In this digital age where everyone has cameras, scanners, and home "photo printers," we hear this all the time: How do professional photographers charge $X for an 8x10 when they cost just $5.50 at the drugstore? Simply put, the customer is not just paying for the actual photograph; they're paying for time and expertise.
The average one-hour portrait session
(some are 2 - 3 hours)
First, let's look at the actual work involved:
• Marketing
• Travel to the session
• Setup, preparation, talking to the client, etc.
• Shoot the photos
• Travel from the session
• Load images onto a computer
• Back up the files on an external drive
• 8 - 12 hours of Adobe® Photoshop® time, including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, and backing up edited photographs. Keep in mind we at Photography by SSV give you proofs in Colour, B/W and in artistic tones. Each proof is hand touched.
• Upload time to private galleries.
• 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, get reprints done if originals are not up to snuff, package prints, schedule shipment, and ship.
• Possibly meet clients at the studio to review photos and place order. Meeting and travel time average 2 hours.
You can see how a one-hour session easily turns into a 3 - 4 day job or more from start to finish. So when you see a professional photographer charging a $200 session fee for a one-hour photo shoot, the client is NOT paying them $200 per hour.
The Eight-Hour Wedding
A wedding photographer typically meets with the bride and groom several times before and after the wedding. And it’s not uncommon to end up with 1,000 - 2,000 photos, much more than a portrait session. Many photographers spend 40-60 hours working on one eight-hour wedding if you look at the time that is truly involved. Again, when a wedding photographer charges $4,000 for eight hours of coverage, clients are NOT paying them $500 an hour!
(Don’t forget that the photographer runs the wedding day to some extent. A comfortable, confident wedding photographer can make a wedding day go more smoothly.)
The expertise and cost of doing business
Shooting professional photography is a skill acquired through years of experience. Even though a DSLR now can costs under $1,000, taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.
Most professional photographers take years to go from buying their first camera to making money with photography (5 - 7 Years). The costs of equipment is enormous with each lens costing $1000 - $2500 plus. In addition to learning how to use the camera, there is a mountain of other equipment and equipment replacement plus software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website, etc. And don’t forget backdrops, lights, props, rent, utilities, insurance, etc!
In addition to the financial investment, photographers actually have to have people skills to make subjects comfortable in front of the camera. Posing people to look their best is a skill by itself. You could argue that posing is a more important skill than actually knowing how to use the camera. A poorly exposed photo can be saved, but a badly posed photo cannot.
Comparing Apples to Apples Not Apples to Oranges
The chain store photo studio
Chain stores do have their place. For a very cheap price you can run in, shoot some quick photos, and be done with it. But you get what you pay for.
Consider the time and effort that a professional photographer puts into photographs, compared to a chain store. Store sessions last just a few minutes, while a personal photographer takes the time to get to know the people, makes them comfortable, makes them laugh and coordinates and tailors a session to your family's personal style. If a baby is crying at a chain store, they often don’t have the time (or the patience) to wait because everyone is in a hurry where as your professional photographer will wait and give baby the time they need.
The truth is that many chain store studios lose money. In fact, Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios in 2007 because of the financial drain. What the chain stores bank on is a client coming in for quick, cheap photos…and while there, spending $200 on other items. They are there to get you in the door.
Your Professional photographer is a different business. They are there to produce and give you the art and high quality you were hoping to receive in your imagery. The investment into a professional is like an investment into an artist, photography is simply the medium that person has chosen to creatively output.
The real deal
Professional photographers are just that—professionals. No different than a mechanic, dentist, doctor, or electrician. But a professional photographer often becomes a friend, someone who documents a family for generations with professional, personal photographs of cherished memories.
Purhaps you could look at it this way: A pair of scissors costs $1.50 at the drugstore. Still, most people will gladly pay a lot more to hire a professional hair dresser to cut their hair.
The added attention and quality that a personal photographer gives is worth every penny.
Conclusion
We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs, created by a Professional Photographer are so expensive.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
