What would be a good price?

What would be a good price for the bride album with 20 - 8x10, 2

parents album with 20 - 5x7 and a 16 x 20?

It depends on where you are located.

Why not contact a local studio (or three) and inquire?

I live in Central New York and would like to start charging for my pictures since the demand is great. I have been doing it for free so far. But since I am spending time on PS and will get my degree soon, I would like to make money for my equipment once I graduate.

So I was trying to look for info on how much I can do for $500.00, maybe $800.00 and even $2,000.00

Victor-- Much of that would depend on the quality of album (in terms of the construction) and what level of photography you are working at. If you are a proficient photographer putting together, say, an 8 x 10 Taprell-Loomis album with a nice cover, a common pricing is $97.50 per leaf including photos, plus $75 for the covers. "Per leaf" means both sides of one sheet, and it takes into account the fact that under most circumstances the cost of a single 8 x 10 is roughly the same as two 5 x 7's. That covers your cost of the prints and leaves and the time it takes you to administrate the whole thing and put it all together (and trust me, that can be considerable).

A lot of time I'll give very substantial discounts packages with the album included. I'll also give big discounts for larger albums, like more than five leaves.

If you are doing an Art Leather album, the charges can run 50% to 100% more. If your name is Monte Zucker, charges would probably run $350 per leaf plus an incredible amount of set-up fees, not to mention the thousands paid for the shoot itself. -Bill C.

Thank you very much for your advice. I have been taking photos for more than 17 years. All the time with good top of the line 35 mm cameras. Since Photoshop can add thigs to some pictures, after people see my work they request my photo shooting for their sweet 16's, weddings etc.

I thing the travel, so many requests and time involve, has pushed me to charge. Some people want things just to save money, but I do respect the professional photographers and their quality. Is not the same, but some people just want to save and I think even if my work is going to be cheaper, I want to show them that still cost.

I do use Topflight albums and I dont want people to control what I want to charge either. My work is not of low quality but is not and never will be like a pro. I am just trying to give them the option that if they want quality from a advanced amateur, it still some money involve.

For example, one friend just called me about a wedding, and the bride was askign if $500.00 was good enough for a wedding, so I went to my friend home and after carefully talking to him explained that the re is no way $500.00 will cover the material, time and amount of work involved and that the $3,000.00 that the pro asked for is going to give them a good quality of work.

I do understand that a professional photographer charge what is fair, but I do also hate abusive customers that play the poor and at the wedding you can see the deal. To end, at one ocasion a customer had trouble for not paying a professional photographer for a wedding then a relative shot the wedding. Well, photos where so out of control, people looking to the righ and left on the photos like he was shooting without being organized. After the wedding the bride talked to me asking to cut family members from some other photos of the wedding and placing them togheter on a 8x10. It took me few hours, but I did a great job.

She ordered 12 8x10, and after I told her how much money it will be, ( less than $300.00) she asked me to just print one and she will take them to wallmart to print more. My answer was, that the time involved and other things, it was not profitable for me and I deciede not to do the job. I am trying to see if my deal is good but not cheap.

"She ordered 12 8x10, and after I told her how much money it will be, ( less than $300.00) she asked me to just print one and she will take them to wallmart to print more. My answer was, that the time involved and other things, it was not profitable for me and I deciede not to do the job. I am trying to see if my deal is good but not cheap."

1. You need to get a Copyright stamp for the back of your photographs.

2. You need to 'follow' the lady to Wal-mart and maybe even have a lawyer in tow, and if Wal-mart lets her copy and pay for the images, you will have grounds for a lawsuit.

3. If you are charging for your work, you are not considered a 'non-professional' and you should be paying quarterly income tax, self-employment tax, and social security tax on your earnings, little matter how small the sums are in your opinion.

I do pay federal and state tax and my business name is registered in the county. I was paying quarterly but on a new letter, since taxes are less than $3,000.00, then I can do it yearly now in New York.

Thank You about the stamp issue, that is something that I dont have and yest it work as you say, since my wife tok a photo from school and used the Kodak machine, then the photo counter person teared off the printed photo once she saw the original picture.