What to charge for day care photography

I may have the opportunity in the next couple months to take on doing some

some professional pictures for a day care, but have no idea what to charge.

 

Currently I've done weddings and portraits but nothing quite like day care, so

if any one out there has any experience in this particular type of photography

any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. My website is

www.essencephotobcs.com if you want to see what I currently charge for other

stuff and make a judgement off of that. Thanks

James,

 

I'm a teacher in addition to being a photographer, and when I think about what the photographers who do our school pictures charge, I don't even think I could charge those prices even if I printed at Sam's Club! On the other hand, for senior portraits, some of the kids who DON'T come to me for portraits say they spent up to $900 on their senior portraits.

 

I see that you charge $10 for an 8x10. A reasonable option might be to charge $10 for the 8x10 and break down the prices from there - to simplify your order form. You might charge $5 for 4 wallets, $2.50 for a 4x6, $5 for a 5x7. You could sell ONLY in "sheets," where people would have to choose 2-4x6's and a 5x7, or 8 wallets, or 4 wallets and 2-4x6's. Just an idea....

 

By the way, I did portraits at my last school dance in June and sold a 5x7 or 4 wallets for $5 (that's all I offered) - I went home with over in $500 cash that night (for a 3 hour dance) and only spent about $80 on prints. A little bit of profit on each print can go a long way.

 

Jen

My advice is more along the what not to do lines. I printed one shot of each kid at 5x7 and charged $10. My biggest problem was people taking the photos without paying. hey didn't mean to stiff me, they just forgot (I choose to believe this!).

 

I guess the ideal solution would be to collect orders and cash in advance. This would also mean you wouldn't have to photograph all the kids, only the ones whose parents had paid. Of course you would offer money back guarantee if they weren't happy with the pics.

 

Don't price yourself too cheaply, people value what they pay for.

My question to you is are you doing a prepaid package like school pictures or are you wanting to proof (online) and sell ala cart ?

are you shooting the children, or for the day care advertising?

How posh is the day care ? If it's very upmarket then so should your prices be. If it's more of a

community help thing then your prices should maybe reflect that ?

 

r

Photographers do not charge the school OR students for the photography itself. Rather,

they make all of their money on the print orders. (School shooters are some of the

brilliant marketers in the business!)

 

Most school-based photographers also offer the school/daycare a percentage of the

profits -- especially if the school will be collecting envelope orders, passing out forms,

etc.

 

I know photographers who offer kickbacks as low as 15% for smaller day-care situations;

other big-time school shooters typically kickback as much as 50% of the profits.

 

I highly suggest that you do NOT offer a la carte prints. Instead, offer print packages

beginning anywhere from $25 to $45. You will lose money by fulfilling orders for single

5x7s at $5 each.

 

For ideas, check out this AWESOME West Coast shooter:

http://www.mugshotsphotography.com

 

Good luck!

I do this sort of thing for a day care in town about twice a year. Anne is right, it's exactly the same as school photos. They day care is basically giving you a hundred paying customers for free, charging them some sort of fee is pretty greedy. I have one package I offer for about $25, and they can add units on top of it if they really want to, but most don't. I generally bring in about $600 for a full day's shooting.

 

It's a lot of work, but it's pretty good money and really good exposure. I've got a few regular studio customers that come to me for additional portraits between day care shoots. I also booked another mass production type of shoot last year from a parent for her business. She paid me to take Christmas portraits for every employee of her company. I got a small hourly fee, and she designed a package for each employee that I printed up. So while the money is good, I mostly do these day care shots for PR reasons.

 

I would suggest offering a small package, 2 4x6's, 1 5x7, and 8 wallets for about $20 and then offer ala carte prints on top of that. In my experience, most parents don't want to spend more than $30 because this age group changes so fast they tend to have more professional portraits taken.

Thanks for all ya'lls help. I was mainly wondering whether photographer's typically charged the day care a fee or just made their money off of prints. I think I'll just offer the packages and not charge an up front fee. I thought this might be a big benefit as far as helping to build a client base so thanks for the help and suggestions

Hello James,

I know this thread is 6 months old but maybe your still there (knock! knock!) :)

I am curious how this gig turned out for you. I am in the same situation that you were in.(wondering what to charge, how to things up for day care photography) Let me know if your there still-

thanks!

~Laurie

<p>Hello james,<br>

I also wonder how your shoot went and what the response was to your product prices?</p>

<p>I run a small phtotography company with 6-9 employees depending on the amount of shoots we schedule for each season. We do schools, day cares, sports, and are venturing out into other areas such as weddings, PR, etc.</p>

<p>It has been our experience that, in San Antonio, Texas, most packages start at about $12. The more options you give the parents the more likely you will get a purchase. Also, the more options you provide the more work you create for yourself. Which brings me to my second point.</p>

<p>Are you wanting to be a solo photographer who handles the shoot from beginning to end? If so then you will always have lower overhead than the larger companies and can offer lower prices. If, however you want to grow into a larger company then the more packages, specialty items, and variety you offer the more likely you will succeed. It all depends on what type of business you want.<br>

If you want to communicate with me directly please feel free to conatct me at: <a href="mailto:rene@kidpics-usa.com">rene@kidpics-usa.com</a></p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

I saw the response from the school teacher who is also 'appalled' by the tog's prices and Lifetouch and wants to give pricing tips for people in the industry. Since the majority of businesses fail and this woman says she is a teacher and is 'shocked' by the prices, I would ignore her well intended comments. Any business coach will tell any tog they have to charge enough to make a profit and the prices suggested do not reflect the realities of the business side.

Anyone price a gallon of milk, or gas lately? Please count the number of sessions you need to do and sell at the end of the year before deciding how much you can afford to sell your work for. Then go back and include a markup for hard goods. Creating the file is where the value and expense is and anyone who doesn't understand that, shouldn't be dolling out biz advice.