A few questions...

[stan_lee]

Hey,

I'm doing a research project for my business class on digital wedding photographers and was hoping some of you photographers can help me out. I have 20 questions, but if you can answer even one I'd appreciate the feedback.

THE INDUSTRY
1- What are the industry norm's that the (digital) wedding photography industry follows? (i.e. ownership of the negatives, ordering process, pricing structure, etc)
2- How far in advance do bride/groom typically book a wedding photographer?
3- Are wedding photographers moving into digital photography? Is that the trend (switching to digital)?

PRINT DEVELOPING
4- what is the process (in house or print shop?) that digital photographers use to get prints developed?
5- What are the pros/cons to doing in-house development of digital prints?
6- What are the pros/cons of using print-shops to develop your digital prints?

PRINT ORDERS
7- Is it typical for the bride/groom to meet with the photographer after the wedding? What are the pros/cons of doing things this way?
8- What is the ordering process the bride/groom use to order prints and how many total prints are typically ordered?
9- Do guests from the wedding ever order prints directly from the wedding photographer also?

PROBLEMS? SOLUTIONS?
10- Problems having when it comes to digital wedding photography? (IE: Developing pictures, communicating w/Bride & Groom after wedding, proofs to show them, ordering process, etc)
11- Problems developing prints, fulfilling orders, etc.
12- Most expensive and time-consuming parts of the process of developing prints for bride/groom?

TIME/COST
13- What's the cost to develop different sized prints?
14- How much do bride and groom typically pay for prints?
15- Is the "bread-and-butter" typically made from the booking fees or the print orders following the wedding?

TECHNICAL
16- How big are digital pictures used for prints (file size, in Megabytes)?
17- Is there much of a difference in file size when comparing traditional (color) to black-and-white to sepia?
18- Standard file format/resolution for images required for printing?
19- Can you email prints to photo shop or is it necessary to drop off pictures directly?
20- What are good brands of digital cameras and why?


Thanks for the help.

Stan

[Yance]

I am not a wedding photographer but the answers are obvious.

1- What are the industry norm's that the (digital) wedding photography industry follows? (i.e. ownership of the negatives, ordering process, pricing structure, etc)

For digital the photographer keeps the digital files and only provides prints. If they provide a cd, it is usually of lower res files. Pricing I can't help you on but there are resources available for that.

3- Are wedding photographers moving into digital photography? Is that the trend (switching to digital)?

Yeah, for the most part costs are lower and the quality is nearly the same for general coverage. Higher quality portraiture is probably still better handled with medium format or large but that depends on the client.

[openspace]

A few answers....

PRINTING

If I was shooting weddings, I would use a reputable high quality photo lab to run the prints. People expect their wedding photos to last a lifetime, and frankly there is still just too much uncertainty surrounding the longevity of consumer inkjet / pigment ink prints regardless of manufacturer. The last thing you want to do is run prints on your Canon i9100 or Epson 2200 and 5 years later get an angry call from the groom demanding to know why your photos turned orange, the paper you printed on curled, or the reds faded and the greens shifted. Ouch. When it comes to something as important as wedding photos, you can't afford to skimp on quality.

However, that being said, I would be perfectly comfortable running the proofs on my inkjet.

EMAILING IMAGES

One uncropped 16-bit TIFF converted from a Canon 10D RAW file is about 36MB. An 8-bit TIFF comes in around 18MB. Unless you and your lab have (very) high speed Internet, you won't be emailing your images. Check to see whether mailing them in on CD is an option.

COSTS

Every wedding photographer I know sells package deals. For example - $750 may get you 3 hours of photographer time at the wedding and reception, a minimum of 100 proofs to choose from, one 11x14, two 8 x 10's, 10 5x7's and 20 4x6's. Extra prints are optional. You retain all rights to the originals and the proofs. My recommendation is to call wedding photographers in your area, and ask for a list of their prices and packages.

Stamp your proofs with a copyright and disclaimer against unauthorized alteration or copying! Many a bride and groom has been known to try and take proofs to a lab and get prints made on the cheap.

CAMERAS

Well seeing as this is a Canon forum, what else can I recommend but Canon! The 10D is an excellent choice. Prints up to 2 x 3 feet - and in some cases beyond! - are of exceptional quality. I do not recommend the digital Rebel (300D) primarily because it lacks a PC terminal for studio lighting. In wedding photography, that would be a big no no.