Comments on: Don’t base your photography prices on time!

By: Eleanor Caputo

Eleanor Caputo — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 16:58:16 +0000

It is frustrating when other photographers in a small town undercut the value of a photograph by giving their work away or by not charging enough or undercutting the true professional. I live in a small town and there are a lot of photographers here and they have set the standard for pricing which is way to low and they have trained clients to think it is based on time. It should be based on use value not perceived value or time. Thank you for this article as it is a good thing to show my competition so they can start bringing up the value of their work and making it a little easier to combat what they have devalued and show clients the true value in what they are paying for. I work very fast and I am well respected for the quality of my work. However, I find it a battle and exhausting to try to retrain/explain to clients the rules of image licensing and the value in what I know and my abilities. I have been told I I am expensive by some and others think I have great rates. And I often lose assignments because people want to save a few hundred bucks. But they soon find they get what they paid for. I think I will be revising my site to help combat this issue from the get go and to share with clients the value of what they are asking for. Thank you very much for breaking this down. although I already knew this, it is hard to organize it all and get it right with out a guideline.

By: joseph p. moses

joseph p. moses — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:01:03 +0000

I really do appreciate that you have opened my eyes to see that how I am being looted by many.
Thanks a lot for your advices.
God bless you all.
Joe

By: PP

PP — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:25:24 +0000

Not pricing on time has recently been discussed over at A Photo Editor’s site. Interesting article and discussion to be found here:

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/07/27/real-world-estimates-pricing-photography-for-image-libraries/

By: PP

PP — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:34:52 +0000

Hi Deirdre,

Although the licencing model is aimed at commercial and advertising shooters strangely enough social, wedding and portrait shooters tend to already price for the use of the image.

That’s the bottom line. The image usage attracts $x so more use is $x + $y

You are doing a session for a fixed creative fee and your “usage” is the print which is (I assume) given over for personal use only. So you’re pretty much there already in as far as this model applies to the portrait market.

I am *not* a social shooter so I really can’t comment on what is good or bad in your arena (same goes for weddings too) but the whole principle of the “end product” holding the value and *not* the time it took you to create it can be applied to all forms of photography businesses.

In commercial and advertising photography we control usage buy way of a licence. In portraits and weddings this is by way of the product, the prints or album.

Just as a commercial client will return to licence extra uses or more time, or additional media placements then your clients *should* return to purchase extra prints.

I’d say carry on doing what you’re doing. You don’t give over a CD (which would be like shooting unlimited use or “RF” in stock) so you control your usage via your print sales.

I think you have the perfect model already.

Best

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:43:01 +0000

What would you recommend for portrait shooters in terms of pricing their time? i charge a creative fee and separately for prints. i do not offer these on cds….

By: thephotographybiz.com » 5 stock and photography business do’s and dont’s for 2010

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:17:45 +0000

[...] http://www.thephotographybiz.com/photography-business/dont-charge-out-your-photography-on-time/ [...]

By: PP

PP — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:31:22 +0000

Hi Paul,

Yes, its the best way to charge so you are not digging ever bigger holes by giving more and more for less and less. It also shows the client that you charge based on the worth of the image to them, not just how long it took you to shoot.

By: Paul Dymond

Paul Dymond — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:27:55 +0000

It is so fantastic to see a post about charging per image. I’ve been charging this way for the last few years and ever since I made the switch I have seen my income skyrocket and my workload plummet! It’s fantastic – now all I have to do is convince the other photographers in town that it’s worth their while too.

By: thephotographybiz.com » Assignment Photography: How to charge and price up assignments - part four

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:43:48 +0000

[...] The first thing to rule out is charging on time. Charging for your time is not going to make you rich, and it’s very unlikely even to make you a living wage. Charging for your product is what you are aiming for. If you want to know why charging time is bad business for photographers read this post here. [...]

By: 11thStudio

11thStudio — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:38:57 +0000

Good article, thanks – i wish more people understood it’s more than just point and click!