Why Are Boudoir Photos So Expensive?
I've been getting a lot of emails lately from women who are confused about how boudoir photographs could possibly cost so much. With digital cameras, why isn't it just like snapping your own photos in the comfort of your home? Why is it necessary to hire a professional photographer when you can do this all yourself?
Well, I have an answer for them... but first let's look at why I don't think going a cheaper route will cut it.
Take Selfies
Let's start with selfies. Let's say you have a digital camera and want some sexy pictures for your partner. So what do you do? You find the most flattering lighting possible, get as many mirrors involved as you can, and make sure you're wearing the best underwear you have. But what about hair, makeup, lighting... these are all details that can change your whole appearance in a photo. Models spend hours getting made up before a shoot because they know how important that is. They also put on different pieces of clothing and change their poses to achieve the right look - but with only one potential model, it's hard to do any of this effectively!
Then there's the planning involved. If you're going to take sexy photos for someone else (as opposed to just snaps for yourself), then those pictures are going to mean something more than just an ego boost - otherwise, why bother? So if you're buying photos so you can share them with your partner, why aren't you putting in the effort to ensure your partner gets exactly what he or she wants?
So let's say you've taken a bunch of selfies and gotten some great shots. Now all you need to do is find a professional photographer nearby who can print those photos for you. I'll give that plan two thumbs up! Except... phone cameras don't actually take pictures all that well, so now you're likely going to come out looking pixilated and blurry. You could get your pictures printed at Walgreens or Costco, but then again... these are mass-produced prints by total strangers, which probably aren't going to look very high quality in the end anyways. Let's hope it doesn't rain on your big day!
Let's look at another option.
Grab your digital camera, and get ready to head over to the nearest department store where you can pick up a few 'fashionable' boudoir outfits for just $20 bucks each.
You've got your outfit now, so let's book a session with that local professional photographer we were talking about earlier... but for some reason it takes weeks to hear back from him or her - and when they finally do call you back, something has come up and their schedule is full until next week! Unacceptable!
So now what? Since time is running out, I guess I'll just have to take my chances with craigslist listings. Who cares if there are no guarantees on how good these photos will look? I talked to a few people who have done this before with great success, so what's the worst that can happen?
If you do some quick research on craigslist listings, you'll find out that most of them want you to pay for the whole session up front - and they offer no guarantee on how good your prints will turn out! So let's say you're lucky enough to find a decent listing that sounds really promising. You spend $200 for your full photo shoot, but when they arrive there's a problem... there are only about 10 photos from your session in the envelope! And even worse... none of them are very flattering! In fact, one is downright heinous - it looks like an 8 x 10 mugshot for a wanted poster. Are you really going to send that photo out to your partner? I didn't think so.
Where's all that money you spent on this session going to now? To pay for the professional retouching that will magically make your horrible photos look good again - and even then the final prints are probably still going be mediocre at best! If anything, this extra process is likely going to make your photos worse than they were before because it costs quite a bit of money just to get these awful pictures fixed up! And what about ordering sets of images (let's say 10), because we all know there will never be time in our busy lives to re-shoot when more pictures are needed later? News flash: there's no such thing as a free lunch, so don't count on getting more free photos in the future for this price.
The bottom line: taking your own pictures at home means you'll end up with some okay shots that can be fixed up by professionals - but it's still not going to look awesome because of all the extra work that goes into making those amateurish images look nice enough for you to share with your partner! At the very best, they'll only ever look pretty good... and it probably won't cost much (if anything) less than what you'd pay for professional quality prints right off the bat.
I think I've made my point about why boudoir photography is so pricey. As we said before, don't expect to spend any less than $200 - and this is just the tip of the iceberg! This industry has a lot of expenses, so while none of us would want to pay for something at an absolute premium price (if we could help it), there are many benefits that come along with hiring a professional boudoir photographer. If you have any doubts about my figures - I encourage you to do your own research on studio rental, equipment costs, digital editing software, printing fees... all before even talking about salaries.
