Photography Business 101: How to Price Your Photography When You’re Just Starting Out

Alexandria

10 minutes ago

8 min read

Starting a photography business is exciting… until someone asks:

“How much do you charge?” And suddenly you forget every number you have ever learned.

Pricing was one of the most intimidating parts of starting my photography business. When you’re new, it can feel impossible to know what you’re supposed to charge.

Am I charging too much? Am I charging too little? Will anyone actually pay this? Should I photograph people for free while I’m learning? When am I experienced enough to raise my prices? If you’ve asked yourself any of those questions, welcome to photography business ownership. You’re definitely not the only one. One of the biggest things I’ve learned over the years is that there isn’t one magical photography price that works for everyone.

Your pricing needs to make sense for your business, your expenses, your time, your experience, your market, and the kind of business you ultimately want to build. So instead of giving you a random number and telling you that’s what you should charge, let’s talk about how to actually figure it out.

Your One-Hour Photography Session Is NOT One Hour of Work

This is probably one of the biggest things I wish I understood when I started.

A client books a one-hour family session. They see you for an hour. So you’re getting paid hundreds of dollars for one hour of work, right? Absolutely not.

That session might include:

Answering the initial inquiry
Emails and communication
Sending your pricing information
Scheduling
Sending a contract
Collecting payment
Helping choose a location
Helping with outfits
Preparing your equipment
Driving to the location
Photographing the session
Driving home
Backing up the images
Culling hundreds of photographs
Editing the final gallery
Uploading everything
Delivering the gallery
Answering follow-up questions

That “one-hour session” can quickly become several hours of actual work. And that needs to be considered when you’re setting your prices.

Start With Your Cost of Doing Business

Before you decide what you want to charge, you need to know what it costs to actually run your photography business. Photography businesses have expenses that clients never see.

You may be paying for things like:

Equipment: Camera bodies, lenses, flashes, memory cards, batteries, hard drives, computers and equipment maintenance.

Software: Editing software, gallery delivery systems, booking platforms, accounting software, website hosting and design programs.

Business expenses: Business registration, insurance, contracts, education, bookkeeping, advertising and marketing.

Session expenses: Travel, parking, location permits, studio rentals, props and other session-specific costs.

Taxes: This is a BIG one. The amount a client pays you is not the amount you personally get to keep.

Once you start looking at all of those expenses together, you begin to understand why simply looking at another photographer’s price list isn’t enough. Their expenses aren’t necessarily your expenses.

The Photography Pricing Formula Beginners Need to Understand

You don’t need an incredibly complicated spreadsheet to start thinking like a business owner.

At its simplest, consider:

Business Expenses + Session Expenses + Your Time + Taxes + Profit = Your Session Price

And notice something important there. I included profit.

Profit is not the same thing as paying your expenses.

If a session brings in $400 but costs you $400 in time and business expenses, you didn’t build a profitable business. You created yourself a job that paid nothing.

Your business needs money left over after expenses if you want it to grow.

What Is Your Time Actually Worth?

This is where beginner photographers tend to underestimate themselves.

Let’s say you photograph a session for one hour. But the entire client experience takes you five hours from beginning to end.

If you charge $200, you’re not making $200 per hour.

Before expenses and taxes, you’re effectively bringing in: $200 ÷ 5 hours = $40 per hour

Now subtract your business expenses. Then taxes. Then travel. Suddenly that $200 session looks very different.

This is why I recommend tracking your time for several sessions. Actually time yourself.

How long did you spend emailing? How long did you drive? How long did you cull? How long did you edit?

You may be shocked by how much time goes into each client.

Should Beginner Photographers Work for Free?

This is a question I know almost every new photographer has. And yes, strategic free sessions can absolutely have a place when you’re learning. When you’re building your portfolio, you need people to photograph. Styled shoots, model calls, friends and family can give you an opportunity to practice without the pressure of a full-paying client.

But there’s a difference between: Practicing intentionally for free and Running your entire business for free because you’re scared to charge. Give your free sessions a purpose.

Maybe you need three families for your portfolio. Maybe you want to practice couples. Maybe you’re learning newborn photography. Photograph those sessions, learn everything you can from them, build your portfolio and then move forward. You do not have to wait until you feel like an expert before you start charging.

When Should You Start Charging?

Once you can consistently create photographs you’re comfortable delivering to clients, you can begin charging. Your first prices may be lower than they will be several years from now. That’s okay. Your pricing can grow with you. The important thing is that you don’t accidentally build a business model that requires you to photograph an impossible number of clients just to make money.

For example: If you need $5,000 in monthly revenue and your average client spends $250, you need: 20 sessions per month.

If your average client spends $625, you need: 8 sessions per month.

