Gidday, Everyone.

I have know how to do a lot of things over time and the bane of my existence has always been pricing. I don't want to overcharge myself out of work and I don't want to price myself out of my just payment either.

Does anyone have any rules of thumb that might be helpful for myself and others?

Thx!

Hey Randy:

Good question. Not an easy answer though. I found it difficult to figure out pricing for my services as well. The true answer is that “it all depends”. Oh great… thanks Jay… great answer, right? Yeah, well let me explain. There is no formula that you can plug into a spreadsheet and come up with a universal pricing guide for everything you do. If there were, I’d have bought that spreadsheet a long time ago. When I say it all depends, it does. It depends on if you are doing a shoot for a commercial venture, versus a family portrait session. A commercial shoot for a national magazine or print ad will be considerably more than what you could get away with charging your local mom and dad for a family portrait. What you charge also depends on how well known you are and your level of skill. A well known senior photographer with years of experience and a grand portfolio will have clients knocking on his/her door, while those who are just starting out will do shoots for free or nearly free just to help build their portfolio.

Pricing your work is relative to the market and what people in your market will pay. Check out the work and pricing for other photographers in your area and price accordingly. I struggled with putting my price listing together because while I want to offer my clients value, I also don’t want to work my tail off for nothing. Clients often don’t consider what goes into a photo session; all they see is the final result and the price tag. They don’t often stop to consider the skill involved, your equipment; the hours spent processing the images in Photoshop, not to mention the hours dealing and negotiating with clients and just setting up for the shoot! As photographers, I think it is important that we tell our clients how much work is involved. I offer my clients a copy of an article that appeared Professional Photographer magazine which explains why professional photographers are so expensive. If you’d like a copy, send me a PM.

When I put my pricing together for prints and products and for my services, I often weigh the two against one another. If I do a session and don’t charge a sitting fee (or charge a minimal amount for the sitting), I would expect my client to purchase my products and price the images on disk and prints accordingly. If the client pays for the session, then I offer them prints at near cost and images on disk with a limited copyright release. Either way, I get paid up front or on the back end when they have to buy their prints or images on disk from me.

Fine art prints are a whole different category. Again, look at your local market and see what your fellow artists charge. I would avoid the temptation to price your images inexpensively. There is something known as “perceived value” and that is an important concept to remember. Let me give you an example. It’s the holiday season right now, so in your local retail stores you see a lot of gift baskets being offered for sale. Take that basket apart and purchase each of the items separately and you will find you aren’t getting a very good value in most cases. The “perceived” value of those items increase because of the packaging, convenience, presentation, etc. In other words, because the way it is presented, the public places a higher perceived value on that item as a whole. Here’s another example: 20 years ago I worked in retail. We had a sale on an item advertised in the local newspaper. The ad was regional, but we didn’t sell a lot of this item, so our in-store price happened to be less than the “sale” print advertisement. What to do? We re-ticketed the merchandise with the sale price advertised and sold every one of them at the higher “sale” price. Perceived value drove the customers in because they thought they were getting a deal. Another example: Costume jewelry we sold was packaged wholesale in bulk plastic sacks. A whole case of women’s cocktail rings showed up in a big old plastic bag. But once we placed those cheap rings into a fancy velvet box, the perceived value increased.

I am not trying to say your work is cheap and that you should rely on tricks to fool the public, but what I am saying is that you also need to know that if you price your work too cheaply, it will give the aura that it is, indeed cheap. Quality comes at a price, so don’t sell yourself short.

I hope this helps in some way. Some others may have more suggestions. Good luck! - Jay

Hi, Jay

I guess I didn't really expect a clear cut answer and as you say, there isn't realy one to give. But, I appreciate the food for thought your response has given me and the time you spent presenting it.

Thank you.

I know... I wish I had been able to give you one! I struggled with the same thing myself. Good luck!