So not sure if this really falls into my new category of camera and photography tips but I feel the need to speak on this, because I’ve gotten a lot of questions about this lately.  I’ve been so bad about posting camera/photography tips since going on vacation, like 3 months ago, so sorry! But hopefully they’ll be coming back soon by popular demand!

Also just a warning before you read this: I’m not trying to convince you to buy a portrait session from me.  I just think it’s important for you to know what actually goes into a photo session so that you can be more informed.  I hope that this article can speak about the blood, sweat, and tears that most professional photographers put into their work.

So this week’s post (and I’d LOVE this to become a discussion with your comments) is…

Why does photography costs so much?

Let’s take my 2 hour session, where you get 2 locations, any combo within the 2 hours, an image disk, printing rights, and limited posting rights.  This session is priced at $300. (Let me just say also that some photographers think that I’m selling my soul when I include the image disk in my sessions.  So keep in mind that getting the image disk is VERY valuable, you’re getting an original piece of art!!!!)

Now, it would seem that I pocket $150 per hour based off of this fee.  That I’m actually making $150 as opposed to the minimum wage of $5 something if I were working at a fast food place.  There is a lot of extra time and expenses that the client doesn’t actually see that goes into figuring the cost for each session.  For instance, for the 2 hour session, I don’t  just spend 2 hours on the session, here is the break down of time spent on a 2 hour session (so you can fairly divide this time in half if you’re interested in time spent on the 1 hour session).

-1 hour prep before the session (includes emailing client, consultation of what to wear, possibly shopping for fun portrait props like balloons, bubbles, pin wheels, etc)
-30 Travel time (this varies obviously with every shoot but on average I spend 30 minutes going to the location, scoping out spots to shoot, and the travel home)
-2 hours on location shooting
-4-6 hours post editing (for me this is downloading images off of CF card, backing them up on external HD, choosing which ones are keepers, editing them in Lightroom, editing them in more detail in photoshop if needed, making your printing/posting rights, scanning in your contract to go on your disk, resizing your images to upload to my print service, uploading the images to my print service, emailing you that your images are done and that you can see them, burning your disk with your images, contract, printing/posting rights)
-30 minutes delivery (I usually offer door to door delivery of your images, so this means me traveling to your house to drop off your photos, of if you live a little further away me going to the post office to mail your images to you)
-There is also more time is clients order prints or any other add-ons that could be tagged onto this hourly calculation

Total hours spent on a 2 hour session: 8-10 hours! (You can do the math to see how much I’m actually making per hour!)

That’s why it takes me 3-4 weeks after your session to actually get you your images!

What also goes into this price calculation is: (So it’s not like I’m really pocketing that hourly fee that you just calculated)

-Business expenses
-Photography experience/education
-Cost of upkeep of equipment

You might just think that I have 1 or 2 bills to pay as a business owner.  There are actually a ton.  I have thought about each one and truly don’t like to waste money (by now you’re may be getting my point that I don’t actually have money to throw around!) and they serve to make business run smoother and/or to be more professional, after all I am offering a professional service here.  Here are just a sample of bills that needs to be paid in this category I’m calling..

Business Expenses

-Service Fee for Invoices (each client gets an invoice so they know their total before I spring it upon them this also serves as a receipt)
-Service Fee for Paypal (so you can pay your way)
-Advertising Fees (which I rarely use because they don’t really work and I have no money!) Networking does work so this is where I like to spend this money.
-Shipping costs to mail clients image disk and or prints
-Gas for all those miles I drive to locations and deliveries

So those are just some obvious ones.

Photography experience/education

I actually went to school for photography so I know more than your neighborhood mom who just bought her first camera and is offering photo sessions for $25 (nothing personally against the neighborhood mom).  I look and study posing so that you look your best in your photographs.  This is so important and I wish I had something witty to say about this, but I don’t.  The reason why a lot of people don’t charge a lot for their photography, is because they don’t have experience.  This is what I did, when I first started out I had to prove myself, so I made my prices really low so that I could actually get clients.    Everyone knows that usually you pay for what you get.  If you’re willing to pay that $25 for the mom next door to take your photographs then you probably are going to get $25 worth of photography not the “Wow this is great and I’m going to enlarge this to be the 24×36” mantle print!!!”

Cost of Upkeep of Equipment

So it’s no secret that photography costs a lot.  I think one of the most common comments I get when people see my camera for the first time is “wow that must cost a lot”! Yup, you’re right! Photography would be a ridiculous expensive hobby of mine, so I’m glad it’s not just a hobby! I would have a hard time justifying purchases that cost so much if it were just a hobby! A nice camera body can run you over $1000 and that’s not even accounting for the lens you’ll need! Those can cost somewhere around that to even more! And then there is flashes ($500+) and other gadgets that actually make your photographs better.  Oh and did I mention the external hard drives you need to keep all of these photographs (thank goodness for TBs! $100+).  I haven’t even talked about the price of editing software Lightroom ($300) and Photoshop ($600+) and all the other things that come with it.  Professional photography also requires a really nice computer, I had to buy this last year when my old one died ($2000+!!)

Now I haven’t even mentioned the cost of actually living, like food, rent, etc.  I’m not even factoring that in to this equation.

Phew! That stresses me out just thinking about all of that stuff!

So I hope that after you’ve read this you understand a little why professional photography created by a professional costs so much! I’m certainty not trying to rob you! Please leave your comments/questions, your Amens and hallelujahs!