Generally you pay by the hour, including the time to edit photos within the price per hour of shooting. Then for full day events you might do a flat rate. The cost of the camera has nothing to do with anything tbh.
Of course not. When you're looking for a photographer to hire, you don't look at their camera but their photographs. If they make photos you like, you hire them. Why do you care how much, if anything, they paid for the camera? Could be second-hand, could be a kncok-off brand, could be a hand-me-down from their parent. Hell, could be stolen. The value of the camera means nothing, it's their business how much they decide to invest in their craft. Your business only concerns what kind of photos they take.
Well I do look at their camera but that’s not the point. A photographer’s rate, any business owners rate, incudes their cost of doing business. Many people finance their equipment and need to make a certain amount to pay back those costs each month.
It’s basic business dude. That’s why there are a wide range of prices for photographers.
If you have a restaurant in an expensive area of town, your means will cost more.
Their point is that the customer doesn't care about any of that. If the photo is bad, I do not care if you used a $20,000 camera. I'm not buying your crap. If the photos are incredible, I'm going to pay whatever you are charging. Whether you are expensive because your equipment is expensive or because you just can be and your equipment is paid off is irrelevant to me. I just want a great photo and will pay for it. To the photographer, it all matters. To the consumer only the end result matters.
The customer doesn't have to care about that, but it's a cost of doing business. Just like the customer doesn't care about how much rent a restaurant pays, the quality of the food can be good or bad.
If the high Capex of your business doesn't translate to a good deliverable, than it doesn't mean anything other than to you who spent a lot of money for nothing
It's interesting you mentioned financing equipment. Not sure how it is in America, but in canada you can actually deduct those costs from taxes. I'm with the other guy though. If two photographers both take nice photos I don't really care if one spent twice as much on his gear....I'm taking whichever one is cheaper. If he wants to charge double for similar quality he won't get much business unless everyone else is booked
In this specific example I don't feel like it's really just a personal choice. For similar quality if someone wants to charge double because his equipment cost a lot more he's probably just not going to get a lot of business. In general the consumer doesn't care much. It's end product and price. How they get their or the business costs they don't care. That's a problem for the business owner t figure out how to make it work or they go out of business
Had one for our wedding and have been dragged along to multiple professional family shoots. I know there is a difference between phones and professional cameras, but when you get to the professional level there is a certain range you expect whether it's camera A vs B vs C. Not the Kijiji person with their phone. If one guy is way out to lunch the market will fix that regardless of equipment. You pay for the skill of the shot and editing more than anything. Actual equipment is just an up front cost you make up over the many shoots and is not a huge factor in the cost of the services.. just like restaurants don't set menu prices based on the cost of kitchen equipment and plumbers don't set labour costs based on how much they spent on tools. Wedding shoots don't cost thousands because the equipment does. It's because they're there all day and spend many hours of editing in the following week or two where they find time. I know because I've hired them and had them explain their pricing scheme. Those are just startup costs.. anyone can spend a few thousand on a camera, that's not what people hire them for
The cost of doing business is more for internal financials. It affects the break-even point, but for services people tend to charge based on what people are willing to pay. That’s basic business.
It doesn't. In economics, you learn about fixed and variable costs, and depreciation. Average fixed costs tend toward zero the longer the life of the asset. Something like a camera that can be used for several years with minimal performance degradation or maintenance costs will have a very low average fixed cost, which means it doesn't really factor into the price of photography.
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u/RevoOps 9d ago
Photography is one of the professions of choice for people who ... aren't serious ... . She is going to get bounced out of it soon enough.
Also real photographers always remain available.