Photography

20-25 prints and I would collect half the fee upfront with the remainder payable as soon as the edited prints are ready for delivery.

Nope. Never.

Zero. This sounds like a nightmare client.

I would just include the good photos. Editing it down to a number is probably just going to take you longer than if you did a quick cull, an easy edit, and then delivered everything.

Don’t take the job. Simple as that.

“I am sorry I will not be able to help you. I hope your wedding is wonderful.”

Not a chance. $300 isn't enough to cover the cost of doing 200 prints and an album on it's own, nevermind photographing the wedding too.

With that much pressure and those expectations, no contract signed, sounds like you are stepping into something you don't want to be involved in. I can easily see a court case, them saying how you didn't deliver and other things. I would say I'm sorry and decline.

But if it's honestly like that, that much pressure. The price quoted is way too low. Even for a amateur, with travel and such, editing printing. I'd do a good £2000, either they pay or not and move on to another sucker they can manipulate into getting cheap stuff.

Honestly it's not worth your time or stress with the conditions given. That's my opinion.

Sounds like they forgot a zero in their payment.

Have you actually worked out how much you would make.😁 It's not worth doing.

$100/hour was the bare minimum I'd charge for just a shoot, no edits, no prints, and that was 15 years ago before inflation got crazy.

Eg. 8 hour event, charge $800, shoot 800 photos, deliver 80 files. Light edits (lightroom/capture one) cost extra. Heavy edits (photoshop) cost a lot extra. Prints cost extra. Anything more than 3 revisions costs extra.

Just the cost of printing + album would cost about what this job is paying. Don't walk, run from this one.

OP, if this is a rando you have no personal connection to, WALK AWAY. Grow a backbone and tell this guy to pound sand. DO NOT be a nice guy.

If you have some sort of link to this person as far as family or friend of a friend, let them know you’re doing 50 images, maybe less idk, and leave it at that.

Sounds like you already did the job. Just fulfill the agreement and give them digitals on a thumb drive and move on. Part of learning the trade is making mistakes and knowing the value of your product. If they insist on prints come up with a price for that and an album as an add-on. You do hold the copy to all images taken so you can decide to let them print themselves or you can force them to use you for printing. In the future you can create a standard rate for weddings with travel/time defined and when either is exceeded then the price goes up. All of these things and more should be documented in a contract before any wedding.

It sounds like you've already taken the pictures, eh?

In that case, if you didn't go over these specifics beforehand, I'd give this person the best you can offer digitally (ONLY AFTER he pays!!!) and tell him prints or a photo album would cost extra. You can also show him examples of wedding photography pricing for your area and explain he is getting a huge discount, especially because you were available at the last minute.

Consider this a lesson and learn from it. Get everything in writing beforehand, even from people for whom you're "just doing a favor."

$300 is obscenely low for a wedding. Just as a comparison, where I live, I've seen people shooting passport photos for $80 + taxes (just a plain white background at their studios — no commuting and barely any editing time). In the future, it might be helpful to create yourself an itemized pricing list for any kind of photography work you're willing to do, which you can pull out in situations like this. You should also have a "rush" fee for last-minute requests like this.

Not a chance in hell would I take this job...

$300 for like 7 hours of your time... and 200+ prints... AND short notice... Fuck. No.

First off... you would be wildly underpaid for this type of shoot on a peice per hour basis alone... $300 for 7 hours for a wedding is $42 an hour. Even with this being your first shoot ever, with it being a wedding... $100 an hour minimum for EVERY expected hour of work. A seasoned wedding photographer could easily charge $200-400 per hour.

Then when you consider how short notice it is... like 8 hours out from the event... holy shit lol. If it was a concert or small familynphoto shoot, not a big deal on a short notice if my schedule is open. But a wedding... Now ive got to get my clothes ready, get all my gear ready for any kind of request that might be made on site, try to find a second shooter or just accept that im going to have to work way harder to get everything ill need, etc...

Then considering just how short that notice is... 8 hours? Thats today... that means everything I had planned today is shot and im working to get prepared for and to this job. Easily could quote an additional $500, or even double the hourly rate, for such a short notice job... and a wedding of all things.

Also, 200+ prints? Ok... easily charging cost of materials to include all the photo paper, cost of all ink used + cost of new ink cartridges set to go into my photo printer whenever what is left over from printing those 200+ prints runs out.

Then the potential client doesnt want to allow you to use your photographs for your own marketing purposes? Ummmm... no lol. If a client wants exclusive rights to my photographs, to the point where I am not allowed to use them in my own marketing... thats an additional cost as well.

This client sounds like an entitled b-hole who poorly planned for their wedding, or is just such a b-hoke in general that they ran off their last photographer at the last minute.

