Q: How late does the photographer need to stay?
answers:
2 Videos
VIDEO SUMMARY
Open dance floor photos can get repetitive, let’s be honest, sloppy. My name is Kelsey. I am the owner and lead photographer of Capture by Kelsey, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As far as how late you want your photographer to stay into the night, unless you are doing some sort of grand exit like you have a vintage car showing up to take you away at the end of the night or if you are going to a different venue for some sort of after party that you’re really excited about that you want your photographer to go to, I would say that honestly, you only need your photographer to stay until half an hour into open dance floor. After that, you’re going to get pictures of the same people doing the same things and getting more and more inebriated. The one other caveat I will put to that is sunset. If sunset photos are really important to you and you are having a summer wedding where the sun sets late and you’re actually going to be kind of sneaking away from your dance floor to go do some sunset photos, then then have your photographer stay for sunset and then send them off.
VIDEO SUMMARY
It’s. Photos of the dance floor, especially after the first half hour or so, are bespoke blackmail. So if you want me to stay past about a half hour into open dancing, I need you to tell me who it is that you dislike that you want an unflattering photo of. I’m kind of kidding, but I’m kind of not. The important photos of the day are all before open dancing. Your first dance is going to be before that. All of your portraits are going to be the before that. All of your details are before that. And open dancing just kind of looks the same all night. The only reason that it makes sense for a photographer to say to the very end of the night is if you have planned a really visually interesting grand exit and you have a good plan for that. So I’m talking about sparklers or glow sticks or any of that. And by a good plan, I mean you know that there are still going to be people there to hold the glow sticks and they’re not going to be too drunk to burn you with the sparklers. I’m willing to do that. I oftentimes do unlimited time and couples love this, but the time when everyone’s just dancing, it’s so limited what you can actually get that makes people look good. So if you’re paying by the hour, dance floor time is a total waste.
2 comments
I have been asked this so many times... does the wedding industry inflate prices when they hear it's a wedding?
Here is my honest answer (as a former wedding photographer)... NO. Did I charge more for a wedding than a 50th birthday party or a family portrait session? Yes, absolutely. I charged A LOT more for a wedding.
Was I taking advantage of the emotional sell? Absolutely not.
The main reasons I charged more for a wedding were: the unseen amount of work involved in the 12+ months leading up to the wedding, the skill level needed on the day, the INTENSE pressure to create perfect "portfolio level work" no matter what the reality of the situation- but mostly it is to compensate for the time AFTER the wedding in post production.
Little known fact about wedding photography - the real job is sitting at a computer editing photos. Photographers spend many hours behind the computer carefully selecting and editing photos. They make adjustments, crop, and adjust colors to ensure each image it's best. Don't forget the time it takes for batching, renaming, importing, exporting and uploading the photos and preparing them for delivery.
Do you think this justifies why photographers charge more for weddings than for other types of shoots?
Couldn’t agree more! And on the videography side its an absolute ton of data + editing discipline.
Its a double sided coin- weddings are extremely high pressure but also high reward when we nail it.
Our products (photo video) in particular are the only thing that genuinely will last forever . Having fun and ALSO nailing the product is worth the price of entry and frankly more.