Selecting a good Minneapolis wedding
photographer can be SO frustrating.
- Where do you even start?
- How can you tell a good wedding
photographer from a bad one? What
criteria should you use?
- What's a good price? Are they worth
it?
- Basically, how can you tell who is
good, who's bad, and what is worth the
price?
Wouldn't it be nice to get a few rules of
thumb? Here's the scoop. I've agonized
over this criteria for years - how do you
tell a good wedding photographer from a
bad one? Ideally, you can get a personal
recommendation (feel free to
email me
for one), but otherwise, how do you
choose among the zillions on the web?
These are just my opinions, but I think
they're right. At the very least, you'll
have something to work with. Note that
I'm using prices for the Minneapolis, MN
area (prices on the east or west coast
will be much more expensive, prices in
rural areas will be cheaper).
Rules of Thumb:
- Likeability:
- Definitely meet your wedding
photographer before booking, and if
you don't like them, DON'T book
them! You should really
like your wedding photographer
(you'll be spending many hours with
them on your wedding day).
- Examples:
- When meeting your photographer,
(once you make sure you like them
personally), check out one of their
full wedding albums, to make sure
you like what you see.
- Experience:
- Bare minimum experience: 25
weddings. If they've shot fewer
weddings, they're not at a
professional level.
- Note: It's okay to ask how
many weddings they've shot.
- Master level (like the rare
Michael Jordan/Tiger
Woods/National Geographic
Photographer kind of experience):
250 weddings x 40 hours per
wedding = 10,000
hours.
- You'll probably hire a
wedding photographer who has an
experience level somewhere in
between.
- Price:
- $1,000. Minimum. OK photos.
- $2,500. Usual price. Quite
good photos.
- $4,000. Pricier. Really
great photos.
- What you'll get:
- Photos
- They'll shoot about 1,000 photos
on your wedding day.
- You should get your first round
of proofs in 2 months (about 400
basic edited images).
- You'll then pick the ones you
want (maybe 50, which they'll then
Photoshop so they're
perfect...about 45 minutes per
image!)
- Best practice: You get the
rights to the images (so can print
them yourself).
- Best practice: They post the
images online (so you don't have
to email everyone all sorts of
photos).
- Wedding album
- Either you'll do it
yourself.
- Best practice: Have your
photographer create the album.
- Note that the wholesale
price they'll
pay for a good album (just the
empty album) is $300 (usually
not available to
non-professionals), which is
one reason why albums are so
expensive.
- Perhaps 20 pages, 50
photos, all Photoshopped and
perfect.
- How many photographers:
- Usually one photographer can do
the whole job.
- However, some will have an
assistant, to help with memory
cards, setup, etc., or even shoot
extra photos (not needed, but some
do it).
- Hours they'll spend on your wedding:
- 3 hours prep
- 4-10 on your wedding day
- 35 hours post-processing.
- 45 minutes will be spent
Photoshopping each of your 50
final photos.
- Total hours your
photographer will spend on your
wedding (shooting, processing,
etc.): 40+
- Hours you'll hire photographer
on wedding day:
- 4 hours minimum, usually
- 10 hours = all day
- Equipment needed:
- Bare minimum: 2 camera
bodies ($3,000), 2 f2.8 zoom
lenses ($2,000), 2 flashes, memory
backup.
- Your wedding photographer
will have spent $6,000-$8,000 on
equipment. They'll also spend
money on online photo hosting,
albums, and advertising.
Note that all the above are just rules
of thumb - but at least this way, you'll
have a rough idea of how to choose a MN
wedding photographer. I hope this helps!
|
