So, you’re all ready to be a photographer. You’ve got your camera, you’ve got some experience and know-how, maybe you’ve even got a shiny new logo. Good for you! There’s one more thing you need to do, though, to really be a photographer – you need to be paid for your work. Until you’re paid, you’re not a photographer, even if you’re shooting shots Henri Cartier-Bresson would have envied. Until you’re paid, you are a hobbyist, a gifted amateur, a dabbler. After you get paid? Now you’re a photographer!
Some new photographers have trouble with how much to charge. But it’s really very simple – economics 101 – balance supply and demand: Charge as much as the customers will pay but low enough that you’ll still have to turn away some customers because of how busy you are.
In practice, though, it’s a little more complicated. And there are too many subjective factors for me to get specific on pricing, not least being the sheer number of photographic specialties there are, many of which have accepted pricing practices, and many of which vary wildly by location. But I can give you some questions that can help guide your thinking on this, and with a little experimentation you can probably figure out the right price point for you fairly easily.
Are you confident in your work? Enough to charge for it? If you aren’t, it’s going to show. Make sure that you can look your client in the eye when you promise to deliver the job, and that you can still look him or her in the eye when you hand over the finished product. All photographers suffer from second, third, fourth, and fifth thoughts when they’re evaluating their own work. A trusted and experienced mentor can be very helpful here, giving you an honest assessment of your skill level, and the confidence that you are at the level you think you are.
Consider your business costs even before you take out any salary for yourself. Yes, it’s true that the economics of the customer play a large part in price setting, but there’s another factor. You have to cover your costs and make enough profit to support yourself. Many beginners have another source of income and can run at a loss at the beginning, but that’s not a long-term winning strategy. Yes, in the age of digital your camera is probably a one-time startup cost (unless you’re afflicted with the dreaded GAS!), but here are some other costs you may not have thought of:
- Equipment insurance
- Transportation
- Printing costs
- Advertising
- The cost of your time – if you have another career you are transitioning out of, what would you have earned in the time you were instead shooting?
- External/online backup (come on, you don’t really want to lose your clients’ photos, do you?)
- Equipment depreciation costs – your flashes will eventually light their last, your shutter on your cameras will need to be replaced, your softbox will break.
- Unknowns: There will always be unknowns, and you won’t know about them beforehand – by definition! Besides costing you in time, exasperation, and catch-up, they’ll also cost you in money.
Don’t forget to charge for editing time. It seems fairly straightforward to charge either an hourly rate or to price for the entire job. But don’t forget the time that editing will take (or the cost, if you outsource it), the time it takes to cull, and then, of course, the plain old business maintenance tasks like paperwork, answering calls and emails (even when they don’t end up hiring you), and updating your website and social media presence.
Negotiate. The final thought to remember is that pricing is not set in stone. You can have a set pricing structure and you’ll be approached for a job where it’s appropriate to quote the client double your regular rate. (And explain why!) If one pricing scheme is not working, don’t be afraid to change it up. Maybe you always charged a flat rate and you now want to go to an hourly rate? Or the opposite? You can – and this is even easier when you’re just starting out – try new pricing policies until you figure out what works for you and what works for your clients. (Just remember to have a script ready to explain to your old clients why you are charging them differently than before, and how your new pricing will impact their invoice.)
Eventually – congratulations! – the time will come when you have more customers than you can deal with on your own. You now have a few more questions you have to think about. Do you want to be, primarily, a small business owner and expand your business, or would you rather be a lone wolf photographer? Do you want to be selective and pick who will be your customers, or do you want to service every person who crosses your threshold? Do you want to raise your prices or do you want to hire an associate to cover the overflow?
But good news! By the time you have to grapple with these questions, you’ll probably already know the answers to them.
Happy shooting!
