I took in a workshop with Doug Box many years ago, and he was very much of the “buy more, get more” mindset – the most expensive print you could buy was the first one. Everything got cheaper the more you spent.

I felt his pricing schedules were wildly complicated and leaned too far into the not-customer-friendly realm, which is why I like a la carte and flat-rate options. As I’ve written here, I like to keep the onus on myself to produce enough variety and quality of art to earn the client’s dollars. If I do better work, they’ll spend more money.

Certainly, I’m partial to a tight cull – I’d rather show a client 10 great photos than 10 great and 20 mediocre ones. One benefit of practicing new setups with each shoot is you can grow out your repertoire until you’re nailing 10, 20, 30 different interesting, unique and salable sets of images per shoot. I do my best to get as much variety in with each shoot, and from a typical hour-long shoot I’ll show a client 30-50 proofs. The better your variety, and of course overall quality, the easier it is to sell more – including that full CD of images at a tidy profit.

I always offer CDs of all (keeper) photos from a photo shoot. I try to go with a price around 20 to 25 times my base print / file price. If I know that I average a sale of $300 per client, I’ll offer an all-photos-on-CD package for $400 for example. Anything that beats my average per-client sale provides a boost to my bottom line. If I sell “too many” CDs this way, it shifts my per-client averages, so I raise my price for the CD anyway. Pricing is very much a learn-as-you-go sort of thing.

Try adding up all of your typical client sales (ignore the really high or low ones), get an average, and charge $100 or so more than that for a CD of all photos. See if it sells. I’d say about one in four clients will buy the full CD option. It does add quite a bit to my total processing time (I do complete processing and touch-ups on all purchased images), but I always make sure that my desired per-hour income is met. If it’s not, I raise prices, of course.

Like infomercial king Ron Popeil would say, “Set it and forget it!” Pick a price you like the looks of that makes sense in some way, throw it out there, and adjust as you go as you see the need. Trust your gut.

Let me know what you decide on, and how it turns out for you!

Awesome series, really informative and helpful.

What’s your take on offering CDs of entire shoots? Many clients these days pretty much expect a CD with the all of the images. If I’m charging $10 per file and quoting a client $400 for a disc containing 40 keepers they will surely go running for the door.

Thanks!

I like simplicity, and it’s paid off over the years for me. What I recommend for new-to-the-profession photographers is no session fee, no minimum order, prints and files starting at just $10. For example, 4×6 for $10, 5×7 for $15, 8×10 for $20, or hi-res file on CD for $10.

I know the temptation is there to ‘guarantee’ a certain income from a shoot, but the selling point of having no risk for the client I’ve found gets folks in the door with great ease, and it’s incredibly rare I suffer a client who buys little to nothing from a shoot. The onus of responsibility is on me to produce art and an experience so good that my clients can’t help but buy what I put in front of them. And the better I do, the more and bigger they buy!

My goal is always to build good will with clients and the community. Relaxed, non-draconian policies like this help really separate an aspiring professional photographer from the typical grognard who won’t even let a client breathe their air for less than $150 or so. It makes breaking into any market far easier, and with no financial risk placed on the client, it lets you worry less about “performing” and more about “producing” results.

I’m also different from many established photographers in that I prefer selling my clients hi-res files on CD instead of prints. I sell toward this end, so my prints cost the same or more than the digital files.

Consider your options, look at what your local competition is doing (forcing session fees, overcharging for prints, not offering digital files, etc.) and see where the opportunity to differentiate yourself exists. Only you know how much your time is worth, how long it takes you to prep, shoot, post-process and deliver your best art, so apply anything you learn here or elsewhere to your own needs and experiences.

And never forget, this is a learning process – it’s okay, even desirable, to make mistakes early on and correct course along the way. Nothing is set in stone or written in blood, just make your best judgment call and see how it turns out – adjust accordingly if you see the need. If you’re spending more time worrying than marketing, shooting and selling, work every day to focus your energy on tangible actions instead of intangible fears.

As always – have fun. You’re doing this by choice, and you’re in charge – you can form and reshape your business any way you want, any time you want.

Please keep me posted on your adventures in professional photography! I’d love to hear of your successes and experiences.

I am not familiar with photo parties. If you have folks who are interested in hosting such a party, ask them what they had in mind – they’ll probably provide you the best ideas for such an event. You might be doing headshots for aspiring actors and musicians, or multiple-family group portraits, or children’s portraits, or just fun and fashiony type stuff for teens.

The “party” business model seems to be growing in popularity – I can’t log in to Facebook without seeing a friend or three hosting a cooking party, a candle party, or some other manner of “party” where guests are expected to buy products from the host.

Whatever you agree to, try to find a way to cover your hours invested so you earn a minimum happy wage per hour (including post-processing and posting, if necessary, after the shoot) – then any photo sales you get on top will be a bonus. Always aim at that bottom line that makes you grin if you get it, and rejoice in additional gains beyond your expectation.

Thank you again for your comment! Please let me know how your photo party turns out, I’d love to hear of your adventure. And please keep me posted as you grow into the business! I want to hear all about your successes and learning experiences.

The economy is still in a rough place, but there’s a reason why some folks see a recession as an unfortunate fate and others see it as an opportunity to thrive. Being a part time photographer, you have some of the greatest flexibility any business owner could ask for. You have complete control over your expenses, your investments, and the steady growth of your client base. We can’t all afford to shoot $1,000 clients with $10,000 in camera equipment right now, but I promise you there’s always a market across all income levels for a great, no-risk, affordable, exciting experience – that’s true of any industry, not just photography.

