How much should you pay for business headshots?

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If you’re thinking of getting a business portrait done, you’ve probably found out that, in Toronto, the price ranges from about $50 to over $1,000. Why is there such a wide price range?

The price of running shoes ranges from $20 to over $300. Men’s haircuts in Toronto range from $8 to about $450. A Toronto hamburger costs anywhere from $1 to $100.

The magic phrase is: you get what you pay for.

When it comes to professional photography, a higher price means that you get more and you get better: better advice, more attention to detail, better editing, better technical quality, better artistic quality and more experience. All these combine to give you a more reliable and more effective outcome.
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Value Is A Two-way Street

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Over the past month, I lost photo jobs to photographers who quoted:

1) $1,200 for a two-day shoot in two cities 100 km apart, including 22 business portraits, 11 environmental portraits, and up to 66 finished images delivered.

2) $1,500 to photograph a four-day business conference.

3) A photographer, self-described on his website as the “best professional headshot photographer in Toronto,” who quoted $3,000 for 120 business headshots. That’s just $25 per headshot.

Whenever a customer declines your quote, ask what the winning photographer charged. Some won’t share that information, but they might if you explain that you’re simply trying to understand where your pricing fits in the market.

Was I disappointed to lose these jobs? Of course.

Was I upset? No.

What I can’t figure out is how these photographers make money.
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Canada’s Anti-Spam Law

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Canada’s Anti-Spam Law was introduced back in 2014 and it came with a three-year phase-in period. How times flies. That three-year period ends in a few days on July 1, 2017.

Do you use email, SMS, social media or instant messaging to send commercial or promotional information about your organization to reach customers, prospects and other important audiences?

– Canada’s Anti-Spam Law

Up until now, a business could continue sending commercial electronic messages to potential and current customers as it was assumed that you may have had implied consent. But starting July 1, you need express consent.

If you market your photography business through e-mail, text messages or social media, pay attention.

 

Give Yourself A Hand

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Ontario’s minimum wage will rise 31.6% from today’s $11.40/hour on January 1, 2019. How much of a raise are you going to give yourself?

The average, full-time, hourly-paid, Canadian employee makes $58,136/year, assuming a 40-hour week.

You should be earning the same $58,000 if you consider yourself average, *plus* enough to cover your overhead expenses. For example, if your annual overhead is $25,000, then you need to earn about $83,000 per year.

Using the same example as above, if you do 100 jobs per year, then your average invoice should be at least $830 plus expenses. If you do 50 jobs per year, then your average invoice should be at least $1,660 plus job expenses. I said “at least” because (a) your fee should be based on the value of your work and not on time or a flat rate, and (b) employees get paid benefits and you don’t.
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Photoshop Plugins and Mac OS 10.11/10.12

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I updated a Mac computer from OS 10.10 to 10.11. Yes, 1-1/2 years behind the times. The reason for the update is because some new applications now require OS 10.11. But all Topaz and Nik (Google) plugins for Photoshop starting acting up after the update.

The reason why these plugins were acting weirdly is because Mac’s newer operating systems, starting with OS 10.11, have Apple’s System Integrity Protection (SIP). This security feature does what its name says by not allowing non-Apple files in certain directories.
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