How to Charge for Family Photography?

TMAC

Any thoughts on best way to charge for Family Photography?

I currently charge session fee and then the costs of prints that can be ordered online. However sometimes if client does not buy prints I lose the $$ because of time I've spent on retouching/edit.

Does it make more sense to charge more for session fee and give clients copies of all prints (i.e. 4 x6) and digital files too?

Thoughts and sharing own experience is appreciated.

Cygnus Studios

What has worked best for me is offering X number of prints for X dollars with the option of purchasing other looks via the website.
If you price your initial package properly you ensure a profit whether additional prints are purchased.

samc

My method
I charge the money upfront. An hourly rate, with the client receiving a CD/DVD of images for them to keep. I still retain copyright, but they can print, distribute, etc as they please. I usually put a gallery up for the client's friends, relatives, etc, who want to order prints, but this almost never happens, so it's more of a selling point for the client. Get the money upfront is my method and it works pretty well for me.

TMAC

samc wrote:

I charge the money upfront. An hourly rate, with the client receiving a CD/DVD of images for them to keep. I still retain copyright, but they can print, distribute, etc as they please. I usually put a gallery up for the client's friends, relatives, etc, who want to order prints, but this almost never happens, so it's more of a selling point for the client. Get the money upfront is my method and it works pretty well for me.

I like this idea but wonder if it stops people from purchasing your services because the initial fee is higher?

Also by retaining copyright what does that prevent your clients from doing?

samc

Well, my initial fee isn't insanely priced. I consider it comparable and maybe even a tad cheaper than a lot of others out there. I just want to make sure I get what I consider a fair price for my services.

By retaining copyright, it gives me the right to use the photos for advertising, entering contests, submitting to stock sites, etc. The clients, essentially, cannot use the images to make money, etc (sell to magazines, enter contests and claim they took them).

Mr. 2H2O

samc wrote:

I charge the money upfront. An hourly rate, with the client receiving a CD/DVD of images for them to keep. I still retain copyright, but they can print, distribute, etc as they please. I usually put a gallery up for the client's friends, relatives, etc, who want to order prints, but this almost never happens, so it's more of a selling point for the client. Get the money upfront is my method and it works pretty well for me.

This is my method also but without the CD/DVD - just a private family gallery. You have to sell the service - its just not simply price based - its convenience and value based. One customer commented that they really like this way because they can send the private gallery link to extended family and the family can choose what photos to print - this way the client does not have to spend money on a print size to a complaining family member.

In addition, you can set up your print prices to be a realatively good value markup and encourage prints from Smugmug since they are higher quality than the drugstores and still a good value - drive some small margin sales.

Bottom line - sell the service and its benefits to the clients.

- Mike

ivar

Have you seen this?

mercphoto

TMAC wrote:

Any thoughts on best way to charge for Family Photography?

I currently charge session fee and then the costs of prints that can be ordered online.

Depends entirely on the market you are trying to capture. I'm also curious to what your session fee is. Is it so low that people are willing to walk away without making any purchase? Are you sure they aren't screen grabbing from the site w/o making a purchase at all?

audrey

I charge a session fee and an additional fee for a cd. They can choose 10 images that I edit for the cd. If they don't buy the cd, the only images I edit are the ones they purchase off of smugmug.

sweet caroline

I charge a session fee of $75. Then, they have the option of buying the images or prints. So far, I've never had anyone walk away from photos. I edit images enough to impress the client and make them want to purchase the digital images. People seem to think my prices are pretty reasonable for what they get. Part of what they get is an enjoyable experience because I work well with children.

Caroline