For those of you who charge...

[aliciaqw]

Posted this in another forum but didn't get much response. Does anyone in this beginner's section charge for portraiture yet?

How do you charge for your work? A session fee is a given, but then how do you charge for the photos? Do you print yourself through a pro printer and mark-up the prints (and ship or deliver to client yourself)? Do you mark-up prints and have clients order straight from a store-front (i.e. Zenfolio and Mpix.com partnership) Do you offer photos on CD with a release instead or offer a CD in conjuction? What website or service do you use to host your galleries?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm just curious how this "business" works. I'm nowhere near the caliber of someone who can charge for my work, but friends and family have been asking me to practice on them, which obviously I'm happy to do. Just curious how the "pros" actually sell their stuff.

Thanks so much!

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Do you want to know how the professionals "I have to charge X amount to cover rent, insurance, travel, marketing, blah, blah, blah fee" sell there work, or how the hobbiest "I don't care about making money, I just love to take pictures" sell their work?

 

[KmH]

There are 3 major segments of the photography business;

1. Commercial photography
2. Editorial photography
3. retail photography

You are asking about #3, Retail Photography. (portraiture, high school seniors, events, families, children, babies, etc)

There are almost as many pricing structures/strategies as there are photographers.

Some charge a sitting fee and sell prints a-la-cart.

Some sell packages, some sell poses, some sell only CD's and let their clients worry about aspect ratios, resolution, matting and framing.

Some just put a gallery up online and let the client order, with fulfillment done by a consumer lab like Mpix.com (Mpix does a great job too). But, they don't really need to order anything because the images are right there online and they can look at them whenever they want.

If you want to actually make money from selling your photographs, you need to at least have/acquire some basic business/marketing/selling skills. In fact, the business/marketing/sales skill sets are much more important for making money than your photography skill set.

 

[aliciaqw]

Do you want to know how the professionals "I have to charge X amount to cover rent, insurance, travel, marketing, blah, blah, blah fee" sell there work, or how the hobbiest "I don't care about making money, I just love to take pictures" sell their work?

The latter

There are 3 major segments of the photography business;

1. Commercial photography
2. Editorial photography
3. retail photography

You are asking about #3, Retail Photography. (portraiture, high school seniors, events, families, children, babies, etc)

There are almost as many pricing structures/strategies as there are photographers.

Some charge a sitting fee and sell prints a-la-cart.

Some sell packages, some sell poses, some sell only CD's and let their clients worry about aspect ratios, resolution, matting and framing.

Some just put a gallery up online and let the client order, with fulfillment done by a consumer lab like Mpix.com (Mpix does a great job too). But, they don't really need to order anything because the images are right there online and they can look at them whenever they want.

If you want to actually make money from selling your photographs, you need to at least have/acquire some basic business/marketing/selling skills. In fact, the business/marketing/sales skill sets are much more important for making money than your photography skill set.

Thank you for the info. I understand there are so many different ways of selling-- I was just curious how people who might be reading this sell theirs specifically.