Value and Cost of Wedding Photography

I often get asked about the perceived high cost of wedding photography. I know here in Southern California there are photographers that charge $700 for their services while there are others that get $10,000 or even higher for their basic services. These high priced photographers are booked solid year round. What is it - that is driving up the cost of wedding photography ?

Lets start by looking at the good old days (you don't have to look very far - maybe 5 or 10 years back). Most wedding photographers back then were using film. Although their cost per shot was high (film and development costs were $1 per image) versus digital, most photographer's were very frugal and only took about 200 images per event. After this their job became very easy - have the images developed and printed as proofs. Have the client choose images for prints or to go in their album. The photographer then ordered the prints from the lab, assembled the album and delivered the final products to the client. Very few few images were enhanced or retouched back then.

Next, along came the digital revolution. Wow - photographers were no longer stuck with only taking 200 images. On a typical wedding day I take 2,500 to 3,500 images (there is no cost, except the compact flash cards for the camera). Next, I have to edit the images down to a manageable number - say 800 - 1000 images. These are available to the client as hi resolution digital negatives. Next, the client chooses images for prints and their album. This is were the fun begins. All my album/print images are enhanced using many different computer applications , but mostly Adobe Photoshop. I personally use a special computer monitor for retouching called a Wacom Cintiq - it's worth over $2,000. I also custom design every wedding album using the enhanced images. A typical wedding now takes approximately 40 hours to complete with all the work involved.

Another cost for photographers is the advancement in digital cameras. Instead of buying a film camera and having it for 5 plus years. We are obliged to keep up with all the great technical advances. (While many current photographers won't agree with this, I believe that my clients deserve the absolute best image quality possible. Check out my new Nikon D3 camera. It takes images in low light without a flash. This was unheard of just last year.). Keeping up with all this technology costs $10,000 to $15,000 per year - these are real costs that need to be recovered.

So what does all this mean? If I look at my pictures and album from when I got married many years ago - while they have irreplaceable sentimental value for me and my family, the image quality and album design sucks! If clients are willing to pay for raw photographic talent, the latest image capture/enhancement technology, and albums manufactured by the best companies in the world, they will be in possession of awesome images and albums that will last their lifetime and beyond!

While technology has definitely increased costs, it has also taken our creative possibilities to an unbelievable new level.