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DPChallenge Forums >> Business of Photography >> Lets debate pricing strategies
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 05/06/2010 03:32:36 PM · #1
I brought this topic up a year ago and it didn't go over so well, but as I approach the 2010 senior portrait season it's time to have the debate again.

I am currently using a fairly traditional pricing scheme. I don't charge a sitting fee but I have a minimum print purchase for every project. I charge a reasonable fee for my prints, higher than the portrait mills but lower than the big name photographers in town. I'm doing ok and my business is growing, but there is this constant churn of questions that suggest there may be a better pricing model.

1. About 50% of my clients ask about getting a digital copy of the image because they know they can get prints made cheaper. Of course I can explain that what they are buying isn't just a print, it's experience and skill at getting the image they want. This includes the skill involved in the retouching as well as the initial image capture. The explanation works, but could my pricing scheme make it more obvious.

2. I need to make more off the first print of a particular image but would be fine with making less off additional copies. There are those that order only one copy of multiple images and I need to cover the cost of all the time spend shooting and retouching. There are also those who would buy more if every print was priced like it was the only one being sold.

3. More and more people want to make legitimate use of a digital copy of their image. This could include posting to facebook, including in a family album or including as an element of a much more elaborate design for a card or invitation.

I'm wondering if it would be smarting to charge a fixed "processing fee" per image and then sell the actual prints at a much lower rate? This would make it obvious what the client is paying for and it better match where my costs are.

Maybe I should sell a digital copy because there are valid reasons these days to want one, but how do you price that? Do I assume selling a digital copy will cost me the sale of a simple 4x6 or a big expensive 16x20?

The key thing here is that I don't want to charge less, I just want to adjust the perception of what they are my clients are paying for.
05/06/2010 03:38:48 PM · #2
I'm not a pro, so I can't help much ... but I will say this:

Facebook is your friend, especially with high school seniors ... the more of your shots that show up on facebook, the better off you'll be

Perhaps a sitting fee and high rez digital copies should be a base package (priced so you don't lose money), then kick down the pricing on prints (less work for you this way dealing with less or no prints)
 05/06/2010 04:04:48 PM · #3
I suggest a sitting fee that includes credit towards the purchase of prints which you have a price list for to hand to them. Change these prices to suit your needs, but I'm thinking something like $275 for a 90 minute appointment, $175 of which is to be applied toward the purchase of prints. You could charge something like $25 per sheet whether it is an 8 by 10, two 4 by 6's, all wallets, or combinations that you have available. Canvas prints, of course, are much higher and you will often end up sales on top of the initial $275, or whatever price you decide to go with.

As far as digital copies go, do not give them or sell full resolution digital copies under any circumstance! They don't need digital copies for anything but the web unless they are going to circumvent your livelihood. You simply tell them that that is not an option. What you should offer them, before they have a chance to ask, is 72 dpi digital copies of the prints they purchased with your web address or name discreetly placed in the corner. These are perfect for use on the web for applications like Facebook, MySpace, family websites, etc. Offer this up front before they ask for any other type of digital copies and then if they do ask you already have the info on digital copies set in stone. Giving them the 72 dpi files of the prints they purchase enables them to share them with on the web and give you free exposure.

05/06/2010 04:39:49 PM · #4
Originally posted by yakatme:
I suggest a sitting fee that includes credit towards the purchase of prints which you have a price list for to hand to them. Change these prices to suit your needs, but I'm thinking something like $275 for a 90 minute appointment, $175 of which is to be applied toward the purchase of prints. You could charge something like $25 per sheet whether it is an 8 by 10, two 4 by 6's, all wallets, or combinations that you have available. Canvas prints, of course, are much higher and you will often end up sales on top of the initial $275, or whatever price you decide to go with.

As far as digital copies go, do not give them or sell full resolution digital copies under any circumstance! They don't need digital copies for anything but the web unless they are going to circumvent your livelihood. You simply tell them that that is not an option. What you should offer them, before they have a chance to ask, is 72 dpi digital copies of the prints they purchased with your web address or name discreetly placed in the corner. These are perfect for use on the web for applications like Facebook, MySpace, family websites, etc. Offer this up front before they ask for any other type of digital copies and then if they do ask you already have the info on digital copies set in stone. Giving them the 72 dpi files of the prints they purchase enables them to share them with on the web and give you free exposure.


I would be pretty likely to simply walk away based on that inflexible attitude.

