The majority of couples will choose a professional and best wedding photographer to capture their unique day since everyone wants to remember their wonderful wedding day, therefore home films and blurry smartphone photos won't do. The cost of a wedding may be staggering—the location, the catering, the attire, the decorations, the DJ or band, and on and on it goes. You may feel overwhelmed and ask why premium wedding photography is so expensive when you add the cost of the photographer to the list.
We're here to explain it from a photographer's point of view so you can see all the work that goes into it.
- TIME
One of the main factors affecting the price level is time. People frequently focus on the wedding day itself when we discuss time, but it is only one aspect of the overall. Client meetings, pre-wedding day preparation, the wedding day, and editing may be divided into four categories to better understand the time spent on each.
Before the wedding, the best wedding photographer spends a lot of time getting to know their couples, meeting with them to get to know each other, being accessible and prepared to answer questions, scouting locations for the best images, and sometimes even including engagement shoots. After the wedding, they spend time editing and post-producing the numerous photos that were taken throughout the day.
- EXPERIENCE
Even while most weddings have many aspects, every wedding is unique. Experienced and best wedding photographers will be able to predict what will happen and will be prepared to catch events even before they happen, creating unforgettable memories. A wedding photographer is hired based on the appearance and calibre of their work. For a photographer, perfecting their shooting technique, editing style, and effective approach to connect with individuals to get the finest emotions and responses takes a lot of effort. It requires a combination of inherent skill and intense commitment to practise till they achieve never-ending excellence. A professional photographer is constantly seeking new stances to test and improved techniques to get the desired outcomes. To provide you with the highest degree of quality, they will monitor the best equipment. You are investing in skill and knowledge. If something goes wrong, you cannot relive this day. You want to pay for the peace of mind of knowing the photographer documenting your special day is capable of coping with any lighting conditions, delays in the schedule or other factors, as well as handling shy subjects and well-known figures with ease.
- GEAR
The equipment used by your best wedding photographer is probably one of the greatest factors in the high cost of wedding photography.
A wedding photographer has access to at least two different camera bodies. This will cut down on the time they have to switch between lenses, especially on important occasions like the first kiss. Additionally, this is so they have a backup camera in case the worst-case situation occurs and the primary camera breaks down. For diverse appearances and aesthetics, they will have a minimum of 3 lenses in their camera bag. Three lenses: one for far views, one for up-close detail shots, and one for more general shots. The more lenses your photographer has for various settings on your wedding day, the more expertise they have. Additionally, your wedding photographer will carry lens filters to shield their lenses, flashes, extra batteries, and memory cards. All of these things add up to tens of thousands of dollars in price.
- EDITING
The final part of a wedding that takes the most time is editing. One of the fees associated with premium wedding photography is editing. In order to capture a certain moment, your photographer could snap dozens of pictures at intervals of a few seconds, or they might choose to be far more selective. So a wedding photographer has a range of 50 to 300 images to pick from each hour. That may amount to about 2400 images for an 8-hour wedding. The greatest images must now be separated from the mediocre or subpar ones by your photographer. Depending on the photographer, it might take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours to choose the best photos from an 8-hour event.
The real editing process takes significantly longer and is a bigger contributor to the high expense of wedding photos. Occasionally, the photographer can apply a certain editor preset to several images at once, but they will then go through each image individually to manually alter these presets to give the image the ideal final appearance. Another 8 to 24 hours should pass throughout this procedure. Additionally, before delivering your images, your photographer will likely leave the scene for a few days before returning with fresh eyes to fix any flaws that went unnoticed.
If we're keeping track of hours, your photographer has, at the very least, dedicated 24-36 hours of their time to the various components of one wedding. Not even the time required to make a wedding album is included in this. You might now be wondering why it takes your photographer so long to deliver the pictures from your wedding. Remember that your photographer has other weddings to capture in addition to their own family, other photo sessions, more client meetings, editing other client photographs, and other photo shoots.
- INSURANCE
It's a big duty to capture events that won't ever happen again. Numerous things may go wrong, including damaged SD cards, broken cameras, depleted batteries, and human mistakes. Most of the time, a skilled photographer can stop these problems from happening. Double SD card slots in cameras, a second or third camera available, additional batteries always on hand, etc.
Phew! Long list huh? Now you see, there is this and so much more that goes into premium wedding photography. And that is why it is so expensive.
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