Why wedding photographers are so expensive
Bridal couples know that a wedding celebration with family and friends, the perfect dress, the most beautiful rings and the banquet will not be cheap. But when they see the prices of wedding photographers, their jaws often drop. These crazy wedding photographers seem to have agreed on horrendous hourly wages that are almost inexplicable. And the uncle can actually take quite good photos too...? But of course there are many differences between hobby and professional wedding photographers. When looking for the right photographer to capture the special emotional moments, small events and encounters of your own wedding, there are many things to consider and think about. Why wedding photographers are so expensive and much more we explain here.
What makes a professional wedding photographer?
A professional wedding photographer has not only many years of training and extensive photographic equipment, but also experience that allows him to unobtrusively, quickly and discreetly make the right decisions and thus make really good photos. This includes, for example, knowledge of and familiarity with light, poses, or even the right comment sometimes that relaxes photo-shy wedding guests. Also, special lighting effects, playing with the focus or, for example, a photo in the sunset want to be learned and practiced for a long time, so that everything runs smoothly at the celebration. In addition, situations with difficult lighting conditions arise in wedding photography, for example, in dark churches or at the party, which challenge the photographer. A professional wedding photographer also knows his or her way around post-processing, where the pictures get their finishing touches. Overall, you should keep in mind that with a wedding photographer you are not only paying an hourly wage, but also the experience and the very own style that he has developed over a long time.
How much work is behind wedding photography?
Photographers always emphasize that presence time is not the same as working time. And if you think about the course of a wedding, including planning and post-processing, it quickly becomes clear that this is not made up out of thin air. With the first contact with the interested bridal couple, a personal meeting and the correspondence preceding the wedding, a photographer spends already well and gladly five working hours and still no single photo was shot! With the wedding, including the journey, he then has a fairly long working day of around 15 hours. What is also often forgotten is the extensive post-processing of the celebration, where the photographer rummages through all his many photos and selects and reworks the best ones. This requires a good 25 hours of work. So in addition to expertise and the right equipment, there's also a whole lot of working time behind such a wedding photography engagement.
Find the right wedding photographer
Wedding photography costs a lot of money, okay. But once you've digested that, the question remains: how do you find the right photographer who not only fits the budget, but also takes the very special and, above all, exactly the photos that the bride and groom dream of? Experienced wedding photographers advise to start with yourself first and be clear about what exactly you want. In the search for your own style, it helps to look at photos from different wedding photographers and find out what the field has to offer. Some photographers tend to work in elegant photo locations like castles and parks, others specialize in photos in natural settings, while still others may prefer a more modern-industrial look.
It is also worth starting the search for the right wedding photographer in good time, because weddings are known to be a seasonal affair and during the peak season between May and September, weekends are quickly booked up. In the next step, a personal meeting can help to get a feeling for the photographer (and vice versa) and to discuss ideas and wishes. Here it is worth asking the photographer for an example of a whole wedding reportage like the one the couple will eventually receive. It is important to have a good feeling with the photographer and that both sides are sympathetic to each other, so that they can also be relaxed and work well together at the wedding celebration. If everything fits, the couple can relax and leave this part to the professional and take care of the other 10,000 things that still need to be done!
Images that last
One bridal couple is interested in the most beautiful cake, the other perhaps in a very special beer for the celebration. All want to spoil their guests on this day and also treat themselves to something very special. Certainly, at a wedding celebration, besides the bride and groom and their love affair, the moment spent with friends and family is most important. But it is also worth thinking about the memory in a few years and we all know how patchy the human memory can sometimes be and how quickly the most beautiful memories sometimes fade. Besides the rings and a hopefully fulfilling love relationship, the special memories remain after the celebration from the wedding. And to review them together and to be able to look at them in the perfect light is, if we are honest, invaluable. For pictures that serve as a support for the memory and accompany us, it is worth considering other aspects besides the price, such as skill and experience of the photographer.
A plea for personal wedding photography
It is often said that the wedding day is the one day in a woman's life when she can feel like a princess. This may be an exaggeration, but this idea is definitely worth noting: the day of the wedding as a personal experience, where you can be what you've always dreamed of. The perfect dress, the right location, the right partner... and the right photographer. Sure, a professional wedding photographer with training and years of experience will take great photos with the perfect light. But what good is it if he or she stages your very own day of joy in a way that doesn't exactly match your dream? Wedding photographers must first and foremost fit the wedding and the bride and groom. Therefore, when choosing a photographer, you should perhaps already familiarize yourself with his style and field of experience. During the planning and meetings, you should make sure that it is clear how exactly your own ideas are and that the couple and the photographer are on the same wavelength. And if you always feel uncomfortable in front of a camera and shy away from strangers in the intimate surroundings of family and friends at your very own festive day, you can also ask the photo-obsessed uncle or best friend who takes such great photos. They probably won't be able to keep their fingers off the camera at the party anyway!
Oberwerth has the right handmade photo bag and equipment for everyone, whether professional or amateur photographer. Take a look around our website and explore the elegant and high-quality world of Oberwerth.
sources
https://www.wp-hochzeit.de/wie-viel-kosten-ein-hochzeitsfotograf-warum-so-teuer/
