Pricing Models

[llaamaboy]

Waving at eveyone one :D

I was photographer / studio owner for over 28 years using cameras most around here would not even heard of. During those 28 years I photographed over 400 weddings and towards the end, was one of he highest priced photogrpahers in the area.

With that said, I went out to become an IT manager, but alas have found (and I do not believe Im saying this) I miss the business. Add to that the concept of having 120 (6x7 or higher) quality in the size of the 35 SLR, it's just too much to pass up. I have to get back into it. I still have about 600 sq ft of my old studio available all out fitted with backgrounds, Photogenic studio lights (are they still in business?) and the crowing touch of a hugh north light window for some fo the most pure beautiful light I have ever photographed with. ( For some who may not know, the first protrait photograhers used North light before there was something called electricty.)

After talking with some photographers friends of mine, I have pretty much settled in on picking up a few Canon 5D's and setting up shop again.

Now the question. All of my known pricing models were based on film/copyright, low sitting fees, with keeping neg ownership and charging higher print prices. Im not so sure that works now days. So what are you guys doing for pricing models?
Im thinking of charging higher sitting fees ($ for labor), client gets owner ship and can hire me for any printing or misc services they need ...

Any help would be appreciated.

Llaamaboy

[sapearl]

That's a tall order and some good questions. But try us though, I'm sure more of us have heard about a lot of your equipment than you may realize ;) . After all, a lot of us are pros who have come from the land of film. Part of my circumstance is similar to yours although I've never been a studio owner.

I still shoot medium format weddings and other events - I'm reluctanct to trash the Hasselblads yet just because the world is going digital. I've recently purchased my first 5D and will incorporate that into my work flow.

So far I'm keeping my pricing structure pretty much the same, although the digital workflow is far more time consuming for me personally. My lab processes my negs and returns them with hi-rez CD's, but I spend a lot of (compulsive) time in Photo Shop dodging, burning.... all things I used to have the lab do. As a result I am turning out a higher quality of custom print, and I should charge more for that.

But...... competition being what it is, and being aware of my competitors, I could easily price myself OUT of my particular niche.

More people are starting to ask me though if they can have the images on CD in addition to the album package. That's the same as giving away your negs and the copyright. That = sales. In the past I'd never do this. But as this seems to be the trend - many fotogs don't even include an album or "hard" prints as part of a package today - I will have to alter my approach.

So I will start offering CD's, but at a price that would approximate my LOST sales of actual reprints. This cost will be on top of the main album package fee. The challenge is to calculate a competitive market fee that clients will consider reasonable, without me feeling like I just gave the store away. It's kind of like how much are people willing to pay each month for cable, or DSL service, before going to a competitor.

BTW, my regular day job is as an IT manager also :D .


Waving at eveyone one :D

I was photographer / studio owner for over 28 years using cameras most around here would not even heard of. During those 28 years I photographed over 400 weddings and towards the end, was one of he highest priced photogrpahers in the area.

With that said, I went out to become an IT manager, but alas have found (and I do not believe Im saying this) I miss the business. Add to that the concept of having 120 (6x7 or higher) quality in the size of the 35 SLR, it's just too much to pass up. I have to get back into it. I still have about 600 sq ft of my old studio available all out fitted with backgrounds, Photogenic studio lights (are they still in business?) and the crowing touch of a hugh north light window for some fo the most pure beautiful light I have ever photographed with. ( For some who may not know, the first protrait photograhers used North light before there was something called electricty.)

After talking with some photographers friends of mine, I have pretty much settled in on picking up a few Canon 5D's and setting up shop again.

Now the question. All of my known pricing models were based on film/copyright, low sitting fees, with keeping neg ownership and charging higher print prices. Im not so sure that works now days. So what are you guys doing for pricing models?
Im thinking of charging higher sitting fees ($ for labor), client gets owner ship and can hire me for any printing or misc services they need ...

Any help would be appreciated.

Llaamaboy

[sapearl]

I'm curious why you left the business if it was so lucrative?

Waving at eveyone one :D
.....During those 28 years I photographed over 400 weddings and towards the end, was one of he highest priced photogrpahers in the area.
Llaamaboy

[llaamaboy]

I'm curious why you left the business if it was so lucrative?

