Photography pricing. Per shoot or per image?

I am looking for advice on what works out better for those of you who are paid photographers on here.
Charging per shoot or per image. Per image is very popular now, but I'll set up a mock example with, experience being 1-2 years. If you have another way of doing things, please leave your thoughts.

I charge $100 for a 1 hr shoot for someone who want new images for a dating site
This includes 2 looks/4 locations, and the per image cost after is $50
Within this headshots are taken, and then the 2 outfits. 3 potential sales/looks
You need to pay a stylist $70 from this.

Questions:
Would you have your rates higher than $50 per image, and if so what do you think a client would be ok with, or would what you be fine with charging (using the dating site scenario)
Would you use a scenario such as $80 for the first image then $50 each one after?
Would you place these prices on your website?

Scenario 2. Also a 1 hr shoot at $250
2 looks including headshots
Client gets to choose from a proof sheet, 3 images that will be retouched
Stylist still gets $70
Earnings $180 for 1 hrs work plus your time for editing.

Question: Better or worse?

There are many different ways to run a business- pick the one that suits your personality and business model.

Do you like after shoot sales and meetings? Are you personable and good in face to face sales? If so, then option 1 may be the most profitable for you, since you have the opportunity to sell after the shoot. You might sell 10 images instead of the 3 in the package. You might also sell none.

Do you prefer to not have to make sales after the shoot, and be done when the editing is? Then option 2 makes the most sense for you- once your images are edited and delivered to your client, the job is done.

There will be clients who prefer one method or the other- some clients prefer to know the total cost up front and be done with it, and others prefer the option of viewing your work before paying for it. Either way, be up front about your pricing, either on your website, or in your first contract with the client.

There also isn't a law that says you can't do both- offer both options and see which the client chooses more often, and which makes the best business sense for you. Once you have the data after 3, 6, 9, 12 months, you can evaluate your business model and make changes as needed.

Qlayer2 wrote in post #18295144
There are many different ways to run a business- pick the one that suits your personality and business model.

Do you like after shoot sales and meetings? Are you personable and good in face to face sales? If so, then option 1 may be the most profitable for you, since you have the opportunity to sell after the shoot. You might sell 10 images instead of the 3 in the package. You might also sell none.

Do you prefer to not have to make sales after the shoot, and be done when the editing is? Then option 2 makes the most sense for you- once your images are edited and delivered to your client, the job is done.

There will be clients who prefer one method or the other- some clients prefer to know the total cost up front and be done with it, and others prefer the option of viewing your work before paying for it. Either way, be up front about your pricing, either on your website, or in your first contract with the client.

There also isn't a law that says you can't do both- offer both options and see which the client chooses more often, and which makes the best business sense for you. Once you have the data after 3, 6, 9, 12 months, you can evaluate your business model and make changes as needed.

This is good advice.

dylan84 wrote in post #18295071
I am looking for advice on what works out better for those of you who are paid photographers on here.
Charging per shoot or per image. Per image is very popular now, but I'll set up a mock example with, experience being 1-2 years. If you have another way of doing things, please leave your thoughts.

I charge $100 for a 1 hr shoot for someone who want new images for a dating site
This includes 2 looks/4 locations, and the per image cost after is $50
Within this headshots are taken, and then the 2 outfits. 3 potential sales/looks
You need to pay a stylist $70 from this.

Questions:
Would you have your rates higher than $50 per image, and if so what do you think a client would be ok with, or would what you be fine with charging (using the dating site scenario)
Would you use a scenario such as $80 for the first image then $50 each one after?
Would you place these prices on your website?

Scenario 2. Also a 1 hr shoot at $250
2 looks including headshots
Client gets to choose from a proof sheet, 3 images that will be retouched
Stylist still gets $70
Earnings $180 for 1 hrs work plus your time for editing.

Question: Better or worse?

"Earnings $180 for 1 hrs work plus your time for editing" speaks to me of a troubling attitude toward the value of one's time.

The session is one hour, but you've probably spent considerably more time on that client than one hour. Besides the editing time, there is all the image handling time to consider before you call the job "done." There is the communication and consultation time. There is certainly the transportation to and from the site.

All that time is time that you're not shooting another session...it's time that the client should be paying you for. It's not "billable time," but your session and other fees should account for all of it.

I sell packages with options. A package is designed to provide a decent minimum selection to the client at a bottom price that is worthwhile. But options are available. Rather like buying a car--a base model is fully suitable to drive off the lot and enjoy, but if you want options, you can pay more for them.

Another thing to consider is that New York prices are not the same as Podunk prices, so what's your market?
What's your competition charging?
IMO, if everyone buys them, then they're too cheap.
If 5-7 people buy them, then they're priced about right.
If nobody buys them, then they're too expensive for your market.

RDKirk wrote in post #18295221
"Earnings $180 for 1 hrs work plus your time for editing" speaks to me of a troubling attitude toward the value of one's time.

The session is one hour, but you've probably spent considerably more time on that client than one hour. Besides the editing time, there is all the image handling time to consider before you call the job "done." There is the communication and consultation time. There is certainly the transportation to and from the site.

All that time is time that you're not shooting another session...it's time that the client should be paying you for. It's not "billable time," but your session and other fees should account for all of it.

I sell packages with options. A package is designed to provide a decent minimum selection to the client at a bottom price that is worthwhile. But options are available. Rather like buying a car--a base model is fully suitable to drive off the lot and enjoy, but if you want options, you can pay more for them.

^
A very important concept, especially given the fact that the average digital photographer spends a lot of time postprocessing all shots simply for presentation of previews -- unlike the considerably time-lightened burden for film photographers decades ago, who sent his film into a professional lab and waited for the preview prints to come back from the lab, and who had factored in the lab costs into the package pricing!
By my standards, you wedding/event guys today are 'slave labor', who also give up all your shots on burned DVD as a standard practice we would not have consdered in the days of film!

PhotosGuy wrote in post #18295225
Another thing to consider is that New York prices are not the same as Podunk prices, so what's your market?
What's your competition charging?
IMO, if everyone buys them, then they're too cheap.
If 5-7 people buy them, then they're priced about right.
If nobody buys them, then they're too expensive for your market.

Another commonly made mistake in these 'what do you guys charge?' threads is the failure to understand that the market rates are very geographically specific. What we pay for housing in SF Bay metropolitan area is considerable higher than what they pay in Merced CA in the central valley...and labor rates need to provide a suitable standard of living for photographers in both markets! Doctors' compensation for the same medical services are considered for geographic location and paid via geographic adjustment factors, according to standard Medicare pay practices, for example.

Hay Qlayer2 the first option is generally more popular in Australia, though i think your advice is great with evaluating after time.

As i will be sending a proof sheet to the client it takes away the need for the face to face selling part, and i will have the rates on my site to, such as ($80 for the first shot, then $60 each one after). If that doesn't end up going as planned then i'll go with option 2

Thankyou

Yes i do agree RDKirk and it caps my earnings.

This is interesting - "A package is designed to provide a decent minimum selection to the client at a bottom price that is worthwhile" Could you give me an example of this if you don't mind

Thankyou

Hi PhotosGuy what i'm doing has surprisingly very little competition, and his rates are way to low, plus how website setup and what he offers. I like you advice own averages for the 5-7, that will give me an idea of my price setup working or not.

Thanks