I used to be scared to charge much when I first started out as a photographer; after all, I'd been working at the dining hall in college for about $5 an hour, so to charge any more than $7-8 seemed high to me (this is 1989 you have to realize). I used to be shocked, like most people, when I heard of plumbers charging $100 just to show up at your door! Now I charge more than that- so what's changed and how do I justify my rates? Read on to see what it costs to be a photographer....
Soon after I started out, I realized I needed to have top quality equipment to stay in business, and I needed to regularly train on new gear and new software. And to add to that, I had to purchase all the things I needed to run a small office- pencils, a desk, file folders, a paper cutter, not to mention a computer, printer, flatbed scanner, film scanner, etc, etc. Unlike company employees, I had to purchase everything myself, down to the paper clips and envelopes I use.
Since I went digital in 2002, I've owned three high end digital cameras (the Canon 1D series). I couldn't believe I spent $5000 on a camera the first time I bought one. Now I've spent $15,000 on three! The savings over having to buy film (I used to order about $500 of film every few months) has been substantial, but a good digital camera has a life of only about three years, so there's a trade-off. I've figured that, depending on the shoot, I usually have $10-20,000 of photography equipment with me on any given job. And unlike my plumber in the paragraph above, I'm often upgrading gear and purchasing new software to keep current. Here's a rundown of some of the equipment I use in the production of my photos:
Honda Civic ($16,000)- can't do without a car and this is my business car. 40MPG!
Canon 400mm lens ($7000+)- with sports being a big part of my work, I need the best gear– bar none, this is the best sports lens you can get.
Canon 1DMk3 camera ($5000)- the camera I currently use on every job
Apple Mac G5 Quad computer ($4000)- the best computer you could buy (three years ago), upgraded several times with hard drives (just added an internal 1.5TB hard drive this morning) and 6.5GB of RAM. Will probably upgrade to a new computer within the next year to keep up with all the large files I need to process after every shoot.
Canon lenses- probably about $20,000 in lenses over the years, from a 15mm full frame fisheye to a 300mm f/2.8 (not including the 400mm above). Most lenses I now use cost over $1200 each.
Lighting- six high powered flash units (each about $500) , plus stands, soft boxes, umbrellas, radio slaves, cases, etc
After a shoot, I generally spend one hour in post production for every hour I spend shooting, so my shooting fee covers my time in the office too. After a shoot, everything is backed up onto DVD's and hard drives and cataloged for easy retrieval later– my catalog is up to 140,000 images, and about 400 CD's and DVD's. All of this costs money and time, which is another part of my shooting fee.
Soon after I started out, I realized I needed to have top quality equipment to stay in business, and I needed to regularly train on new gear and new software. And to add to that, I had to purchase all the things I needed to run a small office- pencils, a desk, file folders, a paper cutter, not to mention a computer, printer, flatbed scanner, film scanner, etc, etc. Unlike company employees, I had to purchase everything myself, down to the paper clips and envelopes I use.
Since I went digital in 2002, I've owned three high end digital cameras (the Canon 1D series). I couldn't believe I spent $5000 on a camera the first time I bought one. Now I've spent $15,000 on three! The savings over having to buy film (I used to order about $500 of film every few months) has been substantial, but a good digital camera has a life of only about three years, so there's a trade-off. I've figured that, depending on the shoot, I usually have $10-20,000 of photography equipment with me on any given job. And unlike my plumber in the paragraph above, I'm often upgrading gear and purchasing new software to keep current. Here's a rundown of some of the equipment I use in the production of my photos:
Honda Civic ($16,000)- can't do without a car and this is my business car. 40MPG!
Canon 400mm lens ($7000+)- with sports being a big part of my work, I need the best gear– bar none, this is the best sports lens you can get.
Canon 1DMk3 camera ($5000)- the camera I currently use on every job
Apple Mac G5 Quad computer ($4000)- the best computer you could buy (three years ago), upgraded several times with hard drives (just added an internal 1.5TB hard drive this morning) and 6.5GB of RAM. Will probably upgrade to a new computer within the next year to keep up with all the large files I need to process after every shoot.
Canon lenses- probably about $20,000 in lenses over the years, from a 15mm full frame fisheye to a 300mm f/2.8 (not including the 400mm above). Most lenses I now use cost over $1200 each.
Lighting- six high powered flash units (each about $500) , plus stands, soft boxes, umbrellas, radio slaves, cases, etc
After a shoot, I generally spend one hour in post production for every hour I spend shooting, so my shooting fee covers my time in the office too. After a shoot, everything is backed up onto DVD's and hard drives and cataloged for easy retrieval later– my catalog is up to 140,000 images, and about 400 CD's and DVD's. All of this costs money and time, which is another part of my shooting fee.
Hopefully that explains a bit, and gives you an idea of what you're paying for when you hire a professional photographer. I wouldn't do any other job– I won't get rich being a photographer, but it's the best job in the world!
