I have to edit wedding reception photos–first time and…?
I have to edit wedding reception photos–first time and…?
My question is how much should I charge to edit 500 photos? i did not take the pictures the editing was outsourced to me. My next question is, any tips or ideas on how i should edit them? This is my first time editing an event of this kind and i’m clueless!
source: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20071206041012AAZgb2r
What would you like to make per hour? I would suggest a minimum of $ 20 per, since you are a newbie.
Crop for more interest, eliminate exit signs and outlets, balance lighting.
Wow, that would really scare me, because no matter the quality of the pics, they are going to expect you to do magic on them. I would spend some time on the customers expectations… then, if they want a basic crop & levels, maybe $ 100 to $ 200, if they really want the pics cleaned up, I would do hourly, maybe $ 30/hr.
I know I will get scoffed at by the users of $ 1,000+ programs, but I would run them through google’s free Picasa2, you can batch edit for color, brightness, and contrast. I just edited about 500 high school football and wrestling pics, and it worked great! Worst case scenario, it isn’t good enough, and you only wasted 30 minutes.
Think about how many hours you’re going to be spending on the editing. If you end up charging too low, you could be making less than minimum wage. Think of how much you want hourly. I generally think 2-4 photos per hour if there’s a lot of editing to be done (it’s taken longer too…I had a bride who wanted me to clone out all of her sister’s tattoos). Also, keep in mind how much your software cost you. You don’t have to add the whole thing in because if you end up doing more, it will pay for itself eventually.
My guess is it will probably take you around 5 or 6 hours to do all the editing. Just think about how much the actual wedding photographers got paid for a couple of hours. They probably got paid over $ 1000 to do the photography, and if they’re the ones outsourcing the editing to you, they can afford to pay you. In that case, $ 200-300 is very reasonable.
Well, given that we have no idea how the pics are intended to be used, here are some thoughts:
You need to know what the final product will be. If the client is expecting 4×6 prints, then you need to maintain that aspect ratio when you crop (this is the standard that comes from most digital cameras). 8×10′s are a more square crop.
If you are editing for a flush-mounted album, you have MUCH more flexibility in your cropping options, since you won’t have to fit into standard sizes.
Does the client expect color, B&W, or a mix? Mixes are the most common right now, and can be very effective in an album. Note that I mean a mix of B&W photos and Color photos. The whole “selective desaturation” thing has been beaten to death many times over, and I try to steer clients clear of it, as it will look increasingly dated as time moves forward. Stick to classic styles without overdone processing, and you’ll have an album that will still look good on their 50th anniversary.
A key thing to look at is consistency of tone. Typically, you want to avoid a lot of jumping around between heavily saturated processing, faded looks, sepia, b&w, etc etc. Pick 2-3 “styles” and stick to those. Do your best to adjust the white balances if possible so that all of the color shots maintain a consistent color tone. This will be easiest if the photographer shot in RAW. Hopefully, the photog was smart enough to ensure consistent WB for you…. but this almost always needs some tweaking to ensure consistency.
If you are compiling the images into an album of any kind, try to put together a story with the images. Sometimes a picture that wouldn’t be *as* strong by itself can become a vital component of a narrative arc. Detail shots are great examples of this: nobody is going to hang a picture of the wedding invitations on their wall, but detail shots like this can help tell the story of the day.
As for pricing, this varies, but I would definitely push for hourly since this is your first time out. You have no idea how long this will take you, so any flat fee quote may be wildly off-base. I spend 2 hours editing for every hour I spend shooting, FWIW.
Hope this helps!