Having a hard time nailing down my pricing...

[Jim Poor]

Quite simple. I don't shoot weddings. I shoot pets and dog sports primarily.

EDIT: That said, the few human portraits that I do, have the same pricing structure in place as my pet portraits.

Originally Posted by eNZee

50 per file????????
so what happens if someone wants a HQ cd of their wedding??
lets say 500-1000 pictures. you're going to charge 50 bucks a picture and optimized for 8x10 only?

[PowerPix]

Stop trying to nail it.....SUPERGLUE it!!!!!!!

Gorrila glue, and/or duck tape work for everything...

[eNZee]

i guess if you do it like that then it doesnt sound so bad. i can see where you're going with that. must be fun meeting all those dogs though. i have a hard time taking pics of my dogs. they move too fast

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Quite simple. I don't shoot weddings. I shoot pets and dog sports primarily.

EDIT: That said, the few human portraits that I do, have the same pricing structure in place as my pet portraits.

hahaha joker. what about construction glue??? my husband uses that for EVERYTHING. makes a nice mess too that i have to clean up later lol

Originally Posted by PowerPix

Stop trying to nail it.....SUPERGLUE it!!!!!!!

Gorrila glue, and/or duck tape work for everything...

[mstark70]

Thank you all so very much! You have really helped me a lot. I have changed my prices on my site and removed any mention of a CD, if they ask then we will address the issue one on one.
Susan H. that was a great link, thanks for that!

[cofphoto]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

There was a thread about something similar on a Flickr group I belong to, and one of the photographers has this link on her Facebook page. Not so much about prints, but it spells things out nicely to the client regarding pricing in general.

I am the author of that article, and found this forum/post from my web stats. Thank you for re-posting the article, as it has helped many people (both Photographers and customers) understand the true cost of professional photography when it comes to the amount of time and work that is put into just becoming a Professional Photographer.

FWIW, my session fees are $200 for a one hour photo shoot (studio or locaion). We charge $35/55 for 5x7/8x10 etc. We offer all of the edited high resolution digital images from a session (20-30 typically) for $750. We give the client all 20-30 web sized/watermarked images for free, because those are basically free advertising when they post them on MySpace, Facebook etc.

If someone only wants to buy one digital we charge $100, if they want a few we charge a little less. We do sell the full set of digitals on occasion, but believe it or not those clients often also order prints from us. You'd be surprised how many people just want to have them, not necessarily to run to Costco to make cheaper prints.

Of course we do run into those people as well, but hey....if a customer wants to pay me $950 for a one hour photo shoot, with a cost of goods of $0, that's $950 profit and I'll take that every day of the week. Sure beats someone buying just a handful of 5x7 prints.

These days if you don't offer digital photos in some way, shape or form, you are losing business, period. The trick is to structure your pricing so that if someone takes the "cheap way out" so to speak, you'll be happy with the amount of money made.

Hope that helps....oh and by the way, I'm a he, not a she.

[Niresangwa]

wow, the power of the web! Thanks for the post, it is helpful to be sure.

Given I'm in the process of tinkering with packes/pricelists, I've been hawking this forum for a while. I can easily understand the viewpoint of togs wanting to maintain control over their images not only for rights useage but also to derive as much profit from the session as possible.

Its interesting that you noted the price of the digital images, as they're higher than many I've seen, but even more interesting that you seem to prosper at that price range.

I think your last paragraph is dead on though - it seems that unless you're willing to part with the digital images, youre going to be passed over by clients. I think its rather more a case of pricing that correctly, which i feel to be the real bone of contention in most discussions.

I see so many businesses who either have you stump up up front then the digital/prints are a bargain afterwards, or vice versa... balancing both the session fee and the product price post shoot seems to be an uneviable task. at least thats how 'm feeling about it.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by cofphoto

I am the author of that article, and found this forum/post from my web stats. Thank you for re-posting the article, as it has helped many people (both Photographers and customers) understand the true cost of professional photography when it comes to the amount of time and work that is put into just becoming a Professional Photographer.

FWIW, my session fees are $200 for a one hour photo shoot (studio or locaion). We charge $35/55 for 5x7/8x10 etc. We offer all of the edited high resolution digital images from a session (20-30 typically) for $750. We give the client all 20-30 web sized/watermarked images for free, because those are basically free advertising when they post them on MySpace, Facebook etc.

If someone only wants to buy one digital we charge $100, if they want a few we charge a little less. We do sell the full set of digitals on occasion, but believe it or not those clients often also order prints from us. You'd be surprised how many people just want to have them, not necessarily to run to Costco to make cheaper prints.

Of course we do run into those people as well, but hey....if a customer wants to pay me $950 for a one hour photo shoot, with a cost of goods of $0, that's $950 profit and I'll take that every day of the week. Sure beats someone buying just a handful of 5x7 prints.

These days if you don't offer digital photos in some way, shape or form, you are losing business, period. The trick is to structure your pricing so that if someone takes the "cheap way out" so to speak, you'll be happy with the amount of money made.

Hope that helps....oh and by the way, I'm a he, not a she.

Shawn, thanks for popping in! I absolutely love this article. Oh, I knew you were a guy, by the way...I was referring to another (female) photographer who links to your article via her facebook page.

Thanks for a wonderful article. I've linked to it a couple of times, it's very useful!

ETA: I do sell CD's of low res images for web use - I just don't sell high-res images for clients to print themselves.

[eNZee]

Originally Posted by cofphoto

I am the author of that article, and found this forum/post from my web stats. Thank you for re-posting the article, as it has helped many people (both Photographers and customers) understand the true cost of professional photography when it comes to the amount of time and work that is put into just becoming a Professional Photographer.

FWIW, my session fees are $200 for a one hour photo shoot (studio or locaion). We charge $35/55 for 5x7/8x10 etc. We offer all of the edited high resolution digital images from a session (20-30 typically) for $750. We give the client all 20-30 web sized/watermarked images for free, because those are basically free advertising when they post them on MySpace, Facebook etc.

If someone only wants to buy one digital we charge $100, if they want a few we charge a little less. We do sell the full set of digitals on occasion, but believe it or not those clients often also order prints from us. You'd be surprised how many people just want to have them, not necessarily to run to Costco to make cheaper prints.

Of course we do run into those people as well, but hey....if a customer wants to pay me $950 for a one hour photo shoot, with a cost of goods of $0, that's $950 profit and I'll take that every day of the week. Sure beats someone buying just a handful of 5x7 prints.

These days if you don't offer digital photos in some way, shape or form, you are losing business, period. The trick is to structure your pricing so that if someone takes the "cheap way out" so to speak, you'll be happy with the amount of money made.

Hope that helps....oh and by the way, I'm a he, not a she.

well said. i totally agree. i was starting to think maybe my prices were too high but now i dont feel that way. and you are totally right about some people just want the hq cd for the sake of having it. i did it myself for my own wedding. payed through the nose but i really didnt care. i just wanted them and yet i still havent printed any from them. i did the same with my engagement shoot. my photographer made alot of money off of me.