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| *SoulEyes Photography>>>Wedding Photographer |
Calling freelance wedding photographers: how do you determine what you charge? price guide? |
I've recently switched from film to digital and I'm trying to revamp my prices, I'm just not sure what is fair to charge. I'm fairly inexpensive because I don't put together books or albums. Before I just charged per hour and then the cost of film and developing. Now I'd just like to put all the pictures on CDs and give them to couples so they can make their own prints. Does anyone else do something similar? If so, what are your pricing guidelines? Any suggestions helpful, thanks! Do research of the photographers in your area. I regularly keep up with what the people in my area are charging for photography. But I go a step further. I look up what wedding photographers are offering in big cities, like LA, New York, Miami, and see what I can offer those same things for here in my area. I live in a little town in South Western Virginia. I am a little cheaper than the others but I offer more for less. What the other photographers charge for 4/5 hours of wedding coverage and 300 4x6 prints, I give them a digital album with 10 pages and multiple images on a page for a little less. Noone else offers a personally designed leather bound album in my area. I also offer a video MP3 player with the wedding images (lower resolution of course), wedding music, and the video if they had us shoot video. Noone anywhere around me has that. I'm still making great money doing this. For what you want to do, come up with a base price for your time and add around $200-$400 for the cost of the images (the money you would be losing for the pics you sell to them) and a copyright release. Your time is worth money! Don't undersell yourself. Check out what others are offering in your area. If you have to undercut a little, do it. Good luck. Add at least 50% to your fee. Replacing your camera every four to five years has to be paid by someone ... better the clients. $2000 fees are at the bottom of the fee scale here in the Phoenix area ... most shoots run $5000 and up, but include two shooters and a videographer .. Prints and a finished DVD are extra. You are missing all the money with your business plan. All the money is made by selling the photos. ProPho I charge a standard fee for shooting an event. Then I charge for supplemental services, retouching, adding/removing people, fixing hair. These are optional and at the clients approval. I then charge 10% over what it costs me for doing prints/books or novelty items. Seems to be working out well for me at this point. However, do note that I do not derive my base income from photography assignments. It is a side job that I do. You'll have to figure out what all your costs are, then figure out what markup will cover all your expenses now. Developing prints, equipment costs(covering paying them off plus maintenance, insurance), cost of prints or any deliverables that you offer, plus a percentage to cover your salary. |
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