You know how hard it is to find a good wedding photographer the day of? Almost impossible lol.

Given all the factors at play, this is easily like a $2,000+ job.

Tell them "No, thanks. Im already booked for today" now, and save yourself the headache that would come later. Dont do it.

I wouldn't get out of bed for that.

That would be I take it because I'm broke and know I can bang through 200 photos in a couple hours. But I've done them over the years. As a new photographer it's hit and miss. You won't be as fast at editing. So it's down to whether you need experience and money doesn't really matter, or its not worth it. I have made more money from doing free work then when I had a studio at a mall. Free work and talking to people got me paid work. So even now I'd take a 300 wedding because I'm broke af on the possibility I'd pull extra work. So don't always look at work as being paid a certain amount. Once I was doing it proffesionally I liked to price myself at 50 an hour Atleast. Volunteer photography got me the most work other then making a shit ton when Groupon first came out.

nope nope nope

Wouldn't have taken the job in the first place. Your situation is exactly why I don't do weddings. Tell 'em what they are going to get and for how much, take it or leave it.

Multiply $300 by 10 and you’re still giving them a deal

10 photos. And thats a personal favor. And I'm not a wedding photographer yet: mostly do car shows and boxing/wrestling matches.

Include? Photos? NONE, because I wouldn’t devalue myself and my time like this. You shouldn’t either

0

how many photos would you include?

As many as they wanted for $100 each.

I think you forgot a zero.

None. Get your money back in the pics. 😺

Zero photos.

And by “multiply by zero” rules of math, also zero prints. Probably no extras, either.

Because I would not being taking that job.

3 pictures ! lol

You’re being taken advantage of. Put the photos on a free site like Flickr and call it a day. You can make it private and give them the password. They can make their own fkg prints.

You’re not charging anywhere near enough. $3000-5000 minimum and that was almost 15 years ago. Anything less and it’s not worth it. I used to get $1000 just to shoot back up photojournalist style BW shots of whatever I wanted as a second shooter.

I think they forget a 0 at that offer.

I took a wedding for a coworker and asked for 700. She haggled so now it's 500. Never again.

This type of shit is why people end up with this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/zC06KZl5aB

Normally I charge 300$/hour and 0.65$/km. So this is a terrible deal

This is waaaaaay to cheap for what they’re asking…. Sounds like they don’t understand the value of the photograph service and/or they are just trying to take advantage of you

Forget about working as a free lance photographer, you'll be better off working at McDonald's.

I'd make that 800 or they can use their phones.

Even if the images were all digital it still would be too little.

This is a teachable moment, not a moment to scold someone that is obviously entry-level.

I would include 1 photo. It would be a selfie, taken at home.

Favors when conducting business usually does end in nightmare. People always trying to take advantage

You’re going to work for $100 hr? That’s lead/associate pay for when you get hired on under another company and don’t have to edit or deal with the client. I wouldn’t even do it if it was next door to me. Get out.

The direspect.

8 hour notice and they have expectations and bargain???

Unless you don’t live in a Western country, the client is either very ignorant, cheap, or disrespectful (unless your work is very amateurish and still, he’s asking a lot with the prints and album.

It’s not even the price, it’s the context. If they ask this sort of thing, they have non idea what to expect for what price.

Which means they’ll likely be disappointed in your work or come up with last-minute impossible requests and unrealistic expectations.

This type of clients are always a pain in the ass. And if you can’t even use the photographs, tell them they can’t publish them on social.

The rights still belong to you, unless you cease the rights (for a lot of money) by contract and allow them to share them. You have the right to forbid publication of your work.

You have intellectual property over every single image you take.

There are tons of responses to your question here, and that’s great

My thoughts- Some potential clients are better to be avoided. Say “no thanks” and move on. These type of people will continue to ask and ask for the ridiculous, and kill your profit.

If you shoot a cheap wedding you won’t give your best effort. This will definitely show in your finished product.

Shooting a wedding on the cheap lowers the bar when it comes to pricing for all the local photographers. They make all, or part, of their living off shooting weddings that are priced to reward their talents and skills. If customers discover that they can pay less for a guy with a camera, often they will go with lower price. The customer needs to be educated about why a good photographer costs more.

Always, always have a meetup with the couple before considering even taking them as clients. Have a list of questions that will help you understand them better. You can gain better information by meeting face to face, and this helps you to make a better decision about whether you want them as a client.

The client should know that they get what they pay for. If they pay a photographer $3000+, they can expect a quality product from you. You better be able to deliver that. Those higher fees will also weed out the bargain hunters who become a pain in the ass later.

If you don’t want to tell then a flat “no”, then tell them you might know a photographer who will shoot for cheap and let that person deal with the problem. He won’t be in business long to hurt the prices a professional will charge.

Good luck.