How much does a Dallas event photographer cost?
Ok, so your event is coming up, and everyone has decided that a photographer needs to be there to capture all of the happenings. Thus the search for Dallas event photographers begins. There are several things to think about, like the quality of work, the style of photography you are looking for, and the caliber of clientele the photographer is used to working with. And of course, then there is the cost. How much is that Dallas event photographer going to cost?
As you begin looking for quotes, here are 5 factors that will impact what you will pay:
Experience
A significant factor that plays in to the cost of your Dallas event photographer is their experience. As in any industry, you are going to pay more for someone that has been capturing events for 10+ years than someone who just started events or doesn’t photograph events full time.
You will always pay more for experience, but it also means that you get a better product with fewer headaches along the way.
The number of hours
Most event photographers bill hourly for their services. Naturally, the more hours of coverage you need, the higher the cost is going to be. Also, most photographers charge for a minimum amount of time, which is usually set at a two or three hour minimum.
If you happen to be doing a multi-day conference or convention, you may have a lot of hours of coverage you will need. Depending on the extent, a ton of hours may allow you to look a discount based on volume, which could be helpful for your budget.
Personnel
How much coverage are you looking for? Do you have events that are running concurrently? If so, you will need to look at having multiple photographers out to cover everything that is going on. This is usually critical if the events are completely separate geographically, ie not in the same hotel or event space, or if both are awards dinners where a single photographer cannot move back and forth between rooms.
In other instances, the size of the event may require multiple corporate event photographers to cover everything. There may be one photographer covering all of the stage happenings while another moves through the crowd, and still another is stationed at the step and repeat wall to create photos for guests. Consider how many you need for your particular event.
Delivery methods
How fast do you need your images? Are the images needed next day, or do you even need them to be uploaded throughout the event. There may be additional charges to turn around images with next day speed, especially if there are USB Flash Drives or hard drives needing to be shipped out. Online delivery will probably be best in this case but it all depends on your specific needs.
Are you wanting to offer your guests free downloads of the photos? You may encounter additional charges per download for this service, as it will require the photographer to produce access cards, enable a site for high volume downloads and turn the images around very quickly.
When is your event happening?
As they say, timing is everything. The best rates for photography are going to be during the week, and particularly in the morning or afternoon. Naturally those are times of lowest demand for event photographers. Evenings are always in higher demand, with peak demand being for Friday and Saturday evenings. If that is when your gala is going down, expect to pay a higher per hour cost.
The best way to figure out the exact cost, once you have thought about all of the specific needs and requirements for your particular event, is to speak directly with a photographer.
It may range in cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand depending on your needs, and by contacting a photographer and discussing these factors they can get a feel for your exact needs and then fire a quote back over right away!