How much would you pay???

[dgphotography]

I am sorting the pricing out for my portrait service.

My portraits are contemporary, but stylish.

What I want to know is, how much would you pay to have a portrait taken, it could be of your children, you and a partner, a pet, a family shot, or maybe just of yourself?

What would you expect to be included in the price. Some studios I know charge for the sitting, then for a viewing and then prints are extra on top! I want to charge a reasonable sum for my work but still turn over a profit.

What do you think?

 

[fourblankwalls]

Hi David, we supply quite a lot of studios with perspex art. They send us the images and we print for their clients. Whilst we sell "photos on perspex" for a smaller amount we tell them to take our trade price - add their time and cost of photos plus a bit of their expertise. Where we charge £144.00 for a 100x100cm perspex panel printed (trade) most would sell these for £600.00 plus. As long as your products are less than Venture i guess you can charge what you like.

I think the money is in the products rather than the prints.http://www.fourblankwalls.co.uk

 

[deniser]

The photographer I know charges £50 for the sitting which includes a small framed print. She then takes lots of photos knowing that you won't just be able to choose one but are likely to choose several as gifts for relatives and bigger sizes for yourself.

The customers are happy because they know they are getting something for the £50 sitting fee and that they can spend only £50 if they want to. They don't then feel pressurised and for that reason usually spend a lot more.

Another photographer says that his average spend per family is £800. So on those kind of figures he does free sittings to get them through the door.

Charging just for a sitting will put an awful lot of people off.

 

[mooster]

Having been down the road of having a shoot done with the family by a well known chain (having been given a voucher as a present), I would say that I personally would prefer an all in price - shoot, view and prints so that I know what I am getting. In my opinion the chain operation is a very slick money making machine that is way overpriced for what you get. Nearly £200.00 for a framed 10 x 8, which is basically a sheet of photo paper and a cheap frame...
Admittedly you are contributing to the massive overheads aswell - nice showroom, comfy settees, staff, tea coffee, etc. It's horses for courses but I would rather use the photographer down the road with his own studio where I am paying him a decent hourly rate for his professional time plus his time and materials spent running out the prints. Hope this helps.

 

[guscat]

More and more amateur photographers are turning their hobbies into a career, and there is more competition than ever before. I am a keen photographer and have read a lot on the topic.
It would appear that in such a competitive envionment, strong USP's are key, and i would strongly suggest that you analyse the local competition and forumulate your strategy accordingly considering local demographics as well.
If you live in an affluent area and your target market are ABC1 households, then a higher ticket with emphasis on quality would seem appropriate, depending on competitors rates. If a lower local demographic then selling on price (compared to competitors) should see you get a share of the market for sure, but the most important thing is to gain more USP's....
A growing area is digital maniulation and turning photos into trendy canvass for example, see who locally offers this service etc. The more unique things you have the better.
Overall in a nutshell - the quality of your work will be obvious to all, and whilst you may be competing with many fresh new photographers having made the move from 'amateur to pro', if your work is a higher standard, then this will be obvious within seconds of seeing your first photo.
Good Luck, Peter

 

[Dawg]

Offer all:
Free sitting, 'full price' prints
£50 sitting, one print included
£300 sitting, 5 prints, one frame included

See what works, and amend.

 

[Recover My Image]

I would not know how much to charge,if you charge to much people think a " rip off " and to cheap he/she can't be that good,but as guscat says people want more like digital manipulation and turning photos into trendy canvass for example then again that cost money,The daughter took a photo of myself and the missis when on holiday and we had it put on a canvas 30"x"24" you can checkout my daughter's site at www.Amysphotography.co.uk some good pictures there on flickr link

 

[REM..!]

Hi

I don't think the issue is as clear cut as the price.

Yes, your prices should be relative to the industry you are in - but on the other hand I know people who have paid nearly £1,000 for professional photographs of their families which seems extortionate to me (!) but then they say, "Oh but he was a very good one, with a great studio and some great settings..." and so on.

I think you need to look more in terms of what you are offering your clients - can you offer something which is out of the ordinary?

Generally speaking, people don't mind paying more if they feel it is justified.

Personally, I would research your competition. Mystery shop your competitors and find out what they are offering. See if you can identify a gap in terms of what they are offering.

I would also consider something to try and gain new customers through a sort of referral scheme - for example, you could print postcards with a small photo from the sitting on the front which could be given as a freebie to the client. The client would then no doubt use these to send to their families and friends - and you could pit your address and a little 'advert' on the back underneath their message- perhaps offering money off?

You can use something like this to drum up interest and make the most of your existing customers.

I think as long as your pricing is relative and within the realms of reason, the main thing is to get your positioning right.

Good luck

 

[dgphotography]

Thanks for all of your input.

I have tried an advert with an offer of £50 with a free print. Its been a week and I havent had any enquiries from that particular advert. So not sure whether the price, advert or the media was right.

I have an advert on gumtree and that has generated a fair few enquiries. Any thoughts?

 

[MH1]

I would be tempted to offer free sittings for a week or two as a special offer, and see how good the response is, plus the average sales arising from the sittings.

 

[bigmedia]

By the sound of it, a set price list or menu is a good place to start with regards to a unique selling point.

 

[Centure]

can you try and get your business physically positioned where your target customers are? by this I mean contacting the organisers of local events, shopping areas or centres etc to see if you can set up there and try and entice people in for a free photo with the option to purchase the result.

This would give you two benefits. 1, people see you are work and can try you for free first (I love digital photography for making this cost viable). 2. Lots of people will see your name and brand and if you can give out flyers all day long you should start to increase your visibility long term.

Good luck
Rich
Centure Pricing Management

 

[Moot Design]

I think that is a good idea. We as a family did a free sitting and thought we would come out with a couple of good shots and leave it at that. We ended up with spending around £600 each (there are 5 of us) on photos and frames.

People would pay money for fabulous photos.