a la carte vs package prices

[lc1102002]

hi guys,
I need help from the portrait photographers here...
wondering if you would share with me your price structure.
do you charge a sitting/session fee then additional fee for the digital images? or a package that includes both?
Im pretty new to this and have been charging a flat fee with includes (ahem..i'll probably get reamed for this) all the images that I can proudly turn over to my client. some 1 hour sessions rendered 50 quality photos. I know I can't continue at this rate. I either need to raise my hourly fee and cut back to maybe 25(?) shots. Or leave my hourly rate, only offer perhaps 10 images and make the rest a la carte.
look forward to hearing from you guys

 

[tirediron]

I charge a session fee to create the images, and product is completely separate (nothing is "included" with the session fee). I try to avoid selling digital files whenever possible, but have them priced so that if I do, it doesn't hurt too badly. Clients order what they want at the proofing session (which I always try and do in the client's home) and from a 1 hour family session, they will typically have 6-8 poses with 3-4 choices per pose for a total of [on average] 25-40 images from which to select.

I don't recommend quoting prices for retail work as an hourly charge; clients are generally more comfortable when they have a fixed price in their head. You should have an hourly price that your fees are based on. As for the "giving them all you can". Stop. That. NOW! Seriously. That is a losing proposition, and if you do the math, you'll find that it is costing you money to do that.

 

[pixmedic]

We did packages.
1 hour 5 photos.
1.5 hours 10 photos.
2 hours 20 photos.

Any additional photos were a la carte.

The basic 1 hour session with 5 photos ran $250.
Individual photo prices depended on whether it was delivered digitally or printed.

 

[randymckown]

my pricing structure is a 20 page lay flat book LOL ... hmmmm it's kind of in-depth the way I do it and filled with Nested IF/THEN's ... IF you want this THEN you must do this ... as in IF you want this specific popular product THEN you must buy this package (because that product is not sold a la carte) ... ALSO ... IF you buy this package THEN you must book this session or greater (because as the packages get larger the minimum required session type also becomes larger in order to purchase that package) .. This is because you need to prevent somebody from paying for a big session with more poses and then buying a cheap package with less poses. By preventing this your per hour profit increases significantly.

Maybe I will plan on writing a full blog post on this topic since the way I do pricing is so lengthy.

 

[paigew]

I'm all inclusive, 1-2 hours of shooting + all edited files . I generally deliver around 50-80 files depending on how many subjects I have. I have tried many pricing structures but this seems to be working well for me.

 

[JennaLeighWeddings]

I do $500 an hour and that includes 50-60 high resolution images with printing rights. I sometimes have clients ask me for all the raw images too, but I never give them.

 

[lc1102002]

thanks guys. seems to be no rule of thumb. i always felt that the flat hourly rate with a nice turnover of quality images was the easiest way to price for both me and my client. but wasn't sure if i was underselling.

 

[tirediron]

I do $500 an hour and that includes 50-60 high resolution images with printing rights. I sometimes have clients ask me for all the raw images too, but I never give them.

Damn... I need to work in Hawaii!

 

[JennaLeighWeddings]

Haha, but milk is about 5-6 bucks and most everything else is overpriced as well.

Back the original poster, but charge what you think is a decent rate. If you work 10 hours on a 1-hour session are you happy making $10 an hour for those hours, 20, 30, etc?