How much should I charge for Photography?
One of the questions we are often asked by other photographers and media creators who are entering the industry is How Much they should charge for their creative services. Be it Photography, Video Production, Graphic Design or any other creative field where you are using you brain and hands to create something either digitally or physically for a company / client.
This is a HUGE conversation that I’m sure that you see often be flung around on social media and in forums. From the age old… Client: How much do you charge for Video Production?…….Creative: What is your Budget? Mexican stand off conversations.
One of the first things I will always tell anyone who is wanting to work as a creative is have belief in yourself, have trust in your product and value your creativity as any bricks and mortar shop store front would that has for sale high value products worth hundreds and thousand pound items for sale…. Be it a photograph, video or graphic design… Shops will have people that walk past and window shop, but there will be those customers that will see your product as exactly what they are looking for and walk in to talk business.
Then the scary moment……
They ask you how much your services are!!!
Now some people will know exactly their worth, some will just say some crazy figure that pops in their head and sometimes…. Bingo, you have yourself a deal. But what we are talking about here is how do you accurately and effectively create a formula that can help you calculate how much you should charge from job to job, or even, retrospectively on photographs you have already taken.
First off….. You need to work out, just how much its going to cost you, the creator, to create the work in the first place. From travel expenses, model rates, studio hire, make up artists, set building, location hire, prop purchasing, equipment hire, food on location… Then there is factoring in all your equipment hardware and software costs (if applicable) baring in mind that Adobe CC is £596 a year, as well as the need to upgrade your computers and back up data storage every 2/3 years…. This will be a cost factor you will need to apply in too….. Then you have your time, how much is your time worth per hour working on and creating these items. At this point…. You now have your COST! The base of cost before any profit to your new business.
So whats next?
I like to refer this calculation as what is call the BUR or Base Usage Right… It took a while for me to find it online so here is the link on the Association of Photographers website. This will now help you work out how much your should license your work for.
License.????? What do you mean License.
As a creative, especially as a Photographer or Videographer, you should be thinking along the lines of licensing your work. For example, if a client just wanted to use your image for an internal comms publication, it would be cost “A”, but if the same client wanted to use it for their next global advertising campaign, the license cost would be “B”
The link to the AOP BUR will walk you though all the different licensing options, and this will help you determine the going rate of what should be charged!
“Oh but Black Site!” I hear you call out…. “Companies have offered me exposure and don’t want to pay me anything… And I have just started out and it’ll help me with my portfolio. “
There will always be companies that feel that they can lure you in with the promises of exposure. But at the end the day, will that exposure pay for your time, your models time, your business expenses and your retirement plan…. Will it bollocks!
As said at the very beginning, you should treat your creative ability like any other company would treat their products and stock. The moment you hand over your creative work for free, for a commercial company to utilise and make profit, and often, huge profit on. It will devalue your brand, and your creativity, as you will soon become know in the circles, as that creative that gives away their work for likes…..
This isn’t a business bash, as there are many companies out there that fully understand the cost and value of creatives in all industries, but unfortunately, there are those that prey on creatives starting out, and make them feel like they are being rewarded for their hard work, when in actual fact, they are being taken advantage of.
So in a nutshell……
Talk to the client and work out what the client would like created, and how they are going to use your work
Work out how much a photoshoot costs you to carry out from start to finish
Remember to add the things you forgot about, like parking and toll roads too
use the AOP BUR tool to work out the licensing price
Simple as that……
Now get out there and be the creative badass you know you are and deserve to be paid to be. ;)
