What does a photographer cost? One of the questions at the forefront of many peoples minds when they feel their brand needs to engage the services of a professional.

How much does a photographer cost was a blog I started writing back in 2020 before the world got hit by COVID!  I started 2020 with a plan to create more content that small to medium businesses would find of value.  Through this content I hoped to build trust and hopefully a wider client base.  All was going well then along came the pandemic! With all the financial issues businesses have faced over the last 12 months this question is now more relevant than ever.  Where you choose to spend precious funds to get the greatest benefit will be at the forefront of many business owners minds.

Throughout my career I have been in many roles as a marketing manager/business owner and now freelance photographer and video creator responsible  for a wide range of marketing budgets, so I fully understand the need to keep marketing spend within a set budget.  I understand why a business owner might question the cost of a photographer, particularly in the current climate, and whether the added expense is worth it, with phones now able to ‘take’ (I will return to this phrase later) such good images.

2020 will have a lasting impact on all of us and certainly on our businesses and I am sure we have all had time to reflect.  I was going to put this blog on hold and work on it for a future post but I felt the message was key to much of the content I have planned for 2021 and will hopefully be a reference tool for future blogs.

For the purposes of this article I will keep the discussion to purely photography although like myself, many photographers are now expected to be multifunctional and offer video service too!  The points raised covering kit, editing, planning, etc. also apply to video but in a much more complex way! Watch this space for a more in-depth look at this in future posts.

What do you need your images for?  What is your Vision?

The first thing I do when I take on a new client is look at their ‘brand vision’, by looking at their website and social media ‘what the business is’ and ‘what the business is not’.  I look at the back story, business purpose and the core values.  I then try to visualise the customer demographic.  This might all sound in depth to just do a photoshoot but this is the kind of preparation I undertake before our first consultation.  I then question the client (you) to answer all these questions and see if they align.  If as a business owner you don’t know the answer to these questions then I suggest this is the first step you need to take in improving your business brand imagery.  If you don’t have a brand vision with a clear focus on what you are hoping to gain from the services of a professional photographer you will not get any real value or return on investment.

Do I need a photographer when I can use my phone to ‘take’ pictures?

In this modern age we live in, we all have cameras with us 24 hours a day 7 days a week in the form of our phones.  I see some excellent quality results from the simple phone that have helped to build successful businesses. If you have a creative eye and the images are to be used on social media and on your website then you can certainly be your own photographer.  Understanding how light works and a few simple editing tools and you will be all set!  The main point I try to get across to anyone is that your brand imagery has to be consistent across all your customer touch points.  This needs to link to the business vision.  Quality photography only adds value when mixed with a marketing plan that aligns to your brand visions and goals.

Equipment is also very cost effective today with a multitude of excellent entry level options so any brands wanting to do their own in house photography could invest in camera gear to get the images.  The point to watch with this is you can become so wrapped up in learning how to use the equipment and have a constant desire to keep investing in the next bit of kit that you loose focus on driving your business forward and doing the thing you are best at.

Are all photographers the same?

The simple answer is no!  Many photographers offer quite niche skills and normally deep dive into a style of photography and become specialists in that field.  This is not to say that a great wedding photographer could not get some great images for a corporate event or some headshots for your website.  The skills for wedding photography and these corporate shoots are very similar.  The one word of warning I would stress is be wary of any photographer who offers to cover all disciplines, if their website covers weddings, product shots, architecture, portraits, etc., etc. then they are either new in the game or they are masters of none!

The best advice is to do your research, if you like the look of the imagery on their website and social media.  If you think this style of imagery might work with your brand then reach out to them to discuss options further.

No I don’t want to do it myself, I need a photographer!

So assuming you have considered all of the above and a photographer is still the right solution for your business the big decision is which one!  Then when you find the right one how much will this be and are they worth the money?

It is hard to write this blog without a little bit of emotion being involved.  This is purely due to the fact when quoting for work it is hard to get over the value the right photographer can offer to a brand and business, especially brands who are not familiar with outsourcing professional services.  All too often I have faced the questioning of a quote from a cost perspective rather than a value perspective. Let me repeat that as a business you need to see what value a photographer can add rather than see the exercise purely as a cost!

What is your day rate?   

I rarely quote work on a day rate, I much prefer to quote on a project basis.  The reality is as the client you will only see me for the hours I am actually doing the shoot.  Outside of this I spend time researching your brand, researching the competition, looking at comparable image ideas, location searching, weather watching, preparing kit for the shoot, sourcing props, dumping images to hard drives, backing up data, editing, sending over first proofs, supplying final drafts all of which takes up a huge amount of time over and above the shoot hours.  Then you have to consider is this a location shoot or a studio project, the hire of studio space, lighting, sourcing of props, will assistants be required, the list goes on!
A common mistake I see many people quantify is when faced with a day rate they mentally multiply this by 5 to get a weekly rate then times it by 52 to get an annual salary.  I wish! The reality is by the time we have done our own marketing, sales, accounts, training in both equipment and keeping up to date with all the new platforms, software, etc., bank holidays and we do actually have a few days off in a year! Add to this our overheads in replacing equipment and keeping our kit up to date, insurances, accountants fees, etc. This time and direct overhead cost all have to be funded from our day rate!  The question you as a business then have to ask is do you want to hire someone who can command a higher salary due to experience and quality of kit they use or someone just starting out?

Hiring the kit!

Another way to look at whether a photographers day rate is offering value is to look at what it would cost if you hired the professional kit to do the job yourself, this does not account for the skill to use the equipment that is developed over many years. 

I am always amazed at the amount and value of kit I often drag along to a photo shoot to cover all eventualities.  For the purposes of this blog I looked to see what it would cost per day to hire this kit out for a days shoot.  The kit I costed was for 2 camera bodies (I always carry two in case one fails when all the shoot is set up), four lenses of various focal lengths (in reality I always take more), add to this tripods, memory cards, filters, spare batteries, and you are looking at a cost in excess of £400 - £450 plus VAT + insurance waver (source Wex Photo & Video) per day.  This does not include reflectors, lights, flash guns all of which might be essential kit to have to hand.

In addition to this add the hire of a computer, and software to edit the images and you can start to see the equipment cost alone is well in excess £700 - £800 plus VAT + insurance per day.  Take this into consideration when you get your next quotation for some photography work.

Image library 

Another way to think about the value of bespoke images that are unique to your brand is to see what a professional image library might charge for rights managed images.  I did a quick search on Getty, who are one of the leading professional image libraries to see what the cost would be for a business to buy in the stock.  They offer a 5 image solution priced at £1250 for a medium resolution image pack.  If you needed higher resolution the price goes up to £1700.  Remember this is just for stock images not images of you, your team, your business or product.

So what does a Photographer cost?

Without wanting to be like a politician and avoid the question the reality is that this is a very tough question to answer!  There are many variables, each job has a different requirement, both in terms of equipment, skill and time.

The big take outs are that you need to understand what your vision is for your brand.  If you struggle to explain this in words do some research on Pinterest and share this with your photographer of choice. The key to getting great value from a photographer is in having a clear focus and goal.

What you need to find is a photographer who really understands your brand and audience.  If this aligns with his own personal work then they will produce far better results than someone just ‘taking a picture’. ‘Making a picture’ rather than ‘taking one’ is the real value you get from a photographer.

If you need help and advice on your brand imagery I am looking to offer this as a service, reach out to me and we can discuss your vision!