One of the most important tasks for professional photographers is learning how to create profitable photography packages.
If you can’t make a profit, you can’t have a sustainable business.
I’ve been a professional photographer for over a decade and my income and profits have increased year over year.
Not only should your packages help you book more work but they should help you build more reliability and confidence in your business.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the basics of photography packages, how to set them up, and perhaps most importantly, how to price them for profit.
By the end, you’ll have the confidence to create photography packages that sell and complement your photography business.
What are Photography Packages?
First, let’s talk about what photography packages are.
A photography package contains some combination of products and services that you’re offering to your clients.
Photography packages allow the photographer to ensure that they’re booking profitable work, and they allow the client to ensure that they’re getting what they want from their photography.
Different photographers have different ways of setting up their photography packages, so there will be some variation in finding what works for you.
The key principle to remember is that you want to create photography packages that draw in the customer, lead them to book, and result in profitability for your business.
Let’s dive into those concepts a little further to understand why effective photo packages are so important.
Why Is Effective Photo Packaging So Important?
Effective photo packaging is important not only for getting clients but for building a sustainable business.
The first task that your photo packaging needs to perform is drawing in the customer.
Many customers will look at multiple photographers to determine their final selection.
When creating photography packages, you want to think about how your offerings will set you apart from the competition.
This doesn’t mean you want to compete on price, though; instead, think about competing on values.
Your photography packages will work in conjunction with your photography portfolio and your branding to help sell your business to the customer.
From there, your packages need to lead clients to book.
You want to think about creating packages that are easy for your clients to say yes to, photography packages that sell.
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That means you don’t want to be too confusing or give them too many options.
You want to create packages where their decision is easy and remove any barriers to the booking process.
Lastly, creating photography packages that result in profitability for your business is essential.
As I said, we’re not going to compete on price but rather on value because competing on price reduces our ability to be profitable.
If you beat out the competition and book a ton of work but you don’t make a profit, your business won’t last.
Understanding the Needs of Your Clients (and How to Incorporate These Into Your Packages)
One of the first steps in creating effective photography packages is making sure that you’re serving your clients.
One of my mantras is that serving your clients well will serve you well; it’s a win-win.
We’re not trying to just make as much money as we can, we’re trying to serve our clients as well as we can and that will result in better profits.
For example, when creating wedding photography packages, you’ll want to think about what your clients need.
As a wedding photographer who has photographed hundreds of clients, chances are that I know what my couples need better than they do.
When I build wedding photography packages that include everything my clients need, I make their decisions easier while also building their trust in me.
To figure out your clients’ needs, you need to put yourself in their shoes.
What would you want out of professional photography?
If you already have a few years in the business, you have past clients whose experience you can draw from.
For example, at the beginning of our wedding photography business, we didn’t include wedding albums in our packages.
We were trying to keep the package price points lower so that we could compete, which is a fair strategy.
But clients would come to us after the fact interested in an album because it’s not quite the same as looking at photos on the computer.
While making sales after the wedding is nice, when we started including albums in our packages, our couples walked away with a final product that brought a smile to their faces.
It quickly became a win-win because we went on to book numerous couples after they saw a wedding album that we had done at a friend’s house.
Since then, our strategy has been to build packages that include everything our clients need.
While on the surface it may seem more expensive, our clients appreciate knowing that their budget is their budget and they won’t have to spend more money later.
While a different strategy may work for you depending on the types of clients you seek and attract, the point is to find ways to serve your clients even when it comes to how you structure your packages.
You may decide to build a la carte custom packages because your clients are unique and appreciate that, or you may find that your clients like a low initial payment and then add on to it after they see the photos.
Understand your clients and then use that information to build your packages.
The Different Types of Photography Packages
Photography businesses are diverse in their offerings, and you’ll likely focus on one or two specialties.
The type of photography you do will impact how you build your packages.
Each specialization will vary in the offerings they include in their photography packages.
For example, event photography such as weddings, elopements, or corporate events will often include the number of hours as one of the highest-priced package ingredients.
