I currently use a US manufacturer for most of my flush mount albums, I’m very happy with them but wanted to offer some alternatives as well. After three or four hours wandering around the different stands I decided to have a sample flush mount made up by Loxleys in Scotland. Their albums are simple and elegant and the quality was fantastic, the printing looked especially good. They are also very fast, quoting a seven day turnaround compared to 6-8 weeks for a US made album. This doesn’t actually mean anyone will get an album seven days after their wedding, as each one will still need to be processed, designed, then checked and approved by the client before it’s sent off, but I would think a month from time of ordering will be quite possible. I’ll be sending the images for the sample album off in a couple of days and hope to have it back very soon, I’ll put some images up when it arrives.

I was also looking for photo books, as a lower priced alternative to albums. I found one manufacturer that uses proper photographic paper for these, not always the case, and will probably give them a try too. These will have a very plain layout to keep costs down, unless I have already designed an album, in which case I can use the design for the book as well.

The final product I was looking for was a medium priced matted album and I didn’t have much luck with this. The top end is expensive, £1,000 and up, and the bottom end doesn’t look very nice! I’ll keep looking for something to fill this gap.

After deciding on the albums, the next thing I needed to review were my design skills. Some photographers outsource this to the manufacturers or specialist companies, but I prefer to do my own designs and see the job right through to the end. I’ve had some time, during the heavy snow in Brighton and Sussex, to work on some samples and try new layout software. One thing I’ve noticed is my designs are getting simpler and cleaner, I’m cutting down the unnecessary elements and decorations, and reducing the number of images I use for the main pages. It’s too easy, with Photoshop and a computer to start cluttering up pages. I read (somewhere) that if an album is laid out well well you shouldn’t really notice the design, it will just look right and your attention will be drawn to the images themselves, that’s what I’m aiming for. I’ve posted a few examples, these are all double page spreads for a 12 by 12 inch album, so imagine a page fold in the middle of each one.

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It’s the time of year when work quietens down and I get a chance to review my wedding photography prices and packages. I’m currently somewhere in the mid price range for weddings, a typical client might spend £1,200 to £1,500 for full coverage plus a nice album, between £500.00 and £850.00 without an album. I’m aware that some clients look at the prices and think b***** h***, he’s only here for six/eight hours, that’s £xxx.00 an hour! So I thought I’d write a quick explanation of how I calculate my charges and convince you how extremely reasonable they really are.

A decent photographer will spend a lot longer on a wedding than the time that’s been booked. There are initial meetings with the client, normally taking several hours, then phone calls and emails to confirm details, writing contracts, visits to the venue etc. I usually expect to have done a day’s work before I get to the wedding.
On the wedding day itself, normally a Saturday or Sunday, an eight hour booking will probably take ten to twelve hours by the time I have travelled to the venue and allowed plenty of extra time for safety. On returning home there will be another hour or so downloading the cards, then doing two backups to reduce the chances of losing any images if a hard drive fails.
After the wedding comes the post processing. Digital images don’t come out of the camera in a finished state and will always need some work done on them. These can be straightforward colour and density corrections or more time consuming retouching. Once the images are processed they need to be burnt to disc, then sent to printers and album manufacturers. This can take from a day for a fairly short and straightforward shoot, to three days or most of a week for a larger event and an album design.

Good equipment is vital, I need to have top quality camera bodies, lenses, flashguns, studio lights, computers, cases, cables and all of the many accessories to go with them. If you are a responsible professional wedding photographer you make very sure you carry backups as well, so for every item you use, you bring at least one spare, in case the first one packs up in the middle of a ceremony. Equipment also needs to be cleaned and serviced from time to time. This can all get very expensive, especially when you will be replacing most items within two years. I try to work this out as a weekly or monthly cost and spread it fairly between jobs.

It’s not just about having a nice big camera (though actually I do have a very big camera), the first thing that every client is looking for when they are booking a photographer is a style that they like, If you see a photographer who has a record of good work they will have been working long and hard to achieve that look. Good style has to be backed up by technical competence, which also takes time and study to perfect. Anyone who has worked to improve their skills will be looking for some sort of financial return for their effort. It’s hard to put a price on this, but my wedding photography charges have slowly crept up from low to mid range as I think I have more to offer, though I believe I’m still a bit of a bargain!

Albums prices can make up a large part of the costs. My current range of albums comes from a top U.S manufacturer, there is a huge range, they look great and the quality is very good. They are not ridiculously expensive but, by the time I have paid for the album and done the design work, they aren’t cheap either. I don’t normally offer the cheaper albums for a couple of reasons: firstly, I give all my clients the digital images after the wedding, so, if they are looking to save some money they can go to Paperchase or somewhere similar and buy an album for £45.00, print their photos from disc and assemble it themselves, the second reason is that I don’t really like cheap albums and don’t think they will do my reputation any good in the long run.

I also take into account all the other expenses involved in running my business, dedicated office space, car, other transport, public liability insurance, accountant, web hosting, online galleries, SEO, advertising etc.

When I’m looking at my charges, I work out what I need to do to keep everything to a high standard and maintain a sustainable business at the same time. Currently, these prices seem about right for me, I won’t be retiring early but I’m making a living. In the ongoing recession I won’t be putting them up for a while, and will be very happy if I keep the same level of bookings that I’ve had this year.

You can always find a cheaper photographer and you can certainly pay a lot more, but I’m offering a level of coverage that I think gives a high standard of service and good value for money. So, if you are getting married and you like my style of photography, please get in touch.

More details of wedding and civil partnership photography here.