Making Money In Photography

An essential aspect of making money in photography is your pricing strategy.

Too high a price will exclude you from the market and too low will impact negatively on your profitability. Pricing is one of the hardest parts of starting a photography business and new photographers are often over-sensitive about their lack of experience when deciding on a pricing structure.

Use these practical guidelines to help you accurately price your photography business.

• Do your research There are a number of resources where you can find out what comparable photography services are charging. Search through freelance photography job sites such as FreelancePhotoJobs.com and Freelancephotographerjobs.com to find out current fees. Consult reference works like the Photographer's Market which lists typical ballpark prices and visit photographer websites to see what they are charging. Make sure the pricing is relevant to your type of photography and your location.
• Set a fee You can set a daily fee and an hourly rate. Your fee should cover all your expenses and include a reasonable charge for your labor, skills and creativity. How do you decide on a price for your labor and skills? One way is to have a look at annual salaries for comparable photographer positions and divide that amount by the average number of working hours per year - 2000 hours is often used as the standard work year. When you work out your hourly expenses and costs do not forget to include all the costs involved in running your business like insurance, advertising, rentals, equipment, transport, etc.
• Draw up a list of all the products and services you will be providing Make a list of every item and service you want to sell. Include items such as negatives, albums, different types of prints. This will form the basis of a per item pricing list. The recommended lowest price to charge for any item is three times the cost. This breaks down into one third to cover costs, the other third to cover administrative expenses such as taxes and the final thrid is the profit that you actually make on the item. This is the absolute lowest price you should charge and most successful photographers will up that, particularly on low cost items such as loose prints.

What you need to set up a Photography Home Business

Find out more about Making Money with Photography

All about Starting a Photography Business

How to find Freelance Photography Work

Find out more about Selling Photographs Online

Selling Stock Photography

Return to Freelance Work from Home homepage

Plan properly for making money in photography

Use the search box to find what you are looking for.