Photography & Videography Pricing & Rate Sheet

What a good one includes

• A clear Cost of Doing Business (CODB) breakdown that calculates your baseline hourly and daily survival rates based on your annual overhead.
• Tiered day rates and half-day rates for both shooting and pre/post-production time to ensure you are compensated for editing.
• A dedicated gear rental and depreciation fee schedule so you are not funding expensive camera bodies and lenses out of your own pocket.
• Three distinct, ready-to-use package templates designed to guide clients toward your mid-tier sweet spot using behavioral pricing psychology.
• A transparent licensing and usage rights structure that separates your creation fee from how the client intends to distribute the final media.
• Essential billing terms, including non-refundable retainer requirements, overtime policies, and turnaround timeframes.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Pricing based on what local competitors charge rather than calculating your own unique business overhead and personal financial needs.
• Failing to charge separate fees for image licensing and usage, which essentially gives away valuable commercial rights for free.
• Forgetting to budget for non-billable hours, leaving you unpaid for administrative tasks, client meetings, marketing, and equipment maintenance.
• Offering a single flat rate without defining the exact scope of work, leading to unpaid scope creep during the editing phase.

Frequently asked questions