How Much do Commercial Photographers Charge?
In the first part of ‘How to Hire a Commercial Photographer‘, we covered some of the enquiries you make of a commercial photographer concerning their past work and determining whether they’re capable and suitable for the photography job you’re planning. We mentioned that photography price and photographer availability aren’t the primary factors you should consider when assessing photographers, but it IS a factor you will need to cover at some point.
Photography Price Structure and Licensing
While price shouldn’t be the determining factor for choosing a commercial photographer, you’ll likely have a budget and approaching a photographer whose work is well outside your budget is a fruitless exercise – no matter how good they are you won’t be able to afford them. Be upfront about your project budget, more budget gives more options, but experienced photographers are accustomed to tailoring their work to match budget constraints where possible.
When discussing a photography job or asking for a quote, you should expect to see a full breakdown of anticipated charges, from the photography itself, the post-production work and any associated charges related to the shoot from planning, through to delivery of finished images. This should give you a guide to the work involved and give you a reasonable yardstick by which to compare and contrast prospective photographers.
Understanding the way photographers apply their fees is something you should be clear on, as not all charge in the same way. It’s also very important to consider that for photography work, the imagery produced always belongs to the creator, don’t assume that because you’re hiring a photographer, the images produced are yours to do with as you will.
Be upfront about what your intended use is and expect a scale of charges. Some photographers may well allow unlimited use after handover, others may charge based on where their work is likely to be seen, image resolution, or how often it will be reproduced. They may specify a time period or a number of other factors as part of the licensing arrangement. If you’ve engaged the photographer for work for a specific purpose, then don’t assume it’s ok to use that work elsewhere outside the license agreed, so you may want to ask about costs for extending or adding to the licence in case you want to make use of the pictures elsewhere in future.
How does Ikon Photography Price Up Jobs?
With each photography job being unique, it can be hard to provide an indication of price without knowing your requirements, however, as mentioned above, photography should be an investment not an expense, you should expect a return on that investment in terms of increased brand visibility and exposure, something we pride ourselves on delivering. Please feel free to contact us to discuss your needs.
In part 3 of How to Hire a Commercial Photographer, we’ll discuss the importance of experience and how it affects the level of supervision your photographer will need during the photoshoot.
