TTLKurtis wrote:
amonline... Yes, he just delivers a disc of images, what's your point?
You're obviously missing the word "minimum". I was actually thinking $2,400 (full-day)... but he's already arguing on changing from where he is now. Eh... he'll learn.
I'm sure there are dozens more examples; you should at least see where your work stacks up against your competitors, and who your competitors are. If you believe your quality is equal to that of other <$1000 photographers, then stay put. If you believe you are delivering higher quality, then see what price those guys are charging. Maybe you belong somewhere in between. I agree with the others, you could easily charge 50% more for what you shoot.
Dude. You've got people here who are successful, who have been there done that, giving you rock solid advice that in most circles you would have to pay to hear... And yet you argue with it. That's one way to assure that you never achieve stability and prosperity in your business.
form wrote:
If I provide less at the same price, that wouldn't be a good differentiation. I have made previous threads where I noted that I would lose any of my differentiating factors (outside personal style) if I entered a higher price range.
Personal style is what you should be selling, not the fluff. That's the only real thing that you have to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
form, I love you, man, but for PETE'S SAKE, JUST FREAKING TRY RAISING YOUR PRICES and see what happens, rather than wringing your hands over the idea.
Don't change what you offer. Or if you do, offer LESS and charge more at the same time. Do something that seems totally counter-intuitive to you (and totally obvious to the hundred or so people who have told you to do this dozens of times), and we will all rejoice with you when you are making three times as much money after doubling your prices.
Do it, and then come back here and tell us the answer to your question. And in the meantime, please stop with the self-flagellation and angst.
Prediction: if you double your prices, you'll take in three times the profit next year. Prove me wrong.
form wrote:
That's very hard to believe, I can't figure providing only what I already do at a higher price. Just about everyone in my local area within that price range has assistants, sometimes second shooters, and they do skin smoothing (even if their photography style isn't actually very good). It doesn't sound like I would be providing a competitive service unless I do the same.
wedding photography is an art and not a commodity..
Just like an original Picasso hand drawn on A4 size paper, signed and authenticate would be able to command more price than you or I draw some twiggy lines on the piece of paper.
so if you have the quality for it, you can charge the premium...
One thing that I have not seen suggested here if you are that insecure about raising your prices is to do it on a tier plan. Say you are charging X now.. after you book 5 weddings for the season raise your price X + 300. Then after you book 10 Weddings raise your price X + 500.
You can obvi play with the numbers but that would give you some base to work with and allow you to test the water without going all in.
form, setting your images, themselves, aside for a moment, because you are notoriously hard on yourself: what, if anything, do you do differently from the commodity-level photography offered by a thousand kids with kit cameras?
Do you formulate your own value proposition in your head? Can you tell me who benefits most from hiring you, personally? Do you interact with people in a way that differs materially from the commodity level? Are you more mature? More hip? More perceptive? More subtle? More grandiose?
3 DVD's full of images?!?!?! Does this sound a BIT to excessive to anyone else?
I know my clients get overwhelmed if there are more than 500-700 images. and thats just around a half a DVD worth of images!
form wrote:
That's very hard to believe, I can't figure providing only what I already do at a higher price. Just about everyone in my local area within that price range has assistants, sometimes second shooters, and they do skin smoothing (even if their photography style isn't actually very good). It doesn't sound like I would be providing a competitive service unless I do the same.
This is the biggest problem I see with photographers. They think they have to do what other locals do... Since I stopped looking what other photographers are doing in my city our business has doubled and we are nothing like the others in town.
Chris Cooke wrote:
3 DVD's full of images?!?!?! Does this sound a BIT to excessive to anyone else?
I know my clients get overwhelmed if there are more than 500-700 images. and thats just around a half a DVD worth of images!
In order to make it easier to view such a large number of photos and select their favorites, I also provide an entire directory of all three discs in web-sized format so they can look through everything very quickly. I use separate folders for getting ready, pre-ceremony, ceremony, post-ceremony, reception, etc...
3 DVDs is the result of giving 4368x2912 at 92% quality with mild sharpening for paper.
