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DPChallenge Forums >> Business of Photography >> What should I charge?
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 09/09/2007 12:13:19 PM · #1
I am doing homeschool pictures. I have quite a list of customers now and I have one who doesn't want what I'm offering. That is fine. What I'm doing- 25 dollars child. That 25 covers the session and pictures on disk. I know it sounds cheap, but I know of another person doing the same and offering an 8x10 as well and I don't want to do that. That person is also not on the peninsula and that's where most of my customers are coming from.
Anyhow, one particular lady wants actual prints instead of the disk. Now this is supposed to be a service, I know a lot of us homeschoolers have very tight budgets so I wanted to do this for those who don't usually have the money for nice outdoor portraits- most in the are charge very high prices. She wants an 8x10 and a dozen wallets. Should I still do the 25 that I would charge for a disk or bump it up a bit to cover the cost for shipping from mpix? I have 100's of disks so they don't cost me anything in the end.
I know her from dd's art class so this is also someone I somewhat know. I don't want to charge her too much. I was thinking 30-35.
09/09/2007 12:26:55 PM · #2
Well, depends on where you're going with this. If you want to make a business a viable opportunity, then you have to ditch the disk giveaway and go for actual print sales. That's just where the real money is.

Your photography is, IMO, good enough to charge much, much more. Especially if you're doing individualized portraits and not the canned crap most of the school photographers are forced to do just for conventions of the yearbook.

If you don't care about all that, just make her pay 100% over cost for the 8x10 and whatever else, and call it a day.


09/09/2007 12:32:02 PM · #3
I create a flat sitting fee that is due after the photoshoot. It covers the actual shooting time and the editing of photos. Then I edit 20-25 of the best photos and charge for prints. If they dont like them, then then just dont get photos but you stay with payment for your time.

edit: Im charging $50.00 for the sitting fee, and I have been told by clients that its really cheap. I havent had anyone say its too much, but if they did I would say that I'm sorry but its my job and its very time consuming (or something like that cause its true). Oh and ya no disks, unless they want to buy a temporary rights to the file (which is much much more expensive).

Message edited by author 2007-09-09 12:37:04.
 09/09/2007 04:17:50 PM · #4
Originally posted by wavelength:
Well, depends on where you're going with this. If you want to make a business a viable opportunity, then you have to ditch the disk giveaway and go for actual print sales. That's just where the real money is.

Your photography is, IMO, good enough to charge much, much more. Especially if you're doing individualized portraits and not the canned crap most of the school photographers are forced to do just for conventions of the yearbook.

If you don't care about all that, just make her pay 100% over cost for the 8x10 and whatever else, and call it a day.


First of all thank you for the compliment lol. I see so many wonderful portraits from amazing photographers who do outdoor work and I know I don't come close but I hope to!

I'm charging the amount I am because this is more of a homeschool community service if that makes sense. I found a few people who were interested and a couple that said to go for it and advertise because there would probably be homeschoolers that would really like some nice pictures but can't afford the same quality elsewhere.

My normal sitting fee is $50- I know that may sound low to some, but I wanted to go lower then the average sitting fee around here yet still be high enough "make money". My cheapest package price is $100, most expensive $200. For now these prices are working well. When I buy new eqpt, and with all the homeschool word of mouth and a lot of people wanting family pictures, I may bump the price up.

I don't want to charge this woman so much that I scare her off, but on the other hand I don't want to charge less then my worth. I'll make money either way because a disk doesn't cost me anything for the school pictures- when I do seniors they don't get a disk but I'm only doing a couple this year. But this is JUST for the homeschoolers and has only been advertised on a homeschool board.

So while I'm not charging them much and basically giving them the pictures, it's getting me MORE business because half of them are wanting family pictures as well. So for this particular customer, should I just charge the flat rate for what my individual print costs are?
 09/09/2007 04:54:34 PM · #5
Now that I'm remembering right, when I wanted to start taking senior photos, I did my first job for free, just to get the "business" started. All she paid for was a couple files priced really cheaply. So I see what you are saying now and definetly do it. But also let her know that you are making an exception with her so she doesnt tell everyone else :)
 09/09/2007 05:22:25 PM · #6
This is up to you.
If it is good for your buisness in the long run to give them away for nothing then go for it. If you want to just cover costs, again go for it. If you want to make a fair profit again nothing wrong with this either. Look at the bigger picture and decide what is best for YOU. If you go for one of the first 2 options make sure that your customer understands that this is a promotional offer and may not be available next time.
Whatever, keep enjoying taking pics.

Kev
 09/09/2007 05:39:06 PM · #7
Originally posted by elsapo:
Now that I'm remembering right, when I wanted to start taking senior photos, I did my first job for free, just to get the "business" started. All she paid for was a couple files priced really cheaply. So I see what you are saying now and definetly do it. But also let her know that you are making an exception with her so she doesnt tell everyone else :)


hehe, my first portrait session ended up becoming two and I didn't charge a dime. Ended up getting a ton of seniors last fall from him though so in the end it made up for it.

I have told the people that are emailing me about family pictures that those will be at my regular cost and regular session fee.

So far I think I have my prices in a pretty good place because most of them have thought my prices were good- except for the ones who want something for nothing lol.
 09/10/2007 09:43:37 AM · #8
When i was discussing this with my dad (a photog) and a friend of his (military photog, 30 yrs exp, then retired into studio stuff) they said that whatever you pay for (frame, printing, postage, packing, blank cd, studio time etc etc). Double or treble it and charge it to the client.

SO you would have your flat-rate for the shooting, the time and whatever format you offer the pictures in. Then you have the 8x10 which can't be more than $10 and those wallets or whatever. Charge dbl the price of the print and add it to your flat rate.

Of course, this isn't the friendliest way of doing things but if you do it once and word gets around you'll be doing it as standard. Maybe if you had a '1 print included' rule and left it there it would work. Also, you dont want to alienate people by seeming bullish so it's a fine line, but i'd charge the customer the full price of the print, plus 50%. But i'm like that.
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