Pricing photography can feel like a daunting task, even for experienced professionals. For beginners, the feeling of not knowing where to start in pricing photography is natural and completely understandable.

After all, many photographers get into a love and passion for the creative aspect of making images. Putting a value on our work doesn't necessarily come easily, because the creative act comes first.

In this post, we'll look at some of the factors in how to consider pricing your work, resources to use for pricing, and more.

Factors to consider when pricing photography

Pricing photography should consider many factors. These include:

• Usage
• Client
• Licensing Rights
• Deliverables
• Rarity
• Effort
• Expenses
• Time
• Expertise

Now let's break down these factors. This won't be an exhaustive examination, but the goal of this article is to get you thinking about how to price photography and why.

It's ultimately most important to understand what goes into pricing. Even viewing specific ranges or prices for jobs, as shown in the Music Photography Rates Sheet, may not give the full picture. The rate should ultimately depend on the details. So let's dig in.

Usage

Usage is one of the most important factors. Usage in photography is how a client will use images when those images are licensed. The use of an image for an album cover is dramatically different than use for social media or editorial coverage.

More broadly, use can fall into a few main categories:

• Editorial use
• Marketing/Promotional use
• Commercial use

Marketing and promotional use is technical commercial, but here the main distinction is that for commercial use, the image itself is being sold either directly or as part of a product.

Editorial use is generally the least expensive in terms of licensing cost, while commercial is the most expensive.

Client

The client is hugely important in licensing photography. Who is using a photo can be just as important as what they're using it for. In music photography for example, a local band using an image for an album cover is much different than an established national band or a pop star.

Another way to consider the client is their reach or the impact the images will have. The client can be tied to use and usage in a sense. While the specific use may be the same, the actual “work” the images does is different in scope. So when considering clients, this weight of the images is critical in considering their value.

Licensing

The licensing rights that you assign to a client are integral to usage, but for this purpose, let's break it down in terms of exclusivity and ownership as it pertains to the images.

The main types of licensing agreements include:

• Non-exclusive
• Exclusive
• Full buyout
• Work For Hire

When photography is made, all rights reside with the photographer/creator as a matter of law as defined by the Berne Convention. You as the photographer hold the rights to the images until you assign them away under a licensing agreement.

Licenses can also be defined as unlimited use or limited specific uses (which should be outlined and agreed on by all parties).

It's most common to have limited use and this is often in the best interest for photographers, to maintain the highest control of their images and to limit use.

Deliverables

What the photographer delivers should be a large factor in pricing. Is the price for one image, or one hundred? Is it for JPGs or RAW files? Are you delivering photographer selects from your edit, or are you showing the client everything as proofs?

Generally speaking, the more you deliver, the more you should charge.

Generally, you should to control your photography unless the client pays for the right to dictate the final product. For this reason, most photographers prefer to only deliver final processed images — not RAW files. The reason is that giving a client RAW files means they may have the final say on the edit and processing, which in turn means the final product may not represent the photographer's style accurately.

Rarity

Rarity of images can also be a factor in pricing. If there was a historic moment or scene that was only photographed by a single photographer, those images have more value in one sense than if there were 10 or 100 other photographers who made similar images. This is most often the case with editorial images for moments there aren't planned or cannot be recreated.

Effort

The effort and production involved in a shoot should be a factor in pricing photography. Effort can be related to time and equipment required, but it can also be related to art direction, the level of production required, planning and so forth.

Time

A photoshoot that takes an hour can be priced differently than a multi-day shoot. If you travel for a photo job, the travel days should be considered in how you bill as an opportunity cost.

If you're a music photographer bidding on a tour, your rate has to account for travel days as well, not just show days. With extended jobs like touring, the rate also has to account for not being able to take other jobs in that time as well.

Expenses

All hard costs should be a factor in pricing photography. This includes specialized equipment, studio time/rental, and hard costs such as transportation.

Experience

While experience doesn't always have a bearing on the value of photography, one should factor in experience if you're able to do a job efficiently. If it takes an experienced photographer an hour to create the work a client needs that would take another photographer four hours, that experience should be reflected in the value of the work. At the very least, the work is not valued on the time it took, but in the work it does for the client, which is the same regardless of the time and effort.

Further Reading

If you're newer to pricing photography, here are a few more articles for your further reading:

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If you're a music photographer, pricing your work can be a struggle at any stage of your career. Traditionally, guarding one's pricing and rates has felt like an asset or perhaps a necessity. This approach isn't specific to music photography, but it is one that is very common in this field.

