Not Sure I'm Ready for Prime Time

I have begun to build my portfolio with shots that I have done with/for friends. Once they have been processed they go on my smugmug page and I just let people buy the prints at no additional cost with the approval of using their images for advertising / publicity later on. I had hoped to be at the point of charging for services by the end of this year.

Well I did an e-shoot for a friend of the family and now the bride wants more than I had planned and is willing to pay ! She asked in an e-mail: Do you think you would want to create something like that for us? (Mpix book) If not (that is perfectly fine)- what would you charge S. and I if we wanted all of the pictures you took on a CD? That way you can make some money since we wouldn't buy all of the prints for the book, just the ones we want to frame and have in our home It would really look nice to have a wedding album that is digital.

I thought I had time to think through all this and plan for what and how to put together a package for people but I don't want to keep her waiting. I'm going to do their wedding in September and have told them that I wouldn't charge for my time but rather make a little money on prints that family might buy.

If this happened to you when you were just starting out (with what you know now) how would you have dealt with this?

Go for it! Do all the research and spend all your time doing it the best way you know how to do it. Then after everything is done, you'll figure out what you did wrong and do it better the next time... lol

They want you because you're cheap, not a bad thing in and of itself, you just need to know that. Don't be tricked into thinking that this transaction is real... What it really takes to do photography full time requires real pricing, service, and support. When it is all said and done you'll make more money showing others how to be wedding photographers. If your not in this for the money then you'll be able to do 30 weddings a year, figure out how much money you want to make and still not live with your mother, I'll help you out, you will need at least $2,500 per wedding. Good luck.

Thanks Gometang for the encouragement. It always seems like the closer I get to starting something new the more I realize what I don't know and there is a point that I just have to plow through it anyway and learn from it rather than be paralyzed by the unknown.

Pcunite the price point is helpful. Fortunately my wife is steadily employed so I won't have to go back and live with my parents . Right now I'm not looking at making Photography my only source of income but will expect to be paid for the time and expertise that I will be able to provide in the future. I don't want to be the one people call because they can't afford anything more.

Open up some accounts at album/book companies and find out for yourself how much these things cost.

Since you already agreed to essentially shoot their wedding (and e-session I suppose) for free or almost free, you'll need to figure out the actual cost of the album plus the time designing it, which will be a good amount of time.

Figure out the actual time you are going to be spending. (Shooting, post processing, albums, etc.) Then come up with an amount you are comfortable with. How much are others charging in your area? Etc. etc...

Thanks Nick. That makes a lot of sense. If I can follow up with another question then, how long does it take on average to design and put together a wedding album for any of you who do those? After the pictures are all processed and the B&G pick out the ones they want included what kind of time do you spend on the actual album?
Sid

sidg wrote in post #10348299
Thanks Nick. That makes a lot of sense. If I can follow up with another question then, how long does it take on average to design and put together a wedding album for any of you who do those? After the pictures are all processed and the B&G pick out the ones they want included what kind of time do you spend on the actual album?
Sid

It really depends. But in the beginning, be prepared to spend countless hours putting something together. As you do more of them, you get better at it, but it's still a pretty laboring process.