Ok, thanks Japrin Thomas for bringing up the issue of the price of wedding photography from a wedding photographer. Coz at the same time, a few enquiries I have are followed by a sceptic feedbacks on why my price is not RM300 only..
I hope this can at least clear my name as a ‘kedekut minta mahal2’. Some might ask: Buat apa laa mo caj mahal2?, ni sengaja mau cari duit lebih(AKA, bloodsucker!).
OK, I charge averagely more than rm1.5k. But I still think that it’s kind of low. Why? Let’s discus this issue from my side of view.
Why do I charge like that expensive??
1. For a living. Living is not cheap. We don’t live up a tree(although a lot of west Malaysians still thought we do). Like me, I rent an apartment. I need atleast THREE RM300 job to pay my house rent. And how many weddings you can possibly handle a week? Wedding always occur on weekends. As far as I remembered, theres only 4(occasionally 5)weekends in a month. If ure lucky to be booked four times a month, you’ll get rm300x4= rm1200. Ok, now lets talk about my car loan, my daily meal, electricity, water and internet bill. Ok, some might say I will use most of the money for my own deed(go clubbing, go find chix, go eat expensive foods etc).. yes I admit so(except for the ‘go find chix’ part, which is very subjective haha). But why not? Aint the reason people work, is to gain as much money as possible, so we can live a happy, comfortable lives? So I guess the same goes to a fulltime photographer(or designer, developer etc..)
2. Equipment. First, let me explain, all camera aren’t built the same. Some camera are expensive than the others are for a reason. Its not because of the design, coz you can almost say all DSLR camera looks exactly alike! Some point and shoot camera will have better looking design, yet they are cheaper. So the truth is, the price difference is because of its performance. For instance. I have a Canon EOS 7D, a 40D and an EOS 400D. Some might say I overcharge just to buy my fancy expensive camera. Well that is true! I do use the money to buy my 7D, which is almost three times the price of my 400D. I bought my white 70-200 f2.8 lens, eventhough I can buy a much cheaper lens.
please refer for its price here:
Shashinki 70-200mm . It’s pricey, indeed. But who will benefit from my buying? If you say me, think again! A 7D + 70-200mm f2.8 is a tad heavier, and I have to carry it the whole day! But the quality of picture this equipment produce is superb! And it’s not my photo that I captured, it’s my clients! It makes your wedding a lot more meaningful if you are comfortably sure that none of your important moments are ever gonna be missed. Why? 400D can capture only three frames per second, while 7D can capture 8fps instead! It means, no matter how fast your kiss from the ‘you may kiss the bride’ session will take, a 7D’s percentage of capturing it is 5 frames more than the 400D. So, can I possibly buy this equipment, if I charge rm300 per session? I’m not done yet! Well, what if my camera fails me. Camera do have lifespan you know. They call it shuttercounts. And the charge of repairing it may cause me two weddings(base on an rm300 price). And then we need other stuff like external flash, a computer to transfer and edit the photos etc..
3. Time and effort. Taking picture needs me to sacrifice my precious time just to take photos of somebody I just known recently. I doubt people would voluntarily waste their time and energy to stand all day while carrying a 4KG of equipment and being told to move out of the way frequently for blocking others guest view on a wedding, even if infact it is their own sister’s wedding, if they won’t get paid. And it doesn’t end there. Taking photos on the event itself is half the work. The processing is the other half. On a normal wedding, it takes around 500-1000 shots per day. I need to edit each and every one of it, for it to meet the acceptable quality. That means, a whole week of sleepless nights.
Well that’s a few rambles from me. I would explain more reason of my pricing later on, but for the time being, I hope people wud understand that what I am doing is not an easy job. But don’t get me wrong! Since I love taking photos, and photography is my dearest life, It’s always a pleasure to be able to capture your lovely moments, let alone see the beautiful results for us to share! But how can I do that, if you wont help me?
To all soon to be brides, wish have the most memorable event of your life! I can help ;-) ..
For enquiries and bookings, do not hesitate to contact me! Have a lovely day..
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