In contrast, commercial photography might not be as much about the hours as it is about the image licensing.
And with portrait photography packages, the session will be a shorter duration than a wedding, so to increase profits, you’ll have to add more product sales on top of your services.
Here are some samples of photography specializations that will be helpful as we dive into building packages.
Event photography:
Portrait photography:
Commercial photography:
In the next section, we’ll dive into how to set up your photo packages and we’ll talk more about the differences between these specialties.
How to Set Up Your Photo Packages
When it comes to setting up your packages, you’ll want to determine how many photography packages to offer, what the packages should include, and then how to present your packages to potential clients.
Whether you’re looking to build family photography packages or newborn photography packages, you’ll want to consider these tips.
How Many Photography Packages to Offer
The most popular answer to how many photography packages to offer is three.
You’ve probably heard the statistics on pricing psychology and how offering three packages will help guide your clients toward choosing the middle option.
While this is backed up with evidence and numerous examples, it’s important to consider your specialty and niche.
It’s also important, as we discussed above, to understand your clients and serve them well.
You want to avoid giving your clients so many choices that they get overwhelmed and can’t make a decision.
But, you also want to avoid making them feel trapped between packages full of things that they don’t need.
If you understand your clients, you’ll be able to identify what they want and build an ideal package.
Then, create a simplified version of that package for more hesitant or budget-conscious customers and a more enhanced version of that package for clients who might want to splurge.
I find that having a smaller entry-level package is great for attracting clients who might be price-shopping.
Many of these clients will end up getting your recommended basic package anyway.
On the other end, if you don’t have a luxury package for big-budget clients, you might be leaving money on the table when there’s a client who wants to spend money.
Throughout the years, we’ve had various luxury packages that were really just there to make the other packages look appealing, but inevitably, someone comes along who wants the best and ends up booking a package we never expected to book.
This is a classic example of shooting for the stars, and you may just land on the moon. Having three or four packages allows you to learn more about your customers and what they might be willing or interested in spending.
What Should a Photography Package Include?
If you refer back to the types of packages section above, you’ll remember that there are different types of photography services that I divided into three groups for simplicity.
Let’s start with event photography, which includes things like weddings and corporate events.
Event photography packages will generally include options for the number of hours based on the duration of the event.
Then they might include additional photographers if it’s a large event, perhaps even including a photobooth or videographer.
And finally, it will include some sort of final image delivery of the digital files.
That may be a certain quantity of images delivered in an online viewing gallery and sometimes an album or other physical prints.
When we look at portrait photography packages, it’s less common that the number of hours is a factor and more common that final products, such as prints or digital files, are the focus.
In this case, the packages might vary on the number of images the client receives or the size and quality of albums and wall art.
Finally, with commercial photography, the packages are more focused on what the client needs the images for.
For example, with product photography, your images are being used for commercial purposes, and therefore, the package focus will be more on the types of image rights that the client needs.
For example, in a smaller package, you might license images for non-exclusive web use for one year only, whereas a larger package would license them for exclusive perpetual, unlimited usage.
How to Name Your Photography Packages
Package naming is a final touch on your creation of photography packages.
You want your photography package names to help clearly communicate what the photography packages are offering.
Sample package names that communicate tiers are words like basic, standard, and ultimate.
You can also keep it simple with collections 1, 2, and 3.
Or you can describe the package by contents such as an 8-hour package or a full-day package.
Beyond choosing good descriptors, you can choose words that fit your brand.
Your small package might represent something entry-level, so you might use words like mini, base, starter, chic, intimate, simple, or the essentials.
Your middle package is likely to be your most popular, and what you want to book, so you might use words like standard, signature, medium, or gold.
And finally, your biggest package is for those who want to splurge, so you might use words like luxury, platinum, ultimate, all-inclusive, unlimited, or the experience.
Wedding photography packages might use wedding-related words, while pet photography packages might use pet-inspired words.
You can use your photography package names to communicate your brand and the package contents, as well as persuade a client to splurge.