I'd argue that being as transparent about rates and pricing is something only benefits the music photography community. If we can leave egos aside, understanding what our peers charge and earn can give us both goals and the aspirations to set our sights even higher.

To this end, I wanted to create a comprehensive music photography rates sheet that can serve as a community resource to encourage transparency about rates. Enter the Music Photography Rates & Pricing spreadsheet.

If you're looking for what to charge for music photography or have experience to share, read on.

If you want the sheet, skip to the end, but I'd encourage you to read about why this resource was created first.

Why is pay transparency necessary?

Like most aspects of business and employment, pay transparency benefits those doing the work. Conversely, being closed about what we charge only saves egos and protects low budgets.

Not sharing rates gives leverage to those who would take advantage of our passions and talents. It feeds on the doubts and insecurity of creatives and reinforces the narrative that we have to lower our fees or miss out on opportunities.

I feel sharing rates about what we charge as music photographers gives us strength collectively. It gives points of reference — both high and low — for the value of our work.

Rate transparency empowers photographers

Transparency about rates empowers photographers. Here's an example that was shared on the Music Photography Discord recently, where a beta of the rates sheet was shared in advance of its public launch.

Knowledge is power. Photographers being able to negotiate higher rates from the confidence of community knowledge is the exact reason we need rate transparency.

Creating a solution for the music photography community

With this in mind, I've created a Google form and linked Google sheet that I hope can serve as community reference point for rates in music photography.

The intent of this form and data are to give us a transparent look into music photography rates. The goal is to show real world rate reporting as a reference for estimates and fees so that we can help negotiate and leverage our value more effectively as music photographers. 

The more we can share and understand what clients are paying and what are peers are charging, the more power we have to advocate for our worth. All submissions are anonymous. All data, high and low, is valuable and encouraged.

Contribute to the Music Photography Rates Sheet

If you're reading this and have ever been paid for music photography, I'd strongly encourage you to enter work history and rates. The strength of this data relies on as diverse entries as possible giving as much detail as possible.

If you're looking to contribute rates, it's helpful to view the sheet first to understand the formatting. Take a look, then add your experience.

From local bands to world tours, if you've done work as a music photographer, we need your data. All entries are anonymous, but you can name the artist or clients if you wish.

And here's a plain link to the submission form:

https://forms.gle/zHxJ9g4DVPZCQS7T7

What do Music Photographers Charge?

If you're creating an estimate or you've been asked for a rate and want to a reference for what other photographers are charging, look no further.

You can see past entries from this form in the reference sheet for music photo rates here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n-9lzJ9aKmkT_N_cNsV4-xvz2otvCIZfTCzVn4Zs04c/edit?usp=sharing

I hope this resource is helpful. If you're looking for more help with business and pricing, or if you're looking for a place for community, join us on the Music Photography Discord.

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If you have never been paid as a photographer or aren't used to charging money, a natural response is to decline payment. Here's why it's the wrong one.

You're good enough right now

There's a notion, especially among newer photographers, that one has to be good enough or experienced enough to be paid for their work. This is a fallacy.

Here's the truth: You deserve to be paid when your photography does the job the client needs. Period. Never talk yourself out of being valued.

There is no magic threshold of experience or talent at which you're at one moment simply an amateur and in another a professional deserving of being paid. The difference is in acknowledging your own worth as a photographer.

More essentially, you're good enough to be paid right now.

Experience isn't value

The moment someone wants your work, that's when you're good enough to be paid. “Good enough” has nothing to do with experience, talent or creativity in this context. It has everything to do with the work your images can do for the client.

If the images weren't good enough, they wouldn't have a use. Here, the market dictates the value. Not a certain number of years of experience, not the camera you're using, not your doubts and not even imposter syndrome.

Professionals get paid

What separates professionals from amateurs? Professionals get paid. That's it. Not experience, not talent.

We all know incredible gifted photographers who are simply hobbyists that produce incredible results. And by contrast, pros who make photography a business without being artists. There's nothing wrong in the least with either of these approaches to photography.

When you're in a position to stand up for your value as a photographer, don't sell yourself short. When your images are being put to work, that work is valuable. Never forget that.

Acknowledging that you're worthy of being paid for your work is a conscious choice that you can choose.

