I get this question a lot: "Why does professional photography cost so much?"
And while I understand where it comes from, I make every effort to educate consumers about all the time, training, not to mention the expense, that goes into photography.
The Challenge
Part of the problem, and what goes a long way toward shaping general perceptions about photography, is that just about every American owns a digital camera. Whether simple point and shoot camera or a DSLR, most Americans own and use some form of camera. And even if settings outside of "Auto" constitute unexplored territory, they're pretty pleased for the most part with the images they get when they let the camera do all the work. So, if you set your camera to auto, allow it do all the thinking, point and shoot, and get good enough images, then what's so hard about photography? And why should you pay a professional photographer so much?
So goes the thinking.
Aside from the obvious value a professional photographer offers -- skill and talent at capturing beautifully artistic images that the average camera owner cannot -- there are the fiscal realities of running a photography business, many reasons why a photographer cannot charge $150 for a 5 hour event, spend hours upon hours editing, and then simply hand over all the jpg files on a disc (he'd go out of business in no time for starters).
What really goes on behind the scenes
Let's just talk briefly about what's involved in running a photography business - the challenges that photographers must overcome. Because after all, it
is a business.
1) How do you get people to find you? Marketing and advertising are required in some form. Even seasoned professionals need to continually find ways to boost new business above and beyond word of mouth. For one, there's always new competition. And Americans are more mobile than they've ever been. Your sources might not always be around. Then there's website development, marketing and search engine optimization...
2) How do you protect yourself? In this sue-crazy world, photographers have to protect themselves. That means paying for insurance to cover anything that can possibly go wrong. And I've heard horror stories: the wedding photographer who sat on his disc full of new wedding images and broke it; the lost card; the corrupt computer files; the computer that crashes and obliterates 5 years worth of work; the client who just wasn't happy with the outcome of your work; and the list goes on and on...
3) How do you build credibility and ensure your skills stay fresh and competitive? Professional association fees cost several hundred dollars. A piece. And so does attendance at key national conferences. Yet they're critical for ongoing development, networking and growth for the professional photographer...
3)Equipment and resources are far from cheap. Nor do they last forever. Photoshop--the digital photographer's must-have software runs $600. And with quality lenses ranging from several hundred dollars to over a thousand, or perhaps even several thousand, the professional photographer is always balancing his desire/need for better equipment with the reality of his sales. Lighting isn't cheap. Even the backdrops, and the equipment that holds it in place costs a pretty penny. All of these things are essential in providing you, the customer, with exceptional images you would be hard-pressed to create on your own, even if you had the know-how.
4)And it may be cliche, but one thing is especially true for the digital photographer: time is money. I often read about the work done by fashion photographers and their Photoshop editors, how they spend up to four hours correcting, retouching and perfecting an image. A SINGLE image. Not an entire session of images. Some forms of photography, such as boudoir photography, which I do, naturally require more editing and retouching to create that soft, perfect, fantasy feeling than would a straightforward, largely unembellished child photography shoot.
Another problem is this: the client walks in, has a 1/2 hour, 1-hour, or maybe even a 2-hour session. You shoot. They go home. All they've experienced so far, is the time you've spent shooting with them. I imagine they think all that's required is to upload the images. But there's lots that goes on after the shoot.
So, what's really involved in a session?
Following is a partial list of the steps taken to process a shoot. Work that you, the client, never see. And it begins even before you arrive for your session:
*Prepare contracts
*Setup studio and plan shoot - if the shoot is indoors
*Scout location and plan shoot - if the shoot is outdoors
*Prepare and check equipment to ensure all is in working order
*Shoot (this is the tiny part you do see)
*Upload images
*Create backups (preferably in triplicate) of all images to safeguard against the aforementioned horrors
*Review images and select images for editing
*Crop, correct, and/or enhance images so that each one stands alone as a work of art (not all photographers do this, but some, like me, pay meticulous attention to each image, studying each one and applying effects and finishes to tell a story, convey an emotion, or more accurately capture the moment. This is the point at which, for those photographers who handle this, all the time-consuming retouching work occurs - every pimple gets removed, every red patch is relieved, thinning spots are filled in, secondary reflections from strobe lights removed, teeth whitened, etc., etc.
*Prepare each image for uploading and optimal viewing in a personal gallery - this requires resizing and sharpening for the web.
*Following-up with clients, answering their questions, meeting their requests for image modifications and or orders.
*Once an order is placed, more time is spent designing materials (e.g. calendars, books, slideshows, montage prints, etc.) or preparing images for printing. Even if the client just wants prints, the images must now be sized accordingly. What many people don't realize is that images coming out of a DSLR aren't perfect 8x10s, 5x7s or 4x6s. Further cropping of the image for artistic purposes in the editing process (e.g. to remove extraneous pieces of information or emphasize others) creates images that vary widely in size and dimension. So each image must be re-sized to match the client's preferences.
*Images are then either printed by the photographer, or outsourced to a professional lab.
*Once the images or materials arrive, quality checking, in case of outsourcing, is a must.
*Items are nicely packaged and delivered/arranged for pickup by the client.
*F/up to ensure the client is satisfied with their images.
And all the while the above is going on, the photographer is fielding inquiries from prospective clients, researching ways to grow and market the business, managing the business from an operations standpoint (supplies, finances, compliance issues, etc.), and so on. In short, the photographer, aside from just shooting and editing, is running a business.
Hours go into a single shoot. I'm scared to tally up how much my hourly rate is when I'm done working on some projects. I'm sure it would make minimum wage look attractive.
So now that you have some background information, let's take a look at the photography fee structure.
Most photographers charge a separate sitting fee and print/materials fee arrangement or a fixed/bundled/package fee for services. I offer both.
In cases where there is a sitting fee (let's say it's $100 for one or two people on a one hour shoot), the client has the option to buy as little or as much as they want on the back end. But what's going into the shoot? All the prep, the hour-long shoot, the hours of editing and uploading for viewing. If the client buys nothing, then the photographer has lost valuable time and possibly the opportunity to have taken on a more lucrative engagement. If the client does buy images/materials then the photographer has an opportunity to earn money against the time he's already spent. But since the upfront investment (the sitting fee) was low, here is where he must earn his profit. For this reason, print prices run higher than your average CVS print price.
Some photographers avoid the question of high-priced prints by charging more for their time up front. In this case, they may charge $450 up front just to sit with them and have them shoot. In part, this is insurance for the time they know will be spent on creation of images, whether or not the client chooses to buy. In this case, the photographer can charge less for prints. He's already earned his profit up front. But he doesn't have to answer the question about why prints are so costly. If you, the client, choose not to buy as many prints as you otherwise thought you might have, you've still laid out a good amount of money up front.
So, in short, each image produced by a photographer who makes a living at this work is a significant investment of resources, time, energy and effort - much of which you, the client, never see.
For this reason, each image should truly be viewed as a work of art, and one created by a professional totally dedicated to his or her craft.
And that's, in short, what you're paying for.
