Hold your nerve on your prices!

[RobKirkwood]

Just had some great news, which prompts me to post this.

Couple of months back we had an enquiry from a great couple getting married this September. We visited and quoted, and, although we all got on really well, they felt unable to stretch their budget to meet our quote. They'd had another quote from friend of friend - and this quote was around half ours.

Ann and I thought long and hard about whether we should drop our price, and if so by how much - eventually we went back to the couple, offered a slight reduction and explained in detail why we couldn't match the other quote. The couple thanked us, and expressed their regret that they wouldn't be able to afford us - we parted on good terms, but obviously disappointed.

Fast-forward to today, and we've just had a call from the couple who have changed their mind and now want to book us (fortunately we are still available for their date) ...apparently there are two reasons they've come back:- 1. They didn't have the same confidence in the other guy. 2. They've just been to a wedding where the photographer did a slideshow like we do, and saw first-hand what a great idea it is.

So, great news - and an interesting lesson on pricing!

Rob

[sblais]

I see it as a business where prices are not negotiable. I also prefer to include more things for the same price in order to attract potential clients, rather than to reduce my prices.

That being said, I understand that sometimes exceptions can be made, especially if you get along well with a couple and money IS the only issue between a reservation and going back empty handed.

Good job on that one, Rob! And congrats on the reservation! Make sure to post some pictures of that wedding :)

[RobKirkwood]

Good job on that one, Rob! And congrats on the reservation! Make sure to post some pictures of that wedding :)Thanks Sebastien - as far as posting photos, not something I generally do here, because I've always viewed this forum as one for 'sharing knowledge' rather than for 'sharing photos' ...but maybe that's just me, and I need to revise my view?

Rob

[liza]

Good for you, Rob. I've been very tempted to do the same thing myself, although I know I am capable of delivering a better product than the local competition. In the past year I've turned down a number of weddings for the same reason.

Congrats on the booking. :)

[sblais]

Thanks Sebastien - as far as posting photos, not something I generally do here, because I've always viewed this forum as one for 'sharing knowledge' rather than for 'sharing photos' ...but maybe that's just me, and I need to revise my view?

Rob

Personally, I see it as a place to learn. Whether it be by C/C or by asking questions. Posting pictures can also be a source of inspiration for beginning photographers (mine are probably not much of a source of inspiration, but hey :p). That's my take on it, but I respect your point of view if you feel it's not the place to do so ;)

[Wedding Shooter]

I had a similar thing the other day where I was looking at booking a big (for me) package of about $5000. The groom e-mailed me asking for a further $400 discount if I dropped something that I had offered as a bonus (without charging for it).

It sounded like I was going to lose the wedding if I didn't give the discount. I thought, maybe I should do it - it is a winter wedding and on a Friday. But in the end I just said sorry that I couldn't do it and offered a free 16x20 print instead. I didn't hear anything for a few days and was a bit dissappointed about the whole thing.

Than I decided to give him a call just to have a chat and he told me he had been away yesterday and although I was more expensive than other photographers and he had felt that he had given me his final position he was going to go with me. I got the $3000 up front in the bank today.

So glad I held out - the Op is right, stay true.

[joruiz]

...Posting pictures can also be a source of inspiration for beginning photographers ...

I sooo agree with this as I am that beginning photographer looking for inspiration and learning from you... so keep posting!!

Joel

[Padawan Dad]

Posting pictures can also be a source of inspiration for beginning photographers.

As well as advanced. I don't care what any pro says. If they say that they have never been inspired, or rejuvenated by some of the amatuers, then they are fooling themselves.

I have been blown away by a number of amatuer photos posted right in this very forum.

As for the price thing. I tend to agree with holding your prices. However, if I get someone who wants to book a last minute wedding, I am more than willing to reasonably cater to their price point, as long as there is enough profit in it for me. It certainly beats the alternative income for the day = $0 ;)

[Kamra 1]

[They've just been to a wedding where the photographer did a slideshow like we do, and saw first-hand what a great idea it is.

