What Do I Charge for a Portrait Session? [Archive]

Bob Hubert

2-Apr-2012, 08:14

Hey All:

I have recently received a number of requests to take some portraits on a commercial level. I have only done portraits in the past as part of my personal photography projects, so I am not familiar with portrait pricing out in the real world. I know there are some portrait photographers that charge for the sitting and then charge for the final prints - but I don't know if there are other business models out there.

I shoot 8X10, black and white in studio. A normal sitting takes me about two hours of time including prep for a total of 6 to 10 exposures. Most of my final prints are between 11X14 and 16X20 in size. These will mostly be personal portraits - parents, children, formal wedding portrait.

I would appreciate hearing from any of you who have charged for your work, what business model you use and what price range you typically charge. Thanks!

vinny

2-Apr-2012, 08:31

"portait pricing out in the real world" the real world is every mom owns a dslr she picked up at target and became a portrait photographer overnight who now charges $25 per sitting. That won't work in your world since film, paper, and chemicals aren't getting any cheaper. Charge as much as you think you can get away with.

Kimberly Anderson

2-Apr-2012, 08:33

Find out what their budget is. Take all of it.

Frank Petronio

2-Apr-2012, 08:52

An 8x10 portrait is special and anyone coming to you knows and expects this.

You have to decide whether you are going to be directed or take charge. Once personal vanity comes into play, collaboration usually fails. So decide what kind of photographer you are - someone who does whatever the client wants or someone who will take charge and edit and control things?

I'd either do free or full price, which would start at $2000 plus expenses. More if you can tell they are going to be difficult and/or they can afford it. This is for personal portrait and display usage only. If it's for an ad or commercial use, start multiplying.

I am controller, I will offer them my pick and perhaps an alternative if I notice they aren't gushing. I do not let people see the outakes. If you do, you'll be trapped in a circle of Hell known to digital wedding photographers and Clik Studio employees. Remember Avedon and Penn didn't let their subjects paw through and art direct unless they were paying 4-5x more than personal portrait rates.

Even if that seems high to you, it isn't if you calculate your cost of doing business and how much you've had to learn and do and waste in order to make a consistently good 8x10 portrait. It's really lowballing to be honest.

If they can't afford it and you find them interesting, then do it for free and make it yours and be explicitly in control, don't let them direct you whatsoever. Quibbling about price devalues everybody. Either give it up generously because you want to make a great photo or say no, I won't do a bad photo for peanuts.

Whenever I have given a "Bro" discount to nice people, it turns into a cluster#$k. No matter how little you charge, they still feel like it is a lot of money and you're working for them instead of doing them a favor and it sucks. They no longer become nice people. Doing anything for a few hundred bucks is a huge mistake and you'll be tempted to many times because you're a nice guy - but learn from my mistakes!

I don't mean it to sound harsh, it should be warm and fun. But be the Alpha here.

Scott Walker

2-Apr-2012, 09:11

I agree 100% with Frank

Bob Hubert

2-Apr-2012, 10:51

Thanks Frank. It sounds like you are speaking from experience. I appreciate your candor.

Bob

Tobias Key

2-Apr-2012, 11:25

Bob

The first thing you need to do is research local market to get an idea what others are charging. You are obviously going to have to charge at the high end of what's available locally, probably you'd have to be the most expensive out there.

look at this site (http://www.alysegause.com) (I presume she's local to you) she charges $300 for a weekend studio portrait and requires a $350 minimum spend on prints. If you can educate the client you could probably charge the same or bit more than this. So it is certainly viable even with your extra costs. You could look to net around $500 per session with out being totally out of whack with the local market.

Bob Hubert

2-Apr-2012, 12:38

Hey Tobias:

Thanks for the information and good advice. You are correct - the photographer you selected is local to me. I found that many photographers would not list their rates, but instead would say something like "call for a quotation". This site was very helpful.

Thanks!

