Comments on: Price vs. Value

By: LexaRae

LexaRae — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:17:03 +0000

THANK YOU! This answered my questions, and my battle!

By: LeinwandFotoDruck

LeinwandFotoDruck — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:12:13 +0000

Great article. Indeed a lot of companies charge way to much for their services or products. We are a photo-printing company, and in my opinion our prices are by far not overdone considered the quality.

By: Troy Schulz

Troy Schulz — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:47:57 +0000

A lot of it has to do with where you live as well. A person who lives, say, in New York or California is going to have to charge a lot more than someone here in Wisconsin – for the same level of quality workmanship – to be able to provide themselves an adequate living.

It costs less here to rent or buy a three or four bedroom house than it costs to rent a 1 bedroom apartment in those areas.

So a lot of it is relative to where you are.

By: Johanna Lakin

Johanna Lakin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:57:53 +0000

10 years ago when I was baout 13, my sister and I saw a beautiful photo hanging in a studio window of two sisters. The photo was priceless! SO me and my sister even though we had barely any money scrounged up enough to have ours done. We wanted them to look just like the photo in the window. Long story short, the photos looked awfull! Now looking back I realize the photographer had no artistic abilitys. He didnt even get good angles on us. We looked bad, but, we still spent over 200.00 on the prints for who knows why! I think it because we had to pay for them to get done and we wnated them so bad! I finally the courage to throw them out this year cause they were that bad. It may have paid off to the photographer at the time because we paid $300.00 but it didnt pay off long term because we will never go back.

By: Mike Harris

Mike Harris — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:19:30 +0000

I am a Narrator – “Voice for hire” and am paid what some see as exorbitant fees – $500 minimum for what often turns out to be a 10minute recording session. That’s the “Price.” The “value” is: “In and out.” A recording session (studio charges,etc.) is usually measured in hours and costs $2-3,000 per hour, so the less time I take the more time the client has to “sweeten” the production and overall get a better final product. So what seems like a, lot up front ends up “cheap” in the end. I tell some gulping clients: It’s not the 10 minutes this session ran – it’s the 30 years it took to teach me how to do this session in 10 minutes that you’re actually paying for.
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By: Anton Oosthuizen

Anton Oosthuizen — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:52:38 +0000

Gr8 article – I am the arty photographers who have a hard time taking cash-in-hand for a job well done, thanks for confirming LOL

By: starrpoint

starrpoint — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:51:01 +0000

I too, have had pressure on me to buy an expensive photo package by the tiime-honored throw it in the trash bit.

While I did like the photos, I did not like the high-pressure sales pitch.

By: Gerry Coe

Gerry Coe — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:37:11 +0000

Elizabeth, A very good article and I agree with all you said. You are still trying to find your Niche, well keep at it and before long you will find that you have your own unique style. You won’t recognize it at first but others will point it out to you. That happened with me and people are still coming back for my style. Happy Christmas and a Profitable New Year.
If you are going to the SWPP in January look me up, I am doing 2 workshops there.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:58:53 +0000

Good article, as I need to sit down and re-evaluate my pricing schedule. Most photogs in my area are expensive. I’m not so much, but I’m not doing this full-time and I don’t have overhead. BUT, this year, things really took off for me and when I sit down and calculate the actual time I spent on weddings and portraits, I didn’t make a dime. I feel I have more experience now to start charging more. However, I do believe that you shouldn’t have to mortgage your soul for quality photography and I like the clients that really appreciate beauty and value. And for those clients who do balk at my prices, because “Uncle John” has the same equipment, I tell them to let Uncle John to take their photos–but don’t come crying to me to fix them! LOL

By: Phil Brooks

Phil Brooks — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:35:21 +0000

Great article! I have been there a million times, and I finally feel like I’m comfortable with price vs. value. I do mostly portraits and events, and photography for me is a second means of income, but by no means a path to riches and greatness. My goal is to make enough money from my work to be able to continue investing in equipment and constantly improving the quality of my work. In other words this won’t replace my full-time job! I want my work to be a level of quality where the customer is willing to pay a premium, not a fortune.

This article was very helpful.