How to price photography

The shoot is the visible part and usually the smaller part. Here's how to price photography so that editing, kit, and usage rights all end up in the number.

What you're actually selling

Images the client can use to sell something, and the right to use them in specific places for a specific time. Two clients can buy the identical shoot and owe very different amounts, because usage is a separate product.

Why photographers get this wrong

Quoting a day rate for the shooting day and nothing else. The edit, the cull, the retouching, the delivery, the travel, the kit depreciation, and — most expensively — the client's right to use the images commercially, all disappear into a number that only covers the hours you held a camera.

How to work out your number

  1. Price the shoot day and the post separately in your own maths

    For every day shooting there's often as much again in selection, editing, and delivery. The client can see one and not the other, which is exactly why your internal calculation has to include both.

  2. Treat licensing as its own line

    Where will the images run, for how long, and in how many territories? A social post, a national billboard, and a permanent buyout are three different prices for the same file. This is where the money in commercial work lives.

  3. Recover your costs explicitly

    Travel, assistants, studio hire, models, props, insurance, and equipment replacement are project costs, not overheads to absorb. Itemise them so a client who wants a bigger production pays for a bigger production.

  4. Offer packages rather than one number

    Three tiers — different shoot lengths, image counts, and usage terms — let the client choose their level rather than negotiate yours, and the middle option usually outsells the one you'd have quoted alone.

Pricing models that fit photographers

Think twice about: Hourly rate

It prices the least valuable part of the job — the hours on set — and gives away the edit and the usage rights for nothing.

Mistakes that cost you money

  • Quoting for the shoot day and absorbing the edit, which is often the larger job.
  • Handing over full commercial rights as standard instead of licensing specific usage.
  • Forgetting travel, assistants, insurance, and kit replacement in the quote.
  • Taking a booking with no deposit and no cancellation terms, then losing a day to a postponement.

Ask these before you quote

  • Where will these images be used, for how long, and in which territories?
  • How many final images do you need, and how retouched?
  • Who's providing models, styling, location, and props?
  • What's the deposit and cancellation window we're agreeing to?

Photographers: frequently asked questions

How should photographers price their work?

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Build the number from three parts: shoot time, post-production time, and the licence the client needs. Add project costs like travel, assistants, and studio hire on top. Pricing only the shoot day is the most common way photographers lose money on a booking.

Should I charge separately for image usage rights?

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Yes. Usage is a genuine product — a social campaign and a national out-of-home run are worth very different amounts from the same file. Licence the specific use by default and price a full buyout as a priced upgrade.

How do I charge for editing and retouching?

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Include a defined number of edited images in the package and quote additional retouching separately. Leaving post-production open-ended means an unlimited amount of unpaid work after the visible part of the job is done.

Should I take a deposit for photography bookings?

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Always. A booked day can't be sold twice, so a non-refundable deposit and a stated cancellation window are the only things protecting you against a late postponement. Agree both in writing at the point of booking.

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