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Hey everyone!
I’m considering starting to market my photography services. I’m going to put myself out to my church family as an event and portrait photographer. I’ve got a question though… how much should I charge?
I know that most people who are not photographers would underprice me if I simply said “whatever it’s worth to you” (#nopaybutgreatexposure), and I also know I generally am surprised to see how much my skills are worth in the times when I am hired unofficially.Also, is there anything else I should know regarding the business aspects of event/portrait photography? I know lenspiration.com just released a great article detailing some things I will definitely put into practice (and you can read them here: https://www.lenspiration.com/2018/08/5-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-photographing-my-first-wedding/) but is there anything else?
Thanks so much!
—Logan
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Hey @loganlamar!
I had been wondering the same thing myself. This forum question was helpful to me:
https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/photoshoot-pricing/
When I did a photo shoot for my aunt, cousin, and family for my cousin’s high school graduation in June, I didn’t set the price (since i was uncomfortable with it being family and I really hadn’t had much portrait experience); instead, I asked her to pay me what she thought fair. (Which was $120 CAD for 2 hours of shooting and then post-processing…to me, that was fair.) Another article I read said between $35-90 an hour for intermediate photographers (based on the work I’ve seen on yours, I’m guessing that’s where you fall?). Now…I don’t know if that was an American or Canadian article, so that could make a bit difference due to currency prices. But personally, I don’t see $50-60 CAD as a problem. (That’s about $38-46 USD.) Depending on your photography “forte” (landscape, nature, portrait, etc.) you could probably charge more if you are more experienced with portraits (I am not…I like subjects that don’t move best!)
That new Lenspiration article you cited was super helpful I found! Contracts and communication are the two major things to remeber.
Hope that helps some!
@loganlamar This is a problem of mine as well. The only ideas I’ve had so far is talking to people at church or our homeschool group how much they would pay for portraits from a “pro” and then reduce that a little for my pricing. With that method you can kinda scope out out people are willing to pay for good pictures in your area.
Hope that helps a little bit!
As you know, there’s no quick answer to this, but in general, I go by:
overhead + shoot expenses + time (+ you)
How much time you’ll spend is by estimate at first, but that generally turns to by experience after you start doing it a while. How much you charge $/hour is what your time is worth. The higher the demand you are in, the more you’ll have to raise it. Use minimum wage as your minimum. I’m up to $60/hour for design services to keep the demand manageable, and I would have kept going higher if I had stayed in the design industry.
What I mean by the “+ you”, is that the fact that it’s “you” shooting may be worth factoring in eventually. Your style, your process, your personality….people might be choosing you over someone else simply because it’s “you”, and your prices is going to be higher because of that. If you’re just getting started, that isn’t really a factor, so that’s why I put it in brackets. 🙂
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