Choose Wisely

The Truth about “Professional” Photographers

 

Recently I saw a post from the website 505Shooter.com where they conducted a survey asking over 1000 “professional” photographers some serious questions. When I saw the results I have to say I wasn’t shocked. If you have been in the wedding photography field for any significant amount of time you end up finding some of this out… but then I realized that recently engaged couples would be shocked if they saw the findings! But who was going to show them?? Better yet, who was going to explain the results??

So here I am. Sharing with you. Not just my clients but anyone who is looking to hire a professional for their wedding. Below I will go through each question, explain it and talk about their findings. Hopefully you will find this information informative and interesting. Let’s get to it!

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 Q: “How many paid (professional shoots) do you do a week on average?”

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This one (in my opinion) doesn’t mean much. If I were a portrait photographer at a busy studio then yes, saying that I shoot less than 1 per week would look bad but, as a wedding photographer, that doesn’t mean anything. If I shoot 35 weddings per year then that would be less than 1/week. In the wedding world 35 weddings means you are busy. So, this questions didn’t tell us much.

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Q: “What percentage of Professional photographers get 100% of their income from photography?”

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1% – that doesn’t seem like a very high number right? That means for every 1000 professional photographers out there, less 10 of them don’t have any other means of income. With a saturated market and new photographers that undercut you constantly it is becoming harder and harder to make money in this industry. With brides who care more about the bottom dollar than quality, experience and stability I can see why this number is so low. We have personally worked very hard to get to where we are. I have been very blessed and I am thankful for all my couples who understand the value of what we offer, giving us the ability to be here for you, our clients, full time.

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 Q: “How many professional photographers do you personally know”

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Why is this question important? Maybe it shows how established most photographers are in their community. Maybe it shows how long they have been in the business (after all, over time you meet lots of people) but to me this shows the photographers support system. If something happens to them on the wedding day, who will be there to back them up? If they have a good photographer support group there will almost always be someone who the photographer knows and trusts that will be available to step in last minute. The more photographers you personally know (not just on FB people) the bigger the support. I think the 14 is pretty low so if you are another photographer and happen to be reading this, please get out there and meet people. Go to mixers, stylized photo shoots and get togethers. Get that number up to 50 or 100!!

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Q: “What percentage of photographers you know make all their money from photography?”

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So as we already know, this isn’t true. We already found out that less than 1% make all their money on photography but what’s important here is perception. If most photographers know 14 other photographers, then out of those 14 we ASSUME that about 5 of them are “photographically solvent” (I don’t know what else to call it so please roll with it!). Why is this number important? With DSLR camera’s being readily available at your local best buy we have an influx of people calling themselves “professional photographers”. They think that becoming a photographer will be easy money. What’s so hard about snapping photos, right?? I can charge half the price as photographer “XYZ” and everything will be grand! They don’t ever take into consideration the business aspect. Marketing, bookkeeping, contracting, taxes, editing, album cost, equipment cost and maintenance and more! The perception of what photographer make and how they live is very, very wrong and inaccurate. We work hard and don’t usually charge enough for our services therefor making it extremely hard to accomplish full time photographer status. Don’t believe me? If you charge $2800 per wedding and include 2 shooters for 10 hours, digital files, an album, and and engagement session then by the time you figure out gas money, album cost to design and buy, editing time and shooting time (time is $$ people), second shooter pay, marketing, camera maintenance, backup cost and the cost of delivery like a custom USB or Digital gallery, you would be making something like $15 – $22/hr. (this number will vary depending on how you advertise and if you outsource your editing or album designs) Now thats not that bad BUT you have to remember that this is for weddings and you can only do so many per week or per year. Again, making it hard to stay solvent.

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Q : “How long have you been a photographer?” 

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84% responded less than a year.

This is where it gets scary. We are talking about your wedding. Something that can’t be re-done and not something that you should be messing around with. What this says is that most photographers are in their first year and out of the remaining 16% most of those are in their second year (since 13 months is an average). This is where the problem comes in for me. On average wedding photographers shoot less than 5 weddings in their first year. I understand that everyone starts somewhere but I can’t tell you the number of brand new photographers I have met that have never shot a wedding or maybe only shot one or 2 but yet they want to charge couples a high price point. I truly believe that you have to start by charging your worth. So what is your worth? If you are new and have only shot a few weddings then your worth is probably not as high as an experienced photographer, right? Brides, make sure you know what you are getting. Manage your expectations if you are hiring a newer photographer.

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Q : “Do you have special education or training or did you apprentice with a full time professional?”

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Q : “Do you feel that pro photographers should be certified”

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So, I feel like this is self explanatory. Most “Professional” Photographers have less than 1 year experience and no training at all. It doesn’t really surprise me that they don’t want to get certified! They probably use their camera in automatic mode and have no idea how to do lighting. In fact, I was on Facebook the other day and saw a post from a “pro” that their favorite lens is a 24mm-105mm prime. For any photographer that knows their stuff you will get a kick out of that. Prime lenses (my favorite by the way) are stationary lenses that do not zoom. If a lens goes from 24-105mm then it zooms and there for it is not a prime. This is a good example of why you should hire someone experienced. They know what they are doing and they can get you the best results!

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Q : “Do you use professional lenses?”

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Again, this is a little scary to me. 66% call themselves professionals but don’t use professional equipment. 10% don’t even understand the question. Professional lenses make a huge difference in the quality of your images and using them will not only provide you with sharper images but will usually be brighter in dark situations.

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Q : “On a scale of 1-10, 1 being skill and 10 being equipment, what is more important to a pro”

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I’m not even quite sure what to say about all this. Even a entry level Canon Rebel costs about $400+ and yes it comes with a lens. Not a really good one either. So, based on this they could buy a Rebel and maybe one other non professional lens (most professional lenses cost close to $1000 and go up). This is not a professional set up and if you are shooting a wedding, you MUST, MUST, MUST have a backup camera/lenses!

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Q : “What percentage of professional photographers are better than you?”

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Most photographers believe that they are in the bottom 19% meaning that they do not feel
comfortable with where they are skill or quality wise.

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Q : “What percentage of photographers you know should not be charging for their work?”

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Ok… try to stay with me here. Most photographers believe that 81% of other photographers are better than them BUT 67% of the people they know shouldn’t be charging (in their opinion). So doesn’t that mean that they don’t think that they themselves are good enough to charge? But yet they do…

Based on this kind of crazy messed up math you would have to say that the majority of people who charge, shouldn’t be. Is your eyebrow raised yet?? lol Mine is!

There are so many interesting facts and these are only a few. My advice to engaged couples looking to get married? Do your research! Ask how many weddings the company has shot. How many they do per year. How many years in business. If you can see their business license (believe it or not many don’t have that!) Ask to see an entire wedding album from a few different couples. See if they have backup gear or what their plan is if they get sick. It’s totally ok to ask these things! In fact, this is a big investment and is well within your right but, at the same time expect to pay more for experience and quality and know… you get what you pay for.

Until next time – XOXO-

Stephanie

Choose Wisely – The Truth about “Professional” Photographers is based on a survey that you can find HERE