Maybe you already are a photographer. Maybe you’re a hobbiest photographer who really only wants a little spending money or perhaps you’ve been in business several years now and are trying to put food on the table and support a family. Regardless of your status, I’d highly recommend reading Jodie Otte’s latest article — “How should I price my photography?” — as a guest author on the MCP Actions blog. In two words: It’s brilliant. It lays it out there like few others I’ve read and is eye-opening in so many ways.  I’ve been meaning to get out here to post this link for a few days now — I can’t underscore enough how valuable I think Jodie’s experience and advice is.

Happy Wednesday! I’m getting ready to post new peeks from several fabulous sessions between now and Sunday. In the meantime, enjoy one of the best articles I’ve ever seen written about photography as a business. I get asked about pricing a lot from other photographers and hobbyists wanting to get into the photography business. On the flip-side, it’s often hard to explain all that goes into photography as a business. While everyone eventually does what works best for them, this article does an incredible job of explaining the time, resources, etc. that go into a photography business and how that is reflected in the prices a photographer chooses to present:

Why Does Custom Photography Cost So Much?

by Marianne Drenthe at www.professionalchildphotographer.com

The digital revolution has brought amazing flexibility and ability to control various factors during the image taking and making process.  Photographers, the hobbyist, the professional, the amateur all benefit from this ability to manipulate pixels.  However, with flexibility comes a price.  Digital camera equipment is still considerably more expensive when you factor in its’ lifespan, the need for additional resources for processing those images, the time it takes to get a usable image and the effort that goes into creating a work of photographic art.

We all know that you can go to the local Walgreen’s and pay a $1.99 for a print – as a client you may wonder why you may pay upwards of $50, $70, $90 for a custom photography print.   Photographers hear this statement every once in awhile:

“How in the world can you charge $60 for an 8×10 if it costs me less than $2 to print at x store?”

The truth of the matter is the answer to this question is multifaceted.  Much of the cost of a photographic print produced by a professional photographer has a lot to do with the time,  equipment costs, artistic vision and reputation of the photographer not to mention expertise and the usual costs of running a legitimate business.  Read the rest of this article …