j.man Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 I'm just wondering if this is industry standard before I start getting assertive or leaving reviews. I'll be the first to admit I'd be the last person suspected of subscribing to Weddings magazine. My wife hired a photographer for $3,000. I know that's not as much as some have paid, but it was for a single photographer, and I consider it enough pennies to at least entitle someone to a flash drive, DVD, or even just a Google Drive folder of the color edited photos. Turns out we've been directed to the photographer's web page you can't directly save the images from, and you can either be charged for each photo you'd like printed or shipped, or pay $400 with a USB of the gallery. I'm just baffled how having the photos provided on some form of storage media wasn't included with the price... like we'd otherwise just wanna pay $3,000 for the privilege of watching someone take photos. My wife's the one who picked the photographer and made arrangements with her, so I guess it's a question that should have been asked then. But I frankly can't blame her for not thinking she'd need to. I mean... is that the norm? I'm usually the first to "LMGTFY," but I'm having trouble finding the terms to search for pertinent results. ETA: I'm much less asking based on whether I have cause for any sort of remedy. If my wife missed it in the contract, she missed it, and there's not much else to say there other than perhaps I should have been more involved on that front to have noticed it myself. Just curious on the pervasiveness of the practice. Link to comment
reinventmyself Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Ouch. My son just got married and we too are directed to the photographers website, but there is no charge for downloading the pictures. Just this last weekend I downloaded one, sent it to Costco, and it's on my dining room wall. The photographer made her money up front. Link to comment
boltnrun Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 In my opinion, the $3 grand should have included an electronic copy of the photos. On the photographer's website is it clearly spelled out that the fee is for photography services only and not for prints or electronic access? Link to comment
abitbroken Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 You should have been given a photo package included with that price! And charge for additional photos. That $3k is outrageous especially to get zero photos. Link to comment
dias Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Something is totally wrong here. You either pay the photographer upfront as you did or you go to his website, order the photos you want printed and then pay. Not both. Link to comment
indea08 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 I also do photography on the side, and no this is not normal, but it may be legal if that’s what the contract states that your wife signed. Double, triple read that agreement. Photographers gain clients mostly through referrals, social media, and activity on their own webpage (galleries, etc). So if I were you, I would approach the photographer and give them one chance to provide you with the digital images you paid for and let them know that if they refuse, you’ll be making that known on all of their platforms. I would imagine they’d get it in gear. Any reasonable photographer would. I can’t imagine how they’ve been able to gain clients if they don’t even provide a finished product. That’s idiotic. Link to comment
j.man Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 Alright, I've taken some Pepto and am no longer on the verge of ****ting a brick. Had my wife tell me where the contract was so I could read it, and evidently a USB of the negatives is included in the package. For spending $3,000 on a single photographer, I'd certainly like it if a small gallery of edited photos were included, but coming off this, I'm just happy we do indeed get the negatives. My wife was convinced it was pay extra for the gallery or bust. This woman and her estranged relationship with fine print will be the death of me. Link to comment
thornz Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 So you get the raw pics and pay extra for prints of the edited versions? Sounds more realistic. That way you can edit (or have edited) the raw pics to your own taste if you wish before printing. Link to comment
j.man Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 So you get the raw pics and pay extra for prints of the edited versions? Sounds more realistic. That way you can edit (or have edited) the raw pics to your own taste if you wish before printing.Yep, that's the plan. One of the schools I contract with regularly is a visual arts school, so I can probably make that $400 work for us a lot better handpicking the pictures we want spruced up. Link to comment
itsallgrand Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Yep, that's the plan. One of the schools I contract with regularly is a visual arts school, so I can probably make that $400 work for us a lot better handpicking the pictures we want spruced up. Oh that would be cool! I'm super surprised at this situation. We've been looking into photographers lately so this is a good heads up on what to ask and be very sure of what is included. We went to the wedding of his step bro last summer, and part of what was included in the package was semi personalized books of photographs to each major family group. So the parents received books that included more photos of their family etc. I thought it was very nice! Link to comment
j.man Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 Oh that would be cool! I'm super surprised at this situation. We've been looking into photographers lately so this is a good heads up on what to ask and be very sure of what is included. We went to the wedding of his step bro last summer, and part of what was included in the package was semi personalized books of photographs to each major family group. So the parents received books that included more photos of their family etc. I thought it was very nice!Yeah, one of the options through this lady is a book with prints for $350 or something like that. Wife really wanted one, but I work seasonally, so I'll probably end up putting one together myself during my down time to save a few bucks. Overall, I was *not* a fan of paying $3,000 for a photographer, especially considering she was on her own-- no assistant or anything. But I'm also not the biggest fan of photos altogether or very knowledgeable of the cost:value ratio as far as that service goes, so I let the wife have dominion over that. The photographer's personality was definitely factored into the price as my wife tends to-- albiet within reason-- value someone who's more exceptionally personable over someone strictly professional, even if the quality's a bit better. I am the exact opposite. But lady knew which of us was the target audience, so fair play to her. Still, I think you should settle for a bit more than we got if you're gonna put a comparable amount of money into it. Link to comment
