High School Seniors and Students - Charges, Package Offerings, Maximizing Profit

I've been shooting quite a few senior portraits lately. The

sessions are great, but I've got to tell you, some seniors can be as

picky as a bride, and their parents can be even worse. I get along

with them, though, and generally the experiences have been very good.

 

I'm trying to establish a good package price that's attractive, but

also competitive. I've looked at other area photographers, and they

are all over the board, from $85 for a session fee to several

hundred for a full session with a small print package.

 

Anyway, if you are regularly shooting seniors (or high school

students), can you share some information?

 

1. What do you charge (ballpark) for a session fee?

2. Are you shooting in a studio or on location?

3. Are you including proof prints only, a folio, or an album?

4. What helps you get the largest print orders (besides print/image

quality)?

5. Are you advertising or going off of referrals?

6. How many proof images do you provide?

 

Thanks in advance! I live in FL, so it's easy for me to shoot

year 'round at nice outdoor locations, sometimes I set up a portable

studio for more formal pictures. No studio yet. I'm at least a

year away from leasing retail studio/office space.

Take this for what it's worth - I don't know how relevant it will be to you. I charge $225 - $350 for senior shoots. Shoots are 1 - 2 hours, 1 - 2 locations, all on location (I don't have a studio, and do not desire one). All shoots include 6 sheets of prints (varying image sizes and quantities), and a proof CD, and I also print a sheet of mixed wallets as a sort of proof as well. Reprints are priced reasonably, but I only get orders for ADDITIONAL prints about 40% of the time - probably because I'm giving out CDs, and most don't want many prints anyway. I live in a small town (under 5000, I think) and there are about four other photographers that I'm aware of, so the market is small, but so is the competition. Business is good but seasonal because it gets cold here. I get about 8 months of good outdoor shooting weather. I enjoy this work more than any other (wedding, event, family) because the kids are fun - a great age! Also, having some very expensive competition makes it easy to book shoots in this area for what I charge. The one well established studio here costs about tripple my rates for the same product, so I've been taking away their business since I started less than two years ago. I rely on word of mouth and it works.

 

Good luck to you!

Take this for what it's worth - I don't know how relevant it will be to you. I charge $225 - $350 for senior shoots. Shoots are 1 - 2 hours, 1 - 2 locations, all on location (I don't have a studio, and do not desire one). All shoots include 6 sheets of prints (varying image sizes and quantities), and a proof CD, and I also print a sheet of mixed wallets as a sort of proof as well. Reprints are priced reasonably, but I only get orders for ADDITIONAL prints about 40% of the time - probably because I'm giving out CDs, and most don't want many prints anyway. I live in a small town (under 5000, I think) and there are about four other photographers that I'm aware of, so the market is small, but so is the competition. Business is good but seasonal because it gets cold here. I get about 8 months of good outdoor shooting weather. I enjoy this work more than any other (wedding, event, family) because the kids are fun - a great age! Also, having some very expensive competition makes it easy to book shoots in this area for what I charge. The one well established studio here costs about tripple my rates for the same product, so I've been taking away their business since I started less than two years ago. I rely on word of mouth and it works.

 

Good luck to you!

Thanks, that helps a good bit. I have great shooting weather all year round. One thing that I'm finding is that my customers are fairly picky about image quality. We live in a city suburb in Central Florida, so there are plenty of competing photographers and people are used to seeing pretty good work. I'm doing just fine, thank you, but I'm not marketing like some of these photographers are. I need to get on that boat!