Your investments and equipment aren't free

Anyone who has put any amount of time into their craft of photography, even if you consider yourself a beginner or still learning, knows that there's a lot that goes into making images. This is especially true beyond just “taking” the photos.

Photography requires specialized equipment, computers, software and time. At the very least, your investments and equipment aren't free — why should your time and work be?

We live in a time when every cell phone comes with a camera. Everyone is capable of making images themselves. If someone doesn't want to pay for photography, they can always make it themselves. We all know the reason they won't do this. And that's exactly the reason your work has value, regardless of experience.

When to start charging for photography

So, when is the best time to start charging for photography? The simple answer is when someone will pay you. Charge for your services as a photographer when you know that your images will meet the needs of the client.

It's fine to be nervous, but leave emotions out of it to the fullest extent you're capable. Be honest about your capabilities and what you can deliver. It can be hard, but if someone is approaching you to pay you for your work, believe in their belief in you. Try and see what they have seen in you — and trust them.

Meeting the needs of your clients and their expectations are what a professional does. When you can do that, at any level, you deserve to charge for your work.

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Inflation has been a huge topic of conversation in the news this past year. We've seen record numbers for inflation, peaking at 9.1% year over year in June for the United States. Even if you haven't paid attention to the news, the hard fact that goods and services have increased in price is something that hasn't escaped notice.

Last year, I wrote about why photographers need to raise their photography rates. After the last twelve months, it's more important than ever to stress the importance of making sure your fees keep pace with the market rates more widely. More importantly, evaluating and raises in your rates should be done every single year.

US Inflation Rates

In the last 2 years, we've seen historic rates of inflation worldwide. Normally, inflation rates hover around 2% Over the last two years, we've seen inflation rates average around 7% in the United States.

Numbers over the last year in particular have seen extreme increases, topping out at 9.1% year over year in June of 2022.

Keeping the same rate year over year reduces your value

In the last two years, we've seen everything from gas to food to utilities cost more. Consumer goods have increased as well as services. Practically everything except the Costco hotdog and soda combo that you spend money on has gone up in price over the last two years. You're spending more money just to live. So should your clients when they pay for your work.

Simply put, if you aren't raising your rates to keep pace with inflation, your buying power is reduced. If everything from gas to the price of milk to the lenses you buy are increasing in price, without raising your own rates, your value as a creative isn't keeping pace with the cost of living.

Your clients are raising their rates

Just as consumer goods are increase, so are services. You can bet that the prices charged by your clients — whether they're musicians, agencies, art buyers, managers, etc — are increasing to keep their own profit margins up.

This year, publishers and streaming services have reached a settlement to increase streaming royalty rates to 15.35%. This is after already winning an increase from 10.5% to 15.1% for the 2018-2022 period. While this increase is not due solely to inflation, it's not independent from the fact that value has to track with the times.

It's not personal — it's just business. Your best clients should understand. And those who don't — they are not budgeting accordingly in a way that truly respects the value of photographers in relation to global economics.

Increasing your value year over year

Beyond cost of living adjustments, another important reason to increase your rates every year is for your own professional growth. As creatives, we are not static — we are constantly learning, adapting and bettering ourselves in small but important ways.

Wherever you are in your career, you are gaining experience in your craft. This comes in the form of faster workflows, better technique, and more. All of these small but important and incremental changes add value to your customers.

And that value to your customers can and should be expressed as increased rates.

Giving yourself a raise

With conventional 9-5 jobs, you should expect not only cost of living adjustments, but also pay increases that reflect your experience and abilities as tied to promotions, title changes and professional growth.

As photographers, we have only ourselves to advocate for ourselves in most instances. No one else will be fighting to give you a raise. You must be the one to demand it for yourself.

How much should you raise your rates?

A 2-3% raise year over year is generally accepted as appropriate for cost of living increases for many corporate employers. Again, this is in a typical 9-5 office world that many photographers don't occupy.

Personally, going into 2023, I would recommend a 8.7% increase to account for cost of living adjustments given the high rates of inflation seen in the last 24 months. Why 8.7%? The rate of 8.7% is the cost of living adjustment that the US Social Security Administration is raising benefits from 2022 going into 2023.

Almost every year since its inception, social security payments have been adjusted to ensure that the purchasing power of these benefits tracks with inflation. Note, this is simply keeping the same purchasing power — it does not account for your professional growth or advancement.

So at the minimum, I'd still recommend at least a 8.7% increase to your rates as you head into 2023.

