Family Photography

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networkn

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Topic # 88318 13-Aug-2011 14:17

Hi There!

Does such a thing exist as a talented family photographer who will spend a few hours with my family and I taking a variety of shots, for a fixed fee, where we get all the images in reasonable quality at the end? We had "won" a few photoshoots, and whilst they take pretty good pictures the cost is just insane ($480 per picture for a 60x60 Edge board).

I know there is a reasonable amount of time involved in editing photo's to make them look good, removing blemishes, but I had imagined that perhaps we might get a few hours of photography, negatives, and say 4-6 A4 sized shots for $1200-1500. I called a few places and basically got laughed at and told, no chance of getting the originals, and for what I am talking about perhaps 5K-10K.

I imagine perhaps a Photographer that wasn't tied to a big agency might be a possibility, but how to find one that understands what we want.

Anyone here done anything similar with good results who can make a recommendation?

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Wannabe Geek

Reply # 505997 13-Aug-2011 15:21

Sounds unreasonable in my opinion. Shop around and you will definitely find a better option. I shoot professionally and those prices sound insane.

muppet

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Reply # 505998 13-Aug-2011 15:24

You don't say where you're based, but if you're in the Auckland region (he'll travel) I can't recommend Nick Clarke Photography enough.

Give him a call, he's a really nice guy, very easy to deal with but very professional.

http://www.nickclarke.co.nz/

I don't know for sure what rates he'd charge for what you're after but it couldn't hurt to talk to him.

(He was our wedding photographer)

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GarethRobins

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Wannabe Geek

Reply # 506000 13-Aug-2011 15:26

Hello,

I can certainly offer you a better deal that 5K-10K.. That's even more than I charge for weddings!

I shoot family photos on location, perhaps a beach or park, or somewhere that's meaningful to you.

The session fee is $150 and photos are purchased separately. A disk of full resolution images is $500, or you can purchase prints and a few single digital files.

Print prices vary with size, but in your example of 6 A4 sized shots (8" x 12") would cost $100.

For more information about my family portraits visit http://www.shotbyrobins.com/#/family-photos/

If you would like to go ahead, just drop me a line on gareth@shotbyrobins.com

Take care

Gareth

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Reply # 506001 13-Aug-2011 15:32

I can recommend www.drawphotography.com based in Auckland. Check out the photos, they speak for themselves. They do all kinds of photography.

nate

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Reply # 506022 13-Aug-2011 16:11

My suggestion would be to find an good amateur photographer who would be willing to work with you at a lower rate, and source the printed images yourself.

If you don't mind canvas, highly recommend My World. I had an A0 canvas done, it was very reasonably priced plus it was packed brilliantly.

cisconz

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Reply # 506036 13-Aug-2011 17:05

I have used http://laurenindrisie.blogspot.com/ in the past for a family shoot, and will be using her again for my Wedding, she gives you all the photo's in colour and B+W full size and email sized when finished. All edited and touched up.

Hmmmm

freitasm

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Reply # 506048 13-Aug-2011 18:02

I'm not going to suggest one, but I agree with the "insane" adjective to the rates. These folks charge a rate that would make even a Principal with D&B blush...

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nate

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Reply # 506050 13-Aug-2011 18:11

cisconz: I have used http://laurenindrisie.blogspot.com/ in the past for a family shoot, and will be using her again for my Wedding, she gives you all the photo's in colour and B+W full size and email sized when finished. All edited and touched up.

If she's able to make your ugly mug look halfway decent, she must be good.

/troll

cisconz

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Reply # 506063 13-Aug-2011 18:38

nate:If she's able to make your ugly mug look halfway decent, she must be good.
/troll

She took that B+W photo on that website you made me.

Hmmmm

networkn

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Reply # 506074 13-Aug-2011 19:49

I guess after talking with my wife, ideally what we are looking for is some "studio" shots and then some outdoorsy shots with some black and white, some in colour. If we could get a package of say 6 smallish blockart shots, and a nice "photo album book" and the originals with the good ones touched up, for $1200 we would be pretty happy. We might stretch a little, but ultimately that seems to us to be a "fair" price.

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Reply # 506132 13-Aug-2011 23:48

I'm a professional photographer. We did the numbers at an NZIPP meeting a while back. Once you take into account business overheads like cameras, rent, vehicle (necessary), utilities, computers and software, accountant, telecommunications, printing and albums, professional memberships (this is a profession not a hobby), etc, etc, etc, the amount of money you need to make to break even is really, really high. If you have a studio it's even higher. People think "wow wedding photographers do 6 hours work and make $3K", but they don't see the prep and travel time, $20K worth of equipment, the years of training and practice, the three days editing, and the standard business overheads. You wouldn't believe the wholesale cost of really nice albums as well, and how long books and albums take to design, retouch, etc. Even professional quality books are expensive.

Portrait photographers work on the old model - low charge for your time, high charge for prints. I can see that disappearing in the next 5-10 years, with a more time based model coming forward.

6 hours of photography means about 20 hours work, give or take. If it was rushed, maybe 12 hours, so one long day or two normal days work. That's basically a small weddings worth of work. My last minute wedding package for six hours is around $2.3K, with the files on CD color corrected, but with no significant retouching.

I agree, it's quite expensive, but it's really not worth a professionals time to bill much less, not when they can change the prices you mentioned earlier and people pay them. Maybe a chain store, but even though they're crap they still charge a lot.

Almost no good portrait photographers will give you all the photos on CD, or sometimes any photos on CD. I think you might have better luck if you aim for 2 hours of photography and a set number of prints, maybe with lower resolution files. Maybe look for people newer in the business, with a small deposit and a full refund if you're not happy with the photos.

Or you can have a friend with a camera take the photos, with reasonably predictable results.

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freitasm

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Reply # 506134 14-Aug-2011 00:12

Why wouldn't a photographer give the photos on CD? Afraid customers might get a print somewhere else, taking away some of the revenue?

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Reply # 506137 14-Aug-2011 00:26

freitasm: Why wouldn't a photographer give the photos on CD? Afraid customers might get a print somewhere else, taking away some of the revenue?

They do, but they charge a substantial fee for it. From a wedding I was involved with the photographer was going to charge $1000 for all the images on a CD. If we wanted a photo file emailed to us it was about $50

plod

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Reply # 506166 14-Aug-2011 08:17

freitasm: Why wouldn't a photographer give the photos on CD? Afraid customers might get a print somewhere else, taking away some of the revenue?

Well it is the photographers artwork, why not hold the rights to it.

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Reply # 506175 14-Aug-2011 09:23

You could try your local photography club/society. They'll probably have people who'll do it for free or close to free just to get practice. Naturally you would expect the quality of photos to be lower than that of a professional service. However, there are some very talented amateurs out there and some looking to build a portfolio before going full time professional.

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