Lou Freeman specializes in highly stylized conceptual fashion and glamour photography. She has practiced and shaped the art …

Pricing Strategies for Portrait Photographers

At some point, you decided to take your passion and talent for portrait photography from being a hobby to officially starting a business. Or maybe you have been shooting for a while and have relocated to a different area of the country where you need to reestablish your existing business. You’ve invested in your camera equipment and accessories, computers and software. To make sure your business will be successful and profitable, you’ll need to plan your pricing strategy for your photography services and products.

Research Your Competition

With any business, it is important to know who your competition is and their prices. You can then decide, based on your own level of experience and the services and products you want to offer, how to choose your pricing. You should also consider, based on where you live, the socioeconomics of potential customers in your area. For example, a bigger city, more affluent suburb, or tourist area might have more customers with higher incomes who are accustomed to paying higher prices for photography services as opposed to a rural area where customers’ incomes might be lower and can only afford lower prices.

One way to research other photographers in your area is to ask friends and family what local photographers they have hired for their portraits. You can also go to your local camera store and talk to the staff about their customers who offer portrait photography services.

Once you have some names, go online and search for your competition’s websites using a search engine such as Google or Bing and business directory websites, such as Yelp, Thumbtack and Photography Central. Also research the main social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Enter pertinent keywords such as portraits, children, baby, newborn, seniors, teens, family and event photography. Use additional keywords in your search such as the town, city, county, state or region. When you do those searches, take note of the portrait photographer websites that come up on the first and second pages. These photographers have done their homework to be sure that their websites are being seen, and if they also have paid advertising that indicates that they are doing well with getting new customers.