How to Price Your Photography Packages
Now we’re on to the most important part of creating photography packages for profitability.
The profits. I know, it seems pretty commonsensical, and yet I’ve met many business owners that don’t actually know their numbers.
Reader beware: I’m going to have you look at your accounting, make a budget, and think about money.
In the beginning, when you’re just starting out, your profits might not be that significant.
You need to be honest with where you are in your business.
If you’re working on building momentum and building a portfolio, then it might be ok for your profits to be minimal but that might mean keeping your day job until you have actual income to support yourself.
If, however, you’ve been in business for a few years and you’re still afraid to raise your prices, it’s time to be honest with yourself about whether photography should be your hobby or a business.
Without profits, photography is just a passion.
With profits, photography is a profession that you’re passionate about.
Calculating Your Costs and Profits
The most important thing to do when determining how much you need to charge is to determine how much you need to charge!
While you’ll want to do a competitive analysis and see what other people are charging, I’ll return to my earlier comment on how we want to compete on value not price.
Just because one photographer can afford to shoot a portrait for $250 doesn’t mean you can.
You need to calculate your actual costs of doing business, time and labor, and cost of goods.
It’s time to get out a legal pad, spreadsheet, or accounting software and add up your cost of doing business.
What are your monthly expenses to maintain your website, marketing, internet, camera gear, and so on?
Then, you need to add up your cost of goods which are your expenses for a single photoshoot.
That might mean gear rentals, product costs, permits, studio rentals, shipping, and other one-time costs.
Now, you might think that your profits are how much you charge for the photoshoot minus how much that single photoshoot costs you.
However, for a real profitable business, you need to factor in your cost of doing business.
Don’t forget that you need to include your profit if you want to have any sort of take-home income.
If your business expenses are $50,000, for example, you might want to set a profit margin goal of 50% so that you can make a $50,000 take-home income.
The longer you’ve been in business, the higher you might expect your profit margin to be.
You might also determine your required take-home income based on your living expenses.
If you don’t already have a personal budget, this might be time to dive into that as well.
Setting Your Rates and Margins
Now, in order to determine your pricing and package rates, start by estimating how many jobs you think you can book.
Then, take your cost of doing business, including your take-home income, and divide it by the number of jobs.
If you need to make $100,000 and you can book 20 weddings, you’ll need to profit $5000, so if your expenses per wedding are $700, then you need to average $5700.
However, if the average wedding photographer in your area only charges $3500 then you may not be able to book 20 weddings at that price, and you may need to shoot more weddings.
A portrait photographer who makes an average of $1000 per shoot needs to book 100 portrait sessions.
The better you are at keeping track of your numbers, the better you’ll be able to predict costs year over year and increase profits.
The good news is that if you book more than 20 weddings or more than 100 portrait sessions, you’re increasing your profit margin.
When I set income goals every year I know my cost of doing business as well as my required take-home income.
However, I also have a desired take-home income.
This is where being a business owner gets fun.
You might need to book 100 headshots, but with extra work, you can end up booking 200 and increasing your profit margins significantly.
My advice is to set your rates based on what you can realistically charge, given your market and ability to book work.
Then, set a goal for increased profitability and reward yourself for working harder.
The trick is to keep your costs fixed; the only variability should be in the cost of goods because the more sessions you have, the more shipping costs you incur.
Once you meet your profit goal, you can then decide if you want more take-home income or to upgrade your gear when additional money comes in.
How to Stagger and Adjust Your Prices
In the example above, I said that the example photographer made an average of $1000 per shoot.
That means that in some sessions, the photographer might make more, and in other sessions, they might make less.
When it comes to setting your package pricing you want to stagger the pricing to fit various clientele while ensuring you hit your required average.
What I love about this is knowing that I can serve a client with a lower budget because I’ll make up that difference with another client who isn’t limited by pricing.
The trick is knowing what your minimum is and making sure you build your packages so that you’re booking at the right levels.