I'm certainly not a professional, however, I am reasonably well versed in the principles of business. If there is sufficient demand, such that you don't need to milk every dime out of any sucker that's dumb enough to walk in, then I suggest a fair, equitable, and well reasoned pricing scheme.

Essentially, you need to make sure that you make enough to cover your time spent, both shooting and in post.

Here's how I would approach this:

Shooting fee, based on 15 minute increments.

Retouching fee, per image charge.

Digital full resolution copy, set price (make this number == to whatever an "average" print order would be)

Per print pricing structure, be fair here, you've already made your base fees, now it's profit, so don't overcharge (people do know how to search the internet now..), and explain what makes the print a higher quality print than those that are spit out at the Walmart print mill. Sure it takes 5 minutes to do this.. So? Charge for it, just account for this in your pricing of the prints, and look at the time as "advertising"...

But I suggest making this a very much "À la carte" pricing structure. People will not feel mislead, they'll be happier customers, and some people love to load up, so giving them lots to choose from will, on occasion, probably result in a customer purchasing far more then they would otherwise.. Clearly fun shoots will go a long way here, if they're having fun - they might want to continue for a few hours. Then again, with 15min increments, the customer who just wants a nice portrait can probably be satisfied, whereas before they probably would have avoided your service altogether..
 05/06/2010 04:57:07 PM · #5
Originally posted by coryboehne:

Shooting fee, based on 15 minute increments.

I started with a shooting fee based on the time involved, but I found people rushing to get done in time and this didn't make for the quality of images that I wanted to capture. I also found that I tend to schedule a morning, afternoon or evening session, so getting people done quick didn't really open up more shooting time. I'm not disagree with your thought, just thinking out load and explaining what I've tried.

Originally posted by coryboehne:

Retouching fee, per image charge.

I do agree with this, kind of the processing fee I talked about. But I don't think I would make it optional because I retouch every image that gets printed. If I show 20 images and the client decides to print 5 then I would charge for processing those 5. I'm not all the way there yet, but thought the idea was worth debating.
 05/06/2010 05:01:07 PM · #6
Originally posted by Nusbaum:
Originally posted by coryboehne:

Shooting fee, based on 15 minute increments.

I started with a shooting fee based on the time involved, but I found people rushing to get done in time and this didn't make for the quality of images that I wanted to capture. I also found that I tend to schedule a morning, afternoon or evening session, so getting people done quick didn't really open up more shooting time. I'm not disagree with your thought, just thinking out load and explaining what I've tried.


Excellent... On the ground experience... This doesn't work.. So, what do you think then? Perhaps just a standard fee, and you'll shoot for as long as it takes to get the right image?
 05/06/2010 05:12:21 PM · #7
Originally posted by coryboehne:
Excellent... On the ground experience... This doesn't work.. So, what do you think then? Perhaps just a standard fee, and you'll shoot for as long as it takes to get the right image?


That would be pretty much standard, yeah. You base your set fee on the average amount of time it takes to do the quoted type of work. Some jobs go smoothly, some take longer, it averages out. You don't want to get in a situation where you feel you're cheating yourself by taking time to do the job right. But I've always thought that charging by the hour is not a good idea in photography, because there are so many variables. So I always charged by the job; a fixed fee plus expenses.

R.
 05/06/2010 05:19:59 PM · #8
Originally posted by coryboehne:

Excellent... On the ground experience... This doesn't work.. So, what do you think then? Perhaps just a standard fee, and you'll shoot for as long as it takes to get the right image?

This doesn't work for me, but that's not an absolute. I've done my 20 years in corporate I/T, so this work is more personal and I can take my time. I choose to shoot once in the morning and once in the evening because I like that pace and the freedom in allows. Please note, I don't shoot every morning and evening, that just how I approach the scheduling.

I don't think people pay us to push the button... anybody can do that. I also don't think they pay for the piece of paper, because they can get those from Walmart cheap. What they do pay for is a great image... but that is a hard thing to price around.

Thanks for the debate... I'm learning and it's helping me think through this.
 05/06/2010 06:55:09 PM · #9
Just two quick comments from a non-pro:

Prints they'll get at WalMart and the like are cheaper, but won't last as long, because the quality of paper and inks aren't as good. Maybe you could stress the high quality of the prints you offer and compare how long they'll last against WalMart and such?

There's a studio by me that does a "Facebook" night....for $12 or so you book a mini-session and they take a professional quality digital image for your use on Facebook and other social sites. Maybe you could add something like that as an option?
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