Hi Russ and Brian, Pricing can always be dicey. If you are way too high, you won't get any repeat business, if you are too low you will get lots of work but a low profit margin. This is (again) where your business plan and where your Cost Of Doing Business comes into play. You must sit down and figure ALL of your costs from A-Z so that you can determine how much to charge for a given service. Head shots should actually be lower than portraits although actually they are very similar, BUT the repeat prints should exceed the portrait work and do not allow some other weenie to do any of the printing. There are several head shot printers out there that cater directly to photographers (ABC Printing is one) so that you can control the front and back end of the product.And then the MOOLA stays with you and the client gets one stop shopping. Your business plan needs to include layers of income generating products so that you can get the client IN the door and then upsell them for more or different products at a later date. Keeping contact lists or even better customer filled out info cards are critical for market penetration and repeat business. Remember those K-Mart photographers? Well they are betting on the AVERAGE the customer spends for a given print or portrait package. Selling one piddely 8x will kill you quick. I used to shoot for PCA in some of the smallest cow towns in CA. Don't let that old rusty truck fool you Gramma has some cash for little Johhnys piccy. In Oakland one of the poorest city's on northern CA I had a $89 customer average for over a 14 days. coupled w/ a shoot that lasted two weeks x 250 sittings a week I did damn good. Yes that is $44,500+ of work for PCA. I won boatloads of awards for my income generating capabilities. Now Oakland is not a cow town, it is heavily African-American and Hispanic. Low income abounds. Now In Marysville pop 10000 or so I had a c/a of $127 of mostly East Indian - American for over 3 weeks. The hook - we gave away a free 8x and used a $5.00 sitting fee. Yes some folks paid the sitting fee and took the free 8x and did not buy anything else. We break even on those = sitting fee = print cost. Your customer average along with your CODB is what creates income for you. If you look at it like a single portrait price then you will soon be flipping burgers. How much do you charge. Well, how good are your images. If they are no better than those taken by some pimply faced kid then once again your are hosed. However if you are better, SAY SO!!! No one is going to magically jump up and tell them how great you are, you've got to do that on your own. So many photographers want to play the victim it makes me sick (not you two). During the first contact with a potential customer you have got to build in perceived value greater than the other photographers in your area, do not belittle other shooters (to the potential client) in your area even the mall weenies or k-mart - sears - or monkey wards. Make yours better, not theirs worse. The client will not like ANY negative vibe from you. Have you ever sat down for a haircut and had the stylist ask you where you got your hair chopped off last? Tell them the DIFFERENCES between your work and those of the chain schmucks. You must explain that your years of training, skill and creativity are what they are purchasing Not the same type of crap that everyone else has. And NOT what kind of camera you use!!! It makes not one whit where you live. Cars are not that much cheaper in a poor city than they are in rich one. You have got to be able to negotiate. Now HOW to price the WORK (notice I said work NOT prints or CDs or head shots.) You have your daily CODB, so you know how much you must charge to break even (not the goal just the start). Then you need to decide how much you would like to make this year. More than ever its important to pay YOURSELF first. HUH? Yup, thats what I said, you pay you first, not the lab, the rent, the new gear, or your pesky credit card company. If you take the leftovers then how will you ever afford a steak? This way you are forced to charge a living wage for yourself. If it breaks down to just over minimum wage don't bother, go flip burgers. Now, you have your CODB and what you want to put into your own checking account right? You just allowed yourself to create your pricing and product list to hand to the client. Your services are ; Photography x amount per hour for location and x for studio work. Portraits that involve kids and such are this and special needs customers are x or x Prints are this amount for one, this amount for 5 and this amount if you buy a package of 2ea 8x, 4 ea. 5x and so many wallets if you buy over x you will get a 10% discount off of the next (or this ) order. You can create price lists to hand out for all of the products you have, i.e.. Portrait single or group, commercial (obviously more dinero), Weddings, corporate events etc. These should be separate and printed ready to hand the customer. NOW this is important, do not give prices over the phone without meeting the client first. You will nearly always screw this up if you do. Arrange a meeting in the guise of a portfolio review, or any excuse to meet. If you have not have an actual studio, use the local coffee shop and make sure you buy. Ask as many probing questions as you can. What are the images for, who is in them, any special needs, would you like a location or studio, Take a pad of paper and write down the questions starting with name and phone number, then as much info as you can drag from them, politely, then set up the meet. This is often a good way to clear out the looky loos tire kickers and other shooters that want your prices to undercut. You have three basic formulas; 1.No sitting fee get all of the CODB and pay/profit from print sales. 2. High sitting fee (I prefer creative fee) fairly low per print pricing. 3. High creative fee, high print price, low shoot numbers high c/a - low or no repeat business. Obviously there are many variotions of the above make one for your self and work the heck out of it and do not be afraid to change it if it's not generating income. Any questions? They do not teach this stuff in college, it took me years of doing it wrong first. Les Baldwin