Bob

Ben Syverson

2-Apr-2012, 12:39

Duane Polcou

2-Apr-2012, 12:56

What Frank said is spot on. The problem is that when people spend money, they think they have the right to control things. And some photographers may feel inclined to let clients take control. But clients aren't art directors, they're portrait clients, and as a photographer you should have a better concept of what makes a quality 8x10 portrait then they. So control everything, and usually portrait clients actually feel as though they are in the hands of someone experienced who exudes confidence, and will understand that the money they spent and your control and direction is done to produce superior results.

Tobias Key

2-Apr-2012, 13:48

Don't worry about the local market. If you were opening a restaurant, would you research local fast food prices? Turn up any rock, and a DSLR shooter will crawl out offering to shoot a wedding for $150 or do a portrait session for $50. No research needed.

Look, you can't compete on price. You have to emphasize the unique experience and quality of an 8x10 portrait session, and charge accordingly. Listen to Frank.

With all due respect this is not good advice, you always need to do your market research, and local prices across the US actually do vary quite a bit. You need to find out what your competitors are charging (and by this I mean experienced high end photographers in the portrait market, not wankers who bought a Rebel 3 days ago) - otherwise you might find you are actually under cutting people with lower costs than you. You may decide that what you offer is worth twice or three times what a high end digital photographer charges but that figure will be very different depending on where you live. Prospective clients might have visited a few websites before coming to you - as a photographer you have to understand the market and explain why you're the best option. You simply cannot do this in a vacuum, Frank's $2000 figure might be on the money, might be too expensive or too cheap for the client base you have available to you. Every large company in the US does extensive market research. Why would anyone think that a photography business is any different?

Tobias Key

2-Apr-2012, 14:01

Here's another useful link, Cheryl Jacobs Nicholai shoots 645 film but is very well respected and established, and at least has film costs of some description to deal with.

http://www.cheryljacobsportraits.com/

This guy also shoots 645 Leo Patrone (http://www.leopatronephotography.com/)

Frank Petronio

2-Apr-2012, 14:14

He is correct too, I am sure someone like Riccis charges quite a bit more between his excellent reputation and upscale locations - West Palm is going to pay a lot more than Buffalo.

Notice that most successful and famous photographers shoot a lot for free too - of their choice of subjects.

The downside is if the client is only looking for an average market-priced portrait. An 8x10 shooter can not compete with the more prevalent digital photographers. And that digital photographer, who works at this everyday, may be pretty darned good, camera snobbery aside. You have to sell people on the fact that you use film in the grand tradition and all that, it's just as much marketing as any other factor. The digital photographer might be really good at capturing more spontaneity, so people should understand, you're not going to shoot very quickly, etc.

In some more "rustic" markets I can hear them saying, "That was such a crappy photographer he had to use a fifty-year old camera, poor guy". Haha

Old-N-Feeble

2-Apr-2012, 14:39

ONE... BILLION... DOLLARS!!

Dr. Evil

goamules

2-Apr-2012, 15:06

If it's someone that just knows you're a photographer and thinks they'll get a cut-rate deal, but doesn't know the difference between 8x10 and DSLR, you might as well just ask them to buy you a dinner. If they want something unique and have the money to back it, I would say explain the difference in what you are doing compared to the competition, then triple an "average" portrait rate. And I'd do a sitting fee, plus a fee per print.

I went to a wedding last weekend, the couple had originally asked me to take the shots 6 months ago. But I never heard back, and only got the invite to attend (but not shoot) a few days ago. I found out they had a "great photographer" coming, I but brought my Leica and a m4/3 anyway, just to get some shots for myself. The photog had a DSLR and seemed to be missing all the great shots. Even when the couple kissed in the ceremony I noticed the photog was spacing out, then suddenly realized she was about to miss an important shot and zipped in there to try to catch it. Meanwhile, I was walking around getting some fantastic shots she didn't even seem aware of. It's like all she could think of was getting people sitting at their tables and cluster's of people. Basically, snapshots.

