How to set your rates

One of the hardest parts of photography is understanding how to set your rates. Whilst It's impossible for me to know what is the right rate for you, I can help you get it right.

The first factor you have to set is costs. A lot of photographers don't see this as a huge factor, but equipment purchases, data redundancy, insurance, equipment upkeep and repairs, rent etc. need to factor in. 

If you rent studio space or an office, the cost should at least be accounted for, for example, if you have a hugely busy month but the shoots all are on location, and therefore you are not charging for that, it still needs to come out somewhere. As such I would say building retainers into your earnings is critical.

There are also other factors that come into play like transport/travel, food, and for example if you have a uniform or need certain clothes like suits for weddings if you're a wedding photographer. And you also don't get sick leave or holidays. So margins are important if you want to take time off!

Factoring all these in per shoot might seem a bit much, but it depends on your business model.

Ok... I know this can be quite boring, so I'll do this quickly.

I'm lazy so I add all my costs together, I've been doing this a few years so I can also average those costs per year. I also make sure there's some room for purchases (every few years you're going to need to replace your camera, so keep room for future expenses in mind as well).

Let's say it's $15,000 per year, and on average you book 100 jobs per year — the minimum you need to charge is $150 if you don't charge that at a minimum you lose money on that job. If you charge just that, you're at least covering costs, but you're not yet in the clear.

Setting your rates on top of that to depend on a few things, skill level, demand, marketability, if you're going niche or mass market, as well as competition, a barrier to entry and clientele.

Rates may also vary from job to job, depending on time needed both on the shoot as well as in post, transport, client types, and audience.

I also factor in the number of jobs I can get per year in certain niches.

For example, if you're shooting social events, they're likely only going to fall only during weekend hours, usually past 6 pm, that limits your total days of possible work per year to just over 100. That's 100 potential dates, but that also presents the problem with double bookings, and the ability to acquire those jobs, in hourly rate terms and your possible hours to probably only 1000 hours per year.

To even cover costs 15,000 / 1,000 = $15 p/h just in costs

Or to make $55,000 a year... 55,000 / 1,000 = 55 + 15 (for costs)

That's if you get booked for those 1,000 hours.

I'd be conservative and say you're only going to get booked for 1/3 those hours, so you'd need to make at least $180 p/h. But maybe that niche is cluttered, or the average rate is lower or higher, this is another factor I'll go into shortly.

If you're a product photographer there are 260 possible work days, but product photography gets expensive and requires technical precision as well as large amounts of equipment, editing, as well as staffing considerations, so your costs are likely to be a lot higher. Or weddings, where there are probably only potentially 50 clients a year, and of those most of those are going to fall in summer, and require vast amounts of editing. So a potential 30 jobs per year.

The point I'm trying to make here is to look at all your costs, but also just as importantly, how many jobs you can book, because optimism here may get you stuck in a rut, or working two other jobs, or throwing in the towel because the logistics are too hard.

The more planning you do, the easier it will be long term!

O.