Happy Mother's Day! Happy Father's Day! Happy Graduation! Photo.net has great photography gift ideas for the Mom, Dad, or Grad in your life. Shop for camera bags, lenses, DSLRs, and more...
Editor's note: This excerpt first appeared in photographer and author Harold Davis' recent Focal Press book, Photographing Flowers: Exploring Macro Photography with Harold Davis.
The closer you...
The Business of Wedding Photography is an extensive subject, best
answered by a team of professional wedding photographers, who also
happen to be star photo.net members. In this article, these
professional photographers have contributed advice and personal
experience gained from running wedding businesses. Not only have they
provided advice on wedding photography albums, print sales, and other
products, they've also included example images of bridal gowns, bridal
portraits, and wedding ceremony photographs. Whether you are just
entering the field of wedding photography, or are a seasoned
professional, the tips and insights shared here should be helpful with
your own business.
Marc Williams
We asked our panel of experts the following questions:
Bob
Bernardo: We use printroom.com and the guests can
order whatever they wish. Depending on the packages, we sometimes
include parent albums, in addition to an album for the bride and
groom. We've had very good luck with printroom.com.
Mary Ball: I
hand the clients 2-4 proof albums containing about 800 or more 4x6
color-corrected prints (film - from my lab). The amount depends on how
many hours I was photographing. This can be anywhere from 4-7
hours.
Conrad Erb:
I provide images on DVD, which some clients provide. I do printing from
my Smugmug site and have had
great results with that.
Josh Root
Nadine Ohara:
I actually don't have any online proofing service yet, although I am
considering one through my lab. I find that many people are complacent
about ordering actual prints, so I question whether these services are
worth their price. Clients like the idea since they can use them to
show off their event to all their family and friends, but as an actual
device to make money from, these services don't seem to be that cost
effective. I give clients their files so they can do what they want
with them.
Josh Root: My
clients return a print order sheet to me. It is an inefficient system
at best. What I would suggest to anyone setting up their ordering
system from scratch is to set up online ordering through one of the
companies that provide this service. It's far easier for the
photographer, saves time, and the photographer would have all of the
tools integrated into their system.
David
Wegwart: I like to use an online gallery host that offers
printing. I upload files that can be used to print an 8x10 at a
push. For larger prints, I have them redirected to me. Family and
friends can use this service too.
Wedding Albums/Books
What kind of wedding albums/books do you offer your
clients?
Marc
Williams: I use one album, General Products E line in all
black. One large image to a page. I don't want anything to detract
from the photos.
Bob
Bernardo: The albums we use varies. Perhaps the most expensive is
White Glove, other
companies include Art
Leather, Leather
Craftsmen, and a few others, depending on the client's budget and
taste. Capri is also used a
lot because the rep comes to our studios at least once a year.
Mary Ball:
Though I tell my clients that any album they see out there while
looking at wedding photographers is also available through me, they
generally pick the Seldex
bookbound album for its classic timeless look. 99 percent pick black
albums with black mats and a white bevel trim around the photos.
Conrad Erb:
I offer the more traditional leather florentina albums, as well as
coffee table books by GraphiStudio.
Jeff Ascough
Nadine Ohara:
I offer almost anything that a professional photographer can get, both
traditional and otherwise.
Josh Root:
Whatever they are looking for. I do prefer to offer the "book" style
albums, rather than the traditional "page insert" styles. It is
really up to the preference of the couple.
Bob
Bernardo: We select everything and my partner designs the
albums. There are companies that will do this for you. In fact if my
partner wasn't so creative and good at it, I'd have companies like
Capri design the album for me. Most of these companies offer this
service, you simply provide the DVD/CD. This service costs
extra. If the bride gets involved this can take a lot of hours and
often they aren't happy with the final product. So far we haven't had
a single complaint.
Jeff Ascough:
I choose the images that go into the album and the design of the
album. Clients don't have any input into that part of my business.
Nadine Ohara - SF Bay Area/CA
Mary Ball: The
excellent quality proof books have order sheets and an order grid is
situated next to each print. They are instructed to use the order
pages to check off which images they want for an album and for loose
prints. I choose the sizes and sequence for the albums and advise them
on adding or subtracting prints and in some cases substituting one for
another if I feel it works better than the print they picked. My
clients are mostly receptive to defer to my judgment and most of them
let me completely take charge of the sizes, sequence and are happy to
let me substitute my choices if I feel strongly. I do, prefer
to let them choose the bulk of the images because I want them to
have an album with their favorites.
There is no time limit, which is probably why I always have orders
in house. The info about pricing and ordering as well as my phone
number, address, etc., is adhered to the inside cover of book one.
When the proof albums come in the couples tell me the biggest
problem they had was narrowing down which pictures to use for the
album because there were so many they liked. Usually the minimum
number of pages is 36. Because there is no deadline, sometimes I get
an order for parent albums and reprints and the following year the
proofs come back for the couple's album. It makes it easier for them
to spread out the costs and provides a steady cash flow for me.
The work flow is quite a process but I like that I'm not sitting in
front of a computer but in my living room listening/watching the news
channels.
Conrad Erb:
As with all things, my clients tell me what they want. They choose
the images.
Nadine Ohara:
I do whatever the client doesn't want to do. In other words, if the
client wants to control every aspect of the album, they can. If they
don't want to get involved, they don't have to. Usually, I ask a
client to provide me a list of images they definitely want in the album,
and then I make a layout from that list, deciding what is larger or
smaller (unless the client has indicated) and may add other images for
continuity. The client approves the layouts, although I limit the
number of changes they can make without incurring extra cost.
Josh Root: I
choose the images unless we have negotiated differently. It's faster
for me, and in all honesty, ends up looking better for the couple a
lot of the time.
Conrad Erb - Philadelphia, PA
David
Wegwart: I give the selection process to the client with the
caveat that I may change some based on the aesthetic of the
book/design. I also suggest an upper number limit of images so that
the book does not become crowded.
Rice Events, (UK) - Photography & Events
- we dont offer prints or services online.
- used to offer Graphi, but have now switched to http://www.photoproductions.com
- I select all the photos for the final album, (though I do ask the wedding couple to choose a 'handful' of their favorite ones)
I'm a professional photographer and was looking for something different. Searching on the net I stubled across wedding albums from spain and I'm glad I did. The albums have a mediterranean touch and the wedding couple loved the album I made.
, March 06, 2008; 04:42 A.M. 
