# What should I be charging for my work/what do you charge?



## elizpage (Jun 18, 2014)

This is what I have charged previous clients. Please note my business is only 2 months old. I received positive reviews from all 3 of them. I just shot the Family portrait session today, so I haven't had a chance to receive a review for that one.

$75: Headshot Portrait Session + Edits and Retouch 
I drove to her, 20mi, 1 hour

$120: Event photography, 3 hours, I drove 20mi to her

$110: Event Photography.. this one turned out to be 4 hours and it was supposed to be 2. But I didn't charge extra. I drove 20mi to him.

$75 Portrait Family Photography-- 1.5 hours, I drove 20mi to her

For this upcoming wedding, I am charging the client $200, only because I've only done one wedding in the past.. and she knows this. 

Am I undercharging people or overcharging them. My portfolio can be viewed at elizabethpagewalker. What is my work worth? 

Almost all of the photos that I take turn out similar to the work on my portfolio, as well. I think that is worth mentioning. I have also been taking photos of friends as favors since 2009 to practice and I have a DSLR for about that long.

Thank you everyone!


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## 480sparky (Jun 18, 2014)

What I charge is not relevant to what you should be charging.  This type of business model merely leads to the craft being turned into a commodity.

My expenses are not equal to yours, so the numbers I use to come up with my prices won't work for you.

You need to structure your pricing based on your expenses and what you want to make.


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## Light Guru (Jun 18, 2014)

To figure out what to charge you need to know what your cost of doing business is. 
https://nppa.org/page/3275

Also while mileage can be faltered into cost you should also factor in the travel time.  Driving 20 miles to get someplace may take 15 min or it may take an hour. You also have to calculate travel time both directions.


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## Trever1t (Jun 18, 2014)

480sparky said:


> What I charge is not relevant to what you should be charging.




Exactly what I was going to say.


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## elizpage (Jun 18, 2014)

480sparky said:


> What I charge is not relevant to what you should be charging.  This type of business model merely leads to the craft being turned into a commodity.
> 
> My expenses are not equal to yours, so the numbers I use to come up with my prices won't work for you.
> 
> You need to structure your pricing based on your expenses and what you want to make.



Makes sense. I was simply inquiring on what an average photographer charges vs. a beginner and so on.


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## Monday (Jun 18, 2014)

elizpage said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> > What I charge is not relevant to what you should be charging.  This type of business model merely leads to the craft being turned into a commodity.
> ...


this usually ranges based on factors above. Another major factor is location. It may be more worth your time finding photographers in your area that match your portfolio in skill set and see what they are asking.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


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## CAP (Jun 18, 2014)

Well these are my current rates. 

Events Private and Public.
$150.00Hr  Most events if you buy more than 4 hours i include editing for all photos.

Weddings 
$950.00 A day for weddings and that's just for my time. A day means 8 Hours. 

Weddings Editing 
$25.00Hr 

Multi-Person Portraits 
$75.00Hr

Single-Person Portraits
$50.00Hr

Portraits Include editing and 2 8x10 or what ever size you want under 8x10.  

I have several very large canon printers so i make giant prints too.

Wildlife   "this one is per case basis as most times i will be out for 2-4 days in the middle of no where to get my shots."
Most recent example
Was a Black Necked Slit, babies nesting and feeding for a bird and bloom bid job i won at $3700.00 for total job.
the birds nest zone was in restricted area of the park so i had to pull some strings get a pass to go there was not easy.

But rate vary's 
$250.00min-$12,000.00

Reason i say 12k was i did a job where we had to shoot a rare fish that was nesting and was around 292.feet  down so it was difficult shoot took me and my partner 45min just to descend and another 45min to ascend.   We got some great shots though.

P.S I am Certified Master Diver so on that dive we ran Triples with re-breathers on nitrox.  no oxygen. and we had about 30 min of time at the bottom.


