how much do Photographers earn

[Zesty_Faith]

Hey..

not sure if this is the correct thread, dun ban me or anything please..

i'm been doing photography mostly as a hobby and school work since my school days but recently after grad have been considering going pro, was wondering how much to photographers earn?

as in work from bottom at photography studios as assist and if doing freelancing wat's the salary like? yes, feet on the ground and i know it's proby not much and lots of hard work but i'm fine with it, just wanting to see where i want to be.

freelancing wise, if one do product photography, what's the range and charging fee like? how do the market charge anyway? i heard it's by amount of images, is it true?
also, say artistic shoots like nude shoots, one person or couples, how do the market outside charge? do you charge a fee AND by amount of images or just either or? how do one even know what amount to quote?

thanks

 

[photobum]

Peanuts.....

Not even worth considering if you are assisting full-time. I would say a starting pay of between $1,000 ~ $1,500 + CPF.

Freelancing , depending on your employer, will pay you on per assignment or hourly basis. My studio will pay freelancers on hourly basis, some where between $50 to $120 per hour depending on your experience. No CPF of course.

For nudes, I am not too sure, but it is not much either I heard.

 

[Terence]

I think some insight would be useful, it's a question I've always wondered myself.. Any of the pros can contribute to this thread. Some ball park figures would be good.

 

[photobum]

The ballpark figure is as abovementioned.

Unless you are a close friend of the photographer, of course.

 

[catchlights]

For product shoots, the products can range for table top shot of a can of dog food to a washing machine, how can be the same price? and also depand how many products come in one time.. so just base on your day rate or hour rate to think how much time you need to spend on this shoot, plus here and plus there to qoute an amout.

For nude shoot, just like any kind of portraits shoots, can range from a few hundreds to whatever amount you dare to charge, is all depend on your "name".

even for a pro, under qoute or over qoute do happen all the time, so don't keep thinking of how to get the "standard market rate". we are not selling fishes in the wet market, so just name a price you think is fair to you and your clients.

Hope this helps.

 

[shinken]

I think it's really too big a question to be answered. Too many determinents and variables, and too wide a range. One might just ask "how much does a businessman earn?". I doubt there's really a ballpark figure unless we have specific questions, like "How much does a much sought-after fashion photographer earns" or "How much does a full-time press photographer earn?"

 

[canturn]

Before I stepped into the wedding photography business, I've seen pros, some of them my friends, still couldn't earn more than $1200 per assignment. These are fellows who've been shooting for the past 4-5 years. We also have photographers who've turned pro for less than a year and commanding $2000+ per assignment.

Pricing is something that needs to be discussed with your clients, and ultimately, you'll have to think whether the job is worth your while.
How much you want to earn really depends on you really. How do you want to charge and how many jobs you intend to do a month?

I agree with Catchlight, photography is your art work, not some merchandise you find in pasar malam. You price what you think you're worth.

 

[JLee]

"How much does a much sought-after fashion photographer earns" or "How much does a full-time press photographer earn?"

Ok this one is for Event Photography. Market rate that "we" are charging: Half day (4-5hrs) approx SGD400 and full day (8hrs+) approx SGD800. So if you shoot 4 full day events in a month, you are talking about SGD3200 gross income ;p

Impossible to get 4 events in a month? Then you need to brush up your sales & marketing skills. Don't just think & talk photography, think & talk business :thumbsup:

 

[waileong]

Ok this one is for Event Photography. Market rate that "we" are charging: Half day (4-5hrs) approx SGD400 and full day (8hrs+) approx SGD800. So if you shoot 4 full day events in a month, you are talking about SGD3200 gross income ;p

Impossible to get 4 events in a month? Then you need to brush up your sales & marketing skills. Don't just think & talk photography, think & talk business :thumbsup:

You have to shoot a lot more than that to cover your costs... If your billing is less than $20k per month, don't bother because by the time you factor in your rent, equipment depreciation, transport and other expenses, printing costs, marketing costs, etc. there's not that much left to pay yourself a decent salary, esp. considering the risks you take and the hours you have to put in (some more no annual leave, no medical benefits, etc).

Lets put it this way, it's not how much you can earn, it's how much you need to earn. The sky is the limit if you're Russel Wong, but if you're not him, then you need to figure out how much you need to earn to cover your own lifestyle and feed your family.

 

[CreaXion]

Ok this one is for Event Photography. Market rate that "we" are charging: Half day (4-5hrs) approx SGD400 and full day (8hrs+) approx SGD800. So if you shoot 4 full day events in a month, you are talking about SGD3200 gross income ;p

Impossible to get 4 events in a month? Then you need to brush up your sales & marketing skills. Don't just think & talk photography, think & talk business :thumbsup:

That is gross and u have not factored in the developing cost yet if u are a freelancer.

 

[Zesty_Faith]

woah. food for thought.

so it's usually a per hour kind of situation eh. but do ppl charge by amount of images shot and choosen finally because if one is using DSLR, wont you be at a losing end if the client just happily ask you to shoot as many as possible so that he would have more choices?

and if one do charge by that way,how exactly does it work either? every 100 photos choose 5, cost u ABC amount. works like that?

