Pricing is one of the most controversial subjects in the field of photography. Newbies will buy a camera, put it on auto, get a business card, call themselves a photographer and charge $99 to burn all the images to a CD. A friend of mine knows a photographer that charges $60. At the end of the day, if you are LOSING business to photographers charing these rates, you need to up your game and/or target a different market.

The article has seemed to ruffle some feathers by saying an amateur should charge a certain rate and professionals at different levels should charge XYZ. Then, there are those that say if an amateur is being paid, they are not really an amateur, etc. etc. blah, blah, blah. Then there are comments about not mentioning hourly, per image pricing doesn’t work, the article is a waste of time and on and on and on.

I have skimmed the article. I have not taken the time to read it word for word and probably will not because it’s so long. However, I will share some of my own opinions about what my own experience has taught me as it relates to the article.

Point 1….
Professional: $75-$250 per hour and Top Professional: $200-$500+ per hour
Some people say don’t quote hourly. However, if a company wants me to cover a 3 hour event, I typically say that is ____ an hour and this is what you get for my time. The problem with a flat rate on a 3 hour event is if the client asks for an extra hour at the last minute, I don’t want to talk money on site nor do I want to lose money because of a flat rate fee. The client knew coming it to it that my rate was ___ per hour and they’ll know what an extra hour will cost. There are situations where an hourly rate can bite you in the butt, but personally, I think that an hourly rate makes sense for corporate events and likely many other types of events as well.

I also know the Raleigh pricing market fairly well when it comes to corporate event rates because I know other photographers in the market personally and I ask my clients/potential clients about other quotes. Therefore, I can honestly say that the guy who wrote this article is spot on for the range. The Raleigh market is typically $100 to $300 per hour for corporate event photography. That is based on fact not speculation.

Point 2….
Local Website Photography: $25-$150 per image
The key factors to this one are what is included in the per image rate, does the photographer have a minimum number of images that he or she will come out for and is there a time limit for the shoot.

Let’s break it down a little based on some of what I know about the Raleigh market and not about my speculation.

Home Real Estate Photography In Raleigh
A photographer doing houses in the Raleigh market will not typically get even $25 per image. It’s more of a flat rate type service. At $25 an image based on 15 to 25 final images per house, that would be $375 to $625 per house which is far above what the average size home on the market will yield in pay for photography.

Most Other General Website Photography In Raleigh
There are likely exceptions to this beyond home real estate photography, but as a general rule, the range of $25 to $150 per image is a good guideline for local website photography. For example, as of this post (subject to change) I charge $395 for 3 final basic edited images which is based on no more than an hour on site and may include something like 3 individual headshots. That’s $131 per image. For higher volume, like 10, 15, 20+ images, I do adjust the per image rate to be less than $131 per image. However, for me, I’m not including our level of retouching and all that we bring to the project for $25 per image. But I’m willing to discuss each project on a case-by-case basis. On the higher end, I have been paid $500 per image. Again, it’s all about the project and the need.

In Closing….
Just like my thoughts above, the article on PetaPixel is not flawless. However, it does provide some price point ranges that I think are helpful and applicable to the market that I shoot in. It does give a nice general overview that photographers struggling with pricing can use as one of many resources to help establish their own pricing.

The post How Much Should Photographers Charge? (PetaPixel Article Thoughts) first appeared on .

In photography, so many people get a “nice digital camera” and decide they will be a weekend warrior burning numerous images of a family to a CD for $99. That’s fine for people who are shopping price and don’t mind working with someone who has a “nice digital camera” but really doesn’t know a lot about photography. There will likely ALWAYS BE those type of photographers.

The wedding photography industry also has these type of photographers who may shoot for $399 for several hours of coverage and hundreds of images. Not everyone can afford the $3,999 photographer and again, I say, “That’s fine and there will likely ALWAYS BE those type of photographers.” Price is not the end all cure all. When it comes to price, there should also be a quality and market balance in the mix.

Quality is often, but not always, associated with pricing that is NOT the cheapest in the market. Notice, I did not say, “Quality should be EXPENSIVE.” There are some photographers who do both themselves and the industry a disservice by providing premium quality at a discounted rate below the market. There is nothing wrong with not being the cheapest price in town. The price a photographer charges should include multiple factors that can often be too complex to cover in a short blog post.

As for pricing in the market, that will vary from Rural North Carolina to Raleigh, North Carolina to New York City and beyond. Pricing is often reflective of the market that a photographer is located in especially if the photographer does not travel outside the local market as well as whether the photographer is focused on consumer vs. commercial work. Even within the consumer and commercial markets, budgets will vary based on multiple factors like the income of a family or their willingness not to spend more than X on photography services and the same holds true with companies because they still try to maintain a budget. In both scenarios, that doesn’t mean either will choose the lowest priced photographer.

For me personally, I have worked hard to find out the pricing in the market that I target primarily by getting feedback from inquiries about what others have quoted, what their budget is, etc. I like knowing whether my quote is low, medium or high compared to any other quotes. I’m not out to be the lowest quote nor be considered “EXPENSIVE.”

It’s not always easy to find the price vs. quality balance, but it is one area that photographers should find their own personal balance: Profit is NOT a dirty word. It’s not good business practice to simply say, “I’ll be the lowest in my area.” I know from being hired numerous times for projects that my clientele on the corporate side are rarely looking to hire the lowest priced photographer they can find. What they are often looking for is a quality end product at a fair market price from an experienced photographer. Experience comes with time, but finding the price and quality balance in the market can all come together relatively quickly.

Happy Pricing!

If you enjoyed this post, please use the icons below to SHARE IT.

The post The Balance Between Price, Quality and The Market as a Professional Photographer first appeared on .