Pricing your photography can be difficult to do when you have no idea where to start.

When it comes to photography, we often overthink about the pricing for all the wrong reasons or underthink it. But treat your photography as your business, if you don’t charge the right price for your work then you will ultimately lose your passion and go out of business.

Here are my best tips so you can start putting a tag on your work with a number that makes you happy, worthy, and valued.

HAVE A STRONG PORTFOLIO

You need to have a strong portfolio in order to confidently put a sticker price on. Not only does it showcase your work and skill level, but it also shows your unique creative style that sets you apart from others.

If you want more info on how to build a portfolio that will get you clients, check out [insert blog title with hyperlink]

FINE ART PRICING

You are not Target or Walmart. Anybody can go shopping and grab a photograph to hang on their wall that way. Nothing wrong with that. As a Fine Art Photographer, you are valued but you have to be willing to go beyond selling the Fine Art image.

The average price for Fine Art Photography is how much it costs to make a physical print of the image. This includes shipping, tax, printing, and everything else it took you to actually have the physical image to sell to your client like the gas you spent or transportation fees. Compute the total and multiply it by 4. That’s your price.

Remember, limited editions are will be priced in a totally different way.

My tip that will truly set you apart from others is to know your client and go the extra mile for them. It’s one thing to sell your image and it’s another to give your client an experience. What I mean by that is, make it special for them.

For example, if you know your client well enough and that your client will appreciate a hand-written personal letter that goes with the image, then do that.

COMMISSION-BASED PRICING

This type of work is special because you make work specifically for someone else. When you do commission work, you have to up the price because it is personal and unique for a person.

To do that, you have to add your hourly rate on top of the price and a standard hourly price I would recommend is $100/hr.

For example:

Fine Art Price + Hour Rate $100/hr

The hourly pricing may feel steep but what makes commission work different is that the client already knows your work, has seen your work, and want something special with your touch so you have to charge for the time it takes you to create it.

One of the things I’ve personally done is to approach friends or family and volunteer to create work for them. By doing so, I can estimate how long it takes for me to create commission-based photography. You always have to charge for time.

Time does not only mean our shooting and post-processing time.

Time is also when we talk to them over the phone about what they want, send it out to the printers, deliver it to the customer, and many more.

LICENSING YOUR WORK

Personally, I love licensing my work but it can be intimidating to do so because most of the time, it’s a transaction that happens Business to Business (B2B).

PhotoShelter is one of the companies I highly recommend that has helped me fall in love with licensing my images. It’s a company that uses a standard software program to help you understand licensing called Foto Quote.

DISCOUNTING YOUR WORK

Don’t discount your work itself but rather, give benefit somewhere else. This looks like:

“For the price of $1000, you get this photo AND…”

Give them additional value that goes with their purchase like a bonus e-book or workshop that they will enjoy or a calendar that they will put up in their office.

MY LAST TIP

After they’ve received their purchase, check in with your client. Ask how they like it, where did they place it, and how it looks in their office or bedroom.

If you’re gonna take away any tip from these, remember this one. Keep the connection going because this will make them feel that you truly do care about them and the work that you do. Communicating with your clients in a personal way comes with your pricing because it also takes up your time to do so.