Your number
$1,400
Your rate card
- Day rate$1,300 per day
- Hourlyfor anything that does not fit a day$175 per hour
- A shoot, deliveredthe day plus the edit and the delivery$3,100 per project
What to charge for each thing (6)
- Headshots, one person$425 per session
- Half-day brand or product shoot$1,050 per half day
- Full-day brand shoot, edited and delivered$2,750 per day
- Event coverage$250 per hour
- Retouching beyond the basics$50 per image
- Usage for their ads, per year38% of the shoot fee
US rates for photographers at your level, adjusted for your market. What you last got wins.
For 8 hours at $175, the quote is $1,400.
To take home $85,000 after $9,000 of costs and 30% tax you need to bill $134,286 a year. At 24 billable hours a week for 47 weeks that is $125 an hour, $950 a day. Anything under that is a pay cut you did not agree to.
Photographers at your level day at about $1,300 ($600 to $2,000 in New York and LA). Your income math lands under that, so the market number is the one to quote; the gap is a raise you are owed.
A shoot, delivered runs $1,200 to $5,000 and takes about 14 hours of your time; at your hourly that is $2,450. The number is the higher of the two, because the client is buying the outcome, not the hours.