How much to charge as a beginner ?

gerfoto

New member
Hello all,

I am just wondering to charge for a session. I have talent, i take good photos but i am just new in the photo business world.

$200 hr ?

Any package !

Thanks a lot for your help,
 
There is no set fee for beginners. First you check your local area and see what the going rates are. If you have not shot professionally before that should be reflected in your fees. You need time to build a professional portfolio.
 

kkchan

Senior Member
It depends on what kind of photo session.
I suggest to just charge a set price, and determine how much time you need to get the job done.
My theory is to get it done quick and good, and collect the monie asap. Many people will refuse to pay a deposit to a beginner, also be prepare for that.
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
There are tools available by the PPA and others to help capture costs associated with doing business and working back from there into a fee for sessions. I would highly recommend leveraging such a tool (doesn't have to be the PPA's, any type of project tracker will probably work) to figure out what you need to net to break even. Once you know your costs, then you can play with the "salary" portion to adjust as you can more clients/experience/referrals/etc.
 

Bill4282

Senior Member
You may want to "apprentice" with an established photographer in the genre you want to shoot. Work for free and training until you get all the little things learned that they don't teach in books.

SgtUSMC, Viet Vet (in country), AmLegion, VFW, LifeNRA, DAV
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
You may want to "apprentice" with an established photographer in the genre you want to shoot. Work for free and training until you get all the little things learned that they don't teach in books.

Great suggestion! I also agree that networking with local photographers is also a good thing ... whether working with them as an apprentice or second shooter, or just gathering at local shoots, etc.
 

Fortkentdad

Senior Member
My only experience has been a shooting some family events for some friends - told them to pay me what they thought it was worth. ($100 from one, $300 from the other). Spent about 2-3 hours at their event (and I ate their food and enjoyed their company) then many hours processing the images. I'll be following this discussion because I'm retiring sometime in the next year or three and considering trying to make my gear pay for itself by taking on some requests, certainly not interested in a full time business but a little extra cash to fund my NAS when my day job income is gone.
 

Jr1

Banned
Hahaha here we go again

Personally I would think more of how not to get sued as a "working photographer" if you charge so much a £1

Do you have..........

public liability insurance
Public indemnity insurance (look it up)
Spare bodies for when one DOES die
Bodies with TWO card slots as one will fail you need the other as backup
Flash modifiers for indoors (do NOT use them outdoors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZvMWmCFYmk
Spare batteries and cards GOOD cards not cheap makes
 
Hahaha here we go again

Personally I would think more of how not to get sued as a "working photographer" if you charge so much a £1

Do you have..........

public liability insurance
Public indemnity insurance (look it up)
Spare bodies for when one DOES die
Bodies with TWO card slots as one will fail you need the other as backup
Flash modifiers for indoors (do NOT use them outdoors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZvMWmCFYmk
Spare batteries and cards GOOD cards not cheap makes


Lets not be so personal here. And you don't need to post on every single post in the forum.
 

STM

Senior Member
I usually charge a non-refundable $40 sitting fee ($60 if it is a location shoot). This secures the time and if the people flake you are not left without any compensation. Although I offer several packages with various image sizes (printed by an outside lab in South FL who do a fantastic job), some people want to go on the cheap and just get their files and get them printed somewhere else. I usually charge them by the size of the image. If it would cost me $4 to have an 8x10 printed, I charge them $12 for the JPEG(!) image. If people want your RAW files, tell them that they, just like negatives/slides, are the intellectual property of the photographer and are not for sale. If they balk.............NEXT!

Also, get the transaction ON PAPER and provide a receipt for the sitting fee as well as the finished prints/images. This is very important as it protects both parties and makes you look much more professional, even if you are just starting out.
 
Last edited:

spb_stan

Senior Member
A pro photographer who makes a living is often not the best photographer but is a competent business person who takes care of the business aspects.

At what level do you see an opportunity in your area? How much market research have you done? What does everyone else charge and who are major potential clients using now? Are you going to open a studio? If so, how many months can you support yourself and cover costs before it needs to make a profit?
If it is just casual, someone likes a photo and asks you for a casual or home session, it is better not to charge anything to ask for a proposal.
What genre do you have commercial applicable experience? If it is, say weddings, don't do it....not until you have second shot 50 weddings with a photographer you respect. Weddings are too high pressure and too expensive to ruin by not having everything handled without screwups.
Home or studio portraits are more forgiving and slower paced but do 15 or more full sessions start to finish for free to build a portfolio and have other people pick the photos to include in your portfolio. Do your experimenting with lighting before client it present. What sets lifestyle and portrait photographers apart from the average is posing skill, it is one of the hardest things to do for people who are not naturally gregarious and people empathetic.
Do you have the needed lighting systems and enough modifiers to meet the challenges a session in someones home or outdoor will have?
Can you post an image you think represents your world that would apply to your clients. Don't be shy to ask people you think would be good models for your portfolio for free session and rights to use the photos. Even if you have to pay a professional model who had good experience it is well worth seeing how a real model works to assume the varied "looks" they present to the camera, good models are very body aware and you can learn a lot from them in posing, and that alone can set you apart from the crowd. Beginning model only occasionally have those skills, so don't pay them unless they have something to teach you.
As others have suggested, interning in a studio seeing the business side, workflow, session management, and lighting setups is the best education you could get. Even volunteering as gofer for a wedding shooter, to haul gear and hold fishpole lights will be a great education, until you are asked to 3rd or even second shoot for them. Do it for free, if they are really in demand offer to pay to work for them for a while.
When the whole scene of business, forms, customer relations, studio management and session workflow is well understood you can consider going on your own. The business of photography is no different from a furniture store or auto body shop it is a business where the product just happens to be one you like as a hobby. The same skills that make the auto body shop or furniture store successful apply to the photography business. The product just has a different name and technical process.
Photography and restaurants are the most common hobbies that people try to apply to making income from their hobby. Most good cooks are told by friends they need to open a restaurant. Worst advice ever. A good restaurant assumes a good product, but whether it is a going business is determined by the owner/manager having the desire to be in the restaurant business....entirely different skill set and temperament than being a good cook.

Good luck, remember...intern...
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
I think I would start out taking the above advice, and also try to shoot sessions for friends and family for a while until you see what works and what doesn't. Weddings can be very stressful, and much is expected of you. Be prepared to encounter many forms of Bridezilla.
 
Top