Head Shot Fee

$200.00 for 2 to 4 "good" shots and 1 hour of your time. I'm no pro (far far from it) but I recently took some shots for a young lady who begged me to over my protest of not being a professional photographer and thats what she paid me. After I took the photos and tweaked them a bit she asked "how much" i said "nothing" and she gave me $200 (forced it on me actually). i assume that must be either near the going rate or somewhat below because i have had several more request follow from friends of hers/ours. she came to my house and my stuff is already set up in my makeshift studio. i would think if i had to travel and set things up then that would need to be added to the price.

Lowner wrote in post #16174822
No, you just don't want to answer the question!

I've noticed this "reticence" before, pro's just don't like sharing information.

Go and check out www.production-stills.co.uk/tech-talk then tell me how "pro's don't like sharing information".

I was suggesting to the OP that there are a bunch of considerations that should go into determining pricing and giving him some places to start so he could do so in an informed manner.

RockSlut wrote in post #16178054
Go and check out www.production-stills.co.uk/tech-talk then tell me how "pro's don't like sharing information".

I was suggesting to the OP that there are a bunch of considerations that should go into determining pricing and giving him some places to start so he could do so in an informed manner.

I don't need to check out your web link, Its very apparent from this site over a period of time that pro's are very "careful" when it comes to sharing pricing information. Not just this particular request, but many different ones, the answer is the same - "go figure it out yourself" or words to that effect.

This is not what I'd have expected.

Lowner wrote in post #16177289
None of this is answering the OP's question.

It is not rocket science, so come on, tell the man!

Because there really isn't an answer to the question of what *he* should charge. Had he asked what others might charge, it would be an entirely different situation.

In the OP's area he can probably find competitors charging $50 with a DVD including all raw files or $1000+ for 1-2 retouched shots. Photography pricing is not something that can be established by posting a single line of information on the internet.

This forum is hugely forthcoming with information and there are photographers all over the world many of whom are in this forum sharing intimate information about their businesses with other photographers for free.

How is me telling him I charge £160 for an head shot session on the other side of the planet helpful? It isn't.

Even if I were to compare my work to his the information is pretty meaningless down to a range of considerations including those I suggested in my initial reply.

RockSlut wrote in post #16178132
How is me telling him I charge £160 for an head shot session on the other side of the planet helpful? It isn't.

Oh yes it is, that's exactly what he asked for.

Now how hard was that? You can go and have a sit down now and recover from the shock.

At least $600 per headshot... no... $650

That was useful wasn't it?

Lowner wrote in post #16179576
Oh yes it is, that's exactly what he asked for.

Now how hard was that? You can go and have a sit down now and recover from the shock.

...actually if you had been reading the thread properly you would have noted that several people have posted exact figures: its obvious you haven't though.

So we've had figures of $650 AUS, $600 AUS, $196.51 US, $50.00 US, 160 pounds UK, $130 NZ, another $50.00 US per shot, $150.00 per hour, and $500.00 US. How on earth did you manage to miss all those definitive answers?

So based on the information provided by the OP: which is the correct answer?

The correct answer is still the same: It depends.

I would guess the average around here would be about $100 to maybe $300 tops, depending on the photographer. You could find a facebook momtographer to do it for $50 or you could go to the big studio and pay $300.

I highly doubt that there are any photographers in my area commanding $500 for one head shot, but I could be wrong.

banquetbear wrote in post #16179607
...actually if you had been reading the thread properly you would have noted that several people have posted exact figures: its obvious you haven't though.

So we've had figures of $650 AUS, $600 AUS, $196.51 US, $50.00 US, 160 pounds UK, $130 NZ, another $50.00 US per shot, $150.00 per hour, and $500.00 US. How on earth did you manage to miss all those definitive answers?

So based on the information provided by the OP: which is the correct answer?

I have not missed it at, but to answer your question, only the OP can tell. But at least the requested information is there. Its up to him what use he makes of it. Why it had to be so difficult to obtain I still don't understand.

Lowner wrote in post #16179740
I have not missed it at, but to answer your question, only the OP can tell.

...which, if I'm not mistaken, is exactly the point made in post two that you disputed. Concession accepted.

...the question asked by the OP wasn't "what do you charge." It was "what should I charge." The first question is easily answered and has been answered by people. The second one is not easily answered without more information from the OP. Which is something you have just conceded.

So why are you claiming that something is "difficult to obtain" when it obviously wasn't?

Are you still going to insist that photographers in this forum "don't share" despite overwhelming evidence in this very thread that they do? Are you ever going to actually share with us the details of one of your "multi-million dollar quotes" and the details of your competitors quotes so that we can see if they were only pennies apart or not?

The "answers" given by the photographers in this thread weren't "pennies apart." They were hundreds of dollars apart and that was due to a number of different factors, many of those factors would have been settled if the questions posed in post two of this thread had been answered. But of course this is obvious: and of course you know this. So why you continue to insist otherwise is only a question that you can answer.

Here's the website for one of the better known portrait studios in Texas. This because the OP is located in Texas.

http://www.gittings.co​m

If you can find a price quote on the site without contacting them directly and providing details you did better than I could. If the OP's work is equal to what they can do you could draw some conclusions as to how to price the job. Otherwise it's just guess work.

There are too many factors involved to give a concrete answer to the question.

Headshots for a single client for professional purposes...

I assume that you can get the shot you need in 10 shots or less. Let's assume that you are shooting with strobe's at 1/200th. So, 10 shots equates to 0.05s of shooting. Assuming you need to make $50/hr to sustain your business... means you should charge $0.007

If I remember correctly, Peter Hurley does head shots at $1,000 booking fee. Sends it out to his retoucher that's an added fee. Then to the printing company for $$ per print.
So maybe around $1,200-$1,500 for a headshot session.