Level 5 photography
Professional Studies
Week 10
Pricing and costing

How do photographers make their money?

How your work or time is valued, and the costing and pricing strategies used, will depend on the art form you operate within as well as its location and audience

The value of your work is influenced by a number of factors:

- quality and distinctiveness

-reputation and experience

- geographic location

-competition

- price

Before you can sell you need to understand

- Is the price you’re selling at profitable?

-How can you be sure of this?

What individual costs are involved?

-OVERHEADS - costs general to the business

- DIRECT COSTS – specific to a piece of work

Who pays for all this?

-Where costs and value/income are equal

- Anything you make above you break even point can be used to pay you a salary and to reinvest in the future of your business

How much do you need to charge to pay your costs and to make the profit you desire?

Ask yourself: 

How much do you want to earn? 

How many days will you work? 

48 weeks/year 4 days per week (1 day for admin and marketing unpaid) = 192 earning days/year

Add your overheads to your desired profit (your ‘salary’ from the business) and divide by the number of days to establish a day rate

Example

 £10,000 overheads + £30,000 profit = £40,000 divided by 192 days earning days/year = daily charge rate of £208/day

If you are making a loss you need to consider:

- Presenting your work in a different context Making savings in time or resources Subsidising the work through profitable activity

USEFUL WEBSITES 

a-n The Artist’s Fees Toolkit 

NUJ Freelance Fees Guide

1. Sample rates exclude artist’s expenses for a specific project and VAT as relevant.

2. Day rates are based on 177 paid days work for the artist a year. If artist is likely to

gain fewer days work, the day rate can increase accordingly.

3. For 10+ years experience, the rate to charge depends on external factors including an

artist’s art world track-record and/or unique attributes and market forces. See The

Artists Fees Toolkit for artists’ overheads headings and use the in-built calculator to

add them up and arrive at a personalised rate

4. Rates assume suitable professional conduct by the artist. See Code of Practice for the

Visual Arts and other good practice documents for artists and employers

5. a-n Artist + AIR and Arts Organiser members are automatically notified when these

sample rates are increased, against comparator professions. To become a member go