I was tired. Digi cameras were $27K , Kodak copy machines were hitting Wall Mart, margins were shrinking as I was slowing getting into more higher volume markets. I was doing more posed traditional weddings and all the markets seem to be demanding something else, something that looked like a whole new round of investment at the high point of the price curve.

Thats when I was offered a corporate package to help a small telecommunications/telephone company grow - an offer I took. I had purchased a 5 unit apartment building and turned it into a studio with 3 camera rooms. I put the studio back into apartments, keeping only one of he camera rooms (my favorite one) and made more $$ that I had seen in along time.

But, I miss it. Technology has matured and it looks "fun" again. Many of my old clients keep asking me to get back into the studio as my corp is "going to the next level" ( longer hours, more pressure, more responsibillity). And guess what, I'm not getting younger. I helped one of my former assistants with a larger wedding and really loved it. It actually felt good to get in the saddle again. My wedding self took over and only felt a little out of sorts becasue of the equipment, it was not an extension of me like my old equipment so I had to think of the equipment as much as the next shot.

With my now IT background, Im just as excited to see how to use the technology to wow people and boost sales. One idea it to take 2 20" screens and use Apature to presend a slide show at the reception of the photos done so far - it all seems so doable. Get a small team of the right people and go for it! :D

[PineCone]

i read about how much you can charge there in america and all i can do is salivate at the prospect of earning that much... pls do understand that the conversion rate is 50x more :) ... we can only charge so much where i'm from... i'm still hoping rates here will change for the better as i grow into the wedding photography business :) more power to us all

[sapearl]

Things are not always as they appear. Yes, there are individuals in the wedding photography business who actually are making top dollar and getting quite wealthy, but these people are the exception rather than the rule.

The vast majority of wedding/studio/event photographers make a modest living as the result of hard work and long hours. With "easy amateur digital" and the promise of "instant pictures" for your injkjet and email, competition is extremely tough. Many clients perceive digital as easy, fast and cheap, so don't want to pay the $$$ for quality work.

I am extremely fortunate - I've had a very good paying regular job with benefits and medical that enables me to do weddings, bar-mitzvahs and events on the weekend. During an economic slump, I don't have to worry about my photography business going under. I just continue on my regular income. Many are not this fortunate and there is constant studio as well as individual turnover in the trade.

i read about how much you can charge there in america and all i can do is salivate at the prospect of earning that much... pls do understand that the conversion rate is 50x more :) ... we can only charge so much where i'm from... i'm still hoping rates here will change for the better as i grow into the wedding photography business :) more power to us all

[llaamaboy]

i read about how much you can charge there in america and all i can do is salivate at the prospect of earning that much... pls do understand that the conversion rate is 50x more :) ... we can only charge so much where i'm from... i'm still hoping rates here will change for the better as i grow into the wedding photography business :) more power to us all

Coming from a rural area, I know what you mean. "City" photographers just charge more. (But then, normally, they have to, it costs more to live.)

Pine Cone ... cream rises to the top - its a fact. A lot of photograhers go to seminars and them come home to do the same thing. They will see an article in a magazine about some new thing someone is doing and then go out to copy that "thing".

A little story here ... There was a thing called "West Coast School" when I was a younger photogrpher. The Bay Area (San Francisco) chapter of PPA (Prof Photographers of America) would get some of the "hottest" national photographers and we would take week long classes. On one such trip, a bay area photographer friend and I stopped by a studio on the way to West Coast one year. At the studio I saw one of the most wonderful side light lighting set up I had ever seen. The restults were stunning - they blew me away. It was the abosulte corner stone of the studios booming children business.

The point to the story ... the photographers had seperated herself from the crowd of photograhers, and come up with some that is special only to her. She led and was not following ... it was a huge lesson to me. The one thing I morphed into me from West Coast that year was the desire to become my own photographer - to stop blindly following.

If you read my story above ... I closed when I no longer cared after so many years. It would have been possible to adapt to the changing markets, but my mindset told me it was not worth the fight. My mindset now, tells me I can do almost anything and do it well.

Living in the Corp world for the last 6 years has taught me that at that point in time, I was my own worst enemy and I think that fits many photographers ... espeically the younger ones. Some of the things I hear from the local photographers stun me and I understand why my clients are asking me to come back ...

I hope that helps.