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Open amateur photography contests?

Pricing on amateur photography session? Suggestions?

  • I have had a family ask me if I would like to do their family portraits and their eldest daughter's senior photos for them. I have shot 2 seniors, 1 engagement, 1 wedding, and just some portraits for friends. Then in September I am shooting another wedding and 2 bridal portrait sessions. But the ones I have done so far were for free because I just started out doing amateur photography and the photos I have done so far are for family and a couple friends. I can't hand out freebies for the rest of my life in photography and especially if I want to start my own photography business. I do have a nice camera (D3100 Nikon and have 2 lenses for it, a 18-55 mm and a 55-200 mm) which I absolutely love. I am a amateur photographer and training to be a professional photographer. Not someone who just says they are and doesn't pursue after it. &not someone with absolutely no experience. What prices are good for a family portrait session and a pricing for senior portrait session? I dont want to charge too much because like I said earlier, I am a amateur photographer in training to be a professional photographer. If anyone has had experience with this and knows what pricing is cheap and fair please let me know, I would greatly appreciate it :) :) :)

  • Answer:

    i have been thinking about this same thing. for the family i would charge $100 an hour and then give them a CD of the edited pictures. and for the senior i would charge $150 for a 2 hour session with a CD of the edited pictures. GOOD LUCK!

twilight... at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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There is no such thing. If you are now selling your services you are now representing yourself in a professional manner. You need contracts and you probably should get your business aspects in line. It costs little to nothing to do it and it's great protection should you ever get singled out by the sales tax guys or the government. So, now that you are selling yoru services and are a professional (regardless of whether your skills are ready or not-besides, they'll get there, right?) Here is some information on pricing and all of that jazz: http://www.timothyfaust.com/how-to-price-photography/ http://www.caughtonfilmphoto.com/costofphotography.html You also need to REALLY take a close up look at the Cost of Doing Business before you set any prices. Here's a CODB calculator for photographers. Yes, you do need all of those things. http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/cdb/cdbcalc.cfm

HisWifeTheirMom

If people are asking you to do a photo job for them, then it doesn't matter if you consider yourself as a pro or an amateur : it is a job! You could price your sessions putting a price per picture : this way the more pictures they like, the more you get paid, letting them decide how much they are going to pay you at the end ( although you definitely should set up a minimum of pictures they will have to buy acording to the lengh of a session: for example you could set your price at 20$ per picture and have them buy at least 5 pictures per 30 minutes). To price your photography you have to take different facts in consideration : _ the amount you invested in your equipment _ the time you have/ will spend on the phone and meeting with them _ the lengh of the sessions/ weddings ( do they want to to shoot all the wedding from the bride's preparation to the end of the party, do they want a TTD session after the wedding ). _ the time you will spend editing the pictures. This will give you a better idea of the efforts and time you will have to invest, and help you price your photography better. You should also look around you and see how much photographers are charging in your area. But again, they are asking you to be THEIR photographer : they won't pay anyone else to make their pictures so at the end of the day you will be doing exactly the same job than any other professional photographer! So give your work the value it deserves!

Deborah Van der vlist

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