Batya33 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 I'm glad you resolved it as far as what the contract said. I can relate to this kind of frustration. when I planned a wedding (that was cancelled) I really disliked dealing with the various vendors. For our tiny wedding we needed one professional other than the officiant to prepare something creative for after. She was lovely to deal with but was not one of the hot shots and worked out of a simple studio apartment, simple contract, did what she said she would, reliable, a pleasure. We didn't have a reception and I was glad about that. I guess the good thing is you didn't have to deal with the planning/negotiation with the photographer which can be time consuming. After our son was born and I was exhausted we received a bill for a certain post-birth service. It was more than expected. Our son was born early in the year and we'd signed the contract late the previous year -well not an actual contract -probably an exchange of emails with his fee. He said "well those were my [last year] rates and my rates went up." So I said firmly -no - we signed you up late last year and that was the fee you quoted us. He apologized. It was a difference of about $100 which mattered to us. Link to comment
itsallgrand Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Our budget will be much less, but we also don't live in NY. I'm sure the prices go up in any bigger city. The photos you did share here were beautiful. So hopefully you did get quality. Which, I've heard some people who were disappointed with their photos, and that would totally suck. Link to comment
browneyedgirl36 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Hmmm...my husband and I paid $5200 for our wedding photos (the most expensive part of our entire wedding, by far), but we got a free engagement shoot, TWO photographers (the main photographer and his wife, who is his assistant), plus downloadable galleries of both shoots, so we both have them saved on our computers, and we've since gotten various photos printed through online photo services. Any photos or albums done by the photographer would be part of an extra package, and they are outrageously expensive (for $1100, we got a small album of our engagement shoot plus 5 or 6 matted 8 X 10's, which was STEEP). They did a fantastic job, though -- I normally HATE having my photo taken, but they made me look good, so no complaints there! And, they took a ton of pics, including one of pretty much every guest at the reception. For $3000, I would think you would at least get a USB drive or a downloadable gallery. BUT...was that in the contract you signed with the photographer? There's all kinds of fine print in those. Our photographer walked us through EVERYTHING, including that they required a meal (which makes sense since they were with us for like 8 hours), so when we signed the contract we knew exactly what we were getting. If the gallery wasn't part of the contract, then...they don't have to give you one. But, again, for 3K, it seems like they'd include that! Link to comment
figureitout23 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Yes thats the business. Believe it or not your wife got a great deal, depending on the skill level of the photographer, getting rights to the negatives. I've seen some , higher end photographers, charge an additional 500$ for them. Honestly, its all about skill level, the more talented and well known the more the price gouging. Call me crazy but I think quality is worth the money, so many buy a camera and thinks that qualifies them as a photographer. Link to comment
superfan Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Wow I cannot believe what photographers are charging for photos! We paid 300 pounds ($600 Canadian) and received all the edited prints on a CD. This was 9 years ago but still...yeesh Link to comment
mustlovedogs Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Wow I cannot believe what photographers are charging for photos! We paid 300 pounds ($600 Canadian) and received all the edited prints on a CD. This was 9 years ago but still...yeesh $600 USD seems really inexpensive. Remember, they aren’t just shooting the wedding - they are transporting, staying somewhere, spending hours editing, paying their own taxes and health insurance, etc Link to comment
tattoobunnie Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 The $3K covers the release and touch-ups for all the photos. Just download them all, and print with Snapfish or Costco, or Walgreens. This way, you can print dups and include the guest who has a photo in the thank you card. If you don't have as much room on your computer, save to Dropbox (not google photos). I prefer this way instead of some flash drive that gets lost or damaged. We paid $1000 for our photography, but crap, you get what you paid for...plenty of fish eyed shots - bleh!!!! I know people who pay $5K or $10K with video. Link to comment
mustlovedogs Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 The $3K covers the release and touch-ups for all the photos. Just download them all, and print with Snapfish or Costco, or Walgreens. This way, you can print dups and include the guest who has a photo in the thank you card. If you don't have as much room on your computer, save to Dropbox (not google photos). I prefer this way instead of some flash drive that gets lost or damaged. We paid $1000 for our photography, but crap, you get what you paid for...plenty of fish eyed shots - bleh!!!! I know people who pay $5K or $10K with video. What he’s saying is he needs to pay extra to get the photos released. Link to comment
tattoobunnie Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 What he’s saying is he needs to pay extra to get the photos released. Oh. I read that wrong. That's ghetto. Link to comment
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