I photographed a great wedding on the 4th of July! (Thank you Tonia and Scott for a great day!)
As I post a few teasers I got to thinking about a conversation I had with a bride-to-be's mother a few weeks back. Her question was, "If I can get an 8x10 print from the local Sam's Club for $4.00 why should I pay you an a la carte price of $39 for the same 8x10?" Good and fair question! In a nutshell you are paying for my TLC I give each finished image file and for my artistic perception on how the image ought to look. For each wedding I hand over the the un-retouched original high resolution images when I deliver the wedding album. IF you choose to order other prints that is great! When you do that you receive the image I had in my head at the time I took the shot.
The mother of the bride-to-be was very happy with my answer and totally understood the difference between "Sam's" 8x10 vs. my 8x10. I am blogging this because sometimes the two images are never seen side-by-side. I have blogged two images. (four total images) The first image is the SOOC (straight out of the camera) shot. The second shot is my mental impression of the image as I took the shot. It is the TLC I add to each finished image in the album and final print(s) ordered through me. Enjoy!
SOOC of Tonia.
A little retouch and a tiny bit of TLC
SOOC of Tonia and Scott
Now my interpretation of the shot
As I am finishing up this post I think it is funny! I was just in a chat room with a few photographers and this is exactly the topic in the room! Gotta love the tools of the internet!
Enjoy!
Valid point Pixel Jockey. Training is huge and the amount of time put into the craft and/or art of photography is really unmeasurable.
My thoughts on the "image rights" are that the completed wedding album(s) are delivered and designed to fit the couple. After that, I have no true need to hang on to the images. I say the couple has the right to the images in the raw form. If they choose to order extra prints through me then great! The burden of me keeping the images for years in the event they would like an extra print or two are off of my shoulders. They paid for the rights as far as I am concerned. But hey, it is just my opinion.
Posted by: Joe | July 11, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Lets not forget the professional training and experience, in my case 30 years, that we bring to the game. Do you pay a Doctor based on the value of his tools or cost of medication? no, of course not or the dress maker based on the cost of the fabric? so why would you think that a photo should be any different.
My opinion is slightly different in that I would never endorse handing over the blueprints to my artwork in the original files that are not a completed piece. We would only want the very best image displayed with our name on it and not the half completed image in the raw file.
Posted by: Pixel Jockey | July 06, 2009 at 11:11 AM