How Much Should I Charge?
Every month I get a couple of emails asking me for advice on “how much to charge for photos”. I'm not the only one to receive these inquiries. Budding photographers are asking the same question on many bulletin boards.
So how much to charge for your photos, for your time?
- The so-called “people in the know” say, you find what's your yearly cost, your rent, your hydro… Then divide by how many times you expect to work or sale.
- Some people say find out how much they are prepared to pay, which is different from what they will tell you, and charge that. Don't leave any money on the table.
- My answer is to charge whatever you want! What? Yes that's right, you should charge whatever you want. If you want to charge $1 per photo for a wedding, you will find people that will pay that. If you want to charge $100 per wedding and all photos on CD, you will find people that will pay that. If you want to charge $10,000 per wedding, you will find people that will pay that.
The important part is the $1/photo customers are different from the $10,000 per wedding customers. They expect different level of services and deliverables.
- The price has nothing to do with the technical or artistic quality of the photos.
- For me, with friends and family, it's either free or full price. There's no in-between. In between always brings bad blood and recriminations. See Friends and Discounts
- For me, with friends and family, if it's full price, I will give extras, good extras and sometimes many extras. Such as a 16x20 canvas print or a free photo book. I just make sure that they know the value of the freebies.