How much do YOU Charge??

Last post 11-02-2009 8:12 by Visual Ovation Photography. 12 replies.
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  • Lori DeLude 06-25-2009 16:35

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    • Joined on 05-26-2009
    • Connecticut
    • Posts: 114

    How much do YOU Charge??

     Just curious, how much do you charge for basic prints (4x6, 5x7, 8x10) .. and how much do you charge for digital downloads? I don't even know where to START in making these decisions!! Any input you can give in to what went into these decisions will help.

    FYI: I completely understand HOW to set price lists here, just not sure what's fair to both my clients and to myself.

    ~Lori
    www.capturedmomentsbylori.zenfolio.com
  • jason 06-25-2009 21:12 In reply to

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    • San Francisco
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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    Lori, our default mark up is 200%. That should be a good place to start Smile

    Always here to help!

    -Jason [Zenfolio]
  • Kevin Thompson 06-25-2009 21:17 In reply to

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    • Rockford, Illinois
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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    Hey Jason's back!

    I too don't know how much to charge sometimes for photos or services...  I mean weddings, you can always easily find comparitive pricing, but I was contacted by a local plumbing service for photos a few months back (who would have thought to find work there?) and they needed pics for a banner for a local home show... so I went to a house, shot pics of the van and the serviceman 'working' on a HVAC unit, emailed the pics to their banner printer and charged $150.00.  I was at the house about 20 minutes, spent another 40 checking the photos and  emailing...   so I felt ok with it, customer was ok with it... but have no idea what the going rate for something like that should have been.

    ~Kevin
    Thompson Digital Image
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  • rernst 06-29-2009 7:07 In reply to

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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

     I'm typically in the 100% - 200% mark-up range.  I'm mostly weddings.  I know there are wedding photogs out there who will hit couples for nearly $40 for an 8x10.  My model is to earn most of my money in the base fee.  After that, I'm happy with more modest earnings on prints.  My 8x10's on eSurface paper are $7.99.  Because most couples get DVD's with their own hi-res images, I need the cost to be close enough to what they'd pay at Costco or Shutterfly for them to want to spend the extra for better quality prints.  I'd rather sell 20 $8 prints than 4 $40 prints.

    The one thing I do do is price my 4x6's and 5x7's a little high to encourage people towards 8x10's.

  • CNelson 07-02-2009 14:04 In reply to

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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

     There are a lot of factors that will determine how much you charge.  It will also depend on what kind of photography you are doing.  If you are shooting a wedding or event that you are being paid for, your per-print cost will be lower, perhaps around 200% markup.  However, if you are shooting finearts, the market and any galleries you are in will influence your prices.  If you are in galleries that sell your work the gallery will take a percentabe, usually 40 to 60% so you have to price for that.  Also, if you are in galleries you don't want to undercut the gallery prices on your website or the galleries will dump you. 

    I was coached by a gallery initially and tend to price by the square inch.  I usually price gallery prints at $0.50 per square inch so an 8x10 is $40.00.  The gallery gets their percentage, I get the balance and the difference between that and what I paid for the print is my profit.  If I were a great and famous photographer I could charge a lot more and I would be in high end galleries...I'm just happy to be selling through some local galleries.  As it turns out, I sell a lot more through galleries where people can see the actual print than I sell through my website where people just see the image on screen.  I'm doing what I can to boost web sales but, so far the web is better for publicity and to atttract interest than selling prints.  If I did more production photography (weddings, seniors, events) I would probably sell more through the website and I could reduce the price somewhat because I would be paid for the event or sitting.  

    I hope this helps.  Trying to figure out what to charge is difficult and it depends on what kind of work you do, the market and a number of factors.  I try to be consistent with galleries and the web depending on what kind of photography I am doing.

    Chuck

                                                                                       

     

  • Memorabilis 07-02-2009 19:30 In reply to

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    • Dallas, TX
    • Posts: 4

    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    Lori,

    What part of the country are you in, what kind of photography are you doing, what is your experience level, and what is your overhead profile?  (Is photography to be your only source of income; do you work from home; have you been doing this for a while or just getting started?)

    These factors have more to do with what you charge than what somebody else is charging online.

    For example, I shoot sports and corporate events.  The same 4x6 I sell for $3.50 to $5 to soccer parents goes for $10 at a corporate event, and $20 if I have to bring out my portable studio and shoot executive head shots.  I provide a low resolution (640px on the long side) download suitable for Facebook/Web/etc. for only $0.69 and sell a ton of those to kids on their iPhones.  But I also sell medium resolution print grade downloads for 5x the price of a 4x6 for personal use, or 5x the price (that's price, not cost) of an 8x10 for unlimited commercial use.  I only upload medium resolution files to Zenfolio.  Full resolution files are quoted based on intended use and are never less than $100.  But this works for me - your market will certainly be different.  I live in Texas but work nationally by the way.

