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I think you can always find expensive/cheap photographers regardless of where you live. I think it depends on the competition and what you're looking for.

One photographer I loved charged $500 for a sitting fee and $1000 for the digital proofs. This is for family photos.

Eta: the photographer is established but I couldn't justify it in the end. We ended up doing photos in my home city (bigger city, more competition) but I can't remember the price. I think she had a $100 sitting fee that she waived bc of a promo. We had 5 digital prints and she charged $300.

We paid $400 for her sitting fees: 4, 8, 12, and 18 months. Then we had to spend $300 in prints to get the CD.

We live in a large city. I spent hours looking for someone I loved that also was reasonable in price. Maternity through one year photos cost us 1300 for sitting fees plus digital rights, which I thought was an amazing deal. Most other photographers I contacted had about a 200 sitting fee per hour session plus at least a required 200 print commitment.

eta: The package included birth photography and a full studio newborn session. The other sessions are mini half hour shoots.

@BandDmommy: Yeah I know what you mean I was a bit sticker shocked at first too! 200 dollars for just one person sitting fee and maybe 50-100 dollars for any extra person. That's just for the person to take pictures. Getting the pictures was a whole another story. One person I asked... it was 100 dollars for EACH digital photo I wanted.

I will say that they are charging what people will pay for it. So those high end ones are probably worth it. If you pay less just prepare yourself for not the "best" if that makes sense.

I was lucky I found the guy I found... but he doesn't do family photo sessions anymore. He only does weddings now. But he was super reasonable... for the 400 dollars I got all the pictures he took which was around 150 pictures. Which was a steal!! I actually liked the pictures a lot but wasn't looking for masterpieces just pictures to capture LOs age in his life.

Cost of living in my area isn't "expensive." But photogs range from a few hundred to thousands of dollars for sessions and prints. I don't think it's dependent upon cost of living area as much as quality and what you're looking for in experience and style.

@BandDmommy: We have a photographer in the NOVA area we LOVE. She charges $180 for a mini session (30 mins, 10 digital files). I think it's totally reasonable for this area. I have seen other photographers charge a lot more. That being said, we've only ever done mini sessions because those meet our needs.

I have found that there are photographers at every price range. On the high end, sitting fees + digital photos for $1000+. On the lower end, $300-500 for a 1 hour shoot + digital photos (sometimes unlimited, sometimes limited to a specific # like 5, 10 or 20).

I agree with others, there is a range from Craigslist to super high end. Some cities are more saturated than others. The highest quotes from two top area photographers for newborn photos were about 2k for everything I wanted. An acquaintance who was portfolio building for lifestyle sessions charged much less than that.

@BandDmommy: did you buy large prints/canvases? I can easily see it adding up. Baseline newborn shoot here is around $1000-1500 with a handful of digital files and maybe a print credit for a few 8x10s. i can get on board with paying for high quality photography, but I see tons of amateurs charging way too much considering they have no formal training and only a couple years of experience. I guess if people will pay it they can charge it. Our family photographer has Moved away from providing digital files to doing a la carte ordering and I'm not a big fan. I like the option to not spend an extra $500 minimum on prints if I don't love the pics.

@BandDmommy: $2800!!! What did that include?

Man - we live in a big city and I just paid $100 for our family photos. We spent ~45 minutes shooting at a local park and she edited all images and I got all the digital files (and a print release).

@BandDmommy: I think that's a better deal than getting the finished products from a photographer. What if the canvases got damaged after you put them up or if you wanted to put them on another wall and they were too big/small? Or if the prints got ripped if the kids were looking at them? At least of you had the files, you'd be able to replace them at a fraction of the cost.

It's hard to find a good photographer in the Seattle area for under $500. We paid $600 and that included the digitals.

I agree with others, don't go with the photographers printing services. Digital files will save you a lot of money. Aside from that. As others have mentioned,having the digital file gives you security if something ever happens to the prints.