The best way to do this is to make the larger packages of greater value ,thus encouraging clients to book the bigger packages at the higher price points.
For example, once a client spends $4000 they get 10% off.
While it may feel like you’re giving the client more for less, it actually benefits you to make more money from one client than having to go and find another client.
I would rather work one 12-hour wedding than two 6-hour weddings so it’s ok if the 12-hour wedding doesn’t make twice as much.
Personally, I like to have starting price points on my website rather than all of my package information.
This makes it possible for me to adjust my prices without it feeling abrupt to potential clients.
If you notice that you are booking more and more of your bigger packages, it’s time to adjust your prices so that your middle package is the most popular and the highest package is what you’d love to make.
Like I said before, you never know what someone is willing to spend unless you give them the opportunity to try, and sometimes you need to adjust your pricing to find that sweet spot.
The Importance of Add-Ons
As you’ve gathered from this article, I love to serve my clients well and make sure they are having a great experience.
However, that doesn’t mean I don’t love add-ons.
It never hurts to provide opportunities for more products or services for those clients that really value your work.
For example, I love it when a client upgrades their album or even orders another album entirely.
Or what about when you send the client gallery using a tool like pic-time, and you get unexpected additional income from grandma ordering a few prints?
It’s important to have easy, painless ways for your clients to add to their packages if they want to.
This extra income goes straight to your profit margins because you’re not necessarily counting on it when you set your pricing.
Photography Package Examples
Below, I’ll list a few photography package examples showing how you can use staggered pricing and add-ons to make the various packages look appealing to your clients.
Sample Portrait Photography Packages
Mini Portrait Session: up to 30 min session, 8 edited images
Basic Portrait Session: up to 1 hour, 20 edited images
Luxury Portrait Session: up to 2 hours at 2 locations, 60 edited images, and $1000 print credit
Sample Wedding Photography Packages
Collection I: 6 hours of photography, online gallery with download access to digital files
Collection II: 8 hours of photography, online gallery with download access to digital files, wedding album, and an engagement session
Collection III: 10 hours of photography, online gallery with download access to digital files, wedding album, engagement session, $200 print credit, and second shooter
4 Quick Tips for Creating Attractive Photography Packages
Below are some popular photography package ideas to help entice clients to spend more.
The goal is to create photography packages that sell so that your photography services are in high demand.
Bigger Price Point = Bigger Discount
Photography packages that sell are the ones that have more perceived value.
Therefore, if you have a basic package that makes more luxury packages appear to be a better deal, you’re more likely to book more of your bigger photo packages.
Use your photography package tiers to help guide your customers to the best package for them.
A La Carte Pricing
I love offering a la carte pricing so that my clients feel like they can get exactly what they want.
In the end, the photo packages are generally a better deal than building something a la carte so it’s a great way to guide them towards a photography package that I know will serve them well.
This is also a great way to avoid offering too many packages while also making this customizable.
Include Premium Options
You never know what someone wants or is willing to spend unless you set yourself up to serve different budgets.
It’s good to offer a premium package to serve clients who want the best as well as to have something for other clients to compare their package to.
Offer More Value
Make sure your packages are filled with value so that your clients see that they’re getting more than the services offered.
This might mean that you look at what other photographers are doing and see where you can set yourself apart.
Maybe you’re unique in how many photos you deliver or the photography experience you provide or the number of hours you work.
FAQs About Photo Packages and Pricing
How much is a 1-hour photoshoot?
A 1-hour photoshoot might only cost a couple hundred dollars, but many photographers charge additional money for digital files, prints, or other products.
How much should a photograph cost?
The cost of a photograph will depend on the perceived value, which might be based on the experience of the photographer, how hard the photo was to create, and how unique the final product is.
How should a beginner price photography packages?
If you’re a beginner who is just starting out in your photography business, you should price your photography packages to book so that you can start building experience, a portfolio, and momentum.
What should be included in an event photography package?
At a minimum, event photography packages should include the number of hours of coverage and the quantity of images to be delivered.
