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Photography Pricing Breakdown

What You're Really Paying For in a Photography Session; Understanding the Cost of Quality Photography.

Introduction

Or... why a "simple shoot" isn't all that simple.

When you book a photographer, you're not just paying for a few clicks and pretty pictures. You're investing in everything that happens before, during and after the shoot — from gear that costs thousands to the time, creativity and behind-the-scenes hustle that brings your vision to life.

This page pulls back the curtain to show you exactly where your money goes. If you value quality, professionalism and someone who genuinely gives a damn — read on.

What You're Really Paying For

Start-Up and Maintenance

  1. Photography equipment and accessories
    These are equipment such as cameras, lenses, lens filters, screen protectors, memory cards, speedlites, reflectors, colour gels, tripod stands, speedlite stands, umbrellas, cables, batteries, battery chargers, camera bags... etc. The camera bodies and lenses cost thousands each. Every piece of equipment will be worn out or damaged over time. Every camera body has a lifespan in terms of shutter count, which means every click is actually taking away a portion of its life.
  2. Computer hardware and software
    These are things such as computers, external hard disks, editing software... etc. The photographer needs these to edit and back up your photographs. Better computers will help photographers to speed up their work so that they can deliver their photographs to you earlier.
  3. Website and server
    Owning a website is essential for businesses nowadays. There is a one-time cost for building up the website and then subsequently, maintenance cost for updates. Besides having to design the website, which can be outsourced at a cost, the photographer needs to produce the content, such as copywriting, including the service agreement. The domain name and web space (server) both require money. The web space can also be used to store photographs for clients to retrieve.
  4. Marketing
    Marketing can be done both online and offline. It includes posting photographs on social media websites. Online marketing requires a gigantic amount of time and effort. Without doing these, you are likely unable to get to know the photographer and his portfolio.
  5. Rental
    Big photography companies may own an office or even a studio, which requires a rental fee. Depending on the scale of the photography company and the requirements of the shoot itself, there may be fees for the rental of offices or studios.
  6. Electricity bills
    Whether the working area for post-production work is inside an office or home-based, electricity bills will be incurred. It includes running the computer and recharging batteries for all the equipment (camera and lighting).

Communication and Preparation

  1. Understanding your full requirements
    This can be more time-consuming than you think but it is one of the most important processes. The worst but unfortunately, quite common thing is when the client is unsure of what he wants. Without fully understanding the requirements, miscommunication will arise and the results may not be what the client wants no matter how beautiful the photographs are. Therefore, photographers may do causal chit-chat with you to find out more.
  2. Consultation
    You may have an idea but sometimes, it is not going to work or will likely produce less pleasing results. For example, you want to have your shoot in a beautiful garden near noon time, bad shadows will appear on your face inside the photographs. You may also be looking for a detailed skin touch-up for an event shoot, which is almost impossible for the gigantic number of photographs. The photographer will share his knowledge and experience to eliminate as many problems as possible. It requires both time and knowledge.
  3. Suggestions and ideas
    Based on the photographer's knowledge and experience, he is likely to be able to give you satisfactory suggestions and ideas. Some photographers are known for their creativity and their unique ideas are not something any money can buy - you probably cannot get the same idea from another photographer.
  4. Physical or electronic paperwork (eg. quotation, invoice, contract)
    This is a big hassle, especially for many freelance photographers because what they are interested in is doing photography and not administrative work. Every shoot is unique and thus requires time and effort to prepare the paperwork. There may be software available to speed these processes up but eventually will require additional costs. You may be charged extra if you were to require these, although many photographers have already factored them into the photography rates.

