Your number
$1,200
Your rate card
- Day rate$1,175 per day
- Hourlyfor anything that does not fit a day$150 per hour
- A shoot, deliveredthe day plus the edit and the delivery$2,800 per project
What to charge for each thing (6)
- Headshots, one person$375 per session
- Half-day brand or product shoot$950 per half day
- Full-day brand shoot, edited and delivered$2,475 per day
- Event coverage$225 per hour
- Retouching beyond the basics$45 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 $150, the quote is $1,200.
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 in your market day at about $1,175 ($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 $2,100. The number is the higher of the two, because the client is buying the outcome, not the hours.