How much to charge?!

I know most photographers have their own "deals" or "Packages" or "prices" for everything, my question is: What was your price when you began?!
I looked on snapm and most of the photographers were anywhere from $50-$200 that I saw, so I am wondering, do I "join the mass" or should I undercut ($25) since I am a newbie?!
Thanks!
Parker

Keep in mind, if you charge less, it can backfire. People shop around and this thought will go through their head "Man, this photographer is so cheap, he/she must suck"

Charge a reasonable rate. Thats what I would say.

I guess a good question is "what's a reasonable price?"
I mean... $200 an HOUR seems riddiculous... but that's my newbie mind, and I am not sure what that hour includes!? Better have an eggroll at the end of it! (any robot Chicken fans?!)

Ah but you need to remember that 200 an hour covers a lot of things...such as equipment, rent, gas, your costs.

Creative fee is what you pay yourself per hour, or your wage; what you value your time as. Then there's Uncle Sam.
Each hour that you shoot you will have about 3-4 hours of preparation time such as retouching, printing, shipping, packaging, handling...not necessarily in that order (so you are actually working 5 hours instead of 1 hour).

If you disregard your expenses and costs let's now look at it:
$200/5 hours
=$50/hour

Based on that 200 could be way too low for you...just depends on what your cost of doing business is..and how much business you get.

Figure out your overhead, figure out how many sessions you can do in a month (schedule them ahead of time, or keep a calendar on your desk), figure out what you need to survive...and then do a cost analysis.

If you don't know any of how to do the above, go talk to an accountant and spend the best cash you'll ever spend if you get them to set up your books, guide you through how to do them and fill them out, how to properly price yourself and your services and what kind of taxes you can claim, if any.

Some even do that stuff for free.

Ideally you want to make somewhere in the realm of $40-100/hour (all of those hours)...or you will have to do something like 500-600 shoots, paid, with no complications, a year...in order to live in today's world. Undercut to your heart's desire, but you'll be out of business in a year and you will have pissed off the essential members of your local network who, otherwise, may actually become your close colleagues and friends. ...and friends help out each other, at least mine do. It's not what you do its who you know, and what they know how to do to find you both the best outcome. Moreover you will be seen as the "budget photographer" and attract only the budget clients, who will tell their budget friends...not that they are bad clients or anything, it's virtually impossible (IMO) to compete with walmart. So don't get stuck in the mindset; lower prices means more clients...while the photographers around you laugh all the way to the bank.

Luckily my Godfather is a tax broker, so I can talk to him about financial set up (my dad workED under him for a while, but it's been a few years... and honestly I don't want to go on his memory of what things USED to be like...before I was born!)
I think I will set my cost to $50 an hour and see what happens, I looked and saw that my only "competition" in my zip code is $128 an hour, so anyone who can see both of our prices may think I am way under, but you can't help but see the front page range of $45-$450

Before you know what to charge you need to find out what it will COST you. What are your expenses to do a shoot. Time, travel, equipment use, equipment rental if needed, location fees when needed, printing costs...etc...etc. Once you have all this in hand it becomes kind easy to find your bottom price. If you go too low you are basicaly paying them to shoot them. So you need to find a comfortable profit margin.

I did a lot of research prior to officially starting a business. There are some great photographers in my area. Some of whom have been around for 30+ years. I reviewed what they offered and how much they charged. Some offered packages and some didn't. I sat down and took the information I gathered and set my pricing. I had a couple of others review the information I had and give feedback. I felt that undercutting the others was not in the best interest of business. However, I also felt that I couldn't match prices simply because of their current portfolio and experience. However, I set my prices competitive enough to give potential options. Hope this makes sense.

Good point Mark1, as it stands right now, operating costs are VERY small!
asysin2leads: That did make sense, the thing is I have *none* of the equipment my "competetors" have, so I feel I *need* to be cheaper than them...

jpbimages wrote in post #9677579
Good point Mark1, as it stands right now, operating costs are VERY small!
asysin2leads: That did make sense, the thing is I have *none* of the equipment my "competetors" have, so I feel I *need* to be cheaper than them...

Don't sell yourself short. I started w/ an XT and a 28-135. Granted my equipment might not be the latest, greatest equipment, but it's dang fine equipment. Don't let your equipment dictate whether or not you're ready to be in the market. Let your work determine that. If you put out a marketable product, then get in the market.

A while back I had a chance to talk with a guy that charged $1,000.00 a day. At first I thought he was nuts but after doing several different gigs I realized he wasn't too far out of line.

It all depends on your overhead for each shoot and the end product(s) you are providing to the customer.

Jon.

Hey, guys, i am fairly new to the forums, but i own a consulting business and consult new consultants as to what to charge. I agree with the above, and looked at all of that when i set up my photography business. However, i would encourage another thought, as well.

What are you worth? What is your value? How much do you value you, your time, your knowledge, your abilities, etc? I would not want to undercut the competition for reasons shared above. However, i also would not want to undercut them, because i value my value way too much. (I'm not being conceited.)
'
I am trying to share that you and I have much more value to our clients and customers than what we really believe we do. And when you begin to think that "i'm new; I'm this or I'm that," then you are cutting your own value, and your customers will see that you do not value you as you should, so why should they. IMHO.

pauld1946 wrote in post #9678073
Hey, guys, i am fairly new to the forums, but i own a consulting business and consult new consultants as to what to charge. I agree with the above, and looked at all of that when i set up my photography business. However, i would encourage another thought, as well.

What are you worth? What is your value? How much do you value you, your time, your knowledge, your abilities, etc? I would not want to undercut the competition for reasons shared above. However, i also would not want to undercut them, because i value my value way too much. (I'm not being conceited.)
'
I am trying to share that you and I have much more value to our clients and customers than what we really believe we do. And when you begin to think that "i'm new; I'm this or I'm that," then you are cutting your own value, and your customers will see that you do not value you as you should, so why should they. IMHO.

Good point. Nice to see another Buckeye on here. Used to travel through Wooster (pronounced like wuss and not like rooster) all the time on my way to Massillon.

Thanks, Kevin. Wooster is a great place to live and operate a national company, by the way.

Many thanks to you pauld! I do want to keep as reasonable as possible, I would love to be able to keep a broad client-el (sp?) (from students to "pro-models") perhaps I should think about student discounts? or is that to..... IDk.... weird?!

jpbimages wrote in post #9677167
I guess a good question is "what's a reasonable price?"
I mean... $200 an HOUR seems riddiculous...

Ever look at what a lawyer or accountant charges per hour and they don't have much in the way of gear, and they don't even bat an eyelash when they hand you a bill for services.