So again, sell what you can do, show some examples, ask if that's what they'd like. Then give the price.

Jay DeFehr

2-Apr-2012, 15:38

This is a very interesting subject, and I mostly agree with Frank, depending on your goals. If your goal is to run a commercial portrait studio, then Tobias makes some very good points, but if you're looking at this as a sideline, at most, then heed Frank's advice, to the letter. If someone wants to appropriate my schedule, they'll have to pay for the privilege, because I like to do what I want to do, when I want to do it -- those are very big perks of being an amateur. If you want to go pro, do your market research, draw up a business plan and all those other professional things professionals do. A photography business is a business first, or it won't be one for long.

I don't think equipment or process count for much, for most of the people, most of the time -- meaning, there are exceptions, but I don't think there are enough of them to base a business on them. That being said, an 11x14 - 16x20 print from an 8x10 negative should be a beautiful thing, and that does matter, to almost everyone, almost all the time. But here's where it gets sticky -- the more you look at things objectively, and economically (business-like), the less likely it is you'll choose 8x10 capture for those print sizes, unless......

The unless refers to the many potential factors that might mitigate in favor of 8x10, despite the objective factors that mitigate against. Maybe you feel most comfortable shooting 8x10, and moving to another format would constitute such a disruption in your work flow as to cancel out any gains you might make in shooting a smaller format, or maybe you believe the big camera really is the main attraction, and shooting something else would diminish the appeal of your work to potential clients, etc.

I doubt many people are really willing to pay a premium for the privilege of sitting in front of a big camera. Some people might choose the big camera over a more pedestrian one, all things being equal, but that's a much different proposition. I've seen a million posts and threads dedicated to the allure and built-in value of large format and "hand made" prints, but I don't see many people cashing in on that supposed allure.

Drew Wiley

2-Apr-2012, 15:53

When I used to do that kind of thing more frequently, I never charged for the studio session. I charged per print, just like any other fine print I sold, whether matted and framed or in a portfolio album or whatever. That's why they wanted me to do it. And everything was either natural light or old-school hot lights. I didn't even try to acquire a
name as a portraitist, but as a printmaker. There were even cases where exhibitions of landscape prints landed me portrait commissions! So there was never a question about me
versus the local portrait studios, who did a very good job in their own genre, but it wasn't
anything which interested me. Ironically, some folks in that business have asked me for
coaching. I don't know squat about this or that kind of lighting. I have enough basic fresnel
and Lowell lights, scrims, diffusers, etc - but it's the darkroom work that gave me the
upper hand.

Drew Wiley

2-Apr-2012, 15:58

Jay - I'd both agree and disagree with you. I really liked the combination of 8x10 film and
a 14" dagor for portrait etc work, and the big film is a joy to retouch. But I always kept the
Nikon handy too, ordinarily with an 85/1.4 wide open, and sometimes the 6x7. Print size wasn't the priority. I'm no expert at the game, so if the client wasn't comfortable with the pace (or lack thereof) of the 8X10, I could just snapshoot with the smaller cameras. It
was sometimes good side income for me. I'd hate to make a living at the game.

Bob Hubert

2-Apr-2012, 16:03

Hey Guys

This information is great. Let me add some more information on my situation. I am half way through a project where I am taking 50 portraits of people who live and work in my town. The sitters must be recommended by someone else in town and I control the final portrait. The project will be exhibited in three stages ending with a show of the final 50 at one of our local art museums. You can see more about the project at my web site www.studio-cameras.com.

During the project, I have received numerous requests to do additional portraits from people who have sent he exhibit. I do not have the time do invite everyone in for a free ride, but I would not mind taking the opportunity to establish a little bit of a reputation in the commercial world. I live in a reasonably affluent area. I just did not want to come off as a goofball being to cheap or an ass by being too expensive. All of this advice has been great and a subject that I think needs some discussion!

