There are basically two financial models for a wedding photography businesses. I call them the "Aftermarket Sales" model and the "Creative Fee" model. The one your photographer uses determines what sort of images he or she takes at your wedding.

The Aftermarket Sales Business Model - Low Prices Up Front

There is a fairly standard practice in the business world of selling the first part of a service for a low fee which then locks the comsumer into later purchases at extremely high rates. The model works because it is a well known fact that most consumers will jump at a lower price without taking the time to learn the full impact of the decision. For example, most computer printers are priced ridiculously low because the company knows you are then locked in to purchasing their inks as long as you own that printer. Of course the inks are sold at outrageously high rates and the company rakes in the profits from the ink.

Many wedding photographers also use this pricing model. They charge a low price up front but the studio keeps all ownership and copyright on the images which makes it a violation of US copyright laws for you to make copies of any prints you purchase. After the wedding, you may be shocked to find out how much it costs to get the prints you want. For example, prices for an 8x10 range from $20 to $150 each. With these photographers it is not unusual for their clients to spend more on reprints than what they originally spent on the entire photography fee. This business model often gets clients feeling great in the beginning because of the low price. However, many of them go away feeling resentful in the end because of the high price they were charged for reprints and because there was little or no discussion about the reprint costs when they were originally booking the wedding. Most young couples have never been married before so they don't have the experience to know that they should have been asking questions about this in the interview. The photographers who use this model are not out to blatantly cheat anyone, they just know that human nature makes us suckers for a low price, and with all the competition photographers face, any little thing you can do to lower your price (or at least make it look lower) helps you get more business.

The Creative Fee Business Model - High Prices Up Front

With the creative fee business model, the photographer charges the full amount of the sale up front. The client pays the photographer's entire creative fee all at once, before the day of the wedding. After the wedding, the photographer typically delivers the images on a DVD which the client can then use to make unlimited prints for personal use. The Creative Fee pays for the photographer's talent, overhead, business expenses and everything else neecessary for the photographer to stay in business and make the desired profit. With this model, you (the client) stand to save a substantial amount of money if you get very many prints made. You also have the images in your possession so you don't have to worry about the photographer going out of business or moving away. You will also have the added ability to use your images for email, computer slideshows, home videos, albums, and you can even do your own image manipulation with Photoshop if you are so inclined.

Will you get a quality product? The images on the disk will be top notch, but if you take them to a low quality print lab, they may not look their best. If you want something to look the best it can, most of these photographers will gladly work with you to create custom prints and custom albums, so this model is not about leaving you out on your own when it comes to getting a finished product.
In fact, exactly the same finished products can be produced by both business models.

The Motivation Factor

The most important thing you need to know about these business models is that each of them creates a completely different motivation for the photographer, and that motivation influences what sort of images they take.

For example, if a photographer knows that you have paid a low price up front and the only remaining income will be generated from print sales, then there is no requirement or motivation to take a shot unless they think it will generate print sales.

On the other hand, if the photographer is paid up front to provide photographic services for the day, then he/she has no thoughts about print sales. Instead this person is thinking about shooting anything that the Bride or Groom might find interesting. This photographer is your own personal photographer for the day. They will be thinking, "what will the bride and groom want to see?" instead of thinking, "what would the bride and groom want to buy." There is a huge difference in the pictures that will result from each type of motivation, and these differences are the essence of what seperates Traditional style wedding photographers from the Portrait Journalist.

Summary:

The Traditional style is motivated by print sales and this person has nothing to gain by taking photos of things that won't sell prints.

The Portrait Journalist is basically your own personal photographer for the day. The driving motivation is to record the day's events for you, and do so in an artistic way that tells the full story of your wedding day.

Lots to think about....

Written by: Glen Johnson / Aperture Photographics.com

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