I have been having a really rough time figuring out what to charge.
I know that I tend to set prices too low.
I think that if I could figure out a way to calculate what to charge in addition to what I want to make per hour, then I could justify my pricing, and quit putting prices too low.

I am also new to this, so I am hesitant to charge much since I don't have a ton of experience. I've only been doing weddings & portraits for less than a year, & I'm still learning.

I have started a website (www.heatherlynne.ca) where I have a small portfolio & a blog where I post recent work.

Can anyone suggest a way to figure out what my work is worth?
How do you calculate what you need to charge for a session?
What do you take into consideration beyond what you want to make per hour? And how do you calculate that?

Thank you so much for any help you can offer!

Hey Heather, I had a HECK of a time figuring this out when I started as well (and think I'm a little under priced right now as a result). One piece of advice I received (and wish I had put into action a bit more) was don't under-price yourself just because you're starting out. If you feel you need to get your foot in the door with some lower prices due to being new to the market, then set your prices high, where you would be happy with them, and then run a "portfolio building special" run it from now till the end of the year, or for a month, or whatever you feel comfortable with. But this way, you bill the clients showing the full rate, and the discount they received. Now they won't be surprised when they come back to you 6 months from now, a year from now, or send referrals your way, to find out your prices have increased.

As far as figuring out pricing. For the markup of products I just read in rangefinder last month some numbers. Figure out the cost of the product (include any shipping or other expenses involved) and multiply that by anything from 3-5. I like having a standard number to multiply by, this way when a client asked for a special sized item or something I haven't yet offered, I know quickly and easily how to charge for it.

As far as photo sessions go. You are on the right track with figuring your time and what you want to make "per hour". Keep in mind it's not just the session itself you need to cover yourself on, you need to include the time it takes to edit the session, put it online (if you have an online shopping cart/ordering system, slideshows, etc) the time it takes to help them through the ordering process and well as placing orders, and if you plan to deliver them the time and expense with that as well. Robin from Bellisma has a great breakdown of all the things to think about when it come to the actual cost of doing business.

And as a portrait photographer, one thing you will want to compensate for (and I didn't know was so common especially now with clients ordering online and not coming in and ordering right there in front of you) you need your session fee to be enough to cover yourself should they not order, or not order for several months. I've had this happen several times and seen it come up here on the boards on many occasions, your client is SO happy and excited about the photos, they set up a favorites list right away, can't wait to place an order........... but life/finances/whatever gets in the way, and they either don't follow through and order, or they forget, and several months later ask if they can get their shopping cart online again to finally place an order. So you can't always figure, well my session fee seems low, but reasonable, but the print orders will make up for that (that was the mistake I made getting into this).

One thing that works well to compensate for that is to have a higher "session fee" but have padded into that a "print credit". You can choose whatever you'd like that to be, it can be as little as $20 or as high as several hundred dollars).

And finally look at your market. Compare the other portrait photographers out there with what you are offering. Are you offering the same thing, something different, are your photos as good of quality, better than, needs some work? I realize the last part is subjective, and also depends to some degree on taste and style but you can still compare and see where you want to fall into on the market. Price yourself in the target market you are looking for. Don't under price yourself for that market. There is such thing as "perceived value", and if a potential client sees you and the cheapest option it's also easy for them to think you may also be the lowest quality option as well. Not that you won't get clients that way, but you will get the clients that are just bargain shopping, and probably won't be placing large orders anyway. (not good when you are talking about supporting yourself with this career )

Hope some of this helps.......

Thank you SO much for your reply, Jen!!
I will definitely take these things into consideration!
Do you know where I could find Robin (from Bellisma)'s breakdown?

I really appreciate you taking the time to reply!

no problem Here's the link to her blog where I believe it covers that.

Thank you again, Jen!