My wife took our daughter to Picture People, a retail photography studio in malls, every month for the 1st year of her life (she turned 1 July 30th). I can tell you that your prices are fair compared to these people. My wife would spend $100 bucks easy and walk out with 5 or 6 sheets of prints (different sizes like 2 5X7 or something like that to a sheet)..

So I guess all I can say is that the prices you have on that website seem more than fair to me. I think you should be more specific about what your packages include though. Do your packages include your time spent at the event and post processing pictures or are those prices strictly for the prints?..

Do your packages include your.

Time spent at the event and post processing pictures or are thoseprices strictly for the prints?.

The packages I came up with include my time at the event and also processing the pictures. I have noticed that most photographers have a certain amount of hours they spend at an event, and the more hours, they more they charge, but that's just all too confusing for me. I just rather offer them to be there for the full event, starting with the bride preparation to the reception. But then again when I think about it, that is a lot of hours....maybe even more than 8 hours in some cases. I guess I wouldn't be really charging for my time huh?..

Right, you don't know how long an event will last. I mean, a wedding at 2pm in the afternoon could easily go until midnight or so if it includes a reception. Maybe your packages can include "up to" a certain amount of time. For example, for $400, your first package may include up to 6 hours of photography. And then a fee to stay later which will have to be paid in before any images are released...

If you are charging, then you aren't an amateur and need to quit acting like one (no insult intended). Make sure you talk to an accountant soon to get you set up for the book keeping (trust me on this one, Uncle Sam will be watching) and make sure you get a Sales tax license if needed in your area..

You probably need to look into liability insurance also. The courts don't cut any slack for "But, I"m just an amateur" if you are charging for the shoot..

Along those same lines, if you are going to be doing weddings, you need a spare of EVERYTHING. "Oops, I'm sorry, my camera isn't working doesn't cut it if you are taking money from them..

When all is said and done, for the prices you are charging, you are being very charitable.Good luck with it all..

DIPics.

Angiem80 wrote:.

Hello,.

I am not a professional photographer, but I enjoy photography a lot.It's my hobby. I've been practicing a lot of my photography atfriends' weddings, baby showers, graduations, etc. I have friends ofmine asking me for pictures that I've taken of them and a lot of themlike my pictures a lot. My favorite though is taking weddingpictures and I'm more geared towards a photojournalistic style.I'm practicing as much as I can, and really like for people,especially photographers to critique my work so that I know where Ican improve. That's my only way to improve..

I've had friends of mine come up and ask me for prices. Forinstance, there's a friend that is celebrating their 25th anniversarythis saturday and asked me to be the photographer for the day, but Ididn't know how much to charge them and said I'd do it as a gift.I'm going to put the pictures on a DVD slideshow for them and if theywant prints, then they will pay for it..

I came up with a three photo packages, but don't know if I'm chargingtoo much being that I'm an amateur..

What do you base yourself on to charge a certain amount of money?I'm having a hard time with this because I don't want to charge anextreme amount of money since I don't have the formal education forphotography, but I don't want to sell myself short either..

Can anybody please give me any suggestions...greatly appreciate it!.

Here's my website and some of the prices I came up with...feel freeto give me input.....

Http://www.virnezphotography.com/page/page/4675304.htm.

Thank you!.

Angie..

I don't know where you are, and who you are marketing to but prices vary with region, socio-economic class, etc..

Look at what others in your area charge. You might place yourself in the 50-75th percentile to start out..

I would concur that you will need to make sure you have insurance, you can lose a lot more than you'll make in a day. Depending on what you shoot, you might consider renting a backup camera. If it is a late model Canon/Nikon you should be able to find something at a local camera shop for a reasonable fee..

And BUY EXTRA BATTERIES AND MEMORY... the achilles heel of modern photography..

Best of luck!..