Photography By Alyssa: Flowers and Children

Why Photographers Cost so much... Thanks Willow! =)

If I may chime in here with a comment from the other side...
"HOWEVER, I am just so astounded by the prices of photography! I totally expect to pay more than I would in a studio, and don't even mind paying a decent sitting fee, but GOSH, the markup on the photo's themselves is OUTRAGEOUS!"

What you are looking at is a custom product. Done for you and only you. The photographer will probably spend at LEAST 10 hours total on your project, between the first contact you have with them to when they wave goodbye after you receive your prints. Ten hours is really a low ball, because they also have to keep their books, file their taxes, upload to a lab, package the prints etc etc etc. It's not just snapping a picture and uploading it to a disc. Sure there are some people who do that, but chances are the product they produce will look like it... KWIM? I would guess that a great photographer spends about 15 hours per client all told. So if you pay the photographer $600 all told, between the session fee and the prints/products you order... do you really believe that the photographer is pocketing most of that? Because we are not. Truly.
Let's take the $600 and ten hour scenario. Nice round numbers, easier for my little brain.
$60 per hour. Sounds GREAT right? Well....
28% off the top for my taxes... leaving me with
$43.20 an hour. Not too shabby! Now let's deduct my expenses...

Gas
Utilities to operate my computer.
Software and hardware to edit the images
camera and lenses
insurance (any photographer working without insurance is a fool).
credit card acceptance fees
banking fees
actual prints - depending on what is ordered can be anywhere from $20 - $150. .Really. Not everything is a couple of bucks and when ordered from a professional lab, with professional paper and professional archival ink, well it cost more than snapfish or wallyworld.
Packaging (bags, boxes, tissue paper, ribbon, stickers etc)
Basic business needs - staples, business cards, file folders, paper, ink, pens whatever

Now I've not even taken into account the countless hours of education, seminars, books, classes, professional fees for graphic designers, accountants, attorneys, refreshments when meeting with clients, marketing materials, advertising, web hosting, internet service, cell phone etc. etc. etc....
A recent survey of privately owned photography studio showed that studios with gross sales of $238,689 had an owners compensation of only $46,036.
That's roughly 20% of the gross... So back to the $600 sale above... the photographer is really only MAKING $120. When divided by 10 hours, that's $12 per hour. To support a family, pay for my own health insurance, contribute to retirement savings etc.
And that is ONLY if the photographer spends only 10 hours with the client. Doesn't sound quite so outrageous anymore does it?

Hope this helps to explain that photographers aren't rolling in the dough courtesy of their "outrageous" prices. It is a luxury item, if one can't afford it, or choses not to afford it, there's no shame in that.
Willow

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