Bob

2-Apr-2012, 17:49

Sounds like the project could be potentially good for publicity and reputation. You could tell folks this is an X dollar shoot, but because it's incidental to this important project, I'll make a nice print for Y (where Y<X).

(I'm mostly an amateur) But in today's age where printed copies are outnumbered by facebook and cellphone and computer screen background copies, I'd want the sitting to be a majority of the income for a normal non-commercial portrait. Prints are no longer necessary to family. People are going to get a print because they want a print.

Noah A

3-Apr-2012, 05:58

If you're doing any kind of professional photography you should base your prices primarily on your cost of doing business. That means figure out your monthly overhead costs (film, processing, studio rent, equipment, insurance, assistants or other staff salaries, etc.). Then figure out how much you want to make per month as your salary. Add it all up, divide by the number of days per month you think you'll spend shooting and it'll become clear how much you need to make on those days. That should be your absolute minimum price. It's not worth working for less than it costs you to keep the doors open (even if those are metaphorical doors and you don't have a physical studio). You'd be better off spending those days promoting your business instead.

Even if it's just a sideline gig for you and you're not looking to start a serious business, it makes sense to do this basic business planning. You don't want to lose money and it's bad for the photo business when part-timers undercut other photographers who depend on photography to put food on the table. And, of course, you don't want to sell your own talent short.

After that you can do you market research.

iml

3-Apr-2012, 06:16

Interesting thread. I agree with Frank's post. Even though I make portraits for my own project, and therefore I can pick subjects who interest me and I have 100% control over the final image, doing the project has given me some openings to do some commercial LF portraiture. The people who are asking me have been initially interested because they are intrigued by the process - they may not know what LF is, but they know I use big old cameras, and they have seen enough of the results to know that the images look different to modern digital. More "serious", more "important", a bigger deal than what they are used to. So, price accordingly, at the top end of the market, or do it for free on the understanding that they are interesting subjects so you would like to shoot them, but either way, maintain as much control as possible over the session and the final images. Over the last couple of years of shooting LF portraits I have found that most people are happy to be strongly directed by someone they regard as an expert in an arcane technology, much more so than they would be with somebody waving a DSLR at them. And they mostly seem to really enjoy taking part in the whole experience. I've only had a couple of people who have been a bit difficult, and these have been people who seem to be uncomfortable with themselves anyway, probably not happy about the way they look, and nervous about any attempts to photograph them. Most people relax into it with no great problem, especially over a 30 minute or 1 hour session.

Ian

sully75

3-Apr-2012, 07:58

Thanks Frank. It sounds like you are speaking from experience. I appreciate your candor.

Bob

There's a lot more candor where that came from.

Tin Can

5-May-2023, 05:20

Good time to resurrect this thread

I have never charged anyone for photography

Before LF found me, I shot a lot of people at many events
and I won't charge anyone as I don't want a biz or income

Corran

5-May-2023, 19:24

IMO if you have the skills to make quality portraits (or any type of professional photography) you should charge appropriately. Free is simply taking advantage of you. Even friends. Friends who don't want to pay for services aren't good friends!

I'm not talking about casual snapshots but real sessions and significant time investment.

otto.f

5-May-2023, 23:56

My friend was a real estate agent and at the end of his working life he just asked clients to give him a honorarium that they found reasonable. It worked out very well!

Tin Can

6-May-2023, 04:37

Yes did that too

My friend was a real estate agent and at the end of his working life he just asked clients to give him a honorarium that they found reasonable. It worked out very well!

Aashi

7-May-2023, 21:38

jnantz

8-May-2023, 04:19

Hi everyone
Determining the cost of a portrait session depends on several factors, including your level of experience, the amount of time and effort involved, and the market demand in your area.Networth (https://popularsnetworth.com)

not anymore it doesn't, go onto Craigs list you will see what the going rate is ... about 100 bucks including images. and if an "experienced" photographer can't make the portrait a friend will and it might even be better. ( and free ). plus there is that filter that makes everyone look good so there's that too.. LOL.in a lot of instances photography by experienced photographers pretty much died 20 years ago and good enough has prevailed.

