Formal photos costs..

[CrustaceanRelation]

..how does anyone pay these prices?!!

We had a Groupon voucher as a gift from a friend a couple of years ago when we had a new baby. It wasn't particularly local to us, but we went along as we had never had family shots taken. I think 2 pictures were included in the deal. It was an independent studio, not venture for eg.

Pictures were taken and we were sent an online link to the photos, but they all had massive logos across them so very difficult to choose. We were told we would have to go back to the studios to see any proofs without logos, none could be emailed or little ones sent. This just wasn't possible with 2 under 2, and subsequently DD2 became ill and life very difficult for a while.

The other day, I realised that we have virtually no pictures of the DDs together/us as a family that time due to being flat out and remembered the shoot. I emailed the studio to find out if we could still claim the pictures included in the deal or look at paying for one or 2. The prices are incredible!! £50 for a 6x4 print!! Madness. I can't believe you can run a business like that! The studio even charge £50 for you to look at the proofs online now.

Obviously, I realise that it's my disorganisation that means we didn't get the prints in this instance, but this is an ongoing business. Loads of people must pay these sums. I am !

AIBU to think £50 is just too much?!

It is not fifty pounds just for a photo though. The photographer is a professional with overheads eg studio costs. He is only trying to make a living, just like the rest of us.
Do you have a friend with a camera who could come and take some half decent photos for you?

That does sound extortionate. Have you asked about any package prices?

You are being totally unreasonable. It's a business and you are paying for the photographer's knowledge, experience and expertise. Consider...

Professional camera £2,500 x 2
Lens £1,000 x 2
Computer & Photoshop £1,500
Printer £3,000
Lights £1,500
Rent £10,000 to £15,000 per year
Rates £2,500 per year
Utilities £3,000
Insurance £1,000

And that's before you take into account salaries and wages, national insurance, advertising and travel. AND the value of her training and expertise

The money covers the photographer's time (often the shoot is 'free') for taking and editing the pictures and all the other admin. The prints are generally a better quality than you can get in chemist/supermarket (though poss not £50 better). I think a big issue these days is that anyone can market themselves as a photog and charge cheap rates, so the good photogs look obscenely expensive. But, you get what you pay for generally.

So YANBU to think it's expensive, because it is, but the photog is NBU either.

Why don't you pay to have a disc of all of them and print them yourself

It is expensive. We had a £205 package from pixifoto paid for by a fam

Sorry!

Paid for by a family member. We got 6 pictures, but some included multiple photos so around 20 in total I think. They are lovely pictures though. Do they do a package? It worked out cheaper to get the package than to buy them separately.

You're lucky the photographer still has the photo's as many delete them after a certain length of time.

It's £400 for a cd of images.

I do get what you are saying about hidden costs involved in a business. I'm just amazed that enough people can afford to pay those sort of sums for just one or 2 shots, and that you can have a whole business sustained on enough people doing that. I guess I inhabit a different financial world. It becomes a once-in-a-lifetime thing and I would've thought that makes a business very hard to keep going.

Unfortunately, as I say, this was 2 years ago so capture a particular moment in time, pre DD2 becoming ill, so Moom's suggestion, although good and what has happened since, doesn't get us any of DD2 so small. I almost wish we'd never had them taken, because knowing they're there but we can't have them is hard.

The DDs have had lovely shots taken at nursery and I think the cd of images was £25 - different overheads, granted, but lovely pics and at that price I'm guessing the volumes increase massively.

Grovee, yes lucky and surprised.

As they are special photos, sorry didn't realise they had been taken a while ago, would anybody be able to buy you one or two as a Christmas present.
Or just buy your favourite one for fifty pounds.

Also, my friend had already paid for the voucher, so I'm guessing that covered some of the "studio time" etc. I know voucher deals are generally ripping someone off though.

I was thinking of asking for money towards one or 2 for my birthday Moom but the studio charge £50 to look at them online or you have to go in (I guess for hard sell) and I just can't travel that far with 2 small dcs (one extremely travel sick and one ill). This specific situation arose through my disorganisation so I'm to blame in this instance. BUT, just more genrally, I was that clearly many people think it would be reasonable to pay that much.

On the price list it's a £50+/hour sitting fee too.

Yabu, it's just not a photo. Have a look at a professional photo and one you take yourself to see the difference.

That's a tough situation OP and I feel for you.

For what it's worth, sadly I don't think £50 for a small photo would be considered expensive for that kind of studio shot. Probably par for the course.

I do think though that a charge of £50 to view online is pretty extortionate. That's a pretty mean way of trying to get you into the studio for a hard sell. Particularly bearing your circumstances in mind.

People seem to get much better packages in the US, lots of truelly stunning pics and at a fraction of the costs. Photos are serioulsy expensive here and I wonder how they will survive really when we all have great cameras pretty much.