Pricing Photography

This page may disappoint you. If you're looking for a list of photography prices then stop reading. This page is about pricing not prices.

If you're in a hurry, here's a brief summary:

• Every photography job is different. I will provide you with a quote for your specific needs.
• Pricing is based on the required photography work and your use of the photos. More photography and more usage will always cost more than less photography and less usage.
• You will never get $5,000 worth of photography for $500. Good photographers are never cheap and cheap photographers are never good.

If you would like a much longer explanation of how professional photography is priced then please continue reading.

 

(Pricing for photo retouching is different. Every retouching job is somewhat similar. The only thing that varies is the amount of retouching required. I have an hourly rate for retouching.)

Call a shoe store and ask, "What does a pair of shoes cost?"

Without more information, the store can't give a specific price because they don't know exactly what you want. At best, the shoe store might give you a wide range of prices which will be of little use to you.

Prices are not listed here because every project is different. It's impossible to list specific prices without knowing the details of your planned photography.

Some photographers do list prices. But they will either put each customer into a one-size-fits-all box in order to match their one-size-fits-all price or they will change their price the moment a customer can't fit into a box.

My prices are based on each customer's specific needs and also on three decades of working with hundreds of customers.

Do you want shoes that are one-size-fits-all or shoes custom-fitted to you?

How a restaurant meal is priced is analgous to how photography is priced. The factors include:

• Restaurant location (downtown hotel or suburban shopping plaza) => Photographer location (big city or small town).
• Quality and service (high-end restaurant or fast-food joint) => Production value of photography (studio quality or amateur quality).
• Talent, creativity, experience of the chef => Talent, creativity, experience of the photographer.
• Food ingredients required => Photo equipment required.
• Amount of food => Number of pictures.
• What meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) => What photos (portraits, conference, products).
• Purpose of meal (reception, formal dinner, company party) => Purpose of pictures (press release, annual report, magazine ad).

Price is based on the value of the photos and not so much on the time it took to make those images. After all, a photographer is selling their skill and talent, not their time.

Higher value means higher price, lower value means lower price. Simple, right?

With all intellectual property including photography, value is usually defined by use. The more a photo is used, the higher its value and the higher its price.

Note that value is not the same as quality. A professional photographer will deliver the same high quality work no matter the final value of the photos.

Here's an example:

• Photo 1: A real estate agent's business portrait is used on her web site and business cards, in newspaper ads, transit ads and brochures, and on lawn signs and local billboards, for six years.

• Photo 2: A lawyer's business portrait is used only on his "About Us" web page for three years.

Even though these two headshots took the same time to produce and have the same quality, do they have the same value?

When you book a resort vacation, your travel agent will ask:

1. How many people? (A photographer asks, “How many photos?”)

2. What type of room? (A photographer asks, “What is the usage?”)

3. How many nights? (A photographer asks, “How long will the photos be used?”)

4. Which resort location? (A photographer asks, “Where will the photos be used?”)

Licensing is the worldwide standard for all intellectual property including photography.

For most editorial and corporate assignments that I do, the usual included licensing rights are for editorial use only, unless otherwise agreed. This means the pictures may be used for press releases and media handouts, on the company's web site and social media, and in any marketing materials that the company produces on its own. It also means the photos may not be used for paid placements. Commercial rights will increase the licensing fee.

For all editorial publications and for many companies most of the time, this type of editorial licence works just fine. If you need to use the pictures commercially, a licence will be created to suit your needs.

Why does commercial usage cost more?

Think about it this way: photo licensing fees are like a salesperson’s commission. The purpose of commercial photography is to make money. Advertising photos directly help make more sales so they deserve a bigger commission. But editorial photos are about sending a message, not making sales, so they get a smaller commission.

When you request a quote, I will ask many questions. I need to know as much as possible about your ideas and plans for the photos.

Since there are many different ways to photograph something, I have to make sure that both of us are on the same page with regard to the photography.

After all information is gathered, it may take some time to produce a proper estimate. This is why I can't give a quick quote over the phone.

If a photographer asks you only about the where and when of your photo project and then gives you a price, run away from them. They are not thinking about you.