Is $200 you session fee, is it the total they must purchase or both.
$200 is my fee for a 1 hr session. Includes my travel time, pre/post shoot consult, and full size digital images. There's no min print purchase amount. Client can print/use digital images as they please. I set my profit print pricing at 100% for paper prints, and at 25% for everything else.
$200 is my fee for a 1 hr session. Includes my travel time, pre/post shoot consult, and full size digital images. There's no min print purchase amount. Client can print/use digital images as they please. I set my profit print pricing at 100% for paper prints, and at 25% for everything else.
Please do not take this in offense but you are realy cutting yourself short finacially. This is a contributing factor why so many pros are going out of business. The public believes they are overcharged. You are making a profit but sooooooo many will do it for much less. Ouch!
Please do not take this in offense but you are realy cutting yourself short finacially. This is a contributing factor why so many pros are going out of business. The public believes they are overcharged. You are making a profit but sooooooo many will do it for much less. Ouch!
No offense taken! Why/how do you think I'm leaving money on the table?
Btw, you take twice as much gear as I do. I bring what I can carry in a medium size bag (1 camera, 2 lenses, flash, and assessories), and what I can hold in my hands (tripod, step stool and a reflector)...that's it!
I take what I need to get the job done......I'm not always sure of the lighting conditions at the spot chosen so I'm prepared for anything and only use what I need. Not all are used.
Money on the table.....refer to post #24. You have roughly about $50 per hour so called profit. Then did you pay sales tax, fica, insurance etc? If this was all you were doing could you support your fiamily on that $200? If not are you happy with the profit as a hobby after you consider all your expenses? Could you have made just as much as a WalMart greeter without any of the equipment cost.....just thinking out loud. I do want all to succeed but is the field level?
My photog gig is just a side gig...my photog earning potential can't even come close to my "real" job. I really do enjoy photographing people and spend more than half mine time doing photography volunteer work (zoo/museum, help-portrait, and a local autism awareness group). The photog gig pays for the expensive camera toys (that I would have purchased even without the gig).
The business side of my photog gig certainly comes into play on where I land on the perfection spectrum but it's not the driver. Behind the camera and interacting with people is so much fun, behind the computer editing a pimple is not.
The business side of my photog gig certainly comes into play on where I land on the perfection spectrum but it's not the driver. Behind the camera and interacting with people is so much fun, behind the computer editing a pimple is not.
Then nail it in camera whenever possible, and farm out any necessary retouching to somebody else
IMO, you can't get away with NO post-processing these days, at least not when shooting portraits. I'm not saying that everything needs to look like a fashion-spread, but I think client expectations have been raised in the digital age.
Of course, it used to be hours in the darkroom, inhaling chemicals, so there was always work to be done that wasn't actual shooting. Frankly, I prefer doing the work at a computer screen to film developing, but that's just me....
Then nail it in camera whenever possible, and farm out any necessary retouching to somebody else
IMO, you can't get away with NO post-processing these days, at least not when shooting portraits. I'm not saying that everything needs to look like a fashion-spread, but I think client expectations have been raised in the digital age.
Of course, it used to be hours in the darkroom, inhaling chemicals, so there was always work to be done that wasn't actual shooting. Frankly, I prefer doing the work at a computer screen to film developing, but that's just me....
I just give them my best. I honestly take better photos when it's for something personal, however. When I have to photograph general portraits they end up being pretty ordinary, mostly because people already know what they want their portraits to look like before I even start taking pictures, and that vision is usually pretty cliche...
At least that's how it seems to be with high school seniors.
Comments
$200 is my fee for a 1 hr session. Includes my travel time, pre/post shoot consult, and full size digital images. There's no min print purchase amount. Client can print/use digital images as they please. I set my profit print pricing at 100% for paper prints, and at 25% for everything else.
facebook.com/robertchenphotography
Please do not take this in offense but you are realy cutting yourself short finacially. This is a contributing factor why so many pros are going out of business. The public believes they are overcharged. You are making a profit but sooooooo many will do it for much less. Ouch!
www.cameraone.biz
For you or the subject?:D
No offense taken! Why/how do you think I'm leaving money on the table?
Btw, you take twice as much gear as I do. I bring what I can carry in a medium size bag (1 camera, 2 lenses, flash, and assessories), and what I can hold in my hands (tripod, step stool and a reflector)...that's it!
facebook.com/robertchenphotography
Money on the table.....refer to post #24. You have roughly about $50 per hour so called profit. Then did you pay sales tax, fica, insurance etc? If this was all you were doing could you support your fiamily on that $200? If not are you happy with the profit as a hobby after you consider all your expenses? Could you have made just as much as a WalMart greeter without any of the equipment cost.....just thinking out loud. I do want all to succeed but is the field level?
www.cameraone.biz
The business side of my photog gig certainly comes into play on where I land on the perfection spectrum but it's not the driver. Behind the camera and interacting with people is so much fun, behind the computer editing a pimple is not.
facebook.com/robertchenphotography
Then nail it in camera whenever possible, and farm out any necessary retouching to somebody else
IMO, you can't get away with NO post-processing these days, at least not when shooting portraits. I'm not saying that everything needs to look like a fashion-spread, but I think client expectations have been raised in the digital age.
Of course, it used to be hours in the darkroom, inhaling chemicals, so there was always work to be done that wasn't actual shooting. Frankly, I prefer doing the work at a computer screen to film developing, but that's just me....
Absolutely! except for farming out retouching.
facebook.com/robertchenphotography
At least that's how it seems to be with high school seniors.
I'm more inclined to fine art I guess.