Photography prices are not just about attending on the day

We are often asked to compare prices in our home town of Horsham, West Sussex, with other photographers who seem to be offering a great deal, for a small photography fee. I always tell prospective clients that what you are paying for is all in the detail, and if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Why would it be improbable that you are getting quality images for a full days shoot for £300?

Consider this: if the average shoot is 10 hours, in order to capture a full journal of your wedding day, the offer above yields the photographer £30/h. Right? Wrong! Most photographers shoot in a file format called RAW, which is an unprocessed digital image, much like old fashioned negatives. These images need to processed on the pc afterwards, to turn them into a processed file such as Jpeg. Photographers shoot in raw as these files are the most versatile to "develop" but you can expect the photographer to spend at least another 10 hours processing these on their pc, using a product such as Photoshop. So if you add 10 hours of processing, fee income reduces to 15/h. Add in the cost of an assistant, which all good photographers use, and suddenly you are almost at minimum wage......which is good if you are employing someone to make burgers, but not so good for someone you are relying on to expertly photograph your wedding!

At http://www.magicalphotos.co.uk we charge competitive rates, but those you would expect to pay for a professional service. So if you are looking for a wedding photographer, the old saying is true, you generally get what you pay for! Happy planning - the magical photos team.