MaggieMay1978 Loc: Calgary Alberta

I have finished all my classes at college for Photography. One of the things my teacher said is, if you price yourself too cheap, you'll not get where you need to be and you won't get the right clients. What are your opinions?

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

If you create images in a style that no one else can duplicate, you can charge a premium. The real question is how good are you. Most photographers never evolve to a point of having any definable style. Are your images truly unique to you? If your mages are good and unique to you the pricing issue becomes moot. It really becomes a marketing issue.

If you want to teach listen to a teacher.
If you want to make money, listen to someone who knows how to make money.
If you want to make world class images find someone who can produce world class images. I bet you will find that your teacher doesn't fall into the world class category and probably doesn't know how to get there.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

He is right! You don't want to go to high and you should never go low. If you do good work for folks it will always make you go up the ladder. Have you done any shoots yet? I would find a pro that would let you work with him for awhile and pick his brain, And if he is any good watch every thing he does. The pose's you come up with will sell your work. I have some different things that folks don't see to often. And they stand out compared to others shots. I try to think outside the box if I can sell it.:)
Erv

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

I think your teacher is right.I myself didn't think that my images were good enough to sell,so when a local store asked me to put some in their store I did so but had very low prices"i35.oo for a 10x12 framed".I kept my prices down I live in a town of approximately 10-12 thousand and half of them profess to be pro photographers.In 5 months I probably sold 45-50 images.Not bad for the population but couldn't retire if that was my only income. Just wheel spinning.
Just finished having an opening with an artist and all I displayed were B&W's on Awagami Paper .We picked a venue that all the so called pro told us that they would never display there.The day of the opening I sold 4 unframed at 285.00 and one frame panorama 14x32 at 535.00.Also picked up 2 commissions for 2 doctor offices.
It comes down to basically do your own,If you have an idea do it.Sometimes it works and sometimes it don't.But if it's your idea and you don't do it if don't,you will forever wonder.Follow your heart and passion.
By the way the artist who was like me"didn't think he was good enough"sold 3 paintings for a total of 5395.00.One of them was of an image that I had shot.
Good luck ,whichever way you decide to grow.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

MaggieMay, congratulations on your classwork completion. You are starting here "X" and that's not a bad place to start. Now comes the rest! Relax, it's only the next steps that can be re-done! Consider, if you will, looking around your community and finding as many photographers as possible. Learn who they are and to whom they market. Watch and learn. The next part is important and needs much thought: Find a mentor! End of sermon. Best of luck to you, please be a contributing member after you win your first Pulitzer! :lol: :lol: :lol:

MaggieMay1978 Loc: Calgary Alberta

Thanks everyone- I have been shooting for a year or so too. Some of my work is on my website www.popphotography.biz.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Well, after looking at your web site. I think you are well on your way!!!! Very nice Maggie!!!!! You are going to go far if you stay the line with what you are doing. Now it is just getting your name out there!!!
Erv

ardenweiss Loc: Maryland

Join a club and partipate in their competitions.
As you excel in their competitions, your level of excellence will become obvious and commission rate increases will follow.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

If this is to be a business then you need to treat it as a business, get an accountant and do the math, you need to compute your hourly, your overhead, and your cost of goods sold, I spent a lot of years in accounting and if I was going into a business I'd still consult a friend that's more current than I. Bob.

anotherview Loc: California

Good morning. I have reviewed your work on your Web-site.

You have an eye. You have technical skills. Your photographs possess an inherent interest. You know how to obtain a good exposure using artificial lighting. Your photographs flatter your subjects. Your style varies enough to maintain interest, although you have rested your start in a mostly traditional approach to photography. You do both color and black-and-white images.

IMHO you have a successful career ahead of you in doing portrait and family photography, and who knows what else as you evolve.

Which photography school did you attend?

Good luck.

anotherview Loc: California

One caution: An over-concern for moneymaking could induce an economic bias to your photography, skewing it to seeking the dollar over following your artistic leanings.

