"How come I only have 40 pictures - I swear you took more!"
I often have clients asking, "Why it is that I only get a portion rather than all of the images from our photo shoot?" I also get asked why some sessions have several images of each person or group, and others not as many. Though each photographer takes their own approach, here are the factors that come into play for me:
I base my pricing for a typical session on approximately one to one and a half hours in the field, and two to three hours after the fact. In an hour I can usually capture enough images to safely get around 40 images (80 with B&W conversions) for the client's album. My goal, however, is to capture two 'framers' of each individual and group. For example, if there is a family of four, I try to ensure that there are two 'framable' individual portraits of each child and each parent alone, two of just the siblings together, one of just the parents together, and one of the whole family. That means that a minumum of fourteen of the images are 'technical' shots. Everything after that is gravy.
After shooting, the next step is choosing the 40 or so images I will process. I use a system of finding first one or two solid images of each participant or grouping. Once those are chosen, I choose a balanced number of shots that I feel are a) quality images, b) complement the 'story' of what happened on the shoot and/or c) add variety to the album - nobody wants 40 pictures that look almost identical. If there is a group of 3, only 6 or 8 of the 40 images will be 'technical' shots - the rest can be more creative and playful and fun. If there is a larger group, say a family of five, plus grandparents, fourteen images are for individual portraits, and we haven't even gotten to the group shots of the whole family, just the siblings, just the parents, just the grandparents, the parents with the children, the grandparents with the grandchildren... You get the idea. Obviously, there is less time for me to shoot additional images when the technical shots take up such a substantial portion of the session. Especially when younger children are involved, the technical shots can often require the entire session, leaving the client with only technical shots. Sometimes, if the children are tired, or not in the mood, or hungry, or bored, or silly, there are only a handful of pictures that you'd want to hang on your wall.
Once I have selected the images to be included in the client's album, processing begins. Processing includes doing minor adjustments to the contrast or saturation if needed, and converting the images from RAW to JPEG. I then spend however long is required on each image to correct blemishes or bruises or rashes or make-up smudges. I then convert the image to B&W and do additional adjustments to contrast and brightness if required. These steps take an average of 2 to 5 minutes per image, depending on how much work is needed, and sometimes as much as twenty minutes to half an hour if there are special effects applied such as colourizing, hand-tinting, or texturizing. By the time you factor in my travel, field, processing, and developing time, fuel, printing costs, and other expenses such as props, materials, costumes, and equipment, it ends up working out to about $8/hour.
So why can't you just 'have the rest of the pictures,' you wonder. The answer to this is simple - if an image of mine goes 'out there,' I want to to look exactly the way I want it to look. If I give you an unprocessed image where, say, the lighting is off because you have a red wall where we took pictures and everyone looks feverish, then it is an inaccurate representation of the creativity and skill I want, "out there." You wouldn't expect an artist to exhibit a half-painted masterpiece, or a composer to play only the completed portion of a song, or an author to publish an unfinished story, and as such, I do not release my 'raw' images.
I *could* process every single last image, but realistically I have to set a cut off somewhere, which is why I charge $5 per image for client-requested custom editing. If I were to process every single image I capture, it would take a phenomenal amount of time. As I do have a family, I have to consider carefully how much time I budget for this pursuit so as to allow me the time I want and need to be a wife and mother. Regardless of whether this is a part-time job for me, or if it was a full-time gig, I would have to make those decisions in order to make it worth my while. I'm working at minumum wage as it is, and so, my cut-off is at 40 images per session.
I base my pricing for a typical session on approximately one to one and a half hours in the field, and two to three hours after the fact. In an hour I can usually capture enough images to safely get around 40 images (80 with B&W conversions) for the client's album. My goal, however, is to capture two 'framers' of each individual and group. For example, if there is a family of four, I try to ensure that there are two 'framable' individual portraits of each child and each parent alone, two of just the siblings together, one of just the parents together, and one of the whole family. That means that a minumum of fourteen of the images are 'technical' shots. Everything after that is gravy.
After shooting, the next step is choosing the 40 or so images I will process. I use a system of finding first one or two solid images of each participant or grouping. Once those are chosen, I choose a balanced number of shots that I feel are a) quality images, b) complement the 'story' of what happened on the shoot and/or c) add variety to the album - nobody wants 40 pictures that look almost identical. If there is a group of 3, only 6 or 8 of the 40 images will be 'technical' shots - the rest can be more creative and playful and fun. If there is a larger group, say a family of five, plus grandparents, fourteen images are for individual portraits, and we haven't even gotten to the group shots of the whole family, just the siblings, just the parents, just the grandparents, the parents with the children, the grandparents with the grandchildren... You get the idea. Obviously, there is less time for me to shoot additional images when the technical shots take up such a substantial portion of the session. Especially when younger children are involved, the technical shots can often require the entire session, leaving the client with only technical shots. Sometimes, if the children are tired, or not in the mood, or hungry, or bored, or silly, there are only a handful of pictures that you'd want to hang on your wall.
Once I have selected the images to be included in the client's album, processing begins. Processing includes doing minor adjustments to the contrast or saturation if needed, and converting the images from RAW to JPEG. I then spend however long is required on each image to correct blemishes or bruises or rashes or make-up smudges. I then convert the image to B&W and do additional adjustments to contrast and brightness if required. These steps take an average of 2 to 5 minutes per image, depending on how much work is needed, and sometimes as much as twenty minutes to half an hour if there are special effects applied such as colourizing, hand-tinting, or texturizing. By the time you factor in my travel, field, processing, and developing time, fuel, printing costs, and other expenses such as props, materials, costumes, and equipment, it ends up working out to about $8/hour.
So why can't you just 'have the rest of the pictures,' you wonder. The answer to this is simple - if an image of mine goes 'out there,' I want to to look exactly the way I want it to look. If I give you an unprocessed image where, say, the lighting is off because you have a red wall where we took pictures and everyone looks feverish, then it is an inaccurate representation of the creativity and skill I want, "out there." You wouldn't expect an artist to exhibit a half-painted masterpiece, or a composer to play only the completed portion of a song, or an author to publish an unfinished story, and as such, I do not release my 'raw' images.
I *could* process every single last image, but realistically I have to set a cut off somewhere, which is why I charge $5 per image for client-requested custom editing. If I were to process every single image I capture, it would take a phenomenal amount of time. As I do have a family, I have to consider carefully how much time I budget for this pursuit so as to allow me the time I want and need to be a wife and mother. Regardless of whether this is a part-time job for me, or if it was a full-time gig, I would have to make those decisions in order to make it worth my while. I'm working at minumum wage as it is, and so, my cut-off is at 40 images per session.
Comments