Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Well I have often been asked why do photographers cost so much?  It all looks so simple, and at times it is.  No, that is not right most of the time it is.  So let's start a wedding photography business, and see what it takes to make it easy.

Wait before I start on that I'm going to explain a couple of things.  First I would prefer to shoot a wedding than not shoot a wedding.  They are fun.  People are happy, and it is a joyful occasion.  The challenge of catching the mood of the bride and groom, and catching those little precious moments is a thrill.  I'm also not going to complain about the hours or giving up Saturdays.  If those things are concern to the photographer they should find a new job.  On the other hand I have never worked as hard as when I owned by own business, and I have never talked to a business owner who disagreed.

I think we should start with the goal of clearing $30,000 to live on.  It will pay for food, housing, and the basics to live.  That is unless you have children, and maybe one is in college, or has special needs, or if you pay for health insurance out of your business.  But let's forget about that and just say $30,000.

If you charge $1,000 per wedding the first 30 weddings are to live on.  If you charge $3,000 the first 10 weddings are to live on.  One final point, it is doubtful that you can book a wedding every week.  So in our start up let's just say that there are 4 weeks out of the year there are no weddings booked.  You may be able to book portraits, but it is not a guarantee.  If you we are lucky enough to start booking portraits then we need to consider a studio, and the costs start to rise.  Now you may be able to shoot at people's homes or at your house, but there are still more costs.  Finally, I have never made over $40,000 in a year.

To shoot a wedding the photographer needs to backup his equipment.  In other words put yourself in the position of explaining to the bride  and groom your camera quit 30 minutes before the service.  Not a good thing, so you backup the equipment.

So here comes the nuts and bolts:
                              Setup 1
Camera.............................................................$2500 (many pros will pay $7,000)
Lens 70-200mm...............................................$1200
Lens 24-70mm.................................................$1200
Flash with arm & cord...............................$ 550
Memory cards...................................................$ 150
  Sub total                                                                $5600
                           Setup 2
Camera............................................................$1500 ( many pros will pay $2,500 and some $7000)
Lens 50mm.......................................................$ 350
Lens 85 mm......................................................$ 400
Flash with arm and cord...................................$ 350 (many pros will spend $550)
Memory cards...................................................$150
  Sub total                                                             $2750

 I took three cameras with me the backup to the backup was $650.  In fact in my first set up the camera cost $4500 and in set up 2 it cost $3500.

Strobe lights (at least 2) with stands.................$600
Light meter......................................................$150
Backdrop.........................................................$200
Tripod with head ............................................$200
Camera case....................................................$200
Case for strobes and stands.............................$100
Laptop............................................................$800
   Sub total                                                           $2200


This setup will make it look easy, but the cost:  $10,500

Now let's go home and process the pics.  Again two work stations needed one to back up the other.

                         Work stations
2 computers.............................................$2000
Monitors....................................................$750
Calibration equipment...............................$500
Printer.......................................................$350
Software...................................................$700 (at least photoshop, but that is bare bones. More likely $1000)
Accounting software.................................$200
   Sub total                                                  $4000

There is one last thing to back up; the photographer.  Rarely will there be one just one photographer.  After all what would the bride and groom if there was a kidney stone, car accident, whatever.  Even if there is one they usually have a group of other photographers to contact who could step in.  The backup may be free, but maybe not.

Ok now we are kinda started.   The price so far $14,000  (the backup photographer)

I know some of this seems like over kill, but a pro cannot drop the ball.   It is the kiss of death.  THe last thing you want is a bride to say well his camera broke or my uncle got drunk and dropped a beer on the camera and everything was lost.  Or I saw the pics and they were beautiful, but they were attacked by a virus,  now they are gone.  Word of mouth is their bread and butter and they cannot afford problems.  Soo those pics will usually be stored in at least two places.

In addition a Pro will more than likely replace camera and computers every three years.  There will also be new things that will come along.  Finally I think most Pro's would consider my numbers conservative.  I think it could easily go to $20,000 just to show up for a wedding.

