A: Above is a valid question and I completely understand where new clients are coming from when they ask me that question! When a photographer is charging an hourly rate it makes complete sense to wonder how many photos you can get from one hour of work.
Unfortunately it doesn't really work that way and every time someone asks me that question I honestly hate having to tell the client just that, "I don't really know." You asked me that question in order to get an idea of how long it takes and there I am with the frustratingly vague response of “I don’t really know.” So after continuously being asked the above question and dreading having to give a vague response I decided to show you all the facts! Well not all the facts, because that’s just boring.
I put together a spreadsheet comparing 10 of my recent projects to give a more specific answer. I know there is a lot of data here but just bear with me. The spreadsheet below shows the information that I think will help new clients grasp a better idea of the project price ranges.
Conclusion:
The more work involved for me, the more the project will cost. The cost mostly reflects the amount of work I have to do. The cost does not at all reflect the number of photos you will receive in the end. The price often doesn't even correlate to the amount of pages you've sent. A project with no answer key and/or a lot of coloring/cutting/drawing can possibly take twice as much as a project with an answer key and minimal work to fill out.
** On average you'll receive 10 photos per page you want photographed.
Column 1 - Pages per project.
Column 2 - The price in the second column reflects what the client was charged for that project (not including the printing fee), so the price directly reflects how many hours it took me to complete to project.
Column 3 - Represents the price per page, which has been calculated by assuming it takes me an equal amount of time to work on each page. It never actually takes me the same amount of time to complete each page but I'll explain this column more later on in the post.
Column 4 - Brief notes about the difficulty of the project.
With that information we're going to compare the “Price/Page” column to the “Notes” column. I noticed that the projects with a price/page amount between $8-$10 had an average amount to fill out, little to nothing to color, and may have included an answer key. The projects that had a price/page amount above $10 involved a lot of coloring, cutting, drawing, and most likely did not include an answer key.
Hopefully the spreadsheet was able to show you a glimpse of the work I do and illustrated how much the projects can vary in cost.
My recommendation is to start small if you are unsure! I'd really love to work with you because I truly care about photography as an art and as a means of advertisement because I know that it works! I know that products with great photos sell a lot better than products with average or below average photos. I want my photos to showcase your products as best as possible!
Column 3 - Represents the price per page, which has been calculated by assuming it takes me an equal amount of time to work on each page. It never actually takes me the same amount of time to complete each page but I'll explain this column more later on in the post.
Column 4 - Brief notes about the difficulty of the project.
With that information we're going to compare the “Price/Page” column to the “Notes” column. I noticed that the projects with a price/page amount between $8-$10 had an average amount to fill out, little to nothing to color, and may have included an answer key. The projects that had a price/page amount above $10 involved a lot of coloring, cutting, drawing, and most likely did not include an answer key.
Hopefully the spreadsheet was able to show you a glimpse of the work I do and illustrated how much the projects can vary in cost.
My recommendation is to start small if you are unsure! I'd really love to work with you because I truly care about photography as an art and as a means of advertisement because I know that it works! I know that products with great photos sell a lot better than products with average or below average photos. I want my photos to showcase your products as best as possible!
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