Why Are Photographers Expensive?
There’s a lot that goes into a photographer’s pricing.
If you’re looking for a photographer for your event, wedding, or concert for the first time, you might find yourself a bit surprised by the pricing and quotes you see. Photography service prices can range tremendously, but they often end up being higher than many people expect. As a result, a lot of customers end up asking themselves, “Why are photographers so expensive?”.
If you’re not a photographer and if you don’t know one personally, you may not know how much goes into it. You can take decent photos on your smartphone for free, edit them on free phone applications, and have them printed at Walmart for just a few dollars. So what’s the deal? Why are photographers charging so much?
Hopefully, a bit of insight about the mechanics behind photography pricing will help you understand a bit better why it is that the prices are where they’re at.
How Much Photographers Really Cost
On average, photographers in major US cities will charge about $100 to $250 per hour for a photoshoot or event. I charge $100/hr for non-weddings, and $250 an hour for weddings. There's a lot more care and gear that’s needed for weddings, and the editing is more involved than a birthday, hence the price difference.
The cost will ultimately vary depending on the photographer’s experience, the gear they own and will use for your needs, and the type of event they’re shooting. For example, if the job will require a lot of travel time, or a lot more gear swaps and time on the photographer’s feet, or more required attention, there will be a difference in price.
How Much Money Photographers Make
We live humble lives unless we work with celebrities.
$250 per hour or $3,000 for a day’s work sounds like a lot. So are all full-time photographers rolling in the big bucks? Well, not quite.
The average income for photographers in the United States is $42,770 per year, which is lower than the current national mean annual salary of $51,960 for all occupations by a not-insignificant margin. And, sure, there are photographers out there with a lot of experience who do make a pretty penny. But, on average, photographers are actually not making as much money as you might presume they are when you see their quotes.
So what gives? What’s going on here? Where’s the money go? I’m glad you asked.
The Costs of Operating as a Photographer
Well, the reality is that doing business as a photographer is actually pretty expensive in and of itself. And the one hour that you’re being charged between $100 and $250 for actually represents much more than one hour of work time that the photographer is actually putting in.
For example, for a typical photoshoot, a photographer has to spend time on:
Advertising and generating leads
Booking and planning the photoshoot
Speaking to the client ahead of time to determine a direction for the photoshoot
Traveling to and from the photoshoot
Organizing, cleaning, and setting up equipment
Choosing the best photo selects from the photoshoot
Editing each photo one by one
Delivering the photos to the client and getting them ready for print
And all of that is on top of the actual time that they are photographing, i.e. the photoshoot itself. As you can see, that one hour you are being charged for can end up breaking down to a full eight-hour day’s of work, in which case they’re really making between $12 and $30 an hour, not $100 and $250.
And in addition to all of the time that the photographer is putting into each and every shoot, they’re also spending quite a bit of their own money in order to run their business.
Let’s just look at what costs a photographer has to cover as part of their photography business.
How Much Does Photography Equipment Cost
One thing all photographers absolutely must have is their own photography rig, and professional photography equipment is expensive. Sure, your iPhone might have pretty decent quality, but a real photographer is going to show up to your event or photoshoot with a full professional set-up, and you wouldn’t expect any less, would you?
This professional photography kit will typically include:
⦁ A DSLR camera body or two: between $1,000 and $5,000
⦁ Camera lenses: $500 to $5,000, depending on quality, brand, and requirement
⦁ Camera flash: $300
⦁ Memory cards, filters, camera bags, etc.: $500
⦁ Tripod: $200
And don’t forget that this equipment breaks and needs to be replaced every so often. Not every piece of gear can be used for every type of shoot, depending on available light, time of day, mobility requirements, etc.
Licensing Editing Software
Of course, a photographer’s work isn’t finished when they walk away from their photoshoot. Because afterward, they have to go home and edit their photos, something that requires a good computer, a high-quality monitor, external hard drives to store photos, and subscriptions to photo editing software like the Adobe Creative Suite. All of that can add up to a couple of thousand dollars and it too requires maintenance and replacement from time to time. I have nearly 20TB of archival external space and a number of pieces of software that charge annual license fees.
Website Hosting and Advertising
And let’s not forget that freelance photographers are running a business, which has costs of its own. Just to find clients, a photographer will have to invest some money in creating and hosting a personal website and advertising their services. And then there are the costs of insuring their gear, paying for high-speed internet to upload photographs, and - in America at least - paying for their own health insurance. And that’s not even to mention any education that a photographer might be interested in getting in order to improve their skills.
My cost of generating any given lead is nearly $50, and doesn’t guarantee I book them - so if I get 20 leads in a month, that’s $1000 I spend in advertising costs.
Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive, but you can see how both the costs of being a photographer and the time it takes to fulfill a client’s request add up quickly. As a result, that $250 per hour price tag you might be shocked by ends up translating to a $15 per hour take-home pay. So give your photographers some leniency when you ask them for a quote. They’re not trying to scam you; they’re just doing their best to get by in an industry that requires a lot of investment on their part.
Being Flexible to Make Sure Everyone Can Afford a Photographer
When I started my business of being a photographer in Atlanta, I wanted to make sure I kept pricing accessible. It helped me get my business off the ground when I started, but now I keep my pricing relative to my needs, keep pricing transparent, and make sure that anyone who needs a photographer can afford one. That’s why I started my Social Good program, to allow people who needed photographers for their most important moments to afford them.
However, I still have rent to pay and life goals to make.
For a long time, talking money has been taboo in society - but I think that just keeps the rich rich. I charge what I charge because that’s what my time is worth. The more I book, the lower I can keep my prices, so I try to make things easy and straight-forward.
I hope this all benefits you and makes it easier to understand the industry and business. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!