There’s no way around it: getting your pricing right in photography is the difference between thriving and failing. The problem is that it’s incredibly hard to know how much to ask for. Ask too much and you’ll lose a potential source of income. Charge too little and you certainly will, as you do work for somebody for less than they are willing to pay.

To help you out of that pit, here are some of the reasons that you might be undercharging as well as what to watch out for to know what clients are worth your time and which ones are not.

Impostor Syndrome

The impostor syndrome is the phenomenon whereby deep down many people who work as creatives feel like frauds. There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, you may hold yourself to standards that are too high. Another common phenomenon is that as you’d spent so much time focused on your own work, eyes glazed over and you only see what’s not perfect, being blind to all what was done well. This is also known as the Dunning Kruger effect, whereby professionals cannot see their expertise and therefore undervalue their skills.

Whatever reason might be true for you, if you do not value your own work enough, well then how are you ever going to be able to find the right clients? After all, though clients might love what you do, they’re also interested in paying as little as possible. Basically, it is always in their interest to not fully recognize the value of your work.

Consider getting an idea of what work is worth from other photographers and art lovers who are not in the same niche with you. You won’t have the conflict of interest and therefore are likely to get an honest opinion regarding your progress. So listen to them – both in terms of the negative as well as in terms of the positive.

Of course, remember that the people you look up to are also only humans. That means that whatever they say has to be taken with a grain of salt. They might give an unsatisfying comment simply because they don’t enjoy the kind of style you use. My rule of thumb is to only start worrying about negative feedback if it continues coming from several different sources who don’t know each other well.

Got that? Good. Now onto the landscape of photography (if you’ll excuse the pun).

The Digital Revolution Has Changed Photography

Now that everybody has a camera in their pocket, photography has moved from something moderately exclusive into the realm of everyman. The result is that people tend to undervalue photography and believe that getting the perfect shot isn’t that hard. Heck, they often don’t even recognize it when they see it!

Fortunately, though this roiled the landscape of photography, the declared death of the profession was premature. There are several reasons for this.

1. Photography is a visual experience and as we’re visual creatures, we can often intuitively understand why certain images are better than others, even if we can’t explain it (the ‘I don’t know much about art but I know what I like’ idea).
2. Because so many people are busy with photography, the average citizen has gotten a better understanding. This means that more of the people out there appreciate the artistic form.

Consequently, most people understand they can’t take that picture better than a professional photographer can. Incidentally, that might also explain the selfie revolution. Amateurs are adding the only thing that is unique to them to their pictures – their own faces.

You as a photographer can add so much more. You understand color, composition, how to catch different elements and nuances, and how to infuse soul in your photos. These things put your pictures a cut above the rest and thereby keep photographers in business – and often thriving.

Does Your Client Understand That?

You can often recognize if your client grasps this difference between an amateur and a professional by the way they speak. Do they recognize that a professional understands things and by extension can do things that an amateur does not?

If they don’t, then it is very unlikely indeed that you’ll be able to negotiate a fee that is adequate to the task at hand. Try to impress them with your expertise. Discuss lighting, positioning, proportionality and what can and can’t be achieved in post-production (This last part is vital as people often assume that anything can be done in post-production nowadays).

If your client still does not appreciate what you’re bringing to the table, then it might be time to let them go. Someone who doesn’t respect your work will always be about how much they’re paying.

Get in The Shoes of Your Clients

There are so many photographers out there. How can your client ever know which one is the right one for them? What should they look for? What are the most important things they should be paying attention to? These are much harder to understand in photography.

You already know the answer to these things. The problem is, because you do, it’s very hard to understand why they don’t. This is something known as the curse of knowledge, which is where can’t consider the world as it was before we knew something.

This is also why it is often so hard to appreciate that you can charge more for your services than you might think you can. This is because you’re not just offering clients your photography, but also your judgement, your understanding and your choices. Taking time to actually explain this to your client, find out how big the gap is between you and them, make your client aware of the entire package of services that you’re offering and last (but certainly not least) help them make the decisions that will best server their needs.

To help you in this regard, sit down with a bunch of people who understand nothing about photography and try to explain to them why they should care. The goal here is not to convince them. Instead, the goal is to listen to the questions they ask and to write those down. Because those are the same questions often going through the minds of your clients.

Once you’ve done this a few times, you’ll have a good idea of the big questions and so you can set out to answer them fully and completely (note that just like you bring photography to another level, professional writers can make your resume sound perfect, so consider checking the list of top writing services and finding somebody affordable).

You’re Selling a Service

In effect, we hire other people for two reasons: they can do things we cannot; or, by hiring them we save time and money.

To get the most out of your photography, you have to stress both those points. As a photographer you can do things they cannot. But that’s hardly all. You also make sure that they don’t have to learn the theory, or spend time and money making decisions that are better suited to you. Hiring you lets them focus on the things they know better, while getting a product of the best quality possible.

Keep going

If you’ve got the wrong types of clients who don’t really value what you can do it can be tough to make the change to some who do. They can be hard to find and you can often spend so much time making a pittance with the clients you got that you don’t have the time to find new ones who appreciate what you’re doing.

Keep going, though. These things often take time and though at times it might feel like you’re taking one step forward, two steps back, ultimately every single time you try to change things up will teach you things. Until finally you make the right connect, get the right client, and everything suddenly clicks into place.

Because every overnight success requires decades of building.