What price to charge for photography and prints is a common question for people trying to establish themselves as professional photographers and get paid. On the customer side, customers think you should be glad to have twenty bucks since their "talented" cousin who loves to photograph is happy to get that for his/her snap shots (never mind their mediocre quality). Professional Child Photographer Marianne Drenthe has a post on her site explaining why great custom photography costs more.
In explaining why professional photographers charge $40 or more for an 8x10 when Wal Mart charges less than $5 to print one, Marianne seeks to educate customers on 4 points:
- The amount of time put in by the photographer
- The costs involved in shooting professional photography
- Apples to oranges [in the quality and service being offered]
- The worth of the photographer's reputation and expertise
The context for the explanations is the portrait market for child photography; however, her points can be extrapolated to other markets.
