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Tips to keep photography costs down

• Shoot & burn packages
• Prioritise!
• Tailor the package
• Head to smaller communities for little-known talent

Article Tags:  wedding photography, wedding photography tips, cheap wedding photography

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Photography cost-saving ideas

04 February 2011

From the pages of CWS 31

In her book Stylish Weddings for Less: How to plan your dream wedding on a budget, Catherine Sabino shares these tips to keep photography costs down:

• Go for a “shoot & burn” package, says Tracey Brown of Tracey Brown Photography (traceybrownphoto.com) … with a “shoot and burn” you generally get a photographer for four hours and then all the unedited, minimally retouched, high-resolution images on DVD.
• “Prioritise what you must have covered,” says Brown.
• Head to nearby, smaller communities to look for photography and video talent if you live in a major city, where the cost of wedding photography is high.
• Like a studio’s style? Hire one of their lesser-known or junior photographers (checking work and references, of course).
• If you absolutely can’t afford a professional photographer and are thinking of enlisting a friend or family member to document your wedding, double up.
• Tailor the package … negotiate not only the price but also what the package includes. Maybe you don’t want formal portrait shots; see if you can have an extra hour of reception coverage instead.
• Buy photo rights for unlimited personal usage. Check your contract carefully so there are no restrictions on the time frame for making prints or number of copies made per image. This way you can reprint from your disc whenever you like. Get the rights to post on your website/blog/social networking site too.
• Inquire about retouching costs … extensive adjustments bring extra fees so have everything clarified in writing. For do-it-yourself retouching, a free site is Picnik.com.
• If you have a friend who’s a good photographer, book a “day-after” session … this allows for more relaxed images, as well as the so-called “trash the dress”.

Excerpt from Stylish Weddings for Less: How to plan your dream wedding on a budget, by Catherine Sabino (Filipacchi Publishing, 2009).