Wedding Workflow

A Rant
(by KC)

"I love you all more than you would ever know...

I'm going to say this to everyone. NO MORE EXCUSES... Take control of your processes. AUTOMATE. I have a full time job with a prominent government agency and I work my brown behind off. Then I have a full time photography business (30 plus weddings (me), Videography (subs), other photography events (subs) and several engagement and portrait sessions. Full time wife and family.

How do I do it??? Automate.
I'm not destroying them with my wedding photography... My lowest package is $2100 which is just 3 hours and 125 prints... My average wedding photography package Photography only is $3483.53. My average package is 6 hours and includes 250 4x6 prints, a 10x10 flush mounted wedding album which is upsold almost every time and all 4x6 proof sized files on a CD (density and color corrected). My clients pick the images for their albums and I backfill with storyboard or my favs. Why?? Let them set 3 hours picking images.. it makes them easier to upsell albums with images THEY want. They pick their prints as well.

After I shoot my weddings, I edit them by rotating, renaming, deleting and uploading to my host site. My online wedding reprint sales only averaged $286 last year. These sales pay for my equipment and are HUGE for advertising. :-)

Hodgy workflows all of his images. I don't. I only workflow website images, slideshow images, images that are on my wall, ordered images by my customers, web images and album images. That's it... that's all I'm going to workflow. Hodgy's setup is different because at last I checked -- he doesn't push albums. I don't know if this has changed and it's none of my business. He is incredibly fast with his workflow but his way is his way. I just refuse to workflow all images.

If it's killing you guys doing all the workflow... why do you do it??? I shot film and NONE of my images were workflowed, vignetted, sharpened or softar'd (unless I used a soft focus filter). If your standard is to workflow.. Outsource it...

Digital is great and images can be perfect BUT I don't go into educating my B&Gs that every image is retouched. The bottom line for my clients is MY service and MY albums. This is why my clients come back to me for 8x10s and above (not included in the online sales). These are retouched. Remember only ordered images. They refer me all the time and I love them for it.

Now.. I'm not bashing anyone's style or the way they do business.. Styles make fights - we know that. But now that I have control of my process, life is much easier. I shoot more than anyone I know. I average between 1200-1600 images for a 6 hour wedding. I delete around 50-70 for shots that don't do anything for me, have bad exposures, blinks etc.... I don't shotgun shots either.

I feel what I do workflow for the album gives the impact. In my albums, I retouch/stylized about 15-20% of the images. It's impact. Workflow the image that destroys them. Keep in mind that every image isn't going to win an award.

I work hard during the wedding and I work hard during the 2 hours that I'm working the album. The rest, my PC is doing it's thing with batching actions and using droplets. A Droplet for Black and white, a Droplet for 4x6 color/density corrections, droplet for color toned images. Droplets for processing my album pages after I design them.

That's it. That's what this forum is for... You must utilize what James and Rob have been laying down. I didn't know this before and I don't do it their way. I've modified what I've learned from the knowledge they opened my eyes to. You don't have to copy everything everyone else is doing. Make it YOUR way. If you don't like the way You are doing things -- YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHANGE IT. 40-60 hours workflowing??? That's sick. That's like my WHOLE year. AND YES.. My products are lovely.

I get sad when I hear folks getting bogged down with the creative processes that should be so easy. Folks.. I'm not chasing a bride in a white dress to profit only $200 when all is said and done. That's insane. $1000 -1200 for a wedding is good if you are making a good profit. However, if it's not enough... change your packages for profit. It's NOT a crime to make money when you are in business. Market to a client that can afford you. Say no or position your $1200 for profit. "



	A Rant (by KC) "I love you all more than you would ever know... I'm going to say this to everyone. NO MORE EXCUSES... Take control of your processes. AUTOMATE. I have a full time job with a prominent government agency and I work my brown behind off. Then I have a full time photography business (30 plus weddings (me), Videography (subs), other photography events (subs) and several engagement and portrait sessions. Full time wife and family. How do I do it??? Automate. I'm not destroying them with my wedding photography... My lowest package is $2100 which is just 3 hours and 125 prints... My average wedding photography package Photography only is $3483.53. My average package is 6 hours and includes 250 4x6 prints, a 10x10 flush mounted wedding album which is upsold almost every time and all 4x6 proof sized files on a CD (density and color corrected). My clients pick the images for their albums and I backfill with storyboard or my favs. Why?? Let them set 3 hours picking images.. it makes them easier to upsell albums with images THEY want. They pick their prints as well. After I shoot my weddings, I edit them by rotating, renaming, deleting and uploading to my host site. My online wedding reprint sales only averaged $286 last year. These sales pay for my equipment and are HUGE for advertising. :-) Hodgy workflows all of his images. I don't. I only workflow website images, slideshow images, images that are on my wall, ordered images by my customers, web images and album images. That's it... that's all I'm going to workflow. Hodgy's setup is different because at last I checked -- he doesn't push albums. I don't know if this has changed and it's none of my business. He is incredibly fast with his workflow but his way is his way. I just refuse to workflow all images. If it's killing you guys doing all the workflow... why do you do it??? I shot film and NONE of my images were workflowed, vignetted, sharpened or softar'd (unless I used a soft focus filter). If your standard is to workflow.. Outsource it... Digital is great and images can be perfect BUT I don't go into educating my B&Gs that every image is retouched. The bottom line for my clients is MY service and MY albums. This is why my clients come back to me for 8x10s and above (not included in the online sales). These are retouched. Remember only ordered images. They refer me all the time and I love them for it. Now.. I'm not bashing anyone's style or the way they do business.. Styles make fights - we know that. But now that I have control of my process, life is much easier. I shoot more than anyone I know. I average between 1200-1600 images for a 6 hour wedding. I delete around 50-70 for shots that don't do anything for me, have bad exposures, blinks etc.... I don't shotgun shots either. I feel what I do workflow for the album gives the impact. In my albums, I retouch/stylized about 15-20% of the images. It's impact. Workflow the image that destroys them. Keep in mind that every image isn't going to win an award. I work hard during the wedding and I work hard during the 2 hours that I'm working the album. The rest, my PC is doing it's thing with batching actions and using droplets. A Droplet for Black and white, a Droplet for 4x6 color/density corrections, droplet for color toned images. Droplets for processing my album pages after I design them. That's it. That's what this forum is for... You must utilize what James and Rob have been laying down. I didn't know this before and I don't do it their way. I've modified what I've learned from the knowledge they opened my eyes to. You don't have to copy everything everyone else is doing. Make it YOUR way. If you don't like the way You are doing things -- YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHANGE IT. 40-60 hours workflowing??? That's sick. That's like my WHOLE year. AND YES.. My products are lovely. I get sad when I hear folks getting bogged down with the creative processes that should be so easy. Folks.. I'm not chasing a bride in a white dress to profit only $200 when all is said and done. That's insane. $1000 -1200 for a wedding is good if you are making a good profit. However, if it's not enough... change your packages for profit. It's NOT a crime to make money when you are in business. Market to a client that can afford you. Say no or position your $1200 for profit. "


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