I would love to hear from you if you have more questions about the service.
Hourly Rate Explanation & Breakdown
When a photographer charges $250 for a one-hour session, they’re not charging $250 for one hour. At the very minimum, professional photographers typically spend at least five hours on a session.
While the client may only see the photographer for an hour or two, in reality it would be like:
Over two hours of communicating with client & planning the shoot + time traveling to the shoot + half an hour to prep and set up the equipment + the actual hour at the shoot + time traveling back + an hour to choose the best images + three hours minimum to edit the images + half an hour to load the images online.
Also, professional equipment is very costly, and photographers need to keep their equipment up to date to sustain the photo quality. Using myself as an example (based on the capital cost I threw in):
Canon 5D4:$3499 pretax
Canon 5D3: $3024 pretax
Canon 50-1.8 lens: $125 pretax
Canon 50-1.4 lens: $399 pretax
Canon 40-2.8 lens: $199 pretax
Canon 17-40 lens: $799 pretax
Canon 100-2.8 lens:$1299 pretax
Canon 24-105 lens:$1299 pretax
Canon Fisheye lens:$1249 pretax
One Light & Light stand: $462 pretax
And there are many other costs here and there… I also want to upgrade to the Canon R5 camera for better video quality and try the VR lens but don’t have the cash at this moment.
I didn’t increase my hourly rate for more than 5 years until now because I enjoy the shooting experience, and I want most people to be able to afford it. For me since i do it part-time, I could never really recover the cost (I unfortunately trashed a camera and two expensive lenses during past shoots already). But as long as people love the photos and the memories – it’s totally worth it.
How to prepare for your photoshoot?
Rest Well Before The Shoot
Rest rest rest! It is the most important thing to do. Don’t stay up late the day before, take a shower, sleep early, and have full energy ready for the next day. Relax, I don’t bite.
Prep Your Outfits In Advance
What you wear to a photoshoot is so important — please discuss your outfits with me beforehand! Pick the cloth that fits the environment of the shoot but won’t over complicate it.
Put thoughts into your outfits, and remember to stay comfortable 🙂
Find Inspiration Online
Personally, I don’t like to force poses on people, and prefer to instead capture natural moments with my camera. But it’s always great to find ideas and think about what type of pictures you want in advance – look at youtube, ins, pinterest, red, there are tons of resources and examples to help you with brainstorming.
Have Fun!!!
Arebise Photo 