How many pictures for client

Evertking

How do I turn this thing on?
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2016
Messages
688
Reaction score
783
Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
I had a Lady approach me about senior pics and said she would pay 200 dollars for 40 images.
That just seems like a crazy amount of work for just 200..
What are your thoughts
 
Maybe she meant to say $400 for 20 images, but even at that you can't spend any time in editing.

Most non-photographers are not aware of how much time, effort, and skill is involved in the editing process.

To get 40 good ones, you're going to shoot about 100 and whittle it down to 40 fairly decent shots and of those, edit maybe 10 or 20.

The lady sees only the shutter-snaps and does not see anything of lighting, posing, editing, or your capital investment.

I'd counter her offer by offering a $400 session and 6 8x10 prints. See if she's still interested.

I would not provide any digital files.
 
Around here I've seen numerous ads on FB for one hour mini sessions, at anywhere from $35 to $50, and they give you a CD after. No editing. My DIL got suckered into one, the pictures were what you'd expect, snapshots and not that great. Problem is these people create a false price point with consumers.
 
Just tell her a rate, and terms that you are comfortable with. Everyone’s pricing structure is going to be different.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Part of the problem I see with pricing photography is the intangible side of the equation. Yes you can calculate a cost for equipment, insurance, rent, utilities, licence, etc. but how do you calculate the value added by the photographer. Skill and ability levels vary greatly. Like a woodworker, would a framing carpenter, be as qualified as a master craftsman to build a heirloom piece of furniture, or would a price to frame a house from a master craftsman be valid? Further complicating the problem, is with the woodworking example, consumers seem to have a better grasp of the difference.
 
For what it's worth, I charge $175 as a session fee (no product included). prints start at $15 (5x7) and digital files are $65. I can't imagine what someone would need 40 images for; I just did a family session for a couple with five children (A 'Brady Bunch' scenario), in which I shot about 200 frames (rather more than I normally would, but two of the children weren't terribly happy about the whole thing, and it took a while to get usable expressions), provided 49 in 12 different posses to the client and I expect to sell five to eight poses out of that.

One of the other big problems that digital photography in general and the cell 'phone era in particular have caused is the expectation of so many more images than are necessary.
 
I can't imagine what someone would need 40 images for...

...the expectation of so many more images than are necessary.
People are accustomed to seeing a lot of bad photos, so they assume that they will have to cull the cr@p before they take the files to the printer.

I had a Lady approach me about senior pics and said she would pay 200 dollars for 40 images.
That just seems like a crazy amount of work for just 200..
What are your thoughts

Speaking of printing; the lady in the OP is probably planning to get some printed, but the photographer has no control over how well they are printed.

Could become a hot mess.

With the photographer's name being passed along to all of her friends and relatives.
 
Problem is these people create a false price point with consumers.
And a false (faulty) example of the craft.

Then you have scads of people thinking that "professional photographers" can't do any better than a friend with a cell phone.
 
By me, I typically see $150-300 for a 1h session and 5-7 digital images, or around $300-500 for a family session with around 10 digital images. It’s common to see people offering mini-sessions for around $50-100 where the photographer will setup at a specific location and line up clients in 15 minute blocks, again delivering around 5 images.

$200 for senior portraits sounds reasonable, but only if you’re delivering around 5 edited digital images. 40 images sounds like too much work for the price, as well as more than anyone would need, unless she is referring to unedited proofs and not final delivered images.
 
...$200 for senior portraits sounds reasonable, but only if you’re delivering around 5 edited digital images.
That seems rather cheap to me; session fee and five images should be more like $4-600 range. If you assume that the session itself lasts an hour, and there's 30 minutes of prep and travel on each end, that's two hours. A minimum of one more hour for processing, that's three. Let's say you get $500, you're grossing $133/hr. Knock of 25% for taxes, you're down to $100/hr. Subtract from that fuel, wear & tear, and and all your other expenses and you might be at $75/hr... which is great pay if you get that eight hours a day, five days a week, but you might only have three jobs that week... doesn't look quite so attractive in the cold light of day IMO.
 
For what it's worth, I charge $175 as a session fee (no product included). prints start at $15 (5x7) and digital files are $65. I can't imagine what someone would need 40 images for; I just did a family session for a couple with five children (A 'Brady Bunch' scenario), in which I shot about 200 frames (rather more than I normally would, but two of the children weren't terribly happy about the whole thing, and it took a while to get usable expressions), provided 49 in 12 different posses to the client and I expect to sell five to eight poses out of that.

One of the other big problems that digital photography in general and the cell 'phone era in particular have caused is the expectation of so many more images than are necessary.

I charge $750 for a portrait session which includes all final images. For a family session I will usually deliver about 120-150 images. The variation of poses range between images of each family member alone, several different groupings within the family, as well as candids. A lot of my clients make an album with the images and print for wall art, etc.
 
Looks ok pricing wise if you don't quit your day-job. I presume the op is truly a beginner as this is in beginner forum.

40 images isn't crazy. You should pull that off in 1 hr?

Just do multiple expressions of each scene, so 8 scenes of 5 photos each.

I like to make 200$ doing something I like on my day off. Do you? Do you have steady photography income to compare this to?

Overtime money is worth more. If it means your saving 100 as opposed to none, it could be “worth” it.

Everyones finance outlook is different. For me, I wouldnt give up a Saturday for 200$ or 1,000$ For that matter, doing my dayjob ( fwiw I used to give them ALL up), but I’ll shoot a session for whatever I can manage to negotiate, even free sometimes as Im a “prosumer”, not beginner per se, and not going full time pro ejther. Its not really about $$ for the prosumer. Money for me, from shooting, helps justify next years lens or camera..... not my lifestyle and families future stability.
 
As has been posted, people expect it to be cheap, cell phones and the kid round the corner who does it in the QT gives a incorrect price level. Sadly it’s in all walks of life, if I had a British pound for every time someone said
Oh my mate can do that cheaper... well let’s say I would be using gold plated med format cameras. I have seen results of getting mate round the corner to ....... insert here.....
some were laughable whilst others were down right dangerous. I have had so many people say that I don’t need my DSLR and that the phone camera is so much better.... been tried it and wished that I had taken the canon to the Marty P concert.the phone pics are..... ap.
I don’t do paid photography mine is just a hobby so I would listen to those here that do like Tirediron. Just rem when you set the price, you can always do a discount , would not recommend, but try adding to the price and all hell breaks loose.
And by whatever you believe in do not repeat do not get caught on the

Can you just!!!!

You may as well hand over your credit card
 
I delivered 50 images to my last client. The shoot took just over 3 hours...

And as a photographer, I'd really only say it was about 4-5 images at most, as a lot of them were the same shot with maybe a different pose/focal length.
 
@paigew If my math is right 150 images at $750 is only $5/image. When you say you "deliver", are you doing any editing to these or just dumping JPEGS?
 

Most reactions

Back
Top