What to charge for my photography services?

[Fatback]

So I landed a job as a photographer for the local college. I will be photographing staff, events, and students working in the various programs the college offers. They have given me a week to think about how much I want to charge and how I want to be charged.

I have very little knowledge with this kind of thing. I do photo shoots once in a while and charge $30-$50 for an hours work. This however is a college and I will be working up to 6 hours at a time. Should I do an hourly rate? and if so how much? I'm very confident in my ability to deliver the kind of photos they need but I do not want to charge too much and lose the job opportunity.

I have 2 years of experience under my belt. Including about 13 photo shoots, 8 sports events, and a wedding. Given my experience what would be a good rate for my services?

[SkipT]

WoW 3 months and not one reply?????

I will help if I can.

For work where I spend several hours I usally charge a set price for depending on the job at hand, for field work I charge by the hour.

For a photo shoot on site it would be a set amount say like $250 and then if the job will take some more time in editing you need to figure in those hours I usally charge around 20 to 25 an hour for that. It really depends on the job.

With that being said, I know of several people in my area that charge up to $1000 for sit in photo shoot which IMO is way to much but people will pay what they want for what they think is the best. I myself will under cut all of them by 50% so that I can get the work. So check in your area for prices of others and price same or less and you should do ok, just keep in mind the ones who charge $250+ an hour think they do better work then you photography is an art what looks good to you may not look good to me. I have a good friend who charges $50 for a sitting and her work looks better then 80% of the high price places in my area.

Hope that helps, sorry no one else chiped in before now.

[rish002]

Firstly ask some photographers in your area about the prices. This is important because whatever price you will tell to the college they will surely try to bargain and then you can easily justify yourself by informing them about your local prices.

Since this is your first job with an institution I think you should quote somewhat less than the average so that your job opportunity chances could be increased.

[Allen23]

I think you must keep in mind about all the taxes that you have to pay for that income.Than you can set a price that how much you are going to charge.

[C24go]

Consider that you will have your overhead. Taxes (figure 20%), accounting, materials, costs of prints that you make but don't sell, travel, etc, all can run over 50%. Don't underprice yourself or you will end up working for free.

[scarletbrown]

First and most important think is to actually know your worth. Checked out what other photographers are charging in your area and set your price according to that. Know your cost of doing and articulate your worth.

[katehiper]

Dear All,

I got an offer for 3 of my photographs to be printed on flyers (around 5 000 copies), brochures (around 15 000 copies) and on the website of the education department in Paris. They found my work on-line and ask about the pricing. Would you give me any advice on how much to charge? Or where to look in order to research the prices in Paris? To be honest I am lost on this case. I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!

[nashir]

You want to know about your Hourly rate and or Single Photography Price. You also mention your experience, But Not show us your quality. Its better if possible to show. Then I can able to share experience about Charge.