Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Want To Be A Bridal Photographer

By Sally Wong

A wedding is the kind of occasion that people want to display pictures of for years to come. Your clients - the bride and groom to be - will want the best and will want the quality guaranteed. If you are a photographer you might want to consider photographing weddings because there is a lot of money to be made by doing them. With the money comes the risk which you must manage well.

A disclaimer should be included in a well written up first time contract. A disclaimer is something that can prevent you from being sued later on. There are a few reason you should not be held accountable for and they are failure of equipment, miss placed pictures after they were sent away, and photos that do not develop properly. Otherwise you could get sued for breach of contract.

The hourly rate and how many pictures are to be taken should also be included in the contract. Include how much the cost of development is and the cost of the album. Make sure you discuss with your clients what their requirements are. There could be a particular family member that they want photographed separately, or a certain group of people they do not get to see very often.

Make a list of all the pictures that your client's requested. Here are a few common ones, pre-ceremony, wedding ceremony, post-ceremony and reception. Discuss with the clients about which shots they want and who's going to be in the pictures. Pay attention to what your clients are saying because each one will be different.

It is smart to always ask for a booking fee. Without this you could be caught out if something goes wrong. If they have paid nothing then they are less likely to try to solve any problems that may occur. At least 50% deposit should be paid prior to the wedding. So you don't end up bothering the bride and groom during the reception, arrangements should be made for when the remainder will be paid. They would think you were unprofessional and wish they had hired someone else.

If you are developing your client's pictures yourself, Photoshop is an excellent photo editing program. You can enhance the photos with all sorts of techniques such as flaw removal, montage, changing the color to black and which or sepia, as well as other unique features.

Always look to see how you can add more value than what you said you would give. A special surprise will keep everyone talking and generating more business for you in the future. Think different. Imagine for example if you uploaded all their pictures onto a password protected part of your website so that they and their friends can login and view.

At the end of the day doing wedding photography can be a lot of fun and you can make good money at it. You may have to take your people skills to the next level but the financial returns will be worth it.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment