It’s an exciting time for DIY-inspired wedding couples with the growing number of options available to them regarding photography. With the proliferation of cloud-based photo editing sites, pro print labs available to consumers, online album and print companies, and smartphone imaging apps, wedding couples have become more empowered than ever.

Newly launched Wedding Snap allows couples to collect all of their guests’ smartphone pictures of their big day effortlessly and immediately to an online gallery. PicMonkey is a ridiculously simple-to-use yet powerful online cloud-based photo editing site that allows couples to creatively edit, retouch, and artistically render their images for free.

Formerly “professional-only” print labs have opened their doors to consumers as well. Mpix delivers high-quality enlargements and other print products at an affordable price. Canvaspop makes it easy and affordable to turn a favorite photo into a beautiful canvas print online. And Blurb allows consumers with little or no wedding album design experience to make beautiful photo books at competitive prices.

What does this mean for photographers, and how can wedding couples leverage these options?

Many photographers are feeling the pinch, and, in many cases, are being pressured to adapt to a changing, consumer-driven market where increasingly more couples are calling the shots (pardon the pun). As more and more couples become DIY-empowered and take advantage of the plethora of resources available to them, photographers are realizing they need to begin embracing, at least as an option, some kind of collaborative arrangement with their clients.

IDPN, The “I Do” Photographer Network, is a first-of-a-kind photographer network site that hosts exclusively affordable wedding photographers, many of which are friendly to the notion of shared images rights and collaboration with their clients. Here’s an excerpt from the site:

“If you (or a friend, sister-in-law, etc.) edit your own photos and order your own prints/albums, you’ll save money with IDPN select photographers.”

To elaborate, by allowing certain couples to handle the post-shoot editing tasks, photographers save a lot of time and because of this have greater pricing flexibility. This opens the door to more clients and appeals to a growing, ever more empowered demographic of creative, DIY-inspired couples.

It’s no longer a surprise that photographers spend most of their day editing images, building wedding albums, returning emails, setting up online galleries, ordering prints, etc. And, the rates photographers charge for their services need to reflect all of their work, not just shooting the images. IDPN’s platform allows certain photographers to meet DIY, budget-savvy couples half way. The collaborative ideology provides couples the freedom to artistically render, share, and print the digital files as they choose, affording IDPN photographers more pricing flexibility as a result of the time they save in post-production, a real win-win. The photographer can then either structure his or her business to shoot more weddings, or choose to limit the hours he or she spends on the post-production in favor of other activities (not all photographers desire to work full-time, some are raising children, have other jobs or photographic interests, marketing tasks, etc.). Collaboration can address the all too familiar cycle of photographers doing more work for less money.

The IDPN platform is not without controversy, however. Some photographers feel a collaborative relationship where the couples edit their own photos accelerates the perceived “diminishing value” of photographers at large. Here’s the statement from the FAQ section of the IDPN website that addresses this concern:

“We believe we are adapting to a changing industry, not diminishing it. By reaching out to wedding couples who have an eager interest in the editing process, photographers can capitalize by doing less work in post production. This “trade-off” leaves photographers in the position to be more price-competitive, because of the added time savings. This collaborative ideology also opens the door to a rapidly growing demographic of creatively empowered DIY-ers. That being said, most IDPN photographers still also serve “full-service” weddings. We realize that our platform is not for everyone and recognize that full service wedding photography will always exist as a larger part of the market.” (Read more on brand protection)

Whether one is for or against the concept behind the IDPN platform, the fact remains that wedding couples are now more technically empowered, have more options available with regard to editing and printing, and are more eager than ever to have a role in the process. And, if the do-it-yourself component isn’t for you, all of IDPN’s photographers offer full-service packages at prices considered affordable in the industry, and their images speak for themselves.

Couples that want high-end boutique, full-service studios will always find plenty of photographers doing business in that fashion, but now, DIY-inspired couples have another option to consider with the IDPN platform. Photographers will need to adapt and IDPN may provide a great solution for both parties. For more information visit www.idophotonet.com.

 

This article was written by IDPN for DIY Bride.  IDPN is one of our advertising partners; however, this post is not a paid advertisement.  

Related content: Introducing “I Do” Photographer Network for DIY Wedding Photography Resources

 

 d