The Going Rate For Photography

I've been interested in photography for about two or so years now, and it has only been a hobby up until tonight. I was asked by a friend if I would be interested in taking promotional photos of his band for their EPK. I accepted the offer and have spent the last week or so researching portrait photography/band photos but not once did I come across the general wage for photographers. So I'm wondering what the going rate for photographers is. Is the time taken to process the photos included in the job? If I arrive on time for the job and the band/subjects aren't ready or need a half hour or so to organise things should also have an impact on the price? I am so lost with this whole thing.

Oh, and if you're wondering I ended up charging the band $40 for the two hour shoot tonight.

There is no "going rate" for commissioning an artist. It comes down to what the artist thinks he/she is worth, and what the client thinks the artist is worth.

My only other comment is that after you do enough work at $20/hour (not including processing time), you will soon reach the conclusion that the combination of your true investment of time, plus the other costs of doing business, render that rate unacceptably low.

Agreed. Unfortunately, there's no going rate. Well actually let me correct that..., somewhere between $0- to in excess of $100,000 per day if you book Annie Liebovitz to shoot the job... and just about everything in-between.

Come up with a price that works for you and be hopeful that it works for your client as well. If it doesn't, change your price or find another client.

Best of luck-

Ahh, thank you. I've just gone through the images and there are around 100 or so that came out well enough to give to the band. There are more than twenty photos that need to be touched up in Photoshop. I am extremely resentful that I didn't ask for more than $40, I am damn certain the band would have paid something around the $100 mark.

Resentful of whom?
Hey it's all part of the learning process. You'll have a better idea what to charge next time. Chalk it up to experience and drive on.

Or, you could just refer the next band to Annie Liebovitz. I hear she could use the cash.

Superguitarbitch wrote in post #14462939
So I'm wondering what the going rate for photographers is. Is the time taken to process the photos included in the job?

Is the time taken to cook your hamburger included in the price, or just the cost of the ingredients? If you are doing it just for fun then work out how long the whole job will take and add on expenses (gas etc).

If your doing it as a business you need to work out all your business costs including, insurance, some money towards the cost of existing/future equipment, profit for you and money for the tax man - and use that to calculate your hourly/day rate. Then add on any expenses for the particular job (studio hire, travel, etc).

Yes you should always plan to have some set up time and yes that is part of the job so you charge for it.

Superguitarbitch wrote in post #14466246
I've just gone through the images and there are around 100 or so that came out well enough to give to the band. There are more than twenty photos that need to be touched up in Photoshop. I am extremely resentful that I didn't ask for more than $40, I am damn certain the band would have paid something around the $100 mark.

Just because you have 100 images that doesn't mean you have to give them all of them. Pick the 20 best ones and show them those. Then show them the 20 that need post production and say "I also have these which are good but would need a couple of hours work in post production - for which I would need to charge more." - They may not want them but at least there is a chance that if they do you can double your money.

When I was starting out I would shoot interesting subjects for free just to build the portfolio and start changing after I had a strong portfolio

Yes, that was a terribly low rate, but it's a learning process. Yes, editing should always be included in the price because it's something you're going to have to do and you wouldn't be doing it if it weren't for the photos you just took of them, so yeah, it's included. That really works both ways though; the photographer doesn't want un-edited photos out there and the customer shouldn't really want them either. For a portrait shoot I charge $175 an hour, that includes 7-10 photos, processed. That might be low where you are or it might be high, but it's right in the upper middle where I am so it also depends on area.

You worked for .40c a photo.