When should I start charging?

[robrod14]

When is it ok to charge for photos? I know the easy answer... When someone is willing to pay for your pics, but is there another answer. I have been shooting and think i'm starting to get good enough to charge someone. However, I'm an honest guy and don't want to rip anyone off. So how do i know when my pics are good enough for someone to pay for my services. My pics would be of people, like weddings, Engadget photos, or just a personal photoshoot.

Thanks for the advice

 

[SnappingShark]

Engadget photos... Sweet deal!!

Or or maybe you meant engagement? Hehe

either way, you charge when somebody asks how much

 

[e.rose]

:addpics:

 

[e.rose]

Also, I don't know that there is a definitive answer to your question.

 

[fooby]

My personal feeling is that once you have the skills to capture exactly what you see in your head & then be able to do the same whatever the conditions might be. Also, if somebody else can look through your portfolio and tell immediately what YOUR style is, then you can start thinking about moving into business.

 

[imagemaker46]

When you are consistent every time with the images you produce, when you develop the skills to read light and shoot without a flash, or on auto mode all the time. It has nothing to do with when people are willing to buy your pictures, it has everything to do with the quality of the pictures you are willing to pass off as acceptable. You can do like many and sell mediocre images, or you can rise about the majority of starters and produce high quality images.

 

[KmH]

Jump in and charge, but to start charging you need to have a legal business with the required local, state, and federal business documentation like contracts, accounting records, model releases, property releases (for wedding/engagement venues), etc.

Consequently, the amount you charge is driven by your cost of doing business (CODB) and your cost of goods sold (COGS).
To determine those numbers you need a well researched and written business and marketing plan.

Starting & Managing a Business | The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov
Registering a Business in Virginia -- Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Taxation

 

[SnappingShark]

Just remember - if you're charging, you're probably going to want insurance against accidents in the locations you work, and theft against equipment.

Just because if your equipment falls on somebody ... uh oh!

 

[TWright33]

when you develop the skills to read light and shoot without a flash

Could you please explain what exactly you mean by this?

 

[e.rose]

when you develop the skills to read light and shoot without a flash

Could you please explain what exactly you mean by this?

Read Light = Being able to really see light... what it's doing... how to manipulate it... how to use it to your advantage

Shoot without a flash = On camera flash, built in flash. I assume. But he could also mean being able to read available light, and use it, without having to blow your subjects away without flash every time. <----- That's actually much harder than people realize. When you're using natural light, there is still such a thing as good light and bad light... even in the shade... facing one way or another is still often times yields different quality light.

 

[TWright33]

Shoot without a flash = On camera flash, built in flash.

The shooting without a flash is what I was curios about.

It just seems strange to make a reference to being skilled enough to not shoot with a flash.

I hope he was meaning not using pop up flash.

 

[e.rose]

Shoot without a flash = On camera flash, built in flash.

The shooting without a flash is what I was curios about.

It just seems strange to make a reference to being skilled enough to not shoot with a flash.

I hope he was meaning not using pop up flash.

I think that's what he meant.

 

[robbins.photo]

Also, I don't know that there is a definitive answer to your question.

Of course there is. March 13th, 2021 at 14:00 zulu time. That is exactly when you should start charging for your photos.

 

[imagemaker46]

Shoot without a flash = On camera flash, built in flash.

The shooting without a flash is what I was curios about.

It just seems strange to make a reference to being skilled enough to not shoot with a flash.

I hope he was meaning not using pop up flash.

I meant being able to shoot in available light without using any type of flash. So many people see something, love how it looks and throw a flash on the camera, when they look at what they saw and what they have, is not the same. Some can't figure out why. If you see it, you can shoot it. I own a flash, I use it maybe .5% of the time when I'm shooting. Learning to really see light is something that many don't take the time to do, light is photography.

A flash changes everything. Learning how to shoot without one will make a person a better photographer, using one after understanding light will make you a better photographer, it will help with light balance, a little flash fill on those really sunny days. There are a great many times when a flash is going to be necessary, but it does depends on what is being shot.

 

[e.rose]

Shoot without a flash = On camera flash, built in flash.

The shooting without a flash is what I was curios about.

It just seems strange to make a reference to being skilled enough to not shoot with a flash.

I hope he was meaning not using pop up flash.

I meant being able to shoot in available light without using any type of flash. So many people see something, love how it looks and throw a flash on the camera, when they look at what they saw and what they have, is not the same. Some can't figure out why. If you see it, you can shoot it. I own a flash, I use it maybe .5% of the time when I'm shooting. Learning to really see light is something that many don't take the time to do, light is photography.

A flash changes everything. Learning how to shoot without one will make a person a better photographer, using one after understanding light will make you a better photographer, it will help with light balance, a little flash fill on those really sunny days. There are a great many times when a flash is going to be necessary, but it does depends on what is being shot.

Yup. I have my flash with me all the time, but so much of what I shoot anymore, outdoors, is without one. I use other light modifiers.

If I intentionally wanna make something more dramatic, I'll certainly throw a flash up... but I don't do that as much as I used to.

I always laugh when people accuse "natural light photographers" as not really knowing photography.

Natural light is hard to be good at, unless, like you said, you can read the light. That's something I'm still working at, but I understand it much better than I used to and it shows from my previous natural light images to the ones I do now. The only difference between the old images and the new ones is that I learned how to see the light better and how to place the modifiers when I use them.