Note that Web-sites exist for guidance in setting a price for your photography.

A second caution, which your schooling may have addressed already, has to do with copyright of your work. The high quality of your work may tempt the unscrupulous ones to use your photographs to their economic advantage without paying you or giving you credit. Web-sites exist that can inform you of how to protect your work.

Good luck.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

If I were serious about this I'd charge what I need to charge to make a living.

When people get things for nothing, they don't value them...that's just life.

If you provide images that Joe-blow cannot, then they must come to you for what YOU can do...and they will pay your price if that's what they desire.

So your first goal is to provide what other's cannot, and it's not just the images...it's the whole experience...your demeanor, your professionalism, how you made them feel during the whole thing...you can't separate emotion from the final product.

Check out Peter Hurley's B&H video and he talks about pricing and how he dealt with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIMCFVlbEz8

Moles Loc: South Carolina

IMHO, you want to get your pictures out there. I started working for the sports desk of a local paper at $25 per event that I shot. Money wasn't good, but my pictures were out there every week...long story short, as a result, I just returned from Sochi where I worked for a major European news agency and two national sports federations. A week doesn't go by when I'm asked to cover a wedding (sorry, not my thing.) So, get you pictures out there however you can, and if you're good, you will make money.
from

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

Good job!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

It doesn't matter what you charge.
What matters is whether or not you understand marketing and advertising, whether you understand where your target market is, whether you understand how to reach your target market.

I have founded 37 companies at this point in my life, taking them successfully through the growth phase into maturity and then selling all but 4 of them. Let's take my most recent two businesses as examples.

I used to be a full-time home inspector and a part-time photographer. For the past four years I have been a full-time photographer and a part-time home inspector.

Most home inspectors believe that one type of home inspection fits all people in all circumstances regardless of those people's own needs and wants. I have never believed that based solely on my past experiences as a Realtor, a roofing contractor, an HVAC technicians, a general contractor, a pool and spa builder (still own 49% of that company), etc.

When I started my home inspection business in October 2001, I recognized several different categories for people possibly needing inspections: first-time buyers, wealthy buyers, extremely wealthy buyers, buyers moving here from other states, sellers, renters, landlords, flippers, owners, investors. Thus I created a different home inspection for each of those people. Then I went out and marketed to the Realtors who work specifically with those types of people. For the rich Realtors working with rich buyers and sellers, I advertised a specific type of inspection to them. For those working with first-time buyers, I marketed a different inspection to them. Here I am 13 years later and if someone calls me on the phone, after 5-30 minutes, I schedule an inspection. If they want Walmart, I can be Walmart. If they want Nordstrom, I can be Nordstrom. Etc.

Now let's look at my most recent venture, Photographic Art by Russel Ray Photos at Fine Art America (http://1-russel-ray.artistwebsites.com/). Russel Ray Photos has been doing business since July 2008. Only in February 2014, however, did I take to Fine Art America.

Fine Art America has a few billion users. That shouldn't discourage you if you understand (copied from my first paragraph) marketing and advertising, if you understand where your target market is, if you understand how to reach your target market.

On Fine Art America, my target market is not some yo-yo in Boondocks, Nebraska. Might he buy something from me? Sure. But s/he's not my Tier 1 market.

My Tier 1 market is family, friends, and acquaintances. Those should always be your first market. Some will buy because they are familiar with your work. Others will buy to give you financial support. Others will buy to give you moral support. That's all great, but what you're really doing is creating a portfolio of sales.

For example, at Fine Art America you can be featured, but those who get featured are those who have the most sales. Fine Art America wrongly believes that those who have the most sales are those with the best work. That may or may not be true, but usually it's not true. Usually those with the most sales are those who understand marketing and advertising.

Although I use keywords in my Fine Art America subscriptions, at this point those are probably only going to work for people once they get to Fine Art America. They're not going to work well for those doing a Google search, although Google will get them to Fine Art America.

