Temecula Photographers: Calculate the Real Cost of Photographing a Wedding

Business Articles | September 13, 2009

A Southern California photographer should calculate the real cost of photographing a wedding before accepting an offer.

Many a college student has entered the photography industry thinking "Wow, you spend 5 hours or so shooting a wedding and make $1000+. That's something I'd like to do."

It is true that wedding photographers, like talented people in any industry, can make a significant amount of money performing their trade, however, one should count the costs before making a career decision. This article looks at the costs of shooting a wedding.

1. The cost of equipment. You will need to spend thousands of dollars purchasing a camera, software, computer, and network. This can easily cost $10,000 to get started.

2. Add up the time it takes doing the "little" things. For each wedding you will need to spend time (and gas) driving to and from the location, meeting with the client before the wedding, downloading cards, collecting payments, making orders, and delivering products. In addition you will have to edit pictures.

3. Edit pictures. I make this its own category because regardless of how good you are at Photoshop and Lightroom, you will need to spend a significant amount of time editing pictures. Image selection, color correction and action application takes time. More time than most people at first suspect.

4. Marketing. The photography industry is competitive. People have a lot of options when it comes to choosing a photographer. Plan on spending a significant portion of your time convincing people that you, out of all the other alternatives, are the best person to memorialize their most import day in their lives. This takes some effort. You will need to build a portfolio. Have that portfolio effectively displayed on a website, blog and face book. These three tools will need to be updated frequently. You will need to create brochures and Pamphlets; price lists and contracts. You will need to do taxes - sales and business income.

There is not any doubt that a significant amount of money can be made in the wedding photography business. However

, a person should go into the endeavor with his eyes wide open and mind well aware of all of the associated work and expense.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen and Vanessa are Orange County residents. Vanessa began her photography business by serving Murrieta and Temecula. She shot weddings, family portraits, Child Portraits and engagement shots.

She later started an office in Newport Beach and became an Orange County Photographer. She expanded her services to Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Dana Point and San Diego.

Vanessa now works as a Laguna Beach photojournalist. She also teaches classes on technique and business practices to other Laguna Beach Wedding Photographers.