How to Price Local Commercial Photography

In this video, I go over how I price local and small commercial photography jobs. The video covers day rates, license fees, and how they differ from bigger jobs.

Pricing your work is a tricky task. Understanding your worth, the market's budget, and what is correct can take many years of trial and error. However, this video sets out to talk about the various price points in this stage of a photographer's career, some of the pitfalls to be wary of, as well as the expectations made upon you by clients. Although predominantly a food photographer, this video will work in any commercial field. 

I myself spent a good decade at this level of pricing. It kind of carries you from a minimum wage scenario to making a respectable living. The local commercial work can sustain a lifelong career, or it can be a stepping stone to bigger campaigns. I know a lot of photographers who love working at this level, and I can certainly say that it has been an enjoyable time that I spent working locally. 

For myself, I always had aspirations of shooting well-known campaigns, so I decided to move on to a different genre of commercial photography. However, when a nice client comes along with a good idea, I always do my best to work with their budgets. 

Scott Choucino's picture

Food Photographer from the UK. Not at all tech savvy and knows very little about gear news and rumours.

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3 Comments

This dude has been putting out the best photography business information in video format that I have ever seen. Hands down. No fluff, right to the point, great information, real insight, well spoken. I wish he was around 5 or 6 years ago when I was getting started, ha.

Yup! Scott is throwing down the knowledge! His hustle game is on point!

I have to applaud you Scott, informed, incisive info/video that is well worth watching unlike most of the garbage on fstoppers