I borrowed this article from http://www.caughtonfilmphoto.com/costofphotography.html
It is a great article about WHY professional photographers charge what they do for the photos. I believe this sums it up well. And I felt the need to publish this link here after the discussion that was just had on Facebook.
Why are Professional Photographers so expensive? This article has been very well received by the
photography community, and is published in the December 2009 edition of Professional Photographer
Magazine.
In this digital age where everyone has cameras, scanners, and home "photo
printers," we hear this all the time: How do professional (or personal)
photographers charge $X for an 8x10 when they cost just $1.50 at the drugstore?
Simply put, the customer is not just paying for the actual photograph; they're
paying for time and expertise.
The average one-hour portrait
session
First, let's look at the actual work involved:
- Travel to the session
- Setup, preparation, talking to the client, etc.
- Shoot the photos
- Travel from the session
- Load images onto a computer
- Back up the files on an external drive
- 2 - 4 hours of Adobe® Photoshop® time, including cropping,
contrast, color, sharpening, and backing up edited photographs. Proof photos are
also ordered.
- 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive
order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package
prints, schedule shipment, and ship.
- Possibly meet clients at the studio to review photos and place
order. Meeting and travel time average 2 hours.
You can see how a one-hour session easily turns into an eight-hour day or
more from start to finish. So when you see a personal photographer charging a
$200 session fee for a one-hour photo shoot, the client is NOT paying them $200
per hour.
The eight-hour wedding
A wedding photographer typically meets with the bride and groom several times
before and after the wedding. And it’s not uncommon to end up with 1,000 - 2,000
photos, much more than a portrait session. Many photographers spend 40-60 hours
working on one eight-hour wedding if you look at the time that is truly
involved. Again, when a wedding photographer charges $4,000 for eight hours of
coverage, clients are NOT paying them $500 an hour!
(Don’t forget that the photographer runs the wedding day to some extent. A
comfortable, confident wedding photographer can make a wedding day go more
smoothly.)
The expertise and cost of doing business
Shooting professional photography is a skill acquired through years of
experience. Even though a DSLR now costs under $1,000, taking professional
portraits involves much more than a nice camera.
Most personal photographers take years to go from buying their first camera
to making money with photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera,
there is a mountain of other equipment and software programs used to edit and
print photographs, run a website, etc. And don’t forget backdrops, props, rent,
utilities, insurance, etc!
In addition to the financial investment, photographers actually have to have
people skills to make subjects comfortable in front of the camera. Posing people
to look their best is a skill by itself. You could argue that posing is a more
important skill than actually knowing how to use the camera. A poorly exposed
photo can be saved, but a badly posed photo cannot.
The chain store photo studio
Chain stores do have their place. For a very cheap price you can run in,
shoot some quick photos, and be done with it. But you get what you pay for.
Consider the time and effort that a personal photographer puts into
photographs, compared to a chain store. Store sessions last just a few minutes,
while a personal photographer takes the time to get to know the people, makes
them comfortable, makes them laugh. If a baby is crying at a chain store, they
often don’t have the time (or the patience) to wait because everyone is in a
hurry.
The truth is that many chain store studios lose money. In fact, Wal-Mart
closed 500 of their portrait studios in 2007 because of the
financial drain. What the chain stores bank on is a client coming in for quick,
cheap photos…and while there, spending $200 on other items. They are there to
get you in the door.
The real deal
Professional, personal photographers are just that—professionals. No
different than a mechanic, dentist, doctor, or electrician. But a personal
photographer often becomes a friend, someone who documents a family for
generations with professional,
personal photographs of cherished
memories.
Maybe we need to help clients look at it this way: A pair of scissors costs
$1.50 at the drugstore. Still, most people will gladly pay a lot more to hire a
professional hair dresser to cut their hair.
The added attention and quality that a personal photographer gives is worth
every penny.
Conclusion
We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a
better understanding of why professional photographs, created by a Personal
Photographer are so expensive.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Shawn, Pamela and Gavin Richter -
cofphoto@aol.com
Our website -
Caught on Film
Photography
Our photography fourm -
Learning Digital Photography Together
