I am looking to charge and advertise for portraits in my area. I live in a pretty small place, so I don't feel that it is proper to call and ask the future competition what they charge, as there are only a handful of photographers here. So I took to online to see what they charge and only found 2 with websites. The one lady charges $75 per session (1-3 hours with the person/people on location without backdrops... such as outdoor pics). To get the CD and rights to all the photos from that session, she charges $325. The other website was a guy that charged per photo (e.g. $15 for an 8X10, $1 for wallet size, etc). He will shoot with his portable backgrounds, outdoors, etc.
This leads me to some questions. If a person charges for the session (or sitting fee), than are the prints extra? The guy that charges for the prints, didn't mention a sitting fee on his website. But the lady that charges a sitting fee didn't mention what the prints cost. My second question is what are some general prices that you have heard of, or what do you charge? And what do you charge extra for a CD or portraits? I realize that it varies by area and so this is probably too general to get an accurate answer for my area, but I still wanted to ask. As a beginner (to the professional/charging realm) should I price less for the first year or so, till I have a reputation in the field? I don't want to under price, get a clientele and than have to raise my price though, which can cause unhappy repeat customers. I am also cautious of under-selling my work. I look at what Walmart or those that have a setup with portable backgrounds and show up to the schools and offer packages for under $30.
Any helpful tips for starting out would be great. I had someone approach me today, and say that they saw some of my photographs and wanted some professional photos of their grandchildren. They asked if I would be interested. I said that of course I would, but I have to look around and see what local pricing is. I have done photographs for friends, but want to start it professionally. And now I have my first request for a client. So I need to figure out the pricing thing.
