Image Photography & Video Blog » We don't just take pictures, we create memories!

I probably see an email with this request 15-20 times in any given week and I always think to myself, “if you were only shopping for a Honda or a Toyota, this question would be valid”.

You see, a car is a car is car.  It costs “X” amount of dollars to build, it comes with an invoice and within reason, most auto dealerships are within a hundred dollars or so for the same make and model of a vehicle.  At the end of the day, whether it comes from car dealership A or car dealership B, it’s still the same make, model and quality.

Yes, if wedding photography were only that simple, it would be a wonderful world.  However, getting a “price” for a wedding photo package from four, five, six or ten photographers will not get you the “best” deal in town.  Unfortunately, your fingers just can’t do the walking on this purchase because a digital camera does not a photographer make.

The biggest difference I see in pricing differentials is ability.  A quality photographer knows their worth, they know how much goes into processing those images after the wedding, and clearly their ability to take pictures on your wedding day and make “magic” is a gift that you just can’t put a price tag on. 

The next difference is the quality of the product.  Yes, some photographers sell sub-par products and charge less money.  Many products look the same but in fact are not.  It’s always wise to shop by product name.  

If you are purchasing a coffee-table style album (sometimes referred to as “flush mount” or “collage” albums), you also need to be on your guard.  While a brand name album may be the same quality, not all design is created equal.  

Design can make or break an album.  There are programs and even album manufacturers that let you drag and drop images into a template and in 30 minutes you have a completed album.  That’s a great idea but more often than not, it results in throwing as many images on a page as possible and frankly, that’s not album design.  Album design should be done with forethought and purpose so that it becomes an eye-catching and pleasing work of art that celebrates the wedding day. 

And last, but by no means least, not all photographers work at their craft full-time.  For some, wedding photography is just a great way to make some extra money.  There are no affiliations to national or international governing bodies, no insurance, no overhead and a questionable commitment beyond the wedding day.

Here are some guidelines when choosing a wedding photographer:
1.  Visit the photographer in person.  I know time is precious but this is not a mistake you can afford. Make sure that you love his or her work and that you feel confident that he or she can produce the results you’re looking for on your wedding day.
2.  Ask to look through complete weddings.  See what a wedding shoot looks like from start to finish.  This will also tell you whether or not the images they’re displaying on the internet are consistently good or just a series of “happy accidents”.  Anyone can get “lucky” now and then but it takes a true professional to create beautiful images from start to finish on a wedding day.
3.   Ask how their images are finished.  Yes, finished.  In years gone by, a photographer that shot film lived and died by the lab that developed their images.  Digital photography has not changed that.  Images still need to be color corrected and tonally enhanced.
4.  If you are purchasing a coffee-table or flush-mount style album, ask to view several albums and look carefully at the design.  Are all the pages similar?  When you look at a page, are you overwhelmed because it’s just too busy?  Does the design flow from page to page?  And, by the way, who designs the albums? 

If you follow those guidelines, you may spend a little more than you had planned on your wedding day photography but all those special memories will be beautifully preserved for your lifetime and beyond.  

So, what do we charge for our photo packages?  That depends first on how many photographers you want and how long they will be working.  Second, it depends on what type of album you are you looking for. Once we know those two things, we can give you an accurate price but . . . . it’s always worth your while to come in and look so that you know exactly what we’re selling and exactly what you’ll be buying.

At Image, “we don’t just take pictures . . . we create memories”!