How long does it take you to show proof?

pgaviria

I have seen it is really common for photographers to take more than 6 months to show proofs for weddings. It seems like such a long time. Obviously it doesn't take 6 months of full time photo editing, so how does it happen that it ends up taking so long? How many editing hours do you estimate you put into an average wedding?

Philip Goh

6 months is very extreme. With my wedding a few years ago, the photographer had the proofs ready in under 3 weeks. Thing to remember is that the key to survival in photography is turnaround time. If it takes you 6 months to process a wedding, you're doing something wrong. If you take on more assignments during that period then your pile of work is going to increase and your delivery dates will slip. If you don't take on more assignments, then I hope you charged 6 months wages for that wedding .

Jeff_Milo

My turnaround time for is normally 2 to 3 weeks for proofs uploaded to my web site. I don't print proof books, everything is done through my online galleries.

Eketelon

My turn-around is 3 weeks for online proofing. I do a proof book as well and I can have that done in the same time frame with WHCC. And the DVD for tv reviewing.

I work 95% in Lightroom and the rest is done in PS3.

TNTATC

I find it crazy that photographers make there wedding clients wait for up to 6 months for there photos. I'v seen and heard it and it puts a bad taste in my mouth. I have a full time job and I am able to do a small wedding and have pics up to 300-400 fully edited in around a week. I understand that some people take a bit longer on photoshop and also some photos I spend more time on than others.
Family members are excited to see the pics and they loose interest when they wait for weeks and months.
I like the idea if your going to take a while to give groups of pics to them as you finish.
Our wedding video guy was only going to make a very short clip for us (all we wanted was the vows) and were going to wait almost a year for that. That is crazy. I gatta go back up to work but wanted to give my opinion. Thanks

urbanaries

Coming off of a busy season, I'm not making my normal 3-4 week turnarounds. Several weekends shooting in a row, editing four cameras worth of shots (unsynched...anyone with suggestions ) is just more than I can turnaround given a full time job and single mommyhood

That said, I tell people where I am as to set expectation. From what I see my full-time competitors turning around, I don't think 5-6 or even 8 weeks is outside the norm. Some of my clients are cool and say take your time, others just can't understand the queue concept. When I shot my last wedding in September I was three weddings behind...so of course hers aren't the first I was going to jump on.

I just can't work 90 hour weeks anymore...but I probably suck at customer service since I don't.

Shima

My contract states 4-6 weeks... I usually deliver in 1-3 weeks though. Ironically if I'm really busy with lots of weddings in the same month, I'm likely to turn around very fast because I'm trying to avoid the backlog of work.

heatherfeather

Shima wrote:

My contract states 4-6 weeks... I usually deliver in 1-3 weeks though. Ironically if I'm really busy with lots of weddings in the same month, I'm likely to turn around very fast because I'm trying to avoid the backlog of work.

Yep.. that is just what I do, though my contract says 2-6 weeks.
Funny thing is that I have just decided to draw out the editing on my latest wedding because I have more pressing projects... I think it will be around 3-4 weeks.

I always attempt to get one wedding edited before I shoot another. But it doesn't often work out that way.

cdonovan

urbanaries wrote:

Coming off of a busy season, I'm not making my normal 3-4 week turnarounds. Several weekends shooting in a row, editing four cameras worth of shots (unsynched...anyone with suggestions ) is just more than I can turnaround given a full time job and single mommyhood

That said, I tell people where I am as to set expectation. From what I see my full-time competitors turning around, I don't think 5-6 or even 8 weeks is outside the norm. Some of my clients are cool and say take your time, others just can't understand the queue concept. When I shot my last wedding in September I was three weddings behind...so of course hers aren't the first I was going to jump on.

I just can't work 90 hour weeks anymore...but I probably suck at customer service since I don't.

Amen, that is the same timeline I live by. My clients are very understanding, because it's spelled out to them before they sign up. I usually provide a sneak peek the day after the wedding, and will work with them if they need something quick for a thank you card!

I also find that I get.. how shall I say it, bored, when I'm editing a lot of the same event atthe same time, I tend to mix it up as much as I can for my own sanity and to keep things fresh!

FedererPhoto

I sneak a peek while downloading and backing up and such -- occasionally working a couple up for a blog post or emailing as teasers or something.

Then they sit until it's their turn in the queue ...

Contract states 4-6 weeks. Begining of the season it's 2 weeks, by the end, it's 6.

Cmau

urbanaries wrote:

Coming off of a busy season, I'm not making my normal 3-4 week turnarounds. Several weekends shooting in a row, editing four cameras worth of shots (unsynched...anyone with suggestions ) is just more than I can turnaround given a full time job and single mommyhood

That said, I tell people where I am as to set expectation. From what I see my full-time competitors turning around, I don't think 5-6 or even 8 weeks is outside the norm. Some of my clients are cool and say take your time, others just can't understand the queue concept. When I shot my last wedding in September I was three weddings behind...so of course hers aren't the first I was going to jump on.

I just can't work 90 hour weeks anymore...but I probably suck at customer service since I don't.