That’s a completely different workload.

Pricing affects more than your income. It affects your schedule, your client experience, your editing workload and your ability to actually enjoy your business.

Don’t Price Yourself Based Only on Other Photographers

Researching your local market is helpful. Copying someone else’s pricing isn’t.

You don’t know their business. Maybe photography is their side hustle. Maybe they don’t carry insurance. Maybe they photograph 30 sessions every month. Maybe they have completely different expenses. Maybe they’ve been photographing for 15 years. Maybe they’re brand new.

Competitor research should give you context, not your final answer.

Look at what photographers in your market offer, but build your pricing around your own numbers.

What Should Be Included in Your Photography Package?

One of the easiest things you can do for your clients is make your pricing simple to understand.

A package might include:

Session length
Number of edited images
Outfit changes
Location
Online gallery
Print release
Styling assistance
Travel radius
Turnaround time

You can also decide whether clients receive all of their final edited images or whether they receive a certain number with the option to purchase additional photographs.

There isn’t one correct model. Choose the one that works for the business you want to build.

Don’t Forget About Retainers

Once you’re charging clients, I strongly recommend having a system for reserving dates.

A retainer helps protect your calendar. Without one, someone can tell you they’re booking October 10th, disappear three weeks later, and you’ve potentially turned away another client for that date. Your contract should clearly explain your payment structure, cancellation policies, rescheduling policies and what happens to the retainer.

And please, use a contract. Even when you’re photographing someone you know. Especially when you’re starting to charge money.

When Should You Raise Your Photography Prices?

There isn’t a magic number of sessions you need to photograph before you’re “allowed” to raise your prices.

Instead, look for signs in your business.

You might consider reevaluating your pricing when:

Your calendar is consistently filling
Your expenses have increased
Your editing and shooting skills have significantly improved
You’ve upgraded the client experience
Demand has increased
Your current workload isn’t sustainable
You’re consistently booking without much resistance to your pricing

And you don’t have to double your prices overnight.

Small, intentional increases can help your business grow alongside your experience.

The Photography Session Cost Reality Check

Here’s a simple example of why understanding your numbers matters.

What Goes Into the Session Example

Client communication + planning: 45 minutes
Session preparation: 30 minutes
Travel: 1 hour
Photography: 1 hour
Culling: 45 minutes
Editing: 2 hours
Gallery + delivery: 30 minutes
Total time: 6.5 hours

A client may only see you for one hour, while you’re actually spending around 6.5 hours completing their experience.

And we haven’t even added your equipment, insurance, software, website, marketing, permits or taxes yet. This is why your session price cannot be based only on the hour you’re holding the camera.

A Simple Beginner Photography Pricing Worksheet

Before choosing your session price, write down:

Your annual business expenses. Add everything you expect your business to cost during the year.
Your desired annual income. How much do you actually want photography to pay you?
Your estimated taxes. Set aside money instead of treating every dollar coming into the business as spendable income.
Your expected number of sessions. Be realistic about how many clients you actually want to photograph.
Your average session-specific costs. Travel, permits, rentals and anything else associated with individual sessions.

Then start working backward. If you know how much revenue your business needs to generate and approximately how many clients you want to serve, you have a much better starting point for your pricing.

Pricing Is Also About the Life You Want

This is something I think gets left out of photography pricing conversations.

Your goal isn’t necessarily to photograph as many people as physically possible.

You may have children. You may have another job. You may be going to school. You may simply want your weekends back. Your pricing should help create a photography business that fits into your life instead of completely taking it over. I’d rather build a sustainable business with a manageable number of wonderful clients than create a business where I’m constantly photographing, editing and answering emails at midnight. More sessions does not automatically mean a more successful business. You Are Allowed to Grow Your first price list probably won’t be your forever price list. Mine wasn’t. Your business will change. Your photography will improve. Your expenses will change. Your client experience will get better. You’ll learn what you love photographing, and what you never want to photograph again. That’s part of building a business. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to create the perfect pricing structure on day one. Create one based on the information you have today. Then pay attention to your numbers. Adjust. Learn. Grow. And keep going. One Last Thing: Don’t Apologize for Charging You are providing a service. You’re investing in equipment, education, software, insurance and your business. You’re giving your clients your time and your creativity. And you’re creating photographs that may stay in their family for generations. You don’t need to apologize when you send your pricing. You also don’t need every person who contacts you to book.

Your goal isn’t to become the photographer for everyone. Your goal is to build a sustainable business that allows you to continue doing something you love. And sometimes that starts with simply being brave enough to say:

“Here are my prices.”

