Trying to figure out fair prices for senior portraits.

[JWJ]

Hello all! I recently underwent my first paid photography shoot. It was a senior pictures job for a friend, I said I'd take the pics and edit the ones she liked all for $100. This was all seriously loose and it all went well. After she showed her friends, they want to use me to do their senior portraits too. I told her that I seriously under-priced hers and if these other people wanted me to do theirs, I would have to change my pricing plan. Does anybody have some suggestions as to how I should charge for senior pictures?

[Karinu]

A quick prefrace-I am an amateur and have never done a paid shoot. I am responding from a business person's perspective.

From a business perspective, I'd check out all the local competition to see what they are charging in your area. It's also an advantage if you can find out who the popular senior photographers are to see what they are offering as well...print packages, types of shoots, etc. You'll probably want to do your unique version

In our area, for my daughters Senior Pics last year I spent a total of over $800 for the photo shoot & prints--in studio, outdoors in her "garden studio" and outdoors in a super cool area she had made with about 10 little Vignette staged rooms/backdrops (this area was so super cool). The whole photo shoot took about an hour & a half and my daughter was allowed 3 wardrobe changes. For the prints, I only got about 10 5x7's, 2 8x10's, some wallets & one padded "portfolio" frame with roughly 10 different shots. The cost also included the retouching & some extra charges for a few of the shots that had special effects. And the package only included 2 "poses", I had to pay extra if I wanted more.

If your area is priced similarly, your friend got a HUGE bargain with a $100 edited shoot!! Now that said, for what I spent, I felt like I should have been able to pick from any "pose" without having to pay extra for each. (And I say that understanding photography and highly respect what goes into it). I guess I'm saying that all the little extra charges that weren't revealed until we were selecting the pictures made me feel a little taken advantage of. As a business person, I think you want to leave your customers feeling like they got even more than they expected--especially since these new customers know they will be paying more than your initial one.

Hope that helps a little.

[wsu_danielle]

I am new at this as well and have not been charging much for shoots so that I can gain some practice/experience, build a portfolio, and build a client base. (People talk. People tell their friends. And people love to share photos on Facebook!)

I have been charging $60 for a 1-hour shoot with the choice of 2 locations, 30 edited images of their choice, and then I actually give them a CD with jpegs of *all* images (edited & unedited). This is a little less than 50% of what my competition charges and has helped me get my foot in the door. (It has also helped me to book two weddings already.) My plan is to raise my prices once I have built a fairly significant client base and portfolio.

I should mention that I have a full time job (I'm a teacher) so I do this on the side and do not depend on it for my livelihood. If you are doing this as our main source of income, then you should start a little below your competitors' prices (maybe 25%?) and then work up from there.

JMO

Looking forward to what others say so I can get some insight into what other people are doing!

D. Bailey Photography Homepage

[Niresangwa]

1) it depends on what the local market will bear

2) it depends on how good you are compared to the local competition

3) it depends on how much you think your time is worth

4) it depends on how you wish to be seen to potential clients (do you *really* want to be the cheap photographer?

5) it depends on how serious you wish to be in terms of running a business, as a sideline or not, considerations need to be made in the beginning that mold your business in the future

6) it depends on blah blah snore.... *so* many things.

This forum is literally bursting with advice from those who have been in your shoes, just track back a few pages in this sub-forum alone and you'll see umpteen threads about pricing and starting out, with some great advice offered.

To those starting out, they often look at the prices charged by Pros and think "what a rip off!". To those who have been around the game, they look at new photographers starting out and think "OMG they're selling the farm, and killing themselves!". Somewhere in between lies the truth. In my experience however, the latter is usually correct. They're Pros for a reason.

[JWJ]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

To those starting out, they often look at the prices charged by Pros and think "what a rip off!". To those who have been around the game, they look at new photographers starting out and think "OMG they're selling the farm, and killing themselves!". Somewhere in between lies the truth. In my experience however, the latter is usually correct. They're Pros for a reason.

Well said!

I have a link to this blog posted on my blog for clients to see. It really spells it out.

Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?