I was wanting to do a fall photo session for our Xmas card and looking around/talking to neighbors, it looks like it is going to cost at least $1,000. The session fee is $250 and includes nothing and then most photographers have a print fee minimum. How much did you spend? Does this seem reasonable?
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We have a session on Saturday, I got it for free by liking my wedding photog's facebook page...but I have booked a session with her for a gift and offered $250 and she accepted it. I guess it is because it was also for a former client of hers?
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We paid $150 which included all rights, with a disk and about 50 photos. We are doing our maternity and newborn this winter and she's charging us $200 combined. Then we have to pay to get the photos printed but it's not much.
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I always try to find photographers that include some digital files in their package...I hate the thought of having to purchase prints through them or paying $600 for the CD of digital files. Can you look around a bit more?
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Our photographer is $225/session and that is with a disc of at least 25 edited pictures. However, I'm in the midwest so our cost of living is always less compared to the coasts. I gasped when I saw $1000, that is pretty pricey for me!
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Sounds ridiculous!! We're paying $250 for our 2 hour session + 40 images/disc. I know that even in podunk MI, this is a great deal I found, but even the higher end photogs are well under $1,000 unless you're doing a lot of products!
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Wow, all the photographers here (I've talked to) want at least $1,500 for the digitas.
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A lot of photographers do 30 minute mini sessions around the holidays knowing that lots of families want photos for Christmas. They generally run around $150-300 from what I've seen!
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Yikes. Ours (this weekend) cost $150 for the session and 10 digital images. We can buy more images or prints a la carte after that.
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Did you ask if you could do a less expensive option by using a second shooter as your main photog?
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I'm so jealous. I can convince DH to spend up to $300. But there is no way he is going to bite at $1,000.
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I charge $300 for a 1 hr session and that includes digital files (generally around 40 for an hour). That seems pretty much in line with what most people in my area charge. (midwest)
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That is a lot for prints.
We paid $400 for 4 sessions for R (4m, 8m, 12m, and 18m). For the 4 month pictures, we got a bunch of pictures, spend $200 so we got the disk. Prints are $8 for a 4x6 up to $27 for an 11x14. Then Canvas Prints and others extras are a lot more.
If you just book one session you have to have $300 in prints to get the disk.
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We just paid $300 for the 2 hr session and all low res edited images. If we spend $90 in prints, we get all high res images too. The print prices are reasonable, like $10 for an 8x10.
It's a pretty good deal in our area for an experienced, formally trained photographer.
P.S. $1k+, yikes! That's like wedding territory!
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We're doing one in November and she's only changing $175 for a session at our home, rights to the disc and even a short home movie. I think we're getting a steal.
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our go to photographer is $500 but since we're regular clients of theirs they lowered it to $350 for us. I would see if you can contact a photographer you have worked with in the past and see if they have a discounted price for loyal customers.
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Well, i don't like print minimums. I like disks so that I can order what I want.
Have you looked into Christmas minis? Lots of photographers do them for < $200 and they include a handful of digital photos.
Prints are a rip off. I know what I pay for them, and the charge is usually passed onto the client at 4x the cost. It's where they make their money. I don't mind