Keep Learning With Photography Business 101

If you’re at the beginning of your photography journey, this is exactly why I’m creating my Photography Business 101 series. We’re learning the camera and the business behind it, because knowing how to take a beautiful photograph is only one part of becoming a professional photographer.

Next up:

How to Get Your First Photography Clients (When Nobody Knows Who You Are Yet)

And trust me, you do not need thousands of Instagram followers to do it.

Starting a photography business is exciting… until someone asks:

“How much do you charge?” And suddenly you forget every number you have ever learned.

Pricing was one of the most intimidating parts of starting my photography business. When you’re new, it can feel impossible to know what you’re supposed to charge.

Your One-Hour Photography Session Is NOT One Hour of Work

This is probably one of the biggest things I wish I understood when I started.

A client books a one-hour family session. They see you for an hour. So you’re getting paid hundreds of dollars for one hour of work, right? Absolutely not.

That session might include:

Answering the initial inquiry

Emails and communication

Sending your pricing information

Scheduling

Sending a contract

Collecting payment

Helping choose a location

Helping with outfits

Preparing your equipment

Driving to the location

Photographing the session

Driving home

Backing up the images

Culling hundreds of photographs

Editing the final gallery

Uploading everything

Delivering the gallery

Answering follow-up questions

That “one-hour session” can quickly become several hours of actual work. And that needs to be considered when you’re setting your prices.

Start With Your Cost of Doing Business

Before you decide what you want to charge, you need to know what it costs to actually run your photography business. Photography businesses have expenses that clients never see.

You may be paying for things like:

Equipment: Camera bodies, lenses, flashes, memory cards, batteries, hard drives, computers and equipment maintenance.

Software: Editing software, gallery delivery systems, booking platforms, accounting software, website hosting and design programs.

Business expenses: Business registration, insurance, contracts, education, bookkeeping, advertising and marketing.

Session expenses: Travel, parking, location permits, studio rentals, props and other session-specific costs.

Taxes: This is a BIG one. The amount a client pays you is not the amount you personally get to keep.

Once you start looking at all of those expenses together, you begin to understand why simply looking at another photographer’s price list isn’t enough. Their expenses aren’t necessarily your expenses.

The Photography Pricing Formula Beginners Need to Understand

You don’t need an incredibly complicated spreadsheet to start thinking like a business owner.

At its simplest, consider:

Business Expenses + Session Expenses + Your Time + Taxes + Profit = Your Session Price

And notice something important there. I included profit.

Profit is not the same thing as paying your expenses.

If a session brings in $400 but costs you $400 in time and business expenses, you didn’t build a profitable business. You created yourself a job that paid nothing.

Your business needs money left over after expenses if you want it to grow.

What Is Your Time Actually Worth?

This is where beginner photographers tend to underestimate themselves.

Let’s say you photograph a session for one hour. But the entire client experience takes you five hours from beginning to end.

If you charge $200, you’re not making $200 per hour.

Before expenses and taxes, you’re effectively bringing in: $200 ÷ 5 hours = $40 per hour

Now subtract your business expenses. Then taxes. Then travel. Suddenly that $200 session looks very different.

This is why I recommend tracking your time for several sessions. Actually time yourself.

How long did you spend emailing? How long did you drive? How long did you cull? How long did you edit?

You may be shocked by how much time goes into each client.

Should Beginner Photographers Work for Free?

But there’s a difference between: Practicing intentionally for free and Running your entire business for free because you’re scared to charge. Give your free sessions a purpose.

When Should You Start Charging?

For example: If you need $5,000 in monthly revenue and your average client spends $250, you need: 20 sessions per month.

If your average client spends $625, you need: 8 sessions per month.

That’s a completely different workload.

Pricing affects more than your income. It affects your schedule, your client experience, your editing workload and your ability to actually enjoy your business.

Don’t Price Yourself Based Only on Other Photographers

Researching your local market is helpful. Copying someone else’s pricing isn’t.

You don’t know their business. Maybe photography is their side hustle. Maybe they don’t carry insurance. Maybe they photograph 30 sessions every month. Maybe they have completely different expenses. Maybe they’ve been photographing for 15 years. Maybe they’re brand new.

Competitor research should give you context, not your final answer.

Look at what photographers in your market offer, but build your pricing around your own numbers.

What Should Be Included in Your Photography Package?

One of the easiest things you can do for your clients is make your pricing simple to understand.

A package might include:

Session length

Number of edited images

Outfit changes

Location

Online gallery

Print release

Styling assistance

Travel radius

Turnaround time

You can also decide whether clients receive all of their final edited images or whether they receive a certain number with the option to purchase additional photographs.

There isn’t one correct model. Choose the one that works for the business you want to build.

Don’t Forget About Retainers

Once you’re charging clients, I strongly recommend having a system for reserving dates.