Actual Photoshoot

  1. Assistant(s)
    Assistants are actually very much needed for every shoot. They will help to preserve energy for the photographers. They help to share the load while travelling and ensure that the photographer is free to move around during the actual shoot. Lastly, they need to secure the external lighting (umbrella and stand) from being blown down and damaged by the wind. They will help to speed up the shoot.
  2. Transportation cost
    If the distance is far or the location is not easily accessible, the cost may be higher. Photographers may drive or take a cab to avoid wearing themselves out before the actual shoot. If the shoot requires more equipment, it is inevitable that a cab is needed. Moreover, many events start at peak hours.
  3. Travelling to and from the location
    It takes time and effort to travel with very heavy and bulky equipment.
  4. Time from arrival to the start of the shoot
    Photographers usually arrive earlier for their shoots. Singapore is a high population-density city country. It is not surprising to face traffic jams on the roads or train breakdowns. Therefore, photographers will usually keep a buffered time for travelling. Besides, some venues may not be well located even with the use of GPS and thus may need more time to find. Eventually, there are many chances that the photographers will reach much earlier.
  5. Time taken for the actual shoot
    This is pretty straightforward although most clients mistake this as the "only thing" they are paying for and thus they will assume photography should be much cheaper.
  6. Creativity value and skill of the photographer
    This is the reason for you to engage the photographer after all. Trusting in his value and skill is crucial for him to find creative ways to take photos, including the angles and settings he thinks are best for every photograph.
  7. Labour
    The most basic camera equipment for an event shoot like Canon 6D (lightest full-frame camera), Canon 24-70mm F2.8L II (sharpest and most versatile lens), Canon 600 EX-RT (powerful and user-friendly flash) together with other flash diffusers and lens filter weighs around 2kg in total. Imagine yourself holding them for hours. This is also the reason why some photographers injure their hands. Professional photographers are likely to carry extra gear and accessories with them for emergency purposes. Everything will easily weigh over 10kg in total. For portrait and other shoots that require lighting setup, the total weight of the equipment can go beyond 20kg.
  8. Effort
    Photographers snap photographs at their own time and rate. Some experienced photographers may only aim for the important moments while some will enthusiastically go for every moment (photojournalistic). If you need someone like the latter, you may need to compensate him more for his effort; that is the reason why some experienced photographers are charging lower rates.

Post-Production

  1. Backing up raw photographs
    The first thing a professional photographer does is to back up the raw photographs immediately. No matter how unlikely it is for the memory card and computer to be damaged or corrupted somehow by themselves, professional photographers never want to take the chance. Therefore, he will rather spend the time and effort to do the transferring of raw photographs to the computer and external hard disk. Some "hardcore" photographers will even transfer them to two external hard disks.
  2. Post-production
    Post-production (or post-processing) is the process that will take much, a much longer time than the actual shoot. It involves filtering of the photographs to remove unglamorous and similar ones, which is not as simple as you think. Basic editing will require adjusting of the brightness, colour and cropping to fit the frame better. It will also require taking breaks during the process in order to produce better work. If advanced editing is needed (such as to remove flaws on the skin), it may take a few hours for each photograph.
  3. Detailed post-production
    To speed up the process, a photographer can choose to dish away unflattering photographs immediately. However, sometimes he may be able to add some magical touch to some of the "rejected photos", for example, by cropping or rotating them. The efficiency of editing would drop after going through a number of photos and thus some very hardworking photographers would go through the entire album a few times over a few days' time. If a photographer were to spend more time and effort, he will definitely need to quote a higher rate, while a photographer who is less detailed can simply quote you a much lower rate.

Miscellaneous Costs

  1. Peak periods
    There are periods of the year when there are higher demands for photographers. Photographers may therefore quote higher prices in order to better sustain their services.
  2. Early or late shoot
    If you need the photographer to wake up early or go to bed late, you probably have to increase your budget a little in order to compensate for the health hassle, effort and extra transportation fee, e.g. midnight surcharge for cabs.
  3. Privacy of photographs
    Every single photoshoot is important to a photographer for him to build up his portfolio or even enter competitions. These will attract future clients. If you prefer to keep your photographs private, you will have to pay more.
  4. Rush work / Express delivery of photographs
    Photographers may have a very inconsistent number of projects. There may be more job offers for a month and fewer jobs for the next month. Since every album will require a lot of time to work on, promising clients earlier delivery of photographs means the photographer has to reject other jobs in this period and thus the client has to pay more compensation for this.

Final Thoughts

In a Nutshell... You're paying for:

Photography may start with a click — but it's everything else around it that makes the final image powerful, personal, and worth every cent.

Interesting read:
This photograph is not free - it cost the photographer $6,612 to take it.



You may be interested in:
- Professional photographers' rates in Singapore
- Photography editing time explained
- Why can't professional photographers take up cheap jobs
- Disadvantages of being a freelance photographer
- How to judge a photographer



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Updated: Mon, 23 June 2025

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