Photographs, what is a reasonable price for the album?

Hi DC!

I think it's a very good idea to have your album put together by your photographer. We have been married 8 yrs and still haven't made one for ourselves!

As for cost, it really depends on what type of album you want. There are many different styles out there and theres something for every budget. There are photobooks that are usually on the cheaper end of things all the way up to leather flush mount albums. When you're interviewing photographer, just make sure you know what types of albums they have and ask to see samples.

I saw that you are having a destination wedding in Hawaii and I'm going there this July for a wedding. You'll have to check back with me afterward and I can share some photos with ya =)

DC

Congratulations on your Engagement. You have a lot of choices when it comes to Album style, cost, and production options. Custom Albums can get expensive fast, so think about what is really important to you, and what you want to see in your album. Bigger is not always better. DO you want you album to read more like a magazine or a novel?? You want to share the album with friends and family, but you don't want to bog them down with your wedding day images. Less can be more, especially when the design and layout of the imagery and Copy is nicely done. Upgrading to a higher quality paper is always an option I suggest to my clients. If you have more questions about this or other photography topics, feel free to check out my website. If I can be of any further assitance, don't hesitate to contact me.

Cheers,

SeanO

SeanOLearyWeddings.com

Albums are things that couples remove if they are on a budget. But like someone mentioned earlier most couples never put an album/book together on their own. First off they are VERY time consuming to put together-- unless you are or know a graphic artist it is a pretty tough venture.

You might just want a traditional album, something with 20-40 pages of 8x10 prints--- maybe a nice album build-- total cost about $300-$400.

All the best!

www.StatsonPhotography.com

I can only answer based on what we do, we design custom storybooks as our specialty. We offer a 20 page book for 2k. That has your choice of cover and choice of paper. It is tailored to fit your style and no book we design is like any other. We do still offer traditional matted books too, we average one or two a year who want one and those run around $ 65 per page including the cost of the cover, mat, design etc.. We also have another wedding photography company that provides a more simple looking book that has 100 pages and it is around $1,300.

Check out our sites if you wish, www.KevinWimpy.com for award winning storybooks

www.akissphotography.com for a more simple approach.

The albums that I offer cost $500 plus just for me to order. Then there is the page design/my time. So $1000 is probably the min you'll pay for a really nice one.

Hi, the albums that we use are high end and can only be ordered through professional photographers, they are leather bound, engraved and absolutely stunning. Hopefully your photographer has albums included with their packages (as we do) otherwise you may find it costing more money than you expected for someone else to produce you an album.

There's also the problem of legality and ethics, other professional photographers would be unlikely to create an album for you containing photographs that are not theirs.

There are good places with very nice albums that you can create yourself, asukabooks is one example.

Tony.

Generally you get what you pay for. Sad but true. Albums can range from $300.00 to $2500.00 or more depending on the style, quality and album company.The lower priced albums are definitely a risk. The albums that tend to be higher priced are higher quality and usually come with a lifetime guarantee..Ask your photographer what album company they use, Since I began shooting weddings the number of Album Manufacturers have risen from about 10 in the NY area to hundreds available to the photographer. You would prefer I think , a company that has proven itself over the years.

Good Luck

Alfonse Pagano

http://www.alfonsepaganophotography.com

http://www.apagano.com/wordpress

There are various factors to consider when choosing your photographer and the album process. As posted there are various styles and layouts of albums. The most popular albums right now seem to be what are referred to as "flush mount" where the prints are part of the page and are trimmed flush to the edge of the page.

Traditional albums with slip in photos are not very popular any more. Things to consider when hiring a photographer and choosing an album are. The color management of the photos, what do the prints look like in the albums? Look for proper colors and skin tones. Also the layout of the album. We custom design our albums which can take 30-40 hours as we do not use templates. Each album should tell a story and not look like it was just thrown together.

An average costs for a nice album should run between $1000-$2500 depending on the style, amount of images and or pages and the cover material and quality of the album.

nylaphoto.com

If your photographer gives you your photos on a CD, you can use a service like Shutterfly to make your own album. My friend did this for her wedding and her album is beautiful. Also, you don't need any graphic design experience either--you can drag and drop pictures into pre-made templates. Plus, you'll save a ton of money. Hope this helps!

