Photography Pricing
What goes into pricing photo session and images (aka digital files)?
How I first set my Prices
I Started with More Wrongs than Rights
My guess is that this blog will be read by photographers thinking about establishing a business and wondering about how to set prices, but if you're a client and want to know where the prices come from, that's great!
When I first started as a, I really didn't factor in what running a business would actually cost. I have three degrees, but none of them are in economics and numbers can sometimes make me feel queasy. Said I to myself, "What do I think people would pay?" And being totally to pricing, I set them lower than I should have.
To make a long story short, my math was good enough to figure out that doing one session, preparing a proof gallery and then selling one or two prints with their files was netting me about $3 an hour. If I had taken the time to also factor in my cost of doing business with equipment expenses and monthly fees for Adobe and my website, I think I would have discovered I was working for free. Or worse.
Looking back, I'm not so sure there were any rights when it came to my pricing a few years ago!
How to set Photo Prices
How Should We Price an Image?
Finally, I decided to learn as much as I could about the business and marketing side of photography and through trial and error (a lot of error)there's now a system I use to calculate session prices and portrait images. Oh, and remember: Those digital files are not "just digitals". They contain ALL the work and are not inexpensive. Files remain the property of the photographer; the rights to personal use and personal printing are granted to clients UNLESS there is a contract and (usually for commercial clients) that states otherwise and a higher price for selling those rights.
Session fee prices are based on:
- the time spent preparing for a photo session (usually an hour as I make notes, do sketches etc)
- the time spent at the session doing the photography (one half hour +)
- travel and gas if going off property and/or studio space expenses
- the time spent preparing proof galleries (starting at about two hours for a small gallery)
- any admin time such as answering inquiries, doing follow ups etc.
For example: If I paid myself $X an hour, a thirty minute sesson without travel would cost a minimum of $X times four and a half hours.
Just curious: What hourly pay would you use as X knowing that the minimum wage for unskilled work will soon be $20/hour, and that portrait work is far from unskilled?
Image pricing takes into account:
- the time is takes to fully edit one image aka a digital file . ( A portrait generally takes me an hour. Longer if there is more than one subject, clothing has lint or pet hairs, hair needs attention, etc. )
- the level of the photographer's education and ability to make the images what they are ( As an example, I have four accreditations with the Professional Photographers of Canada, have completed a Portrait Masters challenge, and regularly update my skills with tutorials.)
- a percentage of the equipment and overhead costs: Camera and lens maintenance, editing program costs, webhosting fees for the proof galleries, props, maintenance/cost of a studio area, etc.
- a percentage of any professional fees and insurance that are paid yearly
- the cost of any product associated with a purchased image (print, matted print, frame, photo book, canvas wall art, etc.)This cost has to have enough "padding" to cover the possibility that it may have to be redone due to a print error or damage, packaging, shipping, taxes (I absorb those)
- the intrinsic value of the image. What is the value of the moment captured? How does the image make the viewer feel? Will it grow more valuable as the years pass? Would the client have been able to take, or have the inclination to take, the same image themself?
It's a lot to take into account, isn't it, and all business people have to do similar calcuations or their businesses will not be sustainable. Of course, any established business people reading this will also know that there's more to it than I've noted above. There's marketing, promotions, website building and so much more that goes into that final product that you see.
Any comments or questions? Drop me a line below!
