Question on Wedding procedure..

Synopsis:

I've been asked to shoot a wedding. I'm confused. Do I give them 400 photos at the end?

Question:

After I finish photographing the event I go home, do I hand the client a CD / secure online gallery of 400+ photos with:

• Color-correction
  
• Minor-retouch
  
• Low-resolution quality (max 1024x1024)
  
• Watermark

Conclusion:

I ask because it seems a bit unorganized for them to have to sift through 400 photos to choose favorites. Do I have to narrow down the 400 to a max of 100?

Depends on what you want your business model to be. For the record, my average wedding album had 200+ images in it. So I wouldn't stick them with only 100 unless it was a city hall wedding with no wedding party and no reception.

What I do is edit between 350-600 pictures (depending and the numberof shooters and type of wedding) and set up an online gallery for them where they can order prints and select their favorite images to be used in their album. Then depending on their package I will send either low res watermarked images or printable (up to 8x10) images on a disc.

So many photographers are offering 600 or more shots up for the couple to view you probably want to err on the side of inclusion to keep current. I agree that its probably too many to view, but I remember when 10 rolls of 36 exposure film was enough to cover.

I process everything that I give a client because I want my work to look the best it can.

gonzogolf wrote in post #12657712
So many photographers are offering 600 or more shots up for the couple to view you probably want to err on the side of inclusion to keep current. I agree that its probably too many to view, but I remember when 10 rolls of 36 exposure film was enough to cover.

Be careful of this though. There is such a thing as too many. I aim for 500. If I'm between 400 and 500 I consider that "perfect". If I'm ever over 600 I will cull. I'd never give a client over 600 UNLESS is was a multi-day wedding. And even then never more than 650... And that would be for a multi ay wedding with 2 or 3 photographers.

PeaceFire wrote in post #12657753
Be careful of this though. There is such a thing as too many. I aim for 500. If I'm between 400 and 500 I consider that "perfect". If I'm ever over 600 I will cull. I'd never give a client over 600 UNLESS is was a multi-day wedding. And even then never more than 650... And that would be for a multi ay wedding with 2 or 3 photographers.

Agreed, but you sort of have to play to your competition. If they are offering double, for the same price, well that appeals to some clients despite the bonus being mostly duplicates and culls.

my final product ends 50-100 images per hour. so if i shoot a 12 hour day, it could have 1200 images.

gonzogolf wrote in post #12657771
Agreed, but you sort of have to play to your competition. If they are offering double, for the same price, well that appeals to some clients despite the bonus being mostly duplicates and culls.

It doesn't matter how many images you believe your 'competition' are offering, when I meet clients I explain my editing process and how many shots they can expect.

It has no bearing on the final product which is an album of beautiful images of 'their' wedding day.

Competing on number of images or price creates a commoditisation of a product that ought to be something so much more than a commodity.

I'll not be competing with the local photo booth that does portrait shoots for £40 with all the images on a disc.

It really depends on how you want to work your business. There is no right or wrong answer in many respects although if you are making money for a reasonable hourly rate then you are on the right lines.

I can tell you what I do though.

I am normally culling from around 1700-2500 photographs. The initial cull takes a couple of hours max on my tablet computer which I can do anywhere e.g. at the beach, the park etc.

My clients get around 800-1200 all colour corrected, cropped and minor retouched in two sizes. One high resolution for printing and another low resolution for Facebook/Email. I have recently been processing these at about 200 photos per hour on average. Whilst many will say that is too many my clients don't think that. It has actually be one thing many of them have been very happy about.

My wedding books now average around 175-250 photos all fully processed. Again they get these in two sizes as before. I'm getting faster with my book design and full processing and it can now take me 10 hours to design a 72 page book and process all the pictures for it (on a good run). The big factor here though is that I CHOOSE all the pictures for the first proof. Clients then advise me of changes. I am very good at getting it spot on or very close. In the last six books I have designed I have had to make no more than 20 changes of photographs in total.

We all work differently but my target workflow for next season is.

Saturday - Wedding
Sunday - Day off
Monday - Beach (AM) to cull, home to process (PM)
Tuesday - Book design
Wednesday - (AM) Book design, (PM) burn discs upload online proof book and teaser book shots on my Facebook page.
Thursday - Golf then the beach
Friday - Day off

I am insanely fast and very intense when I work though. But the best advice I can give is if you nail your workflow you can save hours per wedding. My packages mean that my workflow is identical every time this is a BIG time saver and simplifies everything.

Having the right equipment i.e. computer can also save you a lot of time. My upgrade from dual to quad core saved me 7 hours per wedding. 8GB to 24GB of RAM shaved another two hours off. I'm going six core and SSD soon and I estimate that will save me a further couple of hours. When you add it all up I will have cut at least 10 hours per wedding from my workload. 30 weddings and that is 300 hours. Nearly 8 weeks less time working per year.