 

[catchlights]

woah. food for thought.

so it's usually a per hour kind of situation eh. but do ppl charge by amount of images shot and choosen finally because if one is using DSLR, wont you be at a losing end if the client just happily ask you to shoot as many as possible so that he would have more choices?

and if one do charge by that way,how exactly does it work either? every 100 photos choose 5, cost u ABC amount. works like that?

does shoot 5 shots and 100 shots cost you the same amount of time?

If you do encounter this type of client, just tell them shoot something that they don't use at all is wasting thier time and money, if they very willing to pay, why not entertain them?

 

[Sion]

How much do photographers earn?

The earning would depend on how much he has to live on and how good he is. Right?

 

[Sion]

Freelancing , depending on your employer, will pay you on per assignment or hourly basis. My studio will pay freelancers on hourly basis, some where between $50 to $120 per hour depending on your experience. No CPF of course.

One young man in another local forum went to work as an assitant for a photographer free and full-time.

So you really can't put a standard for everything in photography business. It's not as simplistic as in Geylang e.g. old old ones are cheaper than young young ones.

Even the same photo is being paid different prices across different countries for different usages.

 

[ckpy7677]

Hi some comments on photography.... recently i tried on event photography... Not easy lei... as some "event" company really dragged your payment weeks after weeks. So must be very careful when dealing with them. Some even purposely comments that your shots is not good enough and want to deduct your $$$...

Must also do lots of marketing to have more exposure on your service so that you can get more job assisgment to earn more $$$. Regarding about the payment, i think one of the post had already mention. Some photographer even slash or lower their $$$ just to get the job!! No choice, that's life!

Its a very good experience with event company's assisgment. If you really have interest in this line, must brush up your skills lor!! You must also learn how to do photo editing and special effect.....:bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie: All the Best!!!

 

[CreaXion]

I know of a photographer who deduct $1 from his backup photographer for every technically spoilt shot. I call that exploitation.

So what happens when his backup photographer shoots better than him;p ?

 

[shojibake]

Hi some comments on photography.... recently i tried on event photography... Not easy lei... as some "event" company really dragged your payment weeks after weeks. So must be very careful when dealing with them. Some even purposely comments that your shots is not good enough and want to deduct your $$$...

Must also do lots of marketing to have more exposure on your service so that you can get more job assisgment to earn more $$$. Regarding about the payment, i think one of the post had already mention. Some photographer even slash or lower their $$$ just to get the job!! No choice, that's life!

Its a very good experience with event company's assisgment. If you really have interest in this line, must brush up your skills lor!! You must also learn how to do photo editing and special effect.....:bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie: All the Best!!!

Damn! you must say who that is. It always sucks to hear of exploitation.

 

[ellery]

I know of a photographer who deduct $1 from his backup photographer for every technically spoilt shot. I call that exploitation.

So what happens when his backup photographer shoots better than him;p ?

In the dog training industry this is part of reward/punishment training method - do good get treat; do bad can pain. Crude but effective teaching method. Hmm come to think about it our parents used the same on us unless you were so pampered that cannings for being naughty was not part of growing up. Our bosses used that to - do good increament, bonus do real bad get to find new job. sxxx make you want to wag your tail now ehhh.

not to be crude but unless you were born with an over supply of talent - backed up with solid technical skills, your parents better be willing to support your full time hobby. Example if you want to be a full equiped pro - it means 2 bodies, about 4 lens to cover most situations, a spare unit of your general purpose lens, 2 flashes, a reasonable desktop or laptop, about 6 to 10 gig of cf cards. Ok so you may already have the equipment - gods its good to be young with parents who have disposable income rather than be older and you the one who has to pay for the goodies irregardless who they are for, what shape is your portfolio ?My point is do an audit of your skills, aptitude, assets before jumping. A "Clang" is a rarity that did not happen over night - I remember it was said he once worked nearly FOC for a year or so with a product photographer to learn product photography. Can you afford to do so ? Do not be another pian jaik photographer who has to hit and run because each job is 50% chance the client will reject and not pay.

 

[ianpaice]

Do part time work still ok lah. But if you wanna turn full time pro as a career, you better think twice. Many ppl are getting into photography as a result of the convenience and lower cost of digital imaging. Soon, there will many many people who will be proficient in photography and there will be very stiff competition among the pros.

Dont believe? Just send an invitation for a quote in the forum and you will receive attractive quotes from many of the freelancers and pros alike. You really have to be really good in your photography skills or marketing skill to do well. Its a jungle out there.

 

[behyx]

Hi TS,

I personally shoot interior/architecture for my commerical works, and when I first started out, I charge hourly rates. Then I realized many potential clients are put off by the figure, so I changed my tactics and charge by 'price per photo'. Of course I will tell them minimum quantity of pictures per shoot / per location.

So when I calculate my price plan and compare with hourly rates, I actually earn as much as I do if I charge hourly rates. And the main thing is, my clients love the idea of paying for what they only need, and I'm happy that I don't lose out much using this business tactics. It's a win-win situation

Another aspect to take note is, clients will surely follow you around and bug you to shoot very fast if you charge hourly rates, and certainly (at least for me) i will feel very stress. So put yourself in your clients' shoes, you will also feel skeptical if this photographer charges hourly rates, and purposely take his own sweet time to shoot, then you have to pay a huge amount at the end of the day. It's good to take a step back and think 'what would you think if you are the client'.

For product photography, I guess it's the same thing. But like what catchlights mentioned about shooting a can of dog food and a washing machine, you can produce a different pricing scheme for different products.

Just my 2-cents.