I saw that you're looking at the different prices of wedding albums. Drew Brashler Photography is proud to offer custom designed wedding albums at lower prices than other photographers. Full day wedding coverage, an engagement session and a flush mount album packages starting at $1399.00. Coffee Table Album packages start at $849. Contact us for more information

I would say pretty much the same as the other photographers... it depends on how important it is to you and what do you want to spend... I myself give clients the option to purchase their album beforehand in a package or after wards ala carte. More often than not if they don't order it in a package I never see them again to get an album later and I just know their photos are sitting on a disk somewhere not getting seen! What's the point of spending all that money on photos that are in a drawer! So I really do suggest getting an album done. In the case of the flush mount albums, they can take a lot of time to design so the photographer probably charges not only to what it costs them in product but also in time to create them. There are some cheaper options out there if you like the flush mount albums.. they might not be guaranteed like the Leathercraftsmen style but are just as nice! Shop around! See what's out there!

I do wedding albums part of my package I charge $500 dollars for 2 albums for 3 Its another 100.

Leather bound album( Renaissance style)

www.sarahchristinephotography.com

Hi DC - Congrats! My husband and I actually designed our wedding album through Blurb.com and it turned out AMAZING! It took us about 3 hours to put together and we saved hundreds of dollars doing it this way. The beauty of going this direction is that you can easily order more copies down the road too.

Bonjour DC,

Felicitations Madame!

A good album can indeed cost you. My advice to you is to book your photographer and ask what is their take if you want to get the album six months to a year later. Remember the album is the last piece of art that you will hold on to at the end of the day. Therefore, it must represent and reveal who you are as a person. The album is like your makeup, or your handshake when you meet someone. It needs to reflect who are, DO NOT RUSH. If money is an issue then do it later. ToussaintPhotography.com gives you between $200-500 credits depending upon your package. We give you up to 12 months to do it. But indeed, a decent album can cost you from $550 to even $3,000. The magic is how it put together. Book your free engagement shoot with us today!

Cheers,

www.toussaintphotography.com

"Awareness has come to wedding photography"

WOW! After reading every ones comments I have to say that I am very glad that I am making my own album. I am stunned at how much they cost. I guess if the album is the only thing you want then go for it. I personally just want the digital negatives so that I can print my own for a scrapbook and make a photobook on artscow.com (fantastic and cheap photo website)

Good luck

Hi, I think the best option is to do an album through the Picaboo program. It costs about 1/8 to a 1/4 of what you would spend on a photographer's album and you have complete creative control. You dont have to print any pictures yourself, you simply download them to the free software that you download on your computer, organize the pictures how you want, add text, colors, backgrounds, whatever you like, and then the company makes the book for you and sends it within two weeks. I have used this program numerous times for different occassions for gifts and will be using it to make my wedding album when I get married next year. The website is www.picaboo.com. Hope this helps!

You've got to be kidding me.... I guess there are people out there who think $500 - 2K is reasonable for an album!? Since I am a scrapbooker and graphic designer I know that those prices are grossly inflated and a total rip-off. It would cost me less than $150 to make an album for someone digitally designed and professionally bound. To hand-make a scrapbook album $100 - $200. There are lots of pre-made scrapbook albums you can find on Etsy.com or Ebay - you just crop and place your photos. Making an album yourself can be a bonding experience for the family or couple if they do it together, and it can be done slowly over many years - an experience that continues to enhance your life. Save the money and donate to a homeless shelter for heaven sakes!

See my above engagement book. I took over 800 pictures with my fiance during our 1 1/2 hour engagement photo shoot and I knew like you there was no way I was going to print all these pictures and put them in an album.

Talk about saving money. We worked a deal with our photographer for no book but access to all of our digital photos via a disc. Price varies but it's worth it if you can.

From there, I downloaded the software for Blurb (http://www.blurb.com) and followed the easy directions, uploaded all of my 800 pictures, choose template pages and insert the pictures and text in fun and creative ways. You are on your way to being a professional publisher.

You can even allow friends and family members to purchase copies.

Because of the number of photos, this activity took me about 1 week to complete. Depends on your time. To add icing to the cake, I've recreated my engagement book into a custom made wedding guest book with photos and spaces for guests to sign.

Hi. I'm not sure where you are located but if you are in the Maryland/DC area, I recommend Conte Photography: http://www.contephoto.com/index.php?pID=9 They offer several wedding packages which include albums, for under $2000. In addition, you get up to 10 hours of coverage with each package. Good luck!