Commercial Photography
Shots for bill boards or company flyers that kind of stuff. 
$225.00hr

But most of my work is done on a per case basis and my rates are negotiable and most are done per job not per hour.


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## CAP (Jun 18, 2014)

Oh and the fish shoot took us 7 trips to get the shot i needed.


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## e.rose (Jun 18, 2014)

elizpage said:


> This is what I have charged previous clients. Please note my business is only 2 months old. I received positive reviews from all 3 of them. I just shot the Family portrait session today, so I haven't had a chance to receive a review for that one.
> 
> $75: Headshot Portrait Session + Edits and Retouch
> I drove to her, 20mi, 1 hour
> ...



I'm gonna give you the answer you're actually looking for, without reading what everyone else is saying, because I can tell you, without even looking, that they're all saying, "You have to charge whatever you need to cover your expenses and make profit and yadda, yadda, yadda."

First of all... THEY'RE NOT WRONG.

They're right.

BUT... that being said:



> Am I undercharging people or overcharging them. What is my work worth?



I can't tell you what your work is worth. But you are severely undercharging.

My first wedding was $500. Not 2. And it was super local. 

Cut that sh*t out.

And how many images are you giving to people, fully retouched for $75 dollars?

You can't even buy 2 prints from me for $75, let alone a retouched digital file. 

If you're traveling more than 30mi from home, you should be charging travel.

If your contract states that you are to be at a wedding for 2 hours (you had a contract, right? RIGHT?), then you either leave after hour 2, or you inform them that if they want you to stay, it will be X amount of dollars per hour you are there, and let them decide if they want to pay you or send you home.

Stop shooting yourself in the foot. :greenpbl:



> What do you charge?



This is the part where we reiterate that what I charge may be different from what you should charge, may be different from what another person charges.

This is 100% dependent on your business expense needs, your living wage needs, the type of services you're providing, etc.

But that being said, just to give you an idea:

I charge $250 a session.

For the session *only*.

For $250, they get a pre-shoot consultation -- I buy them coffee and a snack, wherever we are meeting. Then I show up the day of the shoot, and I work for about 2 hours. Then I go home and edit the images, and meet them at a later date to show them their images, in person, for the first time. -- My senior clients get hair and makeup included. I really should be charging more for offering hair and makeup, but that is a hit I willingly take to increase the value of the session itself and hopefully see higher purchasing on the backend as a result.

Notice how I included NO images in that. None. Zip. Nothing.

My prints are $45 for an 8x12 and under.

My albums start at $670 and go up to $1390.

Wall portraits start at $430 and go up to $1660.

They can *only* get digital high res images if they buy one of the top 3 highest priced albums. That's it. They cannot get the disk by itself. -- Actually. They can. But it'll cost them the same amount as a high quality album, so they might as well buy the album and get the disk included (And I do that, because I believe in tangible products -- I WANT them to have an album.)

And if they get a disk, they ONLY get the images that they purchased, that are either in the album, in print form, or a wall portrait. They don't get "all" the photos, if they don't have them in some sort of tangible form as well.

--

Now, I CAME to those numbers, again, after HOURS of toiling over spreadsheets, bank accounts, bills, calculators and wine to help ease the stress.

Those were NOT random numbers I just reached out of the air and slapped into an InDesign document.

You need to figure out what you're worth as well.

A good place to start, and a resource that I referenced often is:

Free Photographer's Pricing Guide - How to Price Photography

There are a couple other resources that I used, but that was my basis for everything. Everything else I used was to help me tweak numbers I got to by using the guide I linked you to. :sillysmi:


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## e.rose (Jun 18, 2014)

Ps. All that was for portrait sessions.

I do headshot sessions which are structured differently.

Those are $250 a session -- Hair and makeup NOT included.

For headshot sessions they usually only need a few files, so they can get those high resolution files for $160 a piece.


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## greybeard (Jun 19, 2014)

It really depends on your market.