The grognards will try to bury your ambitions and your unique business model, because they don’t understand or agree with it. No session fee? No minimum order? Affordable, scalable pricing?! Earn your pay based on the quality of the art and experience you provide?!?! (I can hear the palpitations from here!) What they don’t know can hurt them, though. They hate their customers, they have no faith in them, they squeeze them for every dime they can wrench from them, they use every method of manipulation to ‘maximize the sale.’ And every one of their failings is your opportunity to succeed by giving your customer a trusting, respectful, cooperative, refreshing experience. A good business IS good business.

I’ll say it again – in today’s market, right now, March 25, 2011, 12:31 a.m. CST, a good business IS good business.

Pick up Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book The Thank You Economy to read more about this seemingly obvious idea – you’ll be very glad you did.

The most important part is to start, to Just Do It, to ‘Ready, Fire!, Aim.’ Once you have momentum, a professional presence, a growing client base, and some experience with your self, your business, and your market, you can then develop down whatever path you see opportunity in, for both financial and personal gains. If you stay lean, practice the 80/20 rule across all aspects of your business (education, practice, time, investments), and hustle, you can’t help but succeed – you’ll be profitable from the start with the freedom to be the artist and business you want to be, earning canary-eating-grin good pay in the process.

Please do keep me posted on your progress Jonathan! I visited your site and really enjoyed your work, you have a great eye for color, composition, and shadow. I can’t wait to hear about your adventures!

Being in rural Texas, I’d wager Southern California prices are a far cry different from here. Your best bet is to just do a Google search for your area, find photographers that you would say are similar in artistic talent to yourself, and study their prices. If they aren’t posted online, just call and ask. I don’t suggest copying price lists item by item, but it should give you an idea of about what a shoot should go for in your area. Convert this over to a no session fee, no minimum order model, and you’ll have no trouble bringing in your first paying – and hopefully, repeat – clients.

For classes, a quick Google search should help you out. I found the following two links off the bat:

http://ask.metafilter.com/97513/BestCheapest-Photography-training-in-Southern-California

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/66916-looking-photography-classes-southern-california.html

Best of luck in your new adventure! Please do keep us posted on your progress. If there’s anything more I can do to help, please don’t hesitate to let me know!

Photography is a wonderful industry to get into – I’m obviously an advocate, both as a photographer and blogger!

One of the best things about being “young and very naive about business” is that you have no preconceived notions – you’ll have the opportunity to start from a fresh slate and build your own style of art and of business. Some of the absolute worst advice I see online meant for newbie photographers comes from the longest-established grognards in the industry. So consider your youth a real asset – find books, blogs, mentors whom you respect and who compliment your creative spirit, and start down the path of kaizen – small improvements every single day.

I really enjoyed looking at your Flickr portfolio! Lots of great, great work in there of all kinds of subjects. Loved your “in the picture frame” photos the most – very stylish, memorable, a great fashion flavor.

Start lean, make money, get your art and name in front of potential clients, and start growing that customer base. Every repeat client you add to your business is a raise to your salary, a guaranteed paycheck, income insurance, an asset worth hundreds to thousands to tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your business.

Please do keep me posted on your adventure into professional photography! I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Every once in a while, when enough people you like and respect tell you something, it’s an act of wisdom to listen. If someone says to you, “You do great work, I would totally pay for what you do,” it does mean something – and when you hear that from a lot of someones, it’s time to measure the opportunity. I’m very excited for you! This is a wonderful industry to be a part of – wholly rewarding, socially, creatively, monetarily.

I break the ice with clients the same way I do with anyone – I just talk to them like new friends. Show a real interest in who they are and what makes them tick, ask lots of questions, and give plenty of encouragement. Even just little things can set the tone for a shoot. I always find something about my client to compliment off the bat – love their hair, love their jewelry, love their outfit – I try to find specific details I can brag on them for. A little confidence can go a long way, both for the photographer and the subject.

I’m very high energy on my shoots, so I try to create a sort of tidal wave of good vibes and progression through the shoot – I ask questions as to what my clients want, and immediately get an impression as to whether they want to have control or they want me to have control. It’s like when I go to an auto mechanic – I don’t want to tell them what I think is wrong, I want them to tell me what is wrong. I want them to have the confidence of knowing what to do, and I’ll show them my confidence in their expertise. That’s how it is with most clients – you’re the photographer, you’re the expert, so beyond their specific requests, take control and do what you feel will give the client the best photos you can.

Feel comfortable in your own skin – you’ve shown your art, you’ve named your price, your clients are already sold by the time they’re in front of your camera – they’ve already gladly bought what you are selling. When it comes time to meet, greet, and shoot, just be yourself and focus on giving the client a great business experience steeped in personal attention and your best artistry.

Whatever level your art is at, you can always go out of your way to treat folks right and show them a good time. Just like a great waiter can make a huge difference in a restaurant meal, the experience you create for your clients can mean as much as (and with some clients, even more than) the art itself.

Best of luck with your shoots this weekend! Please do let me know how they turn out, here on the blog, e-mail me at James@outlawphotography.net, or give me a call at 830-688-1564. I really would love to hear about your experiences. Enjoy the adventure, and thank you for your readership!