February 3rd, 2010 - Tips For The Would-Be Bridal Photographer
For years people will be displaying photos of their wedding, since it is that kind of occasion. Every bride and groom wants someone who is well trained and who will guarantee quality. If you are a photographer you might want to consider photographing weddings because there is a lot of money to be made by doing them. With the money comes the risk which you must manage well.
If this is going to be your first wedding shoot you will want to make sure your contract is written up properly and a disclaimer included in it. If you don’t have a disclaimer you could be sued afterwards. There are a few reason you should not be held accountable for and they are failure of equipment, miss placed pictures after they were sent away, and photos that do not develop properly. Otherwise you could get sued for breach of contract.
Now with that said you should also include how many pictures are to be taken and how long you will be photographing for and what hourly rate will be. Something else you should include would be the fees for developing and the fee of the album. Your client’s requirements are important so make sure you talk it over with them. There could be a particular family member that they want photographed separately, or a certain group of people they do not get to see very often.
Make a list of all the pictures that your client’s requested. Generally your clients will want pictures of the pre-ceremony, wedding ceremony, post-ceremony and of course the reception. Discuss with the clients about which shots they want and who’s going to be in the pictures. Not every client will be the same so pay attention to what they are saying.
When you schedule your clients in make sure they pay you a deposit. At least 50% deposit should be paid prior to the wedding. So you don’t end up bothering the bride and groom during the reception, arrangements should be made for when the remainder will be paid. They would think you were unprofessional and wish they had hired someone else.
If you are developing your client’s pictures yourself, Photoshop is an excellent photo editing program. You can enhance the photos with all sorts of techniques such as flaw removal, montage, changing the color to black and which or sepia, as well as other unique features.
Always look to see how you can add more value than what you said you would give. A special surprise will keep everyone talking and generating more business for you in the future. Think different. Imagine for example if you uploaded all their pictures onto a password protected part of your website so that they and their friends can login and view.
In the end doing wedding photography can be lucrative and fun as long as you build on your people skills.
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