Figure out what works for you and don't be afraid to tweak it as you go.

gonzogolf wrote in post #12657712
So many photographers are offering 600 or more shots up for the couple to view you probably want to err on the side of inclusion to keep current. I agree that its probably too many to view, but I remember when 10 rolls of 36 exposure film was enough to cover.

gonzogolf wrote in post #12657771
Agreed, but you sort of have to play to your competition. If they are offering double, for the same price, well that appeals to some clients despite the bonus being mostly duplicates and culls.

I don't do anything my competition does. If I copy them, what's the point? They'll go with whoever is cheaper.

Remember, they hired you for your style and your eye for a good image, not just for the amount of prints you give them.

Jeff Asborough (sp?), one of the best wedding photographers in the world said once he gives about 120 images for an 8 hour wedding. When he asks the couple if there is anything he missed, there is never a complaint. Completely a quality vs quantity issue.

Depends on how you want to structure your business. I like the el-cheapo method. Spray & Pray a wedding in RAW format for 4-5 hours. Spend another hour or two checking the white balance and exposure as you convert them to JPG.

Burn them onto a DVD and give that sucker to the bride and groom. JOB = DONE. PAYMENT = ACCEPTED. $2000 (or however much you charge) for approximately 10 hours of your life and your customer gets like 400+ photos of everything from the vows to the ushers picking their nose.

Things like movies, photo books, edits and other services which will take up more time incur price adders.

Note: I am not a professional wedding photographer, but I have a master's in Hindsight and a PhD in 2nd-guessing

P.S. If you are going to use my method, then you'd better have a pretty good eye and a 2nd (and maybe even a 3rd) shooter. Also, being lucky helps.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #12659243
It really depends on how you want to work your business. There is no right or wrong answer in many respects although if you are making money for a reasonable hourly rate then you are on the right lines.

I can tell you what I do though.

I am normally culling from around 1700-2500 photographs. The initial cull takes a couple of hours max on my tablet computer which I can do anywhere e.g. at the beach, the park etc.

My clients get around 800-1200 all colour corrected, cropped and minor retouched in two sizes. One high resolution for printing and another low resolution for Facebook/Email. I have recently been processing these at about 200 photos per hour on average. Whilst many will say that is too many my clients don't think that. It has actually be one thing many of them have been very happy about.

My wedding books now average around 175-250 photos all fully processed. Again they get these in two sizes as before. I'm getting faster with my book design and full processing and it can now take me 10 hours to design a 72 page book and process all the pictures for it (on a good run). The big factor here though is that I CHOOSE all the pictures for the first proof. Clients then advise me of changes. I am very good at getting it spot on or very close. In the last six books I have designed I have had to make no more than 20 changes of photographs in total.

We all work differently but my target workflow for next season is.

Saturday - Wedding
Sunday - Day off
Monday - Beach (AM) to cull, home to process (PM)
Tuesday - Book design
Wednesday - (AM) Book design, (PM) burn discs upload online proof book and teaser book shots on my Facebook page.
Thursday - Golf then the beach
Friday - Day off

I am insanely fast and very intense when I work though. But the best advice I can give is if you nail your workflow you can save hours per wedding. My packages mean that my workflow is identical every time this is a BIG time saver and simplifies everything.

Having the right equipment i.e. computer can also save you a lot of time. My upgrade from dual to quad core saved me 7 hours per wedding. 8GB to 24GB of RAM shaved another two hours off. I'm going six core and SSD soon and I estimate that will save me a further couple of hours. When you add it all up I will have cut at least 10 hours per wedding from my workload. 30 weddings and that is 300 hours. Nearly 8 weeks less time working per year.

Figure out what works for you and don't be afraid to tweak it as you go.

This made me want to become a wedding photographer

As stated, it's all up to you and what you agree to. There certainly are clients that select the photographer that will give the highest number of photos...and you're probably better off not having them as a client. That said, depending on how you do things after the ceremony has a huge bearing on what I do.
If a client wants an album, you can get away with a few hundred photos. Shoot the important stuff, tell the story, and you're done.
If you put them online for viewing by guests, such as with pictage, then they say your sales double if you go over 900 photos(I think+/-).
Because...many of those are of Uncle Bob from Arkansas that puts his arm around his neice that he's never seen, and maybe never will again. He knows that that photo is online, and while he's buying that one, he'll grab a few extras of the bridal party, bride/groom/venue, etc. So in those cases, I shoot away..table shots that have no place being in an album will sell 5 copies online. 5 guests doing shots or otherwise being silly that won't make it into a 50-image album suddenly sell 4 copies. (One probably copies the photo for the 5th person on their home scanner)