End Notes

Now that we've covered why you should raise your rates every year, jump into the 4 best times to raise your rates as a photographer. And as a refresher, for more reading, check out the common things to charge for as a photographer. You might be surprised at some costs and fees you can pass on to your clients if you aren't already.

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When a new or prospective client asks for your photography rate, do you freeze? Here are tips for how to respond to questions about your rate and licensing that can help you and new clients arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement.

If your photography rate depend on licensing details, this article is especially for you or anyone else who doesn't have set packages.

Often, the most difficult questions to answer with inquiries like this actually relate to the rights a client needs. For you to answer, we’ll look at a few approaches for how to tackle it.

The Dreaded “What's Your Rate?” Question

It's simple enough, but one that can strike fear into the hearts of photographers. “What's your rate?” In this article, we'll look at ways to approach this simple question. It's a complex issue, but by the end, I hope you'll be more confident to enter into this conversation.

Here are 5 simple tips and perspectives to aid you in answering this question with confidence.

1. Every Rate Inquiry is a Conversation

When a client asks for your rate, don't think of it as a test with only a single right answer. Think of it as the start of a conversation, an opportunity to educate, and a chance to advocate for the value you offer.

2. Always Ask the Budget

When in doubt, ask the budget. Even if you know exactly how much you want to charge, asking the budget will set expectations on both sides.

Whether they have a budget set in stone or not, the client should be working toward a number or a range for your work. It is possible they have no idea what they want to pay, but this situation is rare.

3. Give Yourself Options

When you respond to client inquiries, you can use language such as:

• “My standard rate for something like this starts at $ X,000.”
• “My rate for this kind of work ranges between $X-Y, depending on the details.”
• “I’m happy to discuss more if you have any questions or concerns I should be aware of.”

Responding to inquiries with this kind of language both parties room to set expectations with enough wiggle room that no one is offended.

Asking questions also indicates the final fee depends on understanding more information. In addition, asking questions not only buys you time to evaluate the project to the best of your abilities, but asking questions shows that you're simply a professional.

4. Ask Questions!

Going off the last tip and specifically asking about the budget: ask questions! Principally:

• “Is there a specific budget you’re working towards for this need?”
• “What's the licensing terms required for this?”
• “How many looks do you need for this?”
• “Is this for promotional use or album art?”

Unless the client gives extremely specific information on their project up front, it's often impossible to give a clear answer without getting some answers. All of the above give you room and time. Room to get more information to make a more informed response, and time to research or get advice if needed.

Here's a list of other questions for estimating photography I always to try get the answers to in one way or another.

5. Don't Give an Hourly Rate

Unless your type of photography deals exclusively with operating as a technician, I would strongly avoid giving an hourly rate only. Instead, give an estimate for the total project and the value you're creating with your photography.

You may still quote a rate based on time, such as a day rate or a half day. But the use of the images should play a large part in their pricing. In this case, the question “what's your rate?” needs to include the licensing and rights you're conveying.

In addition, budget oriented clients will often try to minimize your time when you charge by time, rather than the value of the images.

Even if you end up working your time into the equation of the price (and it should), make sure that the inherent value of your work and creativity is being factored in as well. For more on this, read my article on time vs value based photography fees.

6 Don't Be Afraid to Be Expensive

When your rate is out of budget, the client will be quick to tell you that. You can always lower your rate and come down. However, it's extremely difficult if not impossible to increase your price once it is established.

When you give ranges or starting figures as suggested above, there's the invitation for negotiation on both sides if your rate is too high (and yes, it should be high).

Remember: this is just the start of a conversation.

7. Know When to Raise Your Rates

Finally, if all you hear is “yes” to every single estimate you send out, it's a good sign your price is too low. At the very least, you're leaving money on the table.

You will never know the heights of your worth if you never test the limit. For more on this, see my article on knowing when to raise your photography rates.

My personal view is that I want my estimates to make everyone involved slightly nervous. Me, nervous that they'll accept. The client, nervous about whether they can afford me. It's an anxious dance, but one that's beautiful when you do it just right.

Summary

Hopefully these seven tips have helped give you some approaches and context you can use. When someone asks you for your photography rate, 99% of the time, you're going to need more information. What's the budget? How are the images going to be used? Are you producing the shoot or are they (including studio rental, hair and make up, etc).

For further reading, check out PPA's advice for pricing 101. You can also see this article on different pricing ranges for various types of photography work.

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