One enjoyable aspect of my professional photography career has been working with Alicia Caine, Montana children’s photographer and acute businesswoman. Her Easy as Pie Pricing Guide helps many to understand pricing portrait photography for profit.
And yet, there are always those who have an excuse to avoid purchasing the guide, or to avoid raising prices despite the fact that they’re working for pennies an hour.
In honor of Black Friday, I did some comparison shopping:
If your 8×10″ print costs less than $23, your work is cheaper than the 1-hour studio work of the Picture People.
If your canvas prices start at less than $149, Sears is a step above you in the pricing food chain.
Perhaps you’d like a 10×10″ print with a nasty Photoshop action applied for only $79.99…
Oh, and that 16×20″ print you’re scared to sell for $60? It’s $99.99 at the big S.
Think your collections are too expensive? The Picture People are offering groupings from $149 – $975. Yes, $975.
You’ll find Kiddie Kandids pricing similar to the others…about $20 per 8×10″ print. Same at Sadie’s.
Did you want your portrait to finished in black and white, or to include a vignette? That costs extra. $1.99 per click.
Oh, you need RETOUCHING? That requires a quote. And will add a few days’ time to your 1-hour portraits.
These chains are all based on volume to achieve profitability. Of course, even Wal-mart gave up on this volume mentality, closed 500 of its studios, and now sports PictureMe Portraits, which is run by CPI Corp, who also handles Sears’ studios.
There ya go. Let’s begin with all photographers everywhere charging at least $20 for prints size 8×10″ and under. Part II: When You Might Actually Make A Profit, a post full of pricing tips, will hit Tuesday.
If you’ve had sense knocked into you all of a sudden, hit up the Easy as Pie Portrait Pricing Guide and enter code ‘Camper30′ for $30 off!
LOVE IT!
Can't wait for the NEXT installment! 
Kudos! Finally, it needed to be said!
This is an awesome post. I get so tired of everything being about price. People who are happy with mall portraits are not my customers. Took me a while to figure that out, but it's true. My business model is very custom, very convenient for the customer (at their home, etc.), and I spend several hours from start to finish on a shoot and all the stuff that happens after. If they don't value the difference, then they can keep going to the mall.
I have Easy as Pie and what I like about it is that it has given me a plan and it makes total sense. Very easy to read and work through. I highly recommend it.
I hate to break it to you, but the print model is dead. You should charge for your time and make your money from the time you spend with the photography and post processing. Even if you do sell prints, you're not comparing apple to apples because even though you may be cheaper than Sears in one print, chances are you more than made up for it in your complete package….many of which costs over a thousand dollars. I seriously doubt the average family ever spends anything more than a $100 at Sears.
So yeah, it's not as easy as just raising your print fees. Each person's business plan is unique.
Ah yes, but it starts with valuing your time and talent.
Sometimes that's as simple as being able to stop saying, "People will never pay that" or "I live in a poor town" or "Why would they choose me when they could go to Sears?"
We're at that basic of a level, lovely. The 'I am worth it, so now I can begin to build a profitable business' place.
The print model v. the digital negative model v. the boutique model — that's for later.
Can't wait to read a post about the 3 different models. Nothing wrong with catering to a niche market who does value prints and wants nice, large, framed wall portraits delivered in person to their door. Or they can buy digital files and there's a price for that, too, in Easy as Pie.
Thanks for the comparisons! I always wondered how much the chains were really charging beyond ‘introductory package’. Love the article and love Easy as Pie. I worked half as much this year and made the same amount of money because of Easy as Pie. On to ‘busier and bigger’ next year!
3 cheers for alicia kane. she's a good egg!
That Guy,
NONE of my clients want digital files. They all want prints. I offer digitals but nobody buys them. Maybe I have old-fashioned clients.