Tin Can

8-May-2023, 04:53

Before LF found me I shot NIKON DIGI

I forgot about all the Realtors I scheduled, as many as 10 at time lining up outside my studio for 10 minute slots

That lasted about a year as they soon made a studio at the big Chicago realtor

They required all beginner realtors to get Head Shots ASAP

Some came back for more!

$25 each, best money per hour I ever made in 1995

Paul Ron

9-May-2023, 05:36

look at it another way... to hire a model these days would cost $100-$300/hr.

if you found a model to sit on a trade basis, they would expect at least 2-4 prints.

so what is your time and materials worth?

.

Tin Can

9-May-2023, 05:54

I ran ads for models to hire years ago

They always want their sleaseball boyfriend to act as security

The few I actually checked out were drug addicts and covered in tattoo

I have an outside shooting studio on my long porch

very careful

wclark5179

19-May-2023, 18:08

What are other photographers charging? You don’t want to price your service low because many will think your price is indicative of the quality your work.

Do you have a portfolio of photographs you have made and printed to show potential clients?

What is your style of photographing people?

Do you have a successful photographer who would be willing to be a coach and mentor for you?

How are you going to get potential clients to look at your work then decide to make an appointment to check you out?

Do you have a business plan?

———

I was fortunate, when I was just starting up, finding a gentleman who helped me get going.

I’m retired now from business but still making photographs of my family.

Good luck.

Pieter

19-May-2023, 18:35

It can be difficult to determine the price fro photography. Mainly, it depends on your talent and experience and the market you are in. "Spec" work or working for barter may be OK when you are trying to establish yourself, but please do not work for free or low rates. By doing that you are hurting every single professional photographer in your area, including yourself.

Tin Can

20-May-2023, 04:13

May I repeat

I don’t want a business ever again

I love shooting people

I find trees not as interesting

I love trees, I even hug them, meditate WITH them

Time is short

Be happy

Now!

wclark5179

20-May-2023, 04:48

Your question looks to me like some one asking because of business considerations.

Take a look and read your question.

“What Do I Charge for a Portrait Session”

What answer are you looking for?

The pricing I used would have little relevance here.

Tin Can

20-May-2023, 04:54

https://petapixel.com/2023/05/19/this-ai-powered-point-based-photo-manipulation-system-is-wild/

Works well on head shots

No I am not enbracing this tech

I am going to shoot more old heads

warts and all

Neal Chaves

11-Nov-2023, 11:10

In 1974, Damien Waring explained all this to me in Honolulu when I began to assist him and his partner Lurline. He said "When they ask what I will do for $100, I tell them I'll polish my lens." It took another six years for the wisdom of this remark to reveal itself to me, when I began the study of The Book of Five Rings by Musashi and Zen and the Art of Archery by Herrigel.

joho

2-Mar-2024, 03:33

What Do I Charge for a Portrait Session?

I think one should write a book on this or have many views on this subject it would be very helpful , I did Portrait pgotography very classical 6x6 -6x9 10x12.5 on location. The costumers - clients where drying up.

He said "When they ask what I will do for $100, I tell them I'll polish my lens."...well this brings up a story in my memory from a portrait studio here in Athens Gr. Studio Maurogenis,.
A lady walked in for a portrait. The master photographer seeing that this one lady will not be happy with any results NO MATTER WHAT!
He winked his eye to me, and so he started his story...And so Mr. Maurogenis ..." I see Madam that you are ready for your portrait , I must inform you that our studio has the best and most expensive cameras made by special order just for us!!! Our Lens costume designed to our needs here for the studio!! BUT I must inform you that even in this day and age of such technological wonders! there is the probability that the Compur of the lens due to a speck of one molecule of dust to a lapse in it working correct resolving in a reshoot !!! I hope YOU CAN UNDERSTAND that !!!!
This was 1994.