Pricing in my area

[dblightsey]

Hey I know the market is different everywhere so I went pricing around yesterday.
I've heard people say that $50 is not enough money for a shoot however I found alot of people that do 50 for shoots. Are they all bad, I mean some of their shots ranged from good to great. Now these 50 dollar shoots were 30 minute shoots, does that make it better ? The hour shoots ranged from 75-115. Another thing I found weird was that most people in the market I found sold the CD of the pics for cheap or even free with the shoot. The 30 minute shoot was mostly one picture only also. Im not down with offering a high res CD for cheap as that would kill you selling prints and who knows where they would be printed and how they would turn out. Im thinking maybe a low res CD for web sharing stuff ?

Your thoughts on this. Just picking some brains. also thought Id share my market area. It is in west Florida

I did find one lady that was very expensive but she was REALLY good, the best I saw around here.

[OsmosisStudios]

If the $50/30min shoot is for ONE image on CD, then its probably a decent deal for the customer without being a total break on the photographer's part. I'd still be charging double that.

I've done headshots before for portfolios: $100 for 30 minutes, with 3 files sized for 8x10. And that was on the cheap size.

[Jim Bryant]

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Your shoot time, shot count, time spent editing, pping and burning the CD is surely worth more than $50.00. How are you ever going to afford to upgrade your gear with prices like that?

[Jim Poor]

Where is "here?"

Even so, $50 just won't cut it most likely.

[BCampbell]

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Your shoot time, shot count, time spent editing, pping and burning the CD is surely worth more than $50.00. How are you ever going to afford to upgrade your gear with prices like that?

Enh. For ONE shot, I could easily shoot for 20 minutes, and then select, process, and burn one file while the client waits in the remaining 10. $50 for a half hour isn't totally unreasonable. That's if it only takes a half hour; if they have any demands that go beyond the 30 minutes, charge for another half hour.

[Jim Bryant]

Enh. For ONE shot, I could easily shoot for 20 minutes, and then select, process, and burn one file while the client waits in the remaining 10. $50 for a half hour isn't totally unreasonable. That's if it only takes a half hour; if they have any demands that go beyond the 30 minutes, charge for another half hour.

But who'd still want to work that cheap unless you had them lined up at the door like a production line just wanting to have their pictures taken. One person, one shot on a CD is not good business practices or use of one's time. I'd rather sit here and complain to those on DPS on just how dumb that is. BTW the poster didn't mention on where the photo was shot or if there was travel time involved to another location.

[BCampbell]

I'd rather sit here and complain to those on DPS on just how dumb that is.

That's your perogative; you're pretty good at that anyway. But I'd be happy to have a few of these wham bam thank you ma'am jobs a week.

BTW the poster didn't mention on where the photo was shot or if there was travel time involved to another location.

Yep, travel would kill this, no way would it be worth traveling for a $50 job. But if you have a block of empty studio time, you could do a lot worse than a get in, get out $50 1/2 hour.

[hibou]

Hey I know the market is different everywhere so I went pricing around yesterday.
I've heard people say that $50 is not enough money for a shoot however I found alot of people that do 50 for shoots. Are they all bad, I mean some of their shots ranged from good to great. Now these 50 dollar shoots were 30 minute shoots, does that make it better ? The hour shoots ranged from 75-115. Another thing I found weird was that most people in the market I found sold the CD of the pics for cheap or even free with the shoot. The 30 minute shoot was mostly one picture only also. Im not down with offering a high res CD for cheap as that would kill you selling prints and who knows where they would be printed and how they would turn out. Im thinking maybe a low res CD for web sharing stuff ?

Your thoughts on this. Just picking some brains. also thought Id share my market area. It is in west Florida

I did find one lady that was very expensive but she was REALLY good, the best I saw around here.

Where were you finding the photographers you priced? Leigh Taylor starts at $250 for a portrait shoot and I'm pretty darn sure she doesn't give the negs away for free. She's the only Florida photog I can think of off the top of my head.

[Jim Bryant]

That's your perogative; you're pretty good at that anyway. But I'd be happy to have a few of these wham bam thank you ma'am jobs a week.
Yep, travel would kill this, no way would it be worth traveling for a $50 job. But if you have a block of empty studio time, you could do a lot worse than a get in, get out $50 1/2 hour.

Actually, I'm sitting here putting together a bid for Washington State to shoot a series of portraits at the various Veterans Homes of WWII, Korean, Vietnam and Gulf War Vets. Rested assured I'll most certainly charge more than $50.00 a portrait Unfortunately when you don't have a full-time job other than freelancing, you spend a majority of time on the computer, researching, writing bids and getting gear ready for the next shoot. So, in all honesty it isn't worth my time to set up the studio lights, backdrops, stands, softboxes, reflectors and take test shots $50.00 shoot.

[Jim Bryant]

Where were you finding the photographers you priced? Leigh Taylor starts at $250 for a portrait shoot and I'm pretty darn sure she doesn't give the negs away for free. She's the only Florida photog I can think of off the top of my head.

She got a unique style, utilizing lots of color and a variety of environments. Love the shot with the umbrella at the beach.