I have acquaintance status with about 17,000 Realtors here in San Diego, another 25,000 Realtors nationwide, and about 9,000 home inspectors in Canada and the United States, another 3,800 WordPress bloggers following my WordPress blog, and potentially another 8 million WordPress bloggers via the WordPress Reader.

Not a single one will buy my Photographic Art because it's the best thing since my wise old grandmother's cinnamon rolls. However, they will buy if I ask them to and then lead them to the appropriate place to buy.

One trick to get you started in any business is to give away your services. It sounds horrible: Give away my services?!!!!

Yes. That's why if you start a business, you need to properly capitalize it. People who start a business on a shoestring budget without having a CPA, an attorney, and a marketing budget fail far more often than a company that is properly capitalized and has those three things covered financially.

Recently, I discovered a Photoshop Action by PanosFX; see the first picture below. What I did was advertise on my blog that for the first 20 people responding, I would create such a work of art and send them the digital file free of charge. Before sending the file, though, I uploaded the Photographic Art to Fine Art America in a custom gallery. Then, when I sent them the file, I also told them that their Photographic Art was at Fine Art America and included a link and a password to my custom gallery. Out of 20 people, only one so far has not bought some sort of print of their special pet, regular, acrylic, metal. Two people, who already had the digital file free, noticed that I charge $20 for these files. Both sent me $20.

With the first picture below, the dog's owner was the first to send me $20. However, two days after she did that, the dog died. It was 17 years old. She immediately ordered the largest framed print, which gave me a really nice profit which covered all 20 of the files I created for free!

With the second picture below, I went to the home inspector trade association to which I belong and offered to create stamps for the first 20 people who responded. Free! And they would get the digital file. Free!

They guy who sent me his daughter's picture loved the stamp so much that he ordered a huge version, matted and framed, and it now hangs in his living room.

Lastly, 6 of the people, out of 40, have purchased other prints of my works. Why? Because I sent them to my galleries at Fine Art America via a link. Once they got there, yes, they went to the custom gallery to see their special piece, but they also browsed my other galleries. Fine Art America has statistics showing how many people visited any one gallery, as well as where they are from. That right there proved to me that what I was doing was working, and that I can do similar things in the future.

So I will repeat that it doesn't matter how much you charge. What matters is whether or not you understand marketing and advertising, whether you understand where your target market is, whether you understand how to reach your target market.

I created my Photographic Art venture because I can't compete with professional photographers who have a $15,000 camera and sponsorships, like National Geographic, San Diego Zoo, etc. I don't even want a $15,000 camera because then I would have to pay for insurance on it..............

However, when Adobe made Photoshop available for $35.99 a month, I was all over it. Then they dropped the price to $26.99 a month, then to $19.99 a month, then to $9.95 a month. I could have the best digital photo editing software in the world, with regular upgrades, for less than $120 a year! My sales at Fine Art America have that covered for the next ten years!

Sorry about the length of this post, but I hope it helps a lot of photographers make some money for a change instead of complaining about how everyone thinks they are a professional photographer because they have a bridge camera, a smart phone, or an iPad. Those people don't understand marketing and advertising, so you don't need to compete with them. And the fact that the 40 people for whom I did free work all sent me digital files should tell you something, i.e., you don't need to compete with them. People want something unusual. Give it to them! Then tell them what you have done and ask them to buy, directly or more subtly.

And finally, both pictures below were horrible pictures that the people sent to me. For the dog, he had a big pee-pee which was prominent in the picture. I cleaned up the picture and cropped so that his face and tennis ball were prominent.

For the other picture, the girl was in the living room with all sorts of distracting crap on the wall behind her. The picture was 640x480, not good resolution. I not only removed all that stuff, but I had Photoshop resample the picture from 72 ppi to 600 ppi. I did that resampling in increments of 5 pixels each time until I got to a 1280x960 pixel picture, about the smallest that I like to use.