Another newborn photos question

littleshopofyorkies · June 2011

I am headed off to work, but I was doing some research on newborn photographers and I have a question about pricing. The sittings fees all seem pretty standard (around 200-300/session), but it is the digital proofs/picture prices that I am wondering about.

I am in the NYC area, but I still am wondering what is a reasonable rate for digital proofs especially. One photog was charging $1695 just for the digital proofs. I am not discounting her talent as her photos were beyond beautiful, but that I cannot afford (plus sitting fee) for just one session. Just wondering if anyone new a range.

Bananappeal145 · June 2011

There is a tremendous range on "digital proofs" For that much I should at least hope she is selling you a disk with rights to print. I am a photographer and my high res disk is $100-$200 depending on the event but then again, I am in Tennessee, not New York, and I am not as well established as some others. From what I know, at least around here, even the most senior photographers would only charge about half what you said for digital copies. She better be REALLY good at her job to justify charging that much. On the other hand you have to consider that a photographer is loosing out on a lot of money by selling you that disk so she has to try to recoup some of the loss by charging about average what she makes on prints from clients not purchasing the disk. Good luck!

MrsG.060708 · June 2011

Sounds about right to me...even though I think the price is insane. There's photogs around here (in suburban Ohio) that charge $150-300 for the session fee, then another $150-300 for the CD (and it only comes with like 30 photos)!

I think the pricing is absolutely ridiculous for some photographers. What REALLY gets me, is that we paid around $600-800 for our WEDDING photos and we had him for 4+ hours and got a CD with ALL the images (over 1000) and printing rights. There's no way I would pay a similar amount for newborn pics, and get a fraction of the photos.

LesRN · June 2011

We are paying about $600 for newborn and maternity pics and will get dvds of all the images with printing rights. A select few of the prints will be edited...I think 5 from each session. From looking at several photogs in our area (Dallas) I think we got a pretty good deal. I didn't want to have to pay a ridiculous amount for prints that some photogs like to charge. I also like having the dvd of all the pics because I'll probably make a book or something on shutterfly.

purple4u · June 2011

I am from NYC too. I booked with Michael Kormos in Forest Hills. The sitting fee is $180 and you can purchase what you like. Check out their website, michaelkormos.com He came well recommended by the forest hills parents group.

Jules08 · June 2011

I would check with your local on prices to see if that's withing the average range.

Many do not give professional photographers enough thought when it comes to costs, as the costs ARE justified.

Not to go on a tangent, but I think it's important to understand this instead of thinking that the photographers are just unreasonable, you don't have much of a choice, ect.

Please note that this is NOT at all comprehensive, just a list of some of the major items that go in to calculating the costs and fees of professional photography

For each client:

You spend time communicating and prepping for each shoot (setting up lighting, scouting shoot locations, organizing shot lists, inspecting and testing equipment, etc)

Then you may drive to a location (gas and car maintenance)

Time at the shoot itself

Downloading and editing the photos

Prep the photos for proofing, uploading to a hosting site

Creating a CD or DVD of the images

Prepping orders, placing them, packaging them, shipping them

Your business (all fixed costs that get passed onto clients, just like every other business):

Legal fees

Registration fees

TAXES

INSURANCE (Business, equipment, etc.)

Designing / Updating your website

Maintaining your hosting website

Answering calls

Updating policies, paperwork

Marketing

Networking

Equipment:

Cell Phone

Gear: Camera, lenses, speedlights, memory cards, tripods, lighting, props, BACKUPS, etc. (easily upwards of 12K)

Gear maintenance, upgrades

Computer

Editing software

With a professional, you are also paying for their expertise ? their training, their practice, their research, their abilities to know how to actually take a WOW picture with the right poses, composition, and lighting, the use of their professional lab (if you order prints), and the one on one personal interaction. As I once read: you can go out and buy a pair of scissors, but you wouldn?t go out and call yourself a hair stylist.

The above (plus more) drives the pricing for professional photography. Sure you may find someone else for less: they could be just starting out and offering discounts for a period of time or they could just be flat out undercharging because they don?t need the money; however, for another photographer to undercharge in a market they not only devalue the market but they also lessen someone else?s paycheck. Don?t forget, after everything else, photographers are in a business and need to make an income as well.

Sarahbear621 · June 2011

Our photographer in NC charges $150 for the session with a $300 min. requirement for print purchases. So we know that we will at least be spending $450 on this. For digital pictures where we have rights to print etc it would cost us around $900.

jjmac · June 2011

LesRN:
We are paying about $600 for newborn and maternity pics and will get dvds of all the images with printing rights. A select few of the prints will be edited...I think 5 from each session. From looking at several photogs in our area (Dallas) I think we got a pretty good deal. I didn't want to have to pay a ridiculous amount for prints that some photogs like to charge. I also like having the dvd of all the pics because I'll probably make a book or something on shutterfly.

Just out of curiosity who are you using? I'm in the Dallas area and am looking for a photog right now.

smilelari · June 2011

You just have to shop around. Prices can vary wildly. So, you figure out what prices various photographers are charing, figure out what you can afford and go from there. We have 2 different photographers we use regularly. One charges a $125 sitting fee (waved because she is a friend) and the digital proofs are $600 per session. The other also charges a $125 sitting fee and that includes the digital proofs. Obviously option #2 is much cheaper, but her photos also aren't as good. But, it's better than JC Penney and not that much more expensive so for the less important/just for fun kind of stuff we use the cheaper one.

LesRN · June 2011

jjmac:

LesRN:
We are paying about $600 for newborn and maternity pics and will get dvds of all the images with printing rights. A select few of the prints will be edited...I think 5 from each session. From looking at several photogs in our area (Dallas) I think we got a pretty good deal. I didn't want to have to pay a ridiculous amount for prints that some photogs like to charge. I also like having the dvd of all the pics because I'll probably make a book or something on shutterfly.

Just out of curiosity who are you using? I'm in the Dallas area and am looking for a photog right now.

https://www.heathercking.com/

i think her newborn pics are adorable. i'm not a fan of all the boudoir style maternity pics that she has on the website, mainly because i don't want to show that much skin, so we agreed to do an outdoor shoot somewhere for those. shes been super easy to work with so far!

littleshopofyorkies · June 2011

Thanks ladies!

Purple thanks so much for the rec! I will be emailing him tonight!

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