So, great news - and an interesting lesson on pricing!

Rob[/quote]That's great. I wonder if you wouldn't mind telling me a little of how you handle the slide show. Like; what shots do you use and how do you project them. I think that's a great idea.

[RobKirkwood]

That's great. I wonder if you wouldn't mind telling me a little of how you handle the slide show. Like; what shots do you use and how do you project them. I think that's a great idea.We do a slideshow when we've been hired to be there all day. While guests are sitting down to the wedding breakfast Ann and I sit down with a laptop and go through everything we've shot up to that point - we pick out somewhere around 80-120 images that we both like, and then set up a simple looping slideshow (10 second dissolve, no fancy page turns, no movement, no soundtrack) and play it back on a widescreen monitor connected to the laptop.

At the moment the technicalities go as follows:- we shoot RAW, so we sort images in Adobe Bridge, and then do quick jpeg conversions of the images we want using David Jay's "Brilliant" settings, then we set up the slideshow within Picasa. We use a monitor for display because we want to ensure the images look good and vibrant, plus it allows us to put out business cards by the monitor - in fact we print custom cards for each wedding that have the URL for the password protected website (where the final images will be available to purchase) on one side, and our details on the other.

The 3 major time elements involved in doing it this way are: loading the RAW files, reviewing the images, and conversion to jpeg. We're looking at a number of options for streamlining the process so we don't need to spend so much time on it.

The slideshow particularly benefits evening guests who won't have been at the ceremony, but you'll always get a crowd of people standing watching it.

Rob

[Banbert]

We do similair to Rob when were booked for the whole day just with a few variations

We shoot RAW + small JPG and then run an automator action to seperate them and change the file names to date and time stamped so that they run in the right order from the 5 bodies we shoot with and theres no file name clashes.

We browse the JPG's directory in bridge and pick out our faves by rating them as 5's, and usually aim for about 100 pics that tell the story of the day and we then copy those files into a directory called slideshow.

We run all the JPG's in the slideshow directory through show it effects to add a few nice effects or tweak them a bit where our exposure has been off.

Finally we make a slideshow using showitweb and show it on our mac book pro, weve thought about using screens and projectors and stuff but actually prefer to keep it quite small and unobtrusive and also create a buzz of people huddled around a laptop. Just using a laptop also means we can take it to show the B&G it first wherever they may be at the time, we sometimes end up holding it up whilst they watch it if we have found them walking about or stood outside. When we put the laptop down somewhere we put some upside down business cards at the side of it that have stickers on the back directing people to our website sto see more photos of the event, we alwways give out a ton of cards.

The shot highlights or slideshow goes on the blog the same day or the day after and then a few days after that we put up whichever one we didnt put up to start with.

Slideshows at weddings are great and always greated with the same "how did you manage to do that!" kind of questions.

[RobKirkwood]

... weve thought about using screens and projectors and stuff but actually prefer to keep it quite small and unobtrusive and also create a buzz of people huddled around a laptop.We just use a 19" widescreen monitor, so it's by no means huge - but it does have the bonus that we can put the laptop away from prying fingers :lol:

Rob

[Banbert]

We just use a 19" widescreen monitor, so it's by no means huge - but it does have the bonus that we can put the laptop away from prying fingers :lol:

Rob


Thats one of the advantages of a mac book, most people wouldnt know where to start :)

[RobKirkwood]

Thats one of the advantages of a mac book, most people wouldnt know where to start :)Haha, yeah - know what you mean - we used to have a G4 desktop and a Xerox digital printer run from a RIP on a G3 as well as our PC's. Just the other day we very nearly bought a 20" iMac - but the added cost of bringing our existing Mac versions of software up to date made it uneconomic.

Rob

[Kamra 1]

Thank you Rob. That's a great way to entertain and advertise at the same time. I have 3-d album commercial suite and that would be a good to use it. I appreciate your reply: Tony