Overwhelmingly, there are two questions that are asked of us most frequently.. actually, one topic but phrased differently depending on whether the question is asked by a customer or a fellow photographer. It's a sensitive subject but since we are asked this frequently, we will share. What's the topic?? Prices.
Since I (Rosalind) am the geek of the two of us, I am writing this post. First, a little background on me. I'm a degreed accountant with over 11 years experience in the world of corporate accounting and taxes. It's important to me that we (1) charge a fair price for our work, (2) accurately know our expenses, and (3) make enough wages/profits with our business to support our growing family. Taking these goals into account, I resort to something called Cost Accounting (There are three girls that I went to college with who are laughing at me right now. They thought that I slept through class. haha!) to create our price list. In a very simplified definition, Cost Accounting takes your two classes of expenses (Fixed expenses and Variable expenses) and allocates them to your products or services. I'm going to walk through how I cost a typical service.
We offer photo sessions (children, families, etc) and weddings. Before we start, you should know that I am assuming that we will perform TEN photo sessions per month.
The following are allocations for a typical photo session.
Photo session hours
Researching photo session locations - 0.5
Actual shoot - 1
Editing photos - 4
Compose blog - 0.5
Set up online viewing gallery - 3
Miscellaneous client interactions (questions, discuss clothing choices, order placement) - 2
Accounting (specific to each shoot) - 1
Accounting (general business accounting allocated to each session) - 4
General clerical work related to business (allocated to each session) - 1
Total Hours PER PHOTO SESSION - 17
Fixed expenses:
Utilities (electrical) - $2.21
Utilities (phone) - $13.00
Training - $8.33
Backup hard drive (approximately 30 sessions per hard drive) - $6.63
Marketing - $12.50
Professional association dues - $2.08
Ordering website - $1.66
Allocation of equipment expenses - $5.64
Total Fixed expense PER PHOTO SESSION - $52.06
Variable session expenses:
Mileage - $33.00
Memory cards - $15.00
Batteries for flash - $5.00
Total Variable expense PER PHOTO SESSION - $53.00
Total Fixed and Variable expense PER PHOTO SESSION - $105.06
Ok, so, now, I have our expenses for each photo session. Now, let's assume that we ONLY charge $150.00 for each session fee. If we have $105.06 in expenses for each photo session and charge $150.00 per session, we have $44.94 "profit" for each session. That's not bad, right? Well.. remember, we spent an approximate 17 hours on each session. That means that we only made $2.64 PER HOUR that we worked. That's not even minimum wage. Would you spend time away from your family for $2.64 per hour?
We debated over and over whether to publicly post this information. We aren't posting it to tell our customers, "YOU AREN'T PAYING US ENOUGH!!" We are posting it to show that we don't pull numbers out of the air. We have actual expenses and bills that are generated every time we pick up our camera. Also, for photographers (or any other business owners), we thought this would be helpful. If you find yourself struggling with pricing or wondering why everyone is charging way more than you, we challenge you to run your numbers like we did above.
And, please know, we don't post this as a "We know it all.." We only post it to answer publicly our most frequently asked question. If this didn't answer your question accurately enough or you have other questions, please don't hesitate to email us at
chris@chrisreinoldsphotography.com.
Since this is a photography blog, let's include a picture. :) This is our oldest. The pic was taken in May 2009 and it always makes us laugh.
