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Thread started 14 May 2008 (Wednesday) 18:13
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Putting myself out there: How much is my time worth?

 
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May 14, 2008 18:13 |  #1

My website and portfolio: http://www.vegashender​sonphotography.com/por​tfolio.htm (external link)

I currently charge $75/hour for most work with extra included, and discounts for more time. Based on the quality of my work, am I charging too much now?

I would also like to put together a better pricing schema so I can attract more work by dint of an appealing offer money-wise. I want to get more business and I want the prices to be attractive and something people would be willing to pay for my level of work, while making me money.

Thank you!


Las Vegas Wedding Photographer: http://www.joeyallenph​oto.com (external link)

  
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PhotosGuy
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May 14, 2008 22:23 |  #2

Sticky: How much Do I Charge? One of the most often asked questions & 4 pages of comments!

Marketing the value of what we do


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sfaust
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May 14, 2008 22:47 |  #3

Your rates are probably fine for your experience level and what you are doing. Once you progress a bit more, you should be able to double your rates and get it. $125-$150 an hour seems to work out once you crunch the numbers for most small portrait studios. If you are accounting for everything you should be (ie, liability insurance, your time spent on marketing, website, accounting, taxes, planning, archiving images, etc), you'll find that at $75an hour, you're probably taking home $12.37 per hour.

If you aren't accounting for everything related to the business, it will seem like you are really doing well. Right up to the point where you get busy and find yourself working 60 hours a week and at the end of the year you take your net take home salary and divide by 60 hours a week. Then it hits you! Ouch!

So make sure you are taking into account everything. The time you spend on the phone talking with clients should be accounted for. Either taken out of the potential profit from the job, or included in your overhead. Same or when you spend time on building a new website, preparing the taxes at the end of the year, creating a new marketing flying, even taking out the trash. Who is paying for your time doing those chores? The client or you? It all needs to be accounted for and included in your cost structure. Everything you don't account for, gets taken our of your profit. And if you don't think it adds up, take one week and account for everything, then apply it against the jobs worked on that week and see how it shakes out. Most people will be very surprised.

Once you really know what your business costs to run, you won't be asking what you need to charge any more. You'll already have the answers you need to determine it yourself, and compare it against the market and your competition. Its worth putting yourself under the microscope and doing the math, and its the only way you will be guaranteed to know where you really stand.

If someone else says you are charging too little, or two much, how do they really know? They don't know what your costs are. How much you spend each year in advertising. What your insurance costs you. Without knowing, its just a stab in the dark, and not a good way to base the profitability of a business .

Another hint I should pass on regarding your website. You have too many images in your portfolios, and should weed it down to your best. There are quite a few images that are mis-focused and really shouldn't be in there at all. There are also a few that are duplicates with different effects applied. You should pick the best one of those, and use it, but not all. If you want to so the different effects, use different images rather than a series of the same one.

I would also remove the commercial photography reference until you have enough good examples to show. Think of it from a buyers point of view. If they find your site based on searching for a commercial photographer, then only notice one image set of commercial photography, they'll move on. The next time they search, they may never click on your site and gloss over it remembering that you didn't have what they were looking for. And in the mean time, you may have improved dramatically and have a whole slew of great images there. You don't want to dilute your name, but rather come out strong from the beginning.

Bottom line, strengthen up your portfolio, remove the images with issues and only present your strongest stuff. 10 awesome images will overpower 1,000 mediocre ones any day. Then start moving up your rates when you feel confident about it. But in the end, I would say even at your skill level you are on the low side with regard to pricing.

(wow, I went back to proof read and spell check and realized I wrote a book. skipped the proof reading, too much to read :)


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delhi
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May 14, 2008 23:51 |  #4

^ good point. The more streamline with your workflow also helps increase profit margin. It's not all about taking the photos.


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May 15, 2008 00:43 |  #5

As for refining my portfolio and thinning it down, that's fair and I did reduce it somewhat, but I don't think I say I do commercial photography anywhere.


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sfaust
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May 15, 2008 10:41 |  #6

Business to business photography is generally considered commercial. Thats includes products, architecture, interiors, etc. My point was that you list those and have a price page for them on your website, but have very few examples to show. Ie, your product portfolio consists of only two images, both of pajamas and very similar shots. And you list interiors and architecture, but don't have much to show there either.

