 Janet Detota |
Senior Portrait Pricing I offered to do my friend's daughter's senior photos. She mentioned this to another mother(daughter's prom date), and she emailed me asking my prices. I have done people portraits, but don't really have a price list set up. These would be outside and casual set ups as I don't have lights or anything for studio work. I want the work. I'm trying to come up with what would be a fair price for me and the customer. I've looked on some local photography sites to get an idea, but get so confused with their laundry list! I want to keep it simple, but want it to be worth my time. Do I charge a sitting fee, which includes a basic package and then offer ala carte prices for anything more? Or just charge per print with a low sitting fee? Help!! My friend says she could get me lots of business so I want to make this as easy as possible for all. Thanks! Janet
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simplydivinephotography.com - Susan M. Reynolds Contact Susan M. Reynolds Susan M. Reynolds's Gallery |
Hi Janet, I just found your question and would like to help if I can. I have done quite a few sittings for Senior Portraits now and I too have been very worried about pricing and such since I work on location and have no studio, just a BetterPhoto Pro Website. I am not a professional by any means and have taken a lot of Better Photo courses to get where I am today. Hopefully soon, I can go back to school – I’d love to get a degree in photography. (But, just because you work on location or if you don’t have a degree or certification under your belt, does not mean you do not do great work and you deserve to be paid for it!) Anyway… I recently updated my prices due to the amount of work and effort I put into the session/editing/printing/packaging. I have been burned way too many times because I was too timid to ask for 1/2 of the package as down-payment and the balance in full before the photos were given to them. I still have several customers that owe me a total of several thousand dollars but I'm sure I will never see it. (Water under the Learning Bridge and they were very expensive lessons!) Most of them were sessions I did for long time friends and acquaintances….never thinking that they would not pay for what they received…and that was when my prices were a lot lower due to my lack of confidence in myself. This year I instituted a new policy which I have on my website along with the new prices. For the Senior Portraits, I include the session fee in the package price, for regular sittings I require the session fee to book an appointment. If they don’t pay, I can’t book the date/time for them, or just too many people will cancel. The new policy has worked like a charm for me (even with the higher prices I just posted about a month ago). I am getting more business that is actually paying me for the first time! You can check out my website for the prices I use. If you feel uncomfortable with them, I can email you a list of my older prices. But, whatever you choose to do, always-always, Require a deposit down and the balance in full before you deliver any photos. I learned the hard way! LoL Good luck to you! ~S~
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simplydivinephotography.com - Susan M. Reynolds Contact Susan M. Reynolds Susan M. Reynolds's Gallery |
P.S. I took a browse through your gallery and it is STUNNING! Kudos on all of your awards!!! Also for an FYI, the Better Photo Pro sites offer you the option to sell your photos directly from your website and password protected private galleries for your customers to view their own portraits from the session with you. And they are offering 2 years for the price of one! Great Deal! ~S~
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- Dennis Flanagan Contact Dennis Flanagan Dennis Flanagan's Gallery |
A lot depends on the economy there and what people can afford or are willing to spend. I do things a little different than most. I live in small community where most everyone knows everyone else. I don't charge a sitting fee (I have a studio). My feeling is if they like it, the buy it. I have not been stiffed yet. I offer package deals, the CD, or they can buy as few as they like since many cannot afford a package. I also shoot for supply the high school photos for the senior collages and yearbook for free. If someone cannot afford any photos, I still shoot a few shots to supply the school. Those shots are available on my website if they decide to buy later. Word of mouth and goodwill are keeping me very busy.
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Janet Detota |
Thank you both for your responses. So sorry for the delay! I'm still working on this and am leaning towards just offering the cd with all the shots and charging extra for added retouching and collages. Just need to decide what is a fair price for the cd. I want to make it easy for the customer and easier for me. Don't really want to have to order prints and keep track of packages or charge people ridiculous prices like I've seen on many websites.
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simplydivinephotography.com - Susan M. Reynolds Contact Susan M. Reynolds Susan M. Reynolds's Gallery |
Just one word on the CD idea. I fell in love with that idea until I heard several photographers state that people would take the CD's to budget printers and the colors would be awful. They stated it made their work look bad so they no longer offer that to customers. I've never tried it so I have no idea. That is just some feedback I heard. ~S~
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Janet Detota |
That's an excellent point, Susan. Thanks! I just want to make it easy for everyone, but it doesn't look like that's very possible.
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Melissa Hintz |
Hello Janet! I know it has been a bit since you posted your question but I wanted to reply anyway, just in case I could still help. :) I have no formal experience in my photography but yet I am very in demand in my small community. I don't feel that I am the greatest but I do put pride in everything I do. I would love to email you a price list for what I have come up with. I base my prices on what my prints cost and double that. I use fotoworks.com for my prints and they are economical as well as very good quality. I have set my sitting fees according to our economy and have had no adversity to my prices. I do offer a cd but it is lowered resolution (customer is informed of this) and it is only offered with a print purchase so the customer sees what the final prints look like coming from me. This way if they choose to take the disk to a budget printer they can see this difference. They are still given the option to purchase additional prints from me. Good luck with your growing business! Melissa Hintz PS I give a LOT of time to photoshop and processing that is not charged for but I feel that if I gain clients now for good work even while I am learning then I can earn this back later. :)
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