What do you charge for prints?

<p>As a freelance sports photographer, I am curious what other photographers charge for photos.<br>

When I stated, I just wanted to make a few extra bucks and just charged the following:<br>

5x7 - $10<br>

8x10 - $15<br>

11x14 - $20<br>

I now realize this is very low and considering I have gotten better at shooting, I want to charge more.<br>

I went to an acquaintance's site and see he charges: $35, $50, $100.<br>

I do not consider myself a uber professional, so I don't want to charge a lot and get a bad rep on that. However, it was suggested I should be more worried about under-charging than over-charging.<br>

One family bought 12 5x7 prints and the $120 was a nice check, but if I charged $20 per 5x7, would they have purchased just as many photos for $240? I would give discounts to bulk orders, however.</p>

<p>Just looking for your thoughts on this? Thank you.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Location, location, location (demographics, demographics, demographics). This is a market-related issue. If you're shooting young girls in show-jumping competitions on $10k horses (with $10k of lessons involved - to say nothing of clothing!), that is a substantially different matter than juniot high school soccer in a working class neighborhood. You'll get more constructive feedback if you can say a bit more about the economy in which you're working.</p>

<p>James -<br>

Several things factor into what you should charge for prints:</p>

<p>1) your costs<br>

2) value of your time and effort<br>

3) competition<br>

4) quality of your photos<br>

All of these factors need to be taken into account when you're pricing your work. </p>

<p>I'm not the cheapest sports photographer for parents to buy from - but then again - I'm not the most expensive either. I've had parents fill out an order form then walk away when they saw the prices - I've had parents fill out an order form and stay and order more because of the prices -</p>

<p>So - there's not any cut and dry answer - personally - I'm in the same price point area as you - for sports photos at least. Just from a pure photo stand - even the most expensive competitor that I am aware of doesn't charge as much as your acquantance does for their photos - at least not for a run of the mill sport photo...</p>

<p>Now what is missing for us is Location (where are you located) and what else is in that print? I charge a lot more for a "Poster" than a standard Print - Irrespective of size. The poster is a custom background and contrians multiple images.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

<p>I shoot mainly high school sports locally for an affluent suburb of Buffalo, NY. My photos are not SI quality, but are crisp and worthy of the parents framing them for their home office or work office.<br>

As far as valuing my time and effort, my current prices are the lowest I would go. Something else to note is that I freelance for a local paper so they buy the first use of my photos, but I own everything and sell whatever photos I have already taken. So it's no extra time than what I'm already doing.<br>

There isn't a ton of compeition. Maxpreps send photographers out to games ocassionally and there is a competing local paper that sells prints. Actually after looking at their website, I see they charge the following: 5x7 - $18, 8x10 - $25, 11x14 - $33.<br>

I suppose that answers my question. I figure I should be just short of what they charge. I am also highly accessible to the students and parents as far as contacting me to purchase photos, so although that has iuts value, I figure that's just a way of garnering more business and won't put that into the price.<br>

So I'm thinking: 4x6 - $10, 5x7 - $15, 8x10 - $20, 11x14 - $25. So a slight increase, but nothing dramatic.<br>

I figure if someone asks why my prices went up I will say that my prices are more in line with the market rate yet still lower and that I feel as though my photos have increased in quality from when I first began shooting so the product is better.<br>

Thanks for your help.</p>

<p>On another angle: you sell three sizes only? or is it four?<br>

What size do you sell most, what size do you sell least?<br>

WW</p>

<p>For every one dollare you spend, you should get six in return.</p>

<p>As Matt points out, demographics is the thing. I charge 10 GBP for a 6x4/5x7 for a polo print, that's fairly standard. If I take photos for a less well healed demographic, I may have to charge less. An airsoft shot for a teenager will have to be less. </p>