So your friends have found out that you take pictures all the time, and now they’re asking you to take pictures of their family. So how do you price your session so you’re not losing money? Here are some thoughts on how to price your photography so you’re not getting the short end of the stick.
Start Small
If you aren’t an expert at taking portraits, don’t set your rate where all the seasoned veterans have set theirs. You want to start by making all your clients VERY happy. You want them to spread the word about your amazing photography don’t you? If you set your price too high, that could mean they move on to another photographer, or they may end up passing along to others that you’re trying to rip people off.
Build Slowly
As you get to be a better photographer, it’s probably not your best bet to make an immediate jump from barely charging anything to then charging boutique studio prices. Your price should be on par with your skill. Since your skill probably hasn’t increased exponentially overnight, neither should your rates.
Put Off Going Pro
Having a photography business as your main income isn’t something that you should jump right into. There are a lot of things that you should consider before taking this step. Do you currently have the business to support you? If not, don’t think that when you announce you’re full time now that clients will jump at the opportunity to be photographed by you. If going pro means you’ll need to increase prices, there’s a risk that your price increase will mean lost business, so make sure you’ve got a solid base of customers.
Price According To Costs
If you’re getting serious about making money at photography, you’ll want to make sure that you’re covering your costs and paying yourself for the time you put into a session. There is a trap that even seasoned veterans fall into where they look at the total sale instead of how much per hour they made. For example, just because you’ve hit $1000 in sales for a family session, doesn’t mean it was all that profitable if you’ve spent $600 in product and you’ve worked multiple days with shooting, editing, planning, etc. There’s a good tool for making sure you’re not losing money on your sessions – check it out: Photography Pricing Tool – Session Cost Calculator .
Price According To Competition
Do a little comparison with other photographers in your area. Considering the product and skill level of other photographers in your area, are you priced correctly? This doesn’t mean that they’re priced correctly either, but keep in mind that customers who are asking around are going to find the same information that you will when you’re looking at the competition.
Try It Out
There’s no guarantee that putting a price on your sessions or packages will work until you try it out. If people buy it, you’re good. If you’ve given a rate good enough chance but it’s not working, change it up and try something new. There’s no reason to be sold out to something that’s not going to work for you. In the end, your customers will help you determine your rate by deciding how much they’re willing to spend.
Tags: Photography Pricing
[...] as much art as there is science in setting your prices. You may also find a previous post on pricing sessions to be useful in making your decision. After 7 years of gradually adjusting wedding prices and [...]
Very helpful! thank you!
Sonya,
Glad you enjoyed it! Are you just starting your photography business?
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