Sounds to me like you should raise your prices and see if you can't just make the same amount off of fewer weddings. It'll:
a) Save your sanity
b) Reduce your turnaround time
c) Dramatically improve your customer service, so you'll get more bookings and be able to raise your prices again when it gets too crazy.

urbanaries

you know it's interesting, people's thought processes.

if I am paying someone to do a very specialized, custom project, which they have total practical and creative control over, the last thing I want to do is rush them.

If I rush them and they deliver quickly, my ego is served momentarily but I will never know if I got the best product had I not rushed them.

When we're talking about something that can't really be undone -- cherished wedding memories, I don't understand this impatience.

Yes, there needs to be a reasonable timeframe. Yes, everyone is excited to see the photos. But sneak peeks/blog posts should really satiate everyone's impatience to see a glimpse of what the photographer saw and will deliver, so what's the dang hurry. you give them everything then they wait 6 months or a year to start on their album.

i'm just sayin'. our society has conditioned everyone to this more, faster ideology....

/rant

urbanaries

Cmau wrote:

Sounds to me like you should raise your prices and see if you can't just make the same amount off of fewer weddings. It'll:
a) Save your sanity
b) Reduce your turnaround time
c) Dramatically improve your customer service, so you'll get more bookings and be able to raise your prices again when it gets too crazy.

Good idea

I actually did that last year, I did 6 weddings averaging $4k this year instead of 12 at $2k, but those months where I had two weddings + a handful of e-sessions just killed me!

But then again, this summer has been weird in that I've been working OT at my other job, and both my second and I upgraded to full frame bodies so those files take a LOT longer to process!

It's really my own personal lifestyle that's not conducive to wedding photography. most people either have another job, but no kids, or they have no other job, but kids and a husband, etc. i have another job, a kid AND no husband

It's cool, I just wish it were different for me. My solution now is actively not booking anything for 2010...we'll see what happens after that!

cdonovan

urbanaries wrote:

you know it's interesting, people's thought processes.

if I am paying someone to do a very specialized, custom project, which they have total practical and creative control over, the last thing I want to do is rush them.

If I rush them and they deliver quickly, my ego is served momentarily but I will never know if I got the best product had I not rushed them.

When we're talking about something that can't really be undone -- cherished wedding memories, I don't understand this impatience.

Yes, there needs to be a reasonable timeframe. Yes, everyone is excited to see the photos. But sneak peeks/blog posts should really satiate everyone's impatience to see a glimpse of what the photographer saw and will deliver, so what's the dang hurry. you give them everything then they wait 6 months or a year to start on their album.

i'm just sayin'. our society has conditioned everyone to this more, faster ideology....

/rant

Amen!

pgaviria

urbanaries wrote:

you know it's interesting, people's thought processes.

if I am paying someone to do a very specialized, custom project, which they have total practical and creative control over, the last thing I want to do is rush them.

If I rush them and they deliver quickly, my ego is served momentarily but I will never know if I got the best product had I not rushed them.

When we're talking about something that can't really be undone -- cherished wedding memories, I don't understand this impatience.

Yes, there needs to be a reasonable timeframe. Yes, everyone is excited to see the photos. But sneak peeks/blog posts should really satiate everyone's impatience to see a glimpse of what the photographer saw and will deliver, so what's the dang hurry. you give them everything then they wait 6 months or a year to start on their album.

i'm just sayin'. our society has conditioned everyone to this more, faster ideology....

/rant

I originally asked this to figure out if maybe I am rushing my photos, which is why I am asking about how many hours of actual work it takes others to complete the project.

Also, common sense tells me that for any profession, one should get paid for the amount of work that one does. If a photographer takes 6 months to deliver and it's not getting paid for 6 months of full time work, why does this happen? if the editing process can be done in say 2 weeks of full time work, why allow it to let it extend for 6 months? Is there an advantage to incubating the photos? letting the ideas process? I can't think of another reason.

holzphoto

4-6 weeks in busy months.
2-3 in non busy months...but next year i dont think there is going to be a "non-busy" month.

cdonovan

pgaviria wrote:

I originally asked this to figure out if maybe I am rushing my photos, which is why I am asking about how many hours of actual work it takes others to complete the project.

Also, common sense tells me that for any profession, one should get paid for the amount of work that one does. If a photographer takes 6 months to deliver and it's not getting paid for 6 months of full time work, why does this happen? if the editing process can be done in say 2 weeks of full time work, why allow it to let it extend for 6 months? Is there an advantage to incubating the photos? letting the ideas process? I can't think of another reason.

If it takes someone 6 months of 8 hour days to edit one wedding, there is a problem, either way to many photos, or you need to upgrade your computer to process files faster.

For me personally, I can't sit down and edit one wedding all at once. I get bored, disinterested, same people, etc. I don't want my being bored to shine through in the photos, and if I am, it will. I owe it to the client to be as particular and picky about every detail of their finished product as they were in their planning of their day. This is the part of the wedding that is a visual, tangible reminder for the rest of their lives. To do this, personally, I have to let them settle, brew and I edit a handful at a time. In reality, it has a lot to do also with being a single mom, with a second job, living in busy household. If I'm rushed, I can guarantee that I'll go back to these photos in a few months maybe in a year and second guess my presentation.