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## Braineack (Jun 19, 2014)

greybeard said:


> It really depends on your market.



and if you actually want to value your time/skill and make a buck.


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## CAP (Jun 19, 2014)

Mmmm $45 for a 8x12 wow i need to charge that for prints.  I can print a 24x36 on my canon ipf6450 for about $30 for supply's "aka Ink".  and $20 for my time for one print.


But that's because i have invested quite a bit in large scale printers and i dont need to pay someone to print my photos i also save a ton.

PS I printed a 60x144in full color photo for $1450 for a friend that was to be placed on a canvas and was the largist single print i ever did and that price was ink only i had to refill all 12 tanks of ink after wards.  The image was shot on a hasselblad 200MP and the pricture was printed right from the editing program at full size.


My advice if you can purchase in house printing of your work you make more and save more.


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## KmH (Jun 19, 2014)

Based on USA professional photographer association surveys:

Home based retail photographers average income at about 22% of revenue.
Studio based retail photographers average income at about 17% of revenue. Studio based photographers have higher business costs but can shoot more and generally make more income per year than home based photographers.
(The above %'s are for well run businesses that have the needed accounting  and financial management record keeping systems in place.)

Some basic math that demonstrates how much revenue a retail photography business requires relative to income.:
For this example we will use the national average retail photographer gross yearly income of $32,000 a year.

Home based - $32,000 / 22% = $145,455 of total revenue per year needed to generate income of $32,000 a year.
Studio based - $32,000 / 17% = $188,235 of total revenue per year needed to generate income of $32,000 a year.

For part time shooters looking to make $1000 a month ($12,000 a year) from their photography:

Home based - $12,000 / 22% = $54,545 in total yearly revenue, or $4,545 per month ($1,057 per week @ 4.3 weeks per month)
Home based ($500 a month) - $6,000 / 22% = $27,273 in total yearly revenue, or $2,273 per month ($528.60 per week @ 4.3 weeks per month)

At your $75 per portrait session to earn income of $500 a month (@22%) you need to shoot ($528.60 / $75 =) 7 portrait sessions every week.

If you're business financial management skills need improvement and you only earn income at, say 15% of revenue:
$500 a month in income / 15% = 3,333 a month in required revenue, or 10.3 portrait sessions per week..


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## e.rose (Jun 19, 2014)

CAP said:


> Mmmm $45 for a 8x12 wow i need to charge that for prints.  I can print a 24x36 on my canon ipf6450 for about $30 for supply's "aka Ink".  and $20 for my time for one print.
> 
> 
> But that's because i have invested quite a bit in large scale printers and i dont need to pay someone to print my photos i also save a ton.
> ...



An 8x12 costs me $2.50 or something like that.

And a 4x6 costs me something like $0.60.

I don't charge $45 because it's expensive to print... I charge $45 because that is what my *work* is valued at.

I charge the same for a single 4x6 as I do a single 8x12, because it took the same amount of work to retouch that 4x6 as it does that 8x12.

I'm not charging them for the paper and the ink. I'm charging them for my time retouching and creating custom work for them.


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## Kobelevi (Jun 21, 2014)

When I started my business I didn't charge my clients that much because I know that I don't have names to make my work expensive and the positive note of it is they like my work and they posted it on social media and with the word of mouth I gain few more customers because they see that my work is nice and with a low price. Hope at some point I contribute on this post.. thanks!


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## Tee (Jun 21, 2014)

In short: based on my opinion of your skill, you're under charging for family portraits and weddings (this is based on time spent to do this).  However, I feel that if you were to charge more, you need to work on your technical skills. Is it safe to assume this is still a side gig and not your primary source of income?  If this is, then look at Light Guru's link and listen to KmH.

How many finished images do you give for portraits? 

