Why do Photographers charge so much money?

I am sure that there are a number of you, clients and photographers alike that are in different groups on Facebook or forums and are constantly reading about people complaining about the price of a photographer. For one reason or another the individual does not understand why the quote is so high "just to push a button". I must admit that there was a time that I wondered this too, but now, I understand.

First of all let me point out that no matter where you are that your price point is going to vary. It is going to vary due to the economical status in your area and it is going to fluctuate based upon how much you value your time, effort and work. However I want to give a break down of the nuts and bolts of what a potential photographer is looking at.

So I will use myself as an example. Here are my base costs.

I use Smugmug to display and deliver my work to my clients =$250 per year=$21 per month
I typically shoot within a 50 mile radius of my home. Gas is $2.00 a gallon and I drive a truck that gets about 21mpg. So Round trip I am looking at spending at least $6-$7 on fuel. I use Creative cloud in order to keep up to date with Lightroom and Photoshop=$10 per month. Then I have to have electricity to run my computer and the programs so that is at least another $20 just for that. So this means that even if I do not have a session in a month I still have $31 in expenditures that I will have to be able to cover as soon as I can get a session booked.

So lets say that I do have a session booked and it is 20 miles away. Right off the top I have $31 for the Smugmug website and creative cloud suite that I pay for every month. I also now have $4 in fuel to consider. This brings the expense to $35 total to cover only the cost of the business. But how about the work that I must but into the session? How much is that worth? This is one area where the cost becomes the most variable. At a minimum I believe that you should be paying  yourself at least minimum wage for your area and for me I believe that is $7.25 an hour. So the session is an hour long. This means that the session should only cost $42.25 right? Wrong!!

There is more that occurs after the session and there are other factors to consider as well. First of all lets think about the editing of the session. Let's say that was a 3 hour process. The labor alone for that at the minimum wage rate is a total of $21.75. Plus there is the cost of electricity to run the computer that is used to run creative cloud.  So lets add another $4 just for electricity.

So just for the bare minimums, and I am sure I probably missed something the minimum charge to the client should be $68. Of course this does not include prints, or other gifts or anything else that the photographer may offer. This is the bare bones cost of what the client should be paying. However I sure there are a number of people who are shaking their heads and screaming at me as they read this saying that I am under valuing them and that I am not taking into account a number of other costs. You are absolutely right, I am under valuing you and I am not taking into account all of the costs for your specific business.

When I began this post I did not talk about the cost of start up, purely because it is not something that many think about. This is something that comes out of pocket, and hopefully is repaid through the revenue from the business as it grows. But there are still a number of things that we have not discussed.

For example, there is the insurance. How many people know that a photographer maintains insurance? It is not just for their gear, but it covers their business as a whole. This can cost anywhere from $10-$100 a month give or take depending on the insurance company. There is also the wear and tear on the vehicle that the photographer is driving which is averaged out to 57.5 cents per mile when it is broken down on the taxes each year. There is also insurance for that vehicle which will depend on the company but we will round it out to $100 per month. A photographer also has to be able to advertise and promote themselves through various means so we will say that this is budgeted on the low end at $150 a month. If the photographer decides to rent a studio in my area the starting price is $500 a month and goes up from there. This rent typically includes the electrical and other amenities from what I have been able to find.

So lets but all these numbers together for each session
Session with 3 hours to post process at minimum wage $68
Business insurance $ 3
Wear and tear on the vehicle $23.20
Vehicle Insurance $10
Studio Rental $50 (If the photographer can get 10 sessions in one month)
Internet $90 per month needed for Creative Cloud to operate

These numbers total up too a grand total of $163.20 (based upon 10 clients a month)

$163.20 from one session to cover the bills... yet the photographer has to make 10 sessions in order to cover everything and they are only really paying themselves for a total of 4 hours of work.

I will make a disclaimer that this is not an exact number, and that it not hard fact for every single photographer out there. This is a very base line number, and this is assuming that a photographer is going to get 10 clients in one month. Something that can be very feasible, however at $163.20 there is no way the photographer is going to make a living. Yes the business is paying their bills, but is the photographer putting food on the table? Are they paying the mortgage for their home? Are their children getting what they need? Considering this is based on 10 clients a month and we only paid the photographer $7.25 an hour for a total of $290, and this is before taxes I am going to say no, this is not happening. Not at the rate that we are currently set at.

$290 in a month is not going to pay the bills for that photographer. In most cases that doesn't even cover the cost of groceries for a month. So this is just simply unacceptable. So what can be done? Well the photographer could stay at the same rate and increase their session numbers. I can agree with this however there are still some things to consider. Will it make their creativity suffer? Will they begin to rush because they are over booked and not give the customer service that clients are looking for? If that is the case what will happen? The photographer loses business, and still cannot pay the bills. So is there another way?

Of course, there is always a different way to handle a situation. A photographer can increase their prices to a point that pays them for what they are worth, and also covers the business bills as well as what their family needs. Am I saying to increase your fees to such a point that you only need one session a month? NO! That would kill the idea of having a business all together. However increasing your prices to where the bills are paid and family is taken care of is more then reasonable.

The next time that a client asks why your prices are so high explain to them that they are not high,  you are trying to provide for your family, and feel free to refer them to this post.

As I said before the numbers are not exact, and things are going to change on a case by case basis, however this can give you an idea of where to start, or an idea of how to explain why your prices are the way that they are. Remember it is not as simple as clicking a button on a camera. There is so much more to being a photographer.

I would love to hear what you would like to add to this post or what could be improved upon. Please join my email list, you can do this from the side bar. Also I would love to hear what you would like to know more about. Please feel free to email your suggestions or leave them in the comments below. Looking forward to continuing to grow with each and every single one of you.