How to charge for product photography
Before I continue, while this is a guide of what to consider when determining your rates, I’m not going to give you an exact number. Why? Because your rates are going to vary based on several factors, which I’ll cover below.
Also, you can charge whatever you want when it comes to pricing; however, it’ll be your job as the photographer to back that ish up. Here are a few things to consider when deciding what to charge for product photography.
Lifestyle & Cost of Business. This requires understanding your numbers. What catches people up is that they forget to actually create financial goals based on how much they need to bring in and have leftover after each project. The first is to understand how much are your business expenses. Not the cost of 1 DSLR camera. If you’re good, you’ll make that back 20x over.
Add up all of your expenses. Business expenses include monthly bills: online software, accountant, rent for studio space, taxes, etc. If product photography is your side hustle, you can stop there. If you do product photography full time, now review your other bills: food, transportation, gas, rent (housing), subscriptions. Now is probably a good time to cxl some subscriptions if you must to lower your expenses. Now you know all of your expenses in one place.
Determine your annual Income Goal. Next determine how much you want to make for the year. Is it $50,000? $60,000? For the purpose of this example let’s say you need to make approx. $4,200 a month to make $50,000 a year.
Next determine your product photography packages. If you want to make $4,200 a month in order to make $50,000 a year, create product photography packages that provide value for your clients. I offer tiered project based packages based on a client’s needs.
Consider how much you want to work. If your lowest package is $500 that means in order to make $4,200/month you’d need approx. 8-9 clients/month at $500/month. Is that feasible for you? Is that too much work? Do you want to live a life outside of working? Consider increasing your rates to offer value + give you more time to do the things you love, like creating content for your clients.
Experience. When I first started offering product photography, I offered the service for free for a limited period of time to build a clientele and also gain experience. Once I did, I felt more confident to increase my rates with the more experience I gained. I increase my rates every 6 months based on skills gained + clientele. Also to be fair, I did have a leg up when I first started because I had wardrobe styling experience, a skill I was able to transfer when creating flat lay photography. If you’re already a photographer, there will certainly be a learning curve; however, most skills are transferrable and you can practice.
Existing Market. You can research current photographers in your market that also offer product photography to see where their prices are; however again, prices will vary because people are at various stages in their careers/business. On the other, you certainly do not want to start too low. Reason being it’ll actually lower the perception of your business and people will not be as inclined to work with you. Believe it or not, if your pricing is too low, the perception is the quality of the content is not good or cheapens your value as the expert. Perception can be reality sometimes.
Your Selling Skills. Yes you need to know how to actually sell yourself if you’re going to bring in clientele. Saying you use a professional camera isn’t enough for people to actually buy from you 🙃. I see a lot of photographers use the excuse that just because they have a DSLR that is enough to charge a lot of money. I’m here to let you know, nobody really cares 🤯🙃. When I first started offering product & flat lay photography I only had an iPhone and I was charging $1,500 for 15 photos. BIG FLEX. But seriously clients just want to know if you can actually deliver what they want in a timely manner. You have to truly understand what your client truly needs and it goes beyond pretty photos. Is it time? Is it money? Once you understand that, you’ll have more confidence to charge a premium rate. Anyone can learn how to sell and if you need some advice, check out this episode of the Real Talk with Tamera Podcast.
Is there Perpetuity? This is a question you should be asking during your discovery calls. Perpertuity is “an annuity that has no end, or a stream of cash payments that continues forever.” In layman terms, this means a client can use the content you create over and over and over again across various mediums (Digital, Television, Billboards, Etc.). When naming your rates, it’s important to be compensated for not only work being created, but also how the client is utilizing the content AFTER. In my agreements, clients are passed digital rights to use the content on their platform, upon completion of final payment. However, if a client wants the ability to use images on 3rd party platforms or companies, they are responsible to pay an additional fee for perpetuity. It would suck to only charge $500 for 10 photos, only to see 1 photo used on a billboard in your favorite neighborhood or while waiting at the bus stop. Make sure when you’re putting your rates together, rights is mentioned & included in your packages.
Hopefully you use this information as an honest & informative guide to determine what to charge your rates. Want to learn more about how to Level Up Your Photography Business? Considering purchasing the Level Up Course Bundle! Learn more about it, by clicking here.