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Question: “What did everyone charge for their first session and what was included?”
Sandy: $60 for 25 edited pics on a disc…family shoot
Stephanie: first session … didn’t we all have to offer to pay someone for that one!?!? LOL
Denise: 220.00 and it included 5 full 8x10s and one baby shoot
Oona: $95 for shoot, $25 for cd with 10-15 images on it.
(it was for a local band for promo posters, social media pics & cd cover)
Alex: $40 and it included my entire day with them going from store to store finding outfits and buying things and a 2 discs because I had so many pictures for them…I think they ended up with about 60 edited images and 1000 total images (yikes, yes unedited!!!) and not to mention the 2 hour round trip to where they wanted to have the session for their daughter who turned 1. Man, things have changes!
Emily: Well, I was fortunate in that I got to “portfolio build” as a photography student. But for my first, official portrait session I charged $100, for like 2 hours and a CD of images? I undercharged myself. but to my credit, I was a 19 year old sophomore in college.
I’m still in school, but now my base rate for portraits/engagements is $300.
Charlee-Maree: $30 for a 20min photo shoot & 20 photos on a disc 🙂
Stacy: $35-$75 depending on type of shoot including a disc of a color, black & white, & sepia photo of each pose! What a mess!
Kris: $90 for 2-hour shoot and they could choose $30 for 10 pics, $40 for 20 pics or $50 for 30+ photos. I didn’t deliver less than 100 photos for a long time.
Emily: $150 for my first family session… I had been working for the newspapers for a few years an needed something else. They got the disc of photos. I used to edit about 25 and throw a folder of unedited photos.
Melissa: First session was free. They bought the disc for $30. That didn’t last long.
Kayleigh: I have a huge family so I was fortunate enough to be able to use them as subjects, and I just took donations and edited as many as I thought were usable and put them on a disc 🙂
Kat: First few sessions were free (and for friends) to build my portfolio… Then $60 for an hour shoot with DVD of edited images. 🙂
Tia: $20 for 1 hour session abd about a dozen edited proofs. That was a one time thing! Beginner bang prices are still low-$40. But after the first year I will be raising my prices.
Victoria: Ahhhh so since I’m in the beginning stages still my question would be how do you transition to the pricing you need to be at and are worth??
Ashley: I feel like in doing it all wrong hahaha. My first session was $40 for an hour and all usable images on a cd (about 60 images) now they are the same deal but $90 during the week, and $100 on the weekend. Am I undercutting myself? Now I’m second guessing everything haha. Come 2013 hopefully ill feel comfortable raising them.
Jodie: My husband and I work together. Our first shoot was for an 8th Grade Graduation. We charged $250 for 50 edited images on CD. Our fee now starts at $300 and up and we just include more images, usually in the neighborhood of 100. With 2 people shooting it’s easy to hit that number
Rebecca: I charge less now than when I started, believe it or not! Whe nI started I knew nothing, but my partner told me what I should charge. It was $90 then, it’s going up from $50-$75 now.
Renae: I worked my arse off for free til I got good enough to charge. And I charged 150 for the session and made 1400 worth of print sales with my first client
Sheri: I charged $75.00 and gave them a cd with all the edited pics.
Katie: Very first paid session, I made $30 and gave something like 90 images.
Now, I charge $75 for 20-30 images on a disc. I’ve spent the past year establishing a client base (and I have a great one), honing my editing skills and hashing this out. While a lot of folks tell me that I’m selling myself short (I am), I think it was a smart move for me. I’ve inched my pricing up from $50 at the start of the year, and will raise my prices again in the spring.
Steve: The going rate in the uk is £60 per hour which is about $96 then offer discounts per hour after that,so while youre earning a decent profit,the customer is getting a discount,everyones happy!
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