{"id":233,"date":"2010-09-08T10:31:44","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T14:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/?page_id=233"},"modified":"2010-09-08T10:31:44","modified_gmt":"2010-09-08T14:31:44","slug":"why-are-photographers-expensive","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/?page_id=233","title":{"rendered":"Why are Photographers expensive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.americarodriguezphotography.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fpage_id%3D233&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n<p>Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?<\/p>\n<p>In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners and  home \u201cphoto printers\u201d, when people upload their photos to a local drug  store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the  time \u2013 How in the world do Professional Photographers charge $55 for an  8\u00d710 when they cost just $1.50 at the drug store?<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n<p>Simply put, you\u2019re not just paying for the actual photograph, you\u2019re  paying for time and expertise in creating the image itself. First, let\u2019s  look at the actual time involved. If you don\u2019t read this entire page,  at least read this first part.<\/p>\n<p>For a two hour portrait session:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; one hour of travel to and from the session<br \/>\n&#8211; two hours of shooting<br \/>\n&#8211; 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc.<br \/>\n&#8211; 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 \u2013 4 Gb of data)<br \/>\n&#8211; 30 minutes to back up the files on multiple external drives plus DVD\u2019s<br \/>\n&#8211; 3 \u2013 4 hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color,  sharpening, saving a copy for print and a copy for the internet and  backing up the edited photographs<br \/>\n&#8211; 2 \u2013 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive their  order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints,  package prints, schedule shipment and drop package off at Fed Ex.<br \/>\n&#8211; For local customers, we meet them at our studio to review the photos  and place their order. Meeting and travel time averages 2 hours.<\/p>\n<p>You can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than ten  hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer  charging a $300 session fee for a two hour photo shoot, you are not  paying them $100 \/ hour.<\/p>\n<p>Now lets look at the expertise in creating the image itself. Did you  know that the average 3-4 day \u201cworkshop\u201d in the photography world will  cost the photographer an average of $1,700 for the workshop plus air  fare, plus food, plus hotel, plus, plus, plus, easily adding up to  $3,000.00. And this does not take into account the cost of the time  spent away from the studio and most importantly the time spent away from  my family. This year alone I have done 3 absolutely top level, small,  personalized, intense workshops. Make no mistake, getting \u201cgood\u201d is not  an accident, it takes a huge investment of time and money on the part of  the photographer and it involves a lot of practicing and a WHOLE lot of  dedication to be The Best. That why SO many photographer either do not  partake in top level workshops or will only do \u201clocal\u201d workshops that in  my experience are only valuable to the brand new photographer. A  photographers price is going to be your first clue as to their  experience, education and talent level.<\/p>\n<p>Now for the expertise.<\/p>\n<p>Shooting professional photography is a skill, acquired through years  of experience. Even though our camera bodys average $4,000-$5,000 for  just the body, and most of our lens are in the $2,000 category, taking  professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.<\/p>\n<p>Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their  first decent camera to making money with their photography. In addition  to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other  equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit  and print photographs, run a website etc.<\/p>\n<p>And let\u2019s not forget that you actually have to have people skills, be  able to communicate, make people comfortable in front of the camera \u2013  and posing people to make them look their best, yet completely natural  in a photograph is a skill all by itself.<\/p>\n<p>Think of it this way \u2013 the next time you pay $100 to get your hair  done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50. But you gladly pay a lot more  to hire a Professional to actually do the job.<\/p>\n<p>What about the cheap studios at the mall?<\/p>\n<p>Please don\u2019t compare us to the chain store studios. Apples &amp;  Oranges!!! But if you must, consider all of the time and work that we  put into our photographs, compared to what they do. Good luck getting a  two hour photo shoot at a chain store. Not to mention they won\u2019t come to  the beach! And of course, look at our work compared to theirs. You get  what you pay for.<\/p>\n<p>The truth is, most of the mall and chain store studios lose money. In  fact, in 2007 Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios because of  the financial drain they were putting on the company. What the chain  stores bet on is that you\u2019ll come in for some quick and cheap photos,  and while you\u2019re there, you\u2019ll also spend $200 on other things. They  don\u2019t have to make money, they are just there to get you in the door.<\/p>\n<p>Conclusion<\/p>\n<p>We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will  have a better understanding of why professional photographs cost so much  more than the ones that you get from your local drug store.<\/p>\n<p>I hope this gives everyone a better understand of how much time and effort goes into my work.<\/p>\n\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.americarodriguezphotography.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fpage_id%3D233&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why are Professional Photographers so expensive? In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners and home \u201cphoto printers\u201d, when people upload their photos to a local drug store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the time \u2013 How in the world do Professional Photographers charge $55 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-233","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americarodriguezphotography.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}