I charge a handshake and a cup of coffee.  If they insist, then a gift card to Amazon will work.  I'm of the mindset that I won't charge unless I can produce professional level work every time and that I would register as a business and do things legally.  With that said, I approach every session as a professional.  I have contracts, research locations, limit the amount of prints, etc.  Just because they're getting my service for the cost of a Venti Caramel Machiatto doesn't mean I can't act professional or they can roll over me.


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## elizpage (Jun 22, 2014)

Tee said:


> In short: based on my opinion of your skill, you're under charging for family portraits and weddings (this is based on time spent to do this).  However, I feel that if you were to charge more, you need to work on your technical skills. Is it safe to assume this is still a side gig and not your primary source of income?  If this is, then look at Light Guru's link and listen to KmH.
> 
> How many finished images do you give for portraits?
> 
> I charge a handshake and a cup of coffee.  If they insist, then a gift card to Amazon will work.  I'm of the mindset that I won't charge unless I can produce professional level work every time and that I would register as a business and do things legally.  With that said, I approach every session as a professional.  I have contracts, research locations, limit the amount of prints, etc.  Just because they're getting my service for the cost of a Venti Caramel Machiatto doesn't mean I can't act professional or they can roll over me.



It isn't my primary gig, no.


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## e.rose (Jun 22, 2014)

elizpage said:


> Tee said:
> 
> 
> > In short: based on my opinion of your skill, you're under charging for family portraits and weddings (this is based on time spent to do this).  However, I feel that if you were to charge more, you need to work on your technical skills. Is it safe to assume this is still a side gig and not your primary source of income?  If this is, then look at Light Guru's link and listen to KmH.
> ...



But do you WANT it to be?

It's not my primary gig either, but I want it to be, so I charge as though it is... because then I don't have to up my prices all the friggin' time. I just need to get to the point where I have enough steady clients to quit my day job.


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## vintagesnaps (Jun 22, 2014)

E.rose has done her homework! and I think that's what it takes. It seems like your pricing could be adjusted and then the quality of the work would need to be good enough on a consistent basis for people to want your photos at an increased price. I took a quick look but with some of them I'd think about the framing, so it's not too tight or doesn't have too much space; notice the background and make sure there are no distractions like the edge of a branch/leaves etc.; make sure everything in the frame is what you want in your photo and where you want it (adjust the vantage point as needed). You could look up business resources on websites for photographers' organizations like ASMP and PPA; sometimes ASMP does webinars too.


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## elizpage (Jun 23, 2014)

e.rose said:


> elizpage said:
> 
> 
> > Tee said:
> ...



That makes a lot of sense. I do want it to be my primary gig at some point.. It'd be a really nice life


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## e.rose (Jun 23, 2014)

elizpage said:


> It'd be a really nice life



You SAY that.............



Freelancing is not easy by any means. Would it be nice to work for yourself? Sure. But there's a whole slew of other sh*t that goes along with it, that you don't have to deal with now as a non-freelancer. 

That's not to say it's not something to shoot for. I am.


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## tirediron (Jun 23, 2014)

elizpage said:


> ....It'd be a really nice life


To repeat an oft used, but oh, soooo true quote:  "What's the difference between a professional photographer and a large pepperoni pizza?"  The pepperoni pizza can feed a family of four!


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## imagemaker46 (Jun 24, 2014)

I don't have any set rates anymore, I did a decade ago, but have now gone to negotiating with each client on an individual basis. I work out a rate that we can both be happy with.  With so many "professionals" pouring into the business all the time, and potential clients looking around more than they used to, being flexible helps generate more work.


Not everyone will agree with this approach, but I do what works for me and base it on my skills and experience with a camera.


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## imagemaker46 (Jun 24, 2014)

elizpage said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> > elizpage said:
> ...



Once it becomes a full time job, it's not always nice, or fun.


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## Braineack (Jun 24, 2014)

tirediron said:


> elizpage said:
> 
> 
> > ....It'd be a really nice life
> ...



not when I'm eating one...


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