
Go to mercedes today, or any dealership. They are putting markups on all the cars. You ask them why , they say because we can, supply and demand, Its crazy whats going on out there in other industries.
I offer them a finders fee of a 100 for each job I'm referred by them