Fees for prints from pro studios

[feenomenal]

Howdy...

I'm in the process of designing a website for a professional photo studio. Recently my dad was looking for a studio in town to have some family portrait stuff done, and I recommended the company in question. He went for the sitting, and was very impressed by the professionalism and good work (he's actually a former pro photographer himself, but hasn't worked in photography for several years).

However, when the studio called him with the prices for the prints, he was blown away - $40 for a single 5x7 print. 11 5x7s were $312. And I have to admit I'm a little shocked too. I actually didn't know their pricing yet, and apparently he didn't ask / wasn't informed before the shots were taken.

My question is simply: What are typical prices for prints from a shoot like this? the studio in question specializes in senior portraits (High School seniors) and that kind of thing.

The ower of the studio has told me before that one of their biggest problems is people making prints of the images themselves, printing proof sheets, or even making photocopies of prints. Well, it's a little easier to understand when one print costs 40 bucks.

Thanks.

[robertwgross]

There is no rule. Everybody does it differently.

(A) Some studios will charge you a high sitting fee for their time, and then charge cheap for prints.
(B) Other studios will charge you a low sitting fee, or none at all, and then they charge a high price for prints.

If it is plan A, then the high sitting fee will scare off many customers.

If it is plan B, then some customers will get only a single print made at the high charge, and then they will attempt to scan and print their own duplicates from that. Technically, that would be a violation of the studio's copyrighted photos, although I am sure that it is done by some folks.

When I needed some studio portraits done, I found a studio that offered the sitting and a whole bag of various size prints for one package price that was cheaper than what the prints alone would have cost me. The portrait photography was excellent, although I cannot attest to the professionalism of the model.

---Bob Gross---

[Bruce Hamilton]

The ower of the studio has told me before that one of their biggest problems is people making prints of the images themselves, printing proof sheets, or even making photocopies of prints. Well, it's a little easier to understand when one print costs 40 bucks.

That's also the reason why the studio charges 40 bucks... When you already know they'll take that print to Kinko's and make photocopies, rather than come back to you for quality printing, you have to hit them where it hurts the first time.

[chtgrubbs]

Yeah that would sound about right. We had our photos just done for a church directory and order two 5x7's and four 3 1/2x5' s and the bill was $90 plus shipping and handling.

[MTalley]

I'm sure that most of the higher-priced studios, aside from trying to get their money up front assuming folks will copy the originals to get additional prints, are also adding a fair amount of value for your money (i.e. retouching services, proofing, etc.)

OTOH, if you're handy with a camera, you can "roll your own", so to speak. When my daughter started her senior year of high school last fall, I took my camera and we did a whole afternoon's photoshoot in three locations and five different outfits. I printed off a couple hundred wallets for invitations, and a bunch of 5x7's, 8x10's, etc. for family, on my Epson R800.

After researching various senior portrait packages on the internet and talking to a few co-workers on what they paid, I saved money even after purchasing the Epson and a package of paper for $400 or so. And, what the heck, I did it myself, so there's some pride of ownership on my part.

Granted, that's not everyone's cup of tea, so there are still folks that will pay several hundred dollars to have a complete portrait package done by a professional. Not knocking them at all. They need to feed their families, too.