How much to pay for a photoshoot

[soonafai]

Hi I'm a new member and this is my first post. I've been doing photoshoot with families, friends (mostly people I'm close with). But then a friend of a family member or a friend of a friend etc. ask me for a photoshoot. Now I'm wondering if I should start charging them for my time esp the post editing as it can take up a lot of time. I have no idea how much to charge? Appreciate your comments.

[kiwi]

Work out what your times worth, and equipment and other costs

I see most lower end family type shoots including 20-30 edited prints at $200 or thereabouts

[ricktas]

How much time will the shoot take?
Do you have to travel far (car/petrol expenses)
How much is your public liability insurance (you need to average that out and build it into your costs)?
How much time do you spend post processing?
Do they want prints? Have you found out how much each size print will cost you to get done?

No use charging $150.00 if it will cost you $70.00 in petrol to get to the shoot location and home again.
We are not really in a position to tell you how much to charge, you need to work it out. Work out all your
costs, then add on the profit you want to make, and you have your figure to quote.

[Wayne]

Or use the search function.....

[Sammi]

In all honesty if you are just starting out, only charge for the consumables... petrol, Disks (if giveing CD) etc... I know alot of professional photographers that did not charge at all in the first 12 mths of getting outside clientiel and just portfolio built... You need to be 1000% confident you can do the job at hand to charge people hard erned $$... I see alot of People on Facebook who are calling themselves Professional photographers and you can clearly see from there work they know nothing about getting correct exposure and offen have Out of focused images etc....

[reaction]

Yes you should charge if it's not direct friend or family. Even as a beginner you should charge at least $100 to cover costs and to not get a rep as the free photographer. It's not always about profit or margins at this stage.

[Dan Cripps]

Hi I'm a new member and this is my first post. I've been doing photoshoot with families, friends (mostly people I'm close with). But then a friend of a family member or a friend of a friend etc. ask me for a photoshoot. Now I'm wondering if I should start charging them for my time esp the post editing as it can take up a lot of time. I have no idea how much to charge? Appreciate your comments.

It really depends if you want to go down that path at all.

With payment comes added expectations and responsibilities. Be sure that you welcome the expectations and are ready for the responsibilities.

Until that point just decline the opportunities and continue shooting close friends and family for the love of it. :)

[ericimbs]

not just applied to photography: depends how good you think your work is. frankly, if it's family/close friends, recover costs and be transparent. make sure you tell them that this is their special price and if they want to refer others to you, they don't go setting any price expectations on your behalf.