I received this email from one of my couples, Brian & Ivy, who are getting married soon. I thought that this was an important discussion to have, even if you do not choose Skeem Photography to capture your day, with any potential photographer they choose to capture their special day. The following can also can apply when you are considering a photographer for any other occasion or event.
Janet,
Hello - how is everything going? May I ask you a quick question? I heard from someone at work who had a wedding and their photographer gave them digital prints with "proof" or similar markings on them. I don't think yours are marked that way, right? We get the clean digital files, and then there is a number that we can ask you to photoshop.
Do you know how common that practice of marking the digital files with proof is? Unfortunately, the person at work didn't know that beforehand and was a little surprised.
I hope all is well!
Thank you,
Brian
Hi Brian,
The first type is one charges a low retainer fee and then profits from the sale of prints. You will only receive the prints that you purchase and being that the money is in the prints and not the retainer, you will photograph accordingly. For example; a typical bride will chose to purchase the photo of the bride and groom with the parents or grandparents over the photo of the groom's face when he first sees the bride walking down the aisle. It isn't that the former photo isn't meaningful, it just isn't as high of a priority when you have to purchase every single photo. It also effects the way a photographer approaches a wedding, you tend to pay most attention to the shots that will yield the most sales. Once the images are purchased the couple will rarely have copyrights to the printed images. The photographer will prevent the images from being duplicated by placing copyright restrictions (often disguised as "(Brand) Professional Printing Paper") on the back of the photo. When taken to a publicly operated printing service (such as Kinko's or Walmart) the photo will require a written copyright release from the photographer in order to be reproduced. Another way for a photographer to prevent those images from being duplicated is to have the images printed on a special type of paper (usually only available to professionals) that will scan poorly due to the finish on the actual paper and the way that it behaves under the light that the scanner emits.
The second type of pricing structure is a photographer that charges more for the initial retainer and profits very little from the sale of prints. You will typically receive the digital copies of most or all the images captured that day for the price you paid initially. Little if any of this photographer's income depend on revenue from the sale of prints. Typically the cost of using this photographer for professionally printed images will be less expensive than the aforementioned photographer. This is due to the fact that digital copies are given freely and the couple then has the option of using publicly available resources such as Costco for their printing and reprinting thus creating a need for this photographer's prices to be competitive. This type of photographer will also capture the day differently. Instead of being motivated by the sale of prints, the photographer has the freedom to capture whatever images they feel will add to the ambiance of the whole day.
It is unfortunately very common for photographers to be categorized in the first mentioned group (low initial fees but limited copyrights and high printing costs). In fact, this used to be the only way a photographer would function (as should be the case because digital cameras were not only uncommon but unreliable for the quality and performance). Even now, some photographers will still charge per digital image (even if their initial fees are steep).
Janet