One final point, it is doubtful that you can book a wedding every week.  So in our start up let's just say that there are 4 weeks out of the year there are no weddings booked.  You may be able to book portraits, but it is not a guarantee.  If you we are lucky enough to start booking portraits then we need to consider a studio.  We then would need to pay rent, electric, water, internet, and you would need to buy props, etc. It is also very disruptive to home life, move the furniture (hard on the legs) or take over the garage, find a place to store props, your children are jailed until the shoot is over, food may wait etc.

Now we are setup, and hopefully we know how this junk works.

So now we need all the stuff any business would need: pens, paper, office furniture (nice enough to meet customers), receipt book, web site, FB page, magazines, books, seminars, etc.  Your guess is as good as mine for the cost. Accounting software.   Advertising: including business cards, pop up advertising on FB and google (maybe), web site, blog, bridal fairs (not cheap), membership to professional web sites and organizations etc.  You will need to pay sales tax, and income tax and, if your business is very successful, probably a CPA.   Oh, almost forgot insurance.  Someone trips over your cord falls and breaks a leg while knocking over a light that hits the bride and knocks her unconscious.  Well you get the idea.

After the wedding (I'm not complaining. It is just a fact.)  The next week will be used to sort through the pics, and fix dirt on the wedding dress, remove lint from the tux, fix that strand of hair, brighten teeth, remove blemishes, rework eyes etc.  ( I could pay my printer to do this but they charge $1.00 per pic, and I usually take from 350 to 500 pics) You didn't really think pros took the pic and that was it did you?  If there is a wedding album ( $100 to $200 my cost) then art work is needed for every page.  The alternative is to hire someone to do the art work.  Then you send it out to the printer (not free) or you print it yourself.  (Have you paid for printer ink lately?)  My most successful year had expenses of about $7,800.  For the $3000 per wedding shooter the expenses will be considerably higher because it is harder to find people willing to pay and advertising becomes more expensive, tuxedo may be required, and the album may be leather with gold trim and a lock.  It is like buying a car the more you pay the greater the expectation.


THe things that Pros think about before hand.  Having someone available to find uncle Harry when the family photo is about to be shot.  Trust me getting 30 people together after the vows is a job, there is the bathroom,  a cigarette, diaper changing.  Someone has to know who the aunt is.  Are any of the people handicapped? What time to start shooting? Shoot the decorations, flowers, etc.  They know how that unity candle thing is going to work and are in position, they ask whoever is officiating over the ceremony about the use of flash and moving around and plan accordingly.  What can they shoot before the wedding or between the wedding and the reception?   They know how to quickly get people to pose and use their time wisely.  This is critical on wedding day particularly, if all the bride and groom photos are taken between the wedding and the reception.  Finally I have read lists of unusual  things photographers pack.  It includes: needle and white thread, needle and black thread, baby powder (wedding dress scuff marks), white and black shoe polish, double sided tape (actually had a seamstress sewing dresses on bride maids 30 minutes before the wedding), mirror, bottled water, duct tape, super glue, makeup kits, tampons, combs, brushes, silver cleaner, glass polish.  Well again you get the idea.

So here it is:      $1000 per wedding                          $3000 per wedding             
                           x  48 weddings                                  x   48 weddings
                      $48,000  per year                            $144,000 per year                                               Minus exp        -  $7,800                                           -   $7,800
                      $40,200                                            $136200
Minus               - $30,000 to live on                            - $30,000  to live on
Total             $10,200                                             $106,200
                      =====                                               ======

This does not include the cost of buying the equipment to start the business, back up photographers, any employee, (you will edit and print all the pics yourself) and does not include health insurance.   One final point Nikon will soon be releasing a new camera, cost $3000.  Canon will be releasing a new camera at about $3500 and both companies are releasing new lenses.  My two software companies are about to upgrade no idea of cost.  Anyway at $10,200, if you can book 48 weddings (Doubtful, I never have)  there is not much there to reinvest in the business.  Don't forget you are paying off the camera and computer equipment you bought to start, and will need to plan ahead for the latest and greatest to come.  A camera two lenses and its half gone.

Oh fiddle sticks I forgot to pay state and fed income taxes and sales tax.  Those pesky little things.  Hard to estimate taxes so I will leave that up to ya'll.  Sales tax will run around 8%.  So at $1000 per the cost will around $3800 and at $3000 around $11,500.  I have bored ya'll enough and the IRS has froze all my accounts because I forgot to pay taxes.








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