Reply To: Wedding photographer?

[IHF]

Photographers that are legit (insurance, taxes, licensing, erx) and profitable AND also shoot and burn charge service fees up front. For a wedding it would be in the thousands. This makes up for the profit loss of not selling prints and products.  A photographer that is full service and sells prints and products, in general charges a lesser service fee and has print and album packages and items available al a carte.  They too can cost a couple thousand, but you get beautiful finished products without any headaches on your end. Preparing images for print is more involved than you might think.  It’s not just a matter of sending any digital file off to any lab. Aspect ratios, color managing, knowing the products and how they work with color is also important.  DIY can end up costing more due to repeatedly having to print and order more products until you get it right

If prints are no big deal to you than shoot and burn is the way to go, but be prepared to pay a little more upfront.

If prints are most important it would be better to discuss your budget with your photographer.  find out how long they will keep your images and how long you would have to buy more products from them  maybe even discuss payment plans

If it’s more about “look!  I just don’t find it worth it, and I need something cheap”.  Your best bet is to search Facebook instead of Google. togs that aren’t profitable and/or legit tend to forgo a website and good SEO. But be careful. Sometimes the quality that they show, isn’t the quality that you receive.  If they don’t take their business seriously enough to be profitable, pay taxes, have a paid website, be insured, etc, then chances are pretty good they don’t take their photography very seriously either