Portrait Photography Pricing - How Much Does Portrait Photography Really Cost?
Everyone has some experience with portrait photography. Don’t believe me? Well, if you’ve ever taken a selfie, you’ve technically taken a self-portrait. Or, if you’ve ever snapped photos of your friends and family at an event, you’ve taken group portraits. So, in essence, anyone with a phone equipped with a camera has some portrait photography experience. But certain occasions call for elevated portraits that only professional portrait photographers can capture. I’m talking about weddings, engagement photo shoots, family photos, professional headshots and personal branding photos. Sure, you could still technically capture some of these photos yourself using your iPhone. But certain events and milestones should be captured professionally and aesthetically to help preserve the moment (weddings and events), while competitive job markets necessitate photos that make you look professional and help you standout in the marketplace (headshots).
When you do decide to outsource portrait photography services, you may be surprised to find that portrait photography pricing can range vastly from photographer to photographer. You may also find that some portrait photographers don’t even list their prices on their website! In this article, I’ve provided some insight into how much portrait photography really costs, along with some of the factors to consider when booking a portrait photographer for your needs and budget.
Experience
Like most professions, a portrait photographer’s pricing will be directly related to both their experience level and portfolio. A more experienced portrait photographer will have a comprehensive and complete website and gallery, whereas an inexperienced portrait photographer may only have a few photos in their gallery or no portfolio at all.
With an inexperienced portrait photographer, you may be able to find portrait photography packages that cost a few hundred dollars. Now, just because a portrait photographer isn’t experienced doesn’t mean that their photos will be low quality. Some beginner or amateur portrait photographers are highly capable, but they just need to start somewhere and build up their portfolio. If you don’t need the absolute best portrait photos for your event or business, a more inexperienced photographer can be a great way to outsource portrait photography on a tighter budget.
If you do, however, require a professional portrait photographer that will help guide you through the process, use high quality equipment and deliver aesthetically pleasing, professionally edited photos, you will likely need to pay more money. A professional portrait photographer can offer portrait photography packages for $500 and up, or can work at an hourly rate of $150-$400 and beyond. If you work with a professional portrait photographer who has a portfolio that you admire, however, you will likely end up with portrait photos that you love for years to come.
Portrait Photography Niche
Portrait photography pricing can vary dramatically based on the type of portraits that you need. This is due to several factors: pre-production, travel time, time required to capture the photos and edit them, number of delivered images, image usage / licensing, etc.
For a simple photo session like a headshot photo, a photographer may only charge a few hundred dollars for their portrait photography services. This is because headshot photo sessions are typically fairly short, and the photographer only needs to professionally edit one photo.
For bigger jobs, like a wedding, portrait photographers can charge anywhere from from $1,000 all the way up to $10,000 and beyond. Why? Because wedding photographers often work with their clients leading up to the big day, snap photos for up to 8 hours and then professionally edit and deliver hundreds and hundreds of photos. Sounds like a lot of work compared to snapping one professional headshot, right?! And wedding photographers are also tasked with capturing one of the biggest days of your life, so there’s an added pressure to their work. Again, you will likely pay more for an experienced wedding photographer, as they will be able to provide more assurance that they will be able to capture every moment of your wedding perfectly.
The other thing to consider when looking into portrait photography pricing is the intended usage of your photos, along with the portrait photographer’s provided usage rights. When a photographer snaps a photo, they technically own the copyright to the image. As part of a photographer’s contract, they will typically license the photo for you to use in specific ways. For personal photos, such as wedding photos, engagement photos and family photos, a portrait photographer won’t typically add any licensing costs, as these photos are mainly just created for their clients’ memories. Because of this, portrait photographers in these niches can offer a large number of completed images in their packages.
For portrait photos aimed at helping someone build a business or sell a product / service, however, usage licensing can be quite expensive. This is because the client is using the portrait photographer’s copyrighted image to make money for themselves. Some portrait photographers charge an extra licensing fee on top of their photographer fee. This can range in price depending on the intended usage. A photo being used for a small business will have much lower licensing fees than a photo being used for a massive corporation. Some portrait photographers will also include licensing within their packages / photography pricing. Just know that, because of the intended usage of more commercial / branding-style portraits, you will likely receive less completed photos with a package, or the price per photo will be more than portraits for personal use.
Pricing Model
There are a few different ways that portrait photographers can charge for their services. The first is hourly. This simply means, like most service providers, the portrait photographer charges for the time that they spend working. Now, this may seem like the best option if you just need the photographer to come out for an hour, but, again, most professional photographers provide pre-production support and spend quite a bit of time editing photos, so that simple one hour photoshoot could turn into six hours really fast. And, with portrait photographer hourly rates ranging from $150-$400 and beyond, projects priced hourly can become costly fairly quickly.
One of the most popular portrait photography pricing models, especially for personal portrait photography sessions, is package pricing. This is where portrait photographers offer a set of deliverables, including a specific amount of hours and completed photos, for a set rate. Portrait photographers also typically offer a range of packages to help meet their clients’ budgets and photography needs. The great thing about portrait photography packages is that you know exactly how much you’ll be paying upfront, and exactly how many completed photos you’ll get. As an example, a standard portrait session for something like an engagement or couples photo shoot can cost anywhere from $500 to over $1,000, whereas a branding photo shoot for a business could cost thousands of dollars!
Lastly, some portrait photographers charge a session or creative fee for a set amount of time on set, and then allow their clients to purchase individual images after the photo shoot. This pricing structure is more common with personal branding and headshot photography, as the cost per photo tends to be a bit higher due to commercial usage licensing requirements. This means that the portrait photographers’ clients can purchase just the photos they like / need, and not waste any additional money on “nice to have” photos. Again, like most types of photography, the cost per image can range based on the photographer’s experience level and the amount of professional retouching required. Portrait photos with minimal edits can be sold for as little as $10 per photo, while photos with extensive retouching can cost $200 and more.
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking for engagement photos, wedding coverage, personal branding photos or a new headshot, a professional portrait photographer can help you create images that you’ll admire for years to come. Portrait photography pricing, however, can range based on a variety of factors. Typically, inexperienced portrait photographers will offer less expensive packages and hourly rates compared to more experienced portrait photographers. Though inexperienced photographers can create high quality images, experienced portrait photographers generally provide a more professional experience and higher quality final images. Portrait photography pricing also varies from niche to niche, as factors, such as photography time, editing time and usage / licensing, can affect the overall cost of a photographer’s services. Finally, portrait photographers typically utilize various pricing models when selling their services. Some may offer an hourly rate. However, I’d recommend going with a photographer who offers packages or a cost per image model, as this will ensure you are more aware of the overall cost from the start.
Toronto Portrait Photography
Are you looking for lifestyle photos, environmental portraits, personal branding portraits or professional headshots? I provide portrait photography sessions in Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, Hamilton, Toronto and beyond.