I was wondering how much to charge for photography. I Am 13 and I currently shoot on a canon t5 with manual settings. My current lenses are the one it comes with, a macro attachment, a 75-300mm lens, some uv filters, and a cpl filter. I was also wondering if I should charge by the hour or by photo.
Build up your portfolio first.
I was wondering how much to charge for photography
People don’t pay for “photography.” People pay for product photography, people pay for portraits, people pay for digital restoration of an old photo, people pay for retouching of beauty shots, people play for photography of a baseball game. Each market might be different.
I currently shoot on a canon t5 with manual settings
Forgetting your age entirely. This is a tell-tale statement that usually reads to me that why you are making an effort to learn, you have very limited experience as you’re putting emphasis on the wrong priorities.
I’d negotiate with each client on the needs. Maybe you made some money that can help you buy a new filter or put some money towards a new lens. But at the same time you may find some jobs that give you more experience to learn or opportunities to expand your portfolio may be worth taking a job that pays less.
Charging by the hour may be problematic at your point as you’re still learning. The first time you do a job you haven’t done before you might spend 5-10 hours retouching cause you’re spending time figuring stuff out. By the 10th time you’ve done it, you might be down to 1-2 hours. So if you do charge by the hour, try not to charge for time spend figuring things out. For this reason, charging for number of final deliverable files might be simpler. I don’t know if you want to spend a ton of time calculating hours worked initially (later you may move to that). And again, you can negotiate with each client and set a rate for each as needed.
To me it’s not so much the age itself but lack of experience and concentrating on the wrong aspects. OP told us about the gear, asked about pricing, but nothing about what type of photography they’re doing, how long they’ve been shooting, how skillful and confident they are in editing. You know the important stuff…
Ignore anyone telling you you’re too young or should be working for free. Example: Kamia started a handmade soap business at the age of 11. She’s now 15 and has three brick-and-mortar stores in addition to her online business.
I do recommend beginners of any age in any field seek out a mentor if possible. I’m guessing the best strategy is to start with modest pricing, and review and raise them every year (or whenever you get too busy). Only “work for free” as a donation to a valid non-profit, track your time, get a receipt for your donated services.
A lot of people are being realistic here, but don’t take that to mean you shouldn’t try. At this point the most valuable thing you can do is learn is that failure can be a good thing. Understanding what doesn’t work is just as valuable as understanding what does, and making mistakes with the intention of learning from them is the best way to get that understanding.