I want to hire an automotive photographer, what does it cost!?
It’s always the number one question I hear. How much does it cost? Well, let’s shed some light on this topic. How a photographer prices their services can be different for each one not just in dollars but also how they determine those dollars. Let’s look at an example.
Some common pricing structures include the following;
Price per photo shot
Price per photo edited
Hourly Rate
Fixed Session Price
Pricing based on usage (aka Licensing)
Or a combo of the above
Please keep in mind if you ask a photographer how much would it cost to have them shoot photos of your vehicle. The answer will often be “it depends”. The reason behind this is more information is required. I need to know the scope of the work you are asking for first before I can quote a price. There is a big difference between 5 photos shot locally in a parking garage for personal use and 30 photos shot between 3 different cities during mid day, sunset, and after dark for personal use. The amount of work in those two scenarios is vastly different and that determines pricing.
Skill level also plays a large role in pricing, someone who is just starting out is not going to charge the same as a veteran shooter with a mountain of experience so when shopping for a photographer their quality of work is equally important to review as is their price.
Now that we’ve discussed a little about how pricing is determined let’s dive into the numbers.
In scenario number one the shoot with 5 photos including editing, pricing is going to vary but a beginner or early career photographer say 0-3 years shooting on average may charge somewhere between $40-200 for that where a mid career photographer with 3-6 years of experience may charge around $200-400 for that same photoshoot. A seasoned professional of 7+ years really has no upper limit to pricing. A shoot like that could be $500 or $5000 which sounds like an absurd range but it depends on the level of work being done. If those 5 shots involve a lot of composite and retouching work the price for that is high. A ten minute basic edit versus 12 hours of retouching to perfect everything in the photo is where you are going to see that huge range in price really come into play. Ultimately how much work is done and the final price for those images really relies on the communication with the client and determining what level of work they are looking for.
In scenario two that would be an all day shoot meaning I am setting the expectation of having 8-10 hours of production time. You factor that into your rate. If you’re still early into photography and lets say you charge $50/hr well a 10 hour day would be $500. Let’s say you’ve got some solid experience under your belt and you’ve been shooting for 5 years. A full day of work for me would be $1000-1500. If you are a veteran of the game then those rates as mentioned before have no real upper limit but as an average $3000-5000 for the day of work would be within reason.
Please note, all of these prices are as a solo shooter. If you are hiring an assistant or models, or production crew those prices need to be factored into your rates as well. We won’t get into those numbers here but we may cover that info in a future blog.
Again these are rough estimates of price not only based on my own pricing but also based on what I have seen and heard from other photographers in the West Michigan area.
Thanks for tuning in!