A buyer looking for a product photographer won't be impressed if they can't see examples of what you list as a service on your website. My suggestion was to leave those off until you can at least offer up 10-20 really nice product shots, then offer that service and charge the going rate.


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May 15, 2008 11:19 |  #7

It's true my product portfolio is currently deficient, and there's little in my "steel" class of photography...but you're coming from a whole other tier of photography skill than I am, and my POV is different because of it. Also, if I don't offer product photography, how will I get hired for any?


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sfaust
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May 15, 2008 13:12 |  #8

Regardless of the tier or skill level I am on, the perspective is still similar. And most professionals will tell you the same thing.

-Don't jump the gun and launch too early with mediocre images.

-Don't show too few images, or try to fill a portfolio with everything under the sun.

-Put your best foot forward, show only your best work.

-Keep the portfolio on target show what you do best

- Don't show images in a genre until you have enough images to carry it.

Its the clients that matter, they are making the decision. Most want to see examples of what they are buying. If a client is comparing two photographers, all things are equal, but one has a lot of good sample images to show, and the other has little to offer, the client is going to have much more confidence in the photographer with a good selection of samples.

The good part is that you don't need to be hired to photograph products. Anything you buy for yourself, or your home, can easily be diverted for a quick photo session before putting it to use. A photographer can easily spend some time during a month or two and end up with a good dozen images for their portfolio. If they can't, perhaps products aren't their thing anyway. Products are probably the easiest genre to pull together a portfolio for is you have the skills. What's hard is celebrity photography. I just can't go buy one at the local store :)


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amfoto1
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May 16, 2008 16:22 |  #9

I'm charged $120-130 labor an hour when someone works on my car.

Think about it. Is a car mechanic more or less trained than most photographers? Perhaps more in some cases, but less in others. He usually has a big investment in tools of the trade, like photographers do. What most mechanics don't have is the overhead of running a business: rents, insurances (liability, health, equipment), business licenses, accounting services, legal services, advertising, marketing and promotion, etc., etc.

Most mechanics work for someone else, and don't actually get paid $120-130 an hour (and this figure varies a lot around the country). They probably get around $35-45 an hour pay, the rest goes toward all the costs of doing business and as profit for their employer.

So, in order to figure our how much to charge, you really need to first figure out your cost of doing business, realistically. Once you can say what that is, per hour, you can figure out a reasonable, living wage to pay yourself over and above those costs.

The other thing you really must do is find out what the competition is charging for similar work. Survey them before you decide, then "position yourself" among them. If you start out as the cheapest photographer in town, you will likely stay the cheapest one in town until the day you file for bankruptcy. If you are the most expensive, your work had darned well better support it, as well as your level of professionalism. Go back and survey the competition from time to time, and adjust accordingly.


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May 17, 2008 09:55 |  #10

Also, if I don't offer product photography, how will I get hired for any?

Product photography covers a LOT of territory, & I agree with Stephen. How does your potential client know if you shoot everything with a light box, or take the time to design your set-up for each individual item?
Look at the knife & Browning threads here:
FAQ - Studio Lighting

If you don't have something to show me, then I wonder why, & I'm on to someone who does. Simple as that.


FrankC - 20D, RAW, Manual everything...
Classic Carz, Racing, Air Show, Flowers.
Find the light... A few Car Lighting Tips, and MOVE YOUR FEET!
Have you thought about making your own book? // Need an exposure crutch?
New Image Size Limits: Image must not exceed 1600 pixels on any side.

  
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sfaust
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May 17, 2008 12:19 |  #11

Exactly.

Many clients can't seem to get their head wrapped around the differences between lighting it with a softbox, or lighting it individually to get the best out of the product. So I use an analogy of getting your car washed. Running your car through a touchless car wash for 5 minutes isn't anywhere as nice as sending it to detailer to get spruced up. The first car looks clean, but the detailed car really sparkles! They seem to get that, and opt for me shooting each product individually and paying more, and they always like the results.

Its nice to have some side by side examples to show the client, and if you are building a portfolio, that would be the time to create those images. Once they can see the difference, they usually want the better one.


Stephen

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Putting myself out there: How much is my time worth?
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