    The trick is to provide obvious visual value, and then price sensibly.  I see one person responded that they charge 200% of cost.  That may be all the market will bear for whatever type of photography they are doing.  My "basic" formula is $2 to push the button, plus 500% of cost as a MINIMUM.  So, a 4x6 for me would be $2+5x$0.29 or $3.45 which I round up to $3.50.  This is a VERY competitive price for sports photography. I adjust up based on the market - charging more for a national championship vs. a weekend match or regional competition for instance.

    I shoot typically 2,000 images per day (up to 10,000 images if I have 5 shooters working).  Approximately 10% sell.  $2+4x.29=$3.16 gross profit per 4x6, less Zenfolio's cut, is about $2.75 net per photo = about $550 profit per shooting day before depreciation on the equipment, etc.  Now - how much of that do I need to do to make a living?  Or, am I just trying to have a profitable hobby?  Or, is this a second income?  All of these questions factor into your prices and none of that makes any difference unless you are banging home the money shots.  By the way, of the 2,000 images I shoot, at least 500 are money shots - but only 200 will sell at sports events.

    When you think about overhead, remember that digitial is NOT free. My Canon 1D MkIII is about $4,400 street with a rated shutter life of 300,000 activations.  Now, I will trade up long before I wear it out but let's assume I go to end of life.  $4,400/300,000 = $0.014667 or a minimum of $0.015 every time I push that button once or $0.15 every time I fire off a 1 second burst at 10 frames a second.  So, from the $550 profit for the day, I deduct $30 for wear and tear on the body (the camera's, not mine), and then start adding in lenses, equipment insurance (you DO have your equipment insured for not only theft but all other risks I hope), memory cards, etc. etc. etc. and pretty soon I am down to around $400 net for the day.

    So, lots to think about before you decide how much YOU are going to charge.  I highly recommend membership in the Professional Photographers of America.  They have great articles on the business of photography as well as a professional service to help you set up your business if this is going to be a full time source of income for you.  Their Web site is http://www.ppa.com

    Good luck!

    Chris

    Chris Kinsey
    Memorabilis Photography & Imaging
    Dallas, TX
  • Lori DeLude 08-20-2009 18:04 In reply to

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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    Wow, Chris - what an awesome post. Thanks for investing your time, this one is bookmarked.

    I know you were asking questions more for me to think about myself, but here are a few of the answers: I live in CT, and work full time in corporate america (for now ..??) I picked up photography 3 years ago as a hobby and felt something growing, so I decided just this year to try to make money on the side. My goal is to get my LLC this year. It's a hobby-turned ... ?? not sure yet. Your post helps me put some of this in perspective, and I appreciate it. Thanks again!

    ~Lori
    www.capturedmomentsbylori.zenfolio.com
  • YvanPhoto 09-05-2009 7:09 In reply to

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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    Great reply Chris !  I've not read yet your other 3 posts, but if you keep being as informative with only 25% of your post, I hope you keep contributing to Zenfolio forum for years and years ;-)

    Thanks,

    Yvan

     

    Yvan from Quebec City, Canada
  • mingla 09-06-2009 0:37 In reply to

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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

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    Hello, this was the right thing that you have done. I don’t think that you were wrong.

    All the best!

     

  • YvanPhoto 10-09-2009 5:06 In reply to

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    • Neuville, near Quebec City, Canada
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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    Hi Lori,

    This is an update for this one-month old thread ;-)

    I'm presently doing my first photographic exhibition as an amateur. It is in my local library (small village in a rural area, population 3500, near Quebec City). I attracted over 150 persons the first week-end and sold 6 photographs ! Great, these were my first sales ever ;-)

    These are 12x18 photographs printed on my Epson R2880 using fine art paper. Some photographs are 5½x18. All photographs are landscapes of my village. Comments I received were highly motivating!

    Price ? I sold them $60 for 12x18 and $45 for 5½x18 (photo alone, no mat, no frame).

    Although it is in a rural area where people tend to pay less for art in general, people recognized that they could not have taken easily such landscapes photographs with their P&S camera.

    The most interesting impact is that I now know that I'll have much more students in my photography class next winter (I typically have 10 per season). In fact, I see my investment in this exhibition as good publicity for my classes.

    Yvan

    Edit: the canadian dollar is almost on par with the US dollar these days

    Yvan from Quebec City, Canada
  • alwheeler98 10-30-2009 21:34 In reply to

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    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    You may find this interesting...

  • Kevin Pepin 11-01-2009 9:23 In reply to

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    • Joined on 09-17-2009
    • Norwich, CT
    • Posts: 176

    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    Here is another good source to check out.

    http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/pricing.html

    There is a good CDB (cost of doing business) calculator that help you decide what to charge for you services.

    Another helpful blog article can be found at

    http://photofocus.com/2009/10/30/five-things-you-can-do-right-now-to-grow-your-photography-business/

    Hope these help

  • Visual Ovation Photography 11-02-2009 8:12 In reply to

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    • Santa Rosa, California
    • Posts: 51

    Re: How much do YOU Charge??

    Al - Thanks for pointing out this article - it is interesting and thought provoking.

    This whole discussion has been very helpful - I'm glad the thread has continued.

    Thanks to all...

    Stephanie

     

     

    Stephanie Hamilton-Oravetz
    Frank Oravetz

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