I’m a professional photographer AMA

amother

Denim

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:00 pm

Are you in the tristate area? Can you explain why prices are so insane with Frum photographers? Yet non Jewish ones do not come anywhere close for beautiful work? (Ella and Tom for example)

amother

Snow

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:02 pm

amother [ Denim ] wrote:

Are you in the tristate area? Can you explain why prices are so insane with Frum photographers? Yet non Jewish ones do not come anywhere close for beautiful work? (Ella and Tom for example)

I'll answer this one. I'm in a group with thousands of photographers and jewish photographers are dirt cheap compared to actual going rates. Some people like ella charge pennies but that is not the norm in the non jewish world. Certainly not if you are an actual professional.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:06 pm

amother [ Denim ] wrote:

Are you in the tristate area? Can you explain why prices are so insane with Frum photographers? Yet non Jewish ones do not come anywhere close for beautiful work? (Ella and Tom for example)

Many none Jewish photographers are a lot more expensive than frum photographers, and many many frum photographers are cheaper.
According to this, Ela and Tom pay themselves a wage of about $3 an hour, each.

Smile1234

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:09 pm

There are so many frum photographers. Is there enough business out there for all of them?
How did u decide what type of photography to focus on? What type do u do?

Last edited by Smile1234 on Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Denim

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:09 pm

I'm not talking about the sitting fee or photoshoot rate, that I understand. But about not including any prints in the package.
I am gladly willing to pay $500 for a beautiful 45 minute shoot, but if I want prints it's minimum $2000.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:11 pm

Smile1234 wrote:

There are so many frum photographers. Is there enough business out there for all of them?
How did u decide what type of photography to focus on? What type do u do?

Yes, there is.

I do family photography because it’s what I enjoy.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:13 pm

amother [ Denim ] wrote:

My pricing is closer to your first example than your second, and I do include some prints in the sitting fee.
I do understand photographers who charge $2000. It’s just about paying all of the expenses plus a decent wage for yourself. You do not have to hire them if that is too much for you.

fiji

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:15 pm

Why does a good photographer need to spend so much time editing? Shouldn't they be able to get it right from the beginning? (When us laymen take pics on iphones they usually come out good with no editing needed)

amother

Denim

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:18 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Sorry if you got triggered that I asked about pricing. Title says AMA.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:18 pm

fiji wrote:

Why do diamonds need polishing? When I buy silver foil in the store it comes shiny.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:19 pm

amother [ Denim ] wrote:

Sorry if you got triggered that I asked about pricing. Title says AMA.

I apologize if it came across harsh, I had a gentle tone in my head when I wrote it. I forgot tones don’t show in written text.

cnc

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:25 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Why do diamonds need polishing? When I buy silver foil in the store it comes shiny.

Lol. When people ask questions on an AMA thread, they’re usually asking genuine questions out of curiosity and ignorance. If all your replies will be snarky, then what’s the point of this thread.

amother

Snow

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:29 pm

fiji wrote:

It doesn't "need" editing any more than your iphone pictures do. But by editing them we make them into masterpieces and not just a random snapshot anyone can take. There is also something called raw, that means the camera does nothing to it, unlike jpegs that the camera adds some color, sharpness, brightness etc.. so I personally shoot in raw, if I handed that to you it would look drab and horrible. I shoot raw so that I can choose exactly how my pictures turn out and not allow the camera to assign it random properties. Also you can do more with raw than you can with jpeg. I also do hand edits on each picture, even though you can batch edit or apply actions, but I like making sure each and every picture is perfect.

amother

Leaf

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:29 pm

cnc wrote:

Lol. When people ask questions on an AMA thread, they’re usually asking genuine questions out of curiosity and ignorance. If all your replies will be snarky, then what’s the point of this thread.

She's not being sparky.

She is answering in a direct manner and her responses are spot on.

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:31 pm

amother [ Leaf ] wrote:

She's not being sparky.

She is answering in a direct manner and her responses are spot on.

Thank you! I am not trying to be snarky at all!

amother

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:32 pm

#BestBubby wrote:

I used to get "professional" pictures from department stores like K-Mart and JC Penny,
when they had a sale.

Cool! Me too, before I went into this myself. I have some really good pictures of my kids from those times.

cnc

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 8:36 pm

amother [ Leaf ] wrote:

She's not being sparky.

She is answering in a direct manner and her responses are spot on.

Her answer made no sense- diamonds look like glass from the 25 cent machine when they’re raw - and I fail to see the connection between diamonds and aluminum paper so I guess I just assumed that was a snarky response.

Another poster answered the question perfectly and explained it clearly.

amother

Tiffanyblue

Thu, Oct 07 2021, 9:33 pm

amother [ Denim ] wrote:

Sorry if you got triggered that I asked about pricing. Title says AMA.

She was answering your question. You truly don't have to hire someone above your budget. I don't think she said anything wrong.