Sounds like you already did the job. Just fulfill the agreement and give them digitals on a thumb drive and move on. Part of learning the trade is making mistakes and knowing the value of your product. If they insist on prints come up with a price for that and an album as an add-on. You do hold the copy to all images taken so you can decide to let them print themselves or you can force them to use you for printing. In the future you can create a standard rate for weddings with travel/time defined and when either is exceeded then the price goes up. All of these things and more should be documented in a contract before any wedding.

Nope. Never.

Zero. This sounds like a nightmare client.

I would just include the good photos. Editing it down to a number is probably just going to take you longer than if you did a quick cull, an easy edit, and then delivered everything.

Don’t take the job. Simple as that.

“I am sorry I will not be able to help you. I hope your wedding is wonderful.”

Not a chance. $300 isn’t enough to cover the cost of doing 200 prints and an album on it’s own, nevermind photographing the wedding too.

With that much pressure and those expectations, no contract signed, sounds like you are stepping into something you don’t want to be involved in. I can easily see a court case, them saying how you didn’t deliver and other things. I would say I’m sorry and decline.

But if it’s honestly like that, that much pressure. The price quoted is way too low. Even for a amateur, with travel and such, editing printing. I’d do a good £2000, either they pay or not and move on to another sucker they can manipulate into getting cheap stuff.

Honestly it’s not worth your time or stress with the conditions given. That’s my opinion.

Sounds like they forgot a zero in their payment.

Have you actually worked out how much you would make.😁 It’s not worth doing.

$100/hour was the bare minimum I’d charge for just a shoot, no edits, no prints, and that was 15 years ago before inflation got crazy.

Eg. 8 hour event, charge $800, shoot 800 photos, deliver 80 files. Light edits (lightroom/capture one) cost extra. Heavy edits (photoshop) cost a lot extra. Prints cost extra. Anything more than 3 revisions costs extra.

Just the cost of printing + album would cost about what this job is paying. Don’t walk, run from this one.

OP, if this is a rando you have no personal connection to, WALK AWAY. Grow a backbone and tell this guy to pound sand. DO NOT be a nice guy.

If you have some sort of link to this person as far as family or friend of a friend, let them know you’re doing 50 images, maybe less idk, and leave it at that.

20-25 prints and I would collect half the fee upfront with the remainder payable as soon as the edited prints are ready for delivery.

It sounds like you’ve already taken the pictures, eh?

In that case, if you didn’t go over these specifics beforehand, I’d give this person the best you can offer digitally (ONLY AFTER he pays!!!) and tell him prints or a photo album would cost extra. You can also show him examples of wedding photography pricing for your area and explain he is getting a huge discount, especially because you were available at the last minute.

Consider this a lesson and learn from it. Get everything in writing beforehand, even from people for whom you’re “just doing a favor.”

$300 is obscenely low for a wedding. Just as a comparison, where I live, I’ve seen people shooting passport photos for $80 + taxes (just a plain white background at their studios — no commuting and barely any editing time). In the future, it might be helpful to create yourself an itemized pricing list for any kind of photography work you’re willing to do, which you can pull out in situations like this. You should also have a “rush” fee for last-minute requests like this.

Not a chance in hell would I take this job…

$300 for like 7 hours of your time… and 200+ prints… AND short notice… Fuck. No.

First off… you would be wildly underpaid for this type of shoot on a peice per hour basis alone… $300 for 7 hours for a wedding is $42 an hour. Even with this being your first shoot ever, with it being a wedding… $100 an hour minimum for EVERY expected hour of work. A seasoned wedding photographer could easily charge $200-400 per hour.

Then when you consider how short notice it is… like 8 hours out from the event… holy shit lol. If it was a concert or small familynphoto shoot, not a big deal on a short notice if my schedule is open. But a wedding… Now ive got to get my clothes ready, get all my gear ready for any kind of request that might be made on site, try to find a second shooter or just accept that im going to have to work way harder to get everything ill need, etc…

Then considering just how short that notice is… 8 hours? Thats today… that means everything I had planned today is shot and im working to get prepared for and to this job. Easily could quote an additional $500, or even double the hourly rate, for such a short notice job… and a wedding of all things.

Also, 200+ prints? Ok… easily charging cost of materials to include all the photo paper, cost of all ink used + cost of new ink cartridges set to go into my photo printer whenever what is left over from printing those 200+ prints runs out.

Then the potential client doesnt want to allow you to use your photographs for your own marketing purposes? Ummmm… no lol. If a client wants exclusive rights to my photographs, to the point where I am not allowed to use them in my own marketing… thats an additional cost as well.

This client sounds like an entitled b-hole who poorly planned for their wedding, or is just such a b-hoke in general that they ran off their last photographer at the last minute.

You know how hard it is to find a good wedding photographer the day of? Almost impossible lol.

Given all the factors at play, this is easily like a $2,000+ job.

Tell them “No, thanks. Im already booked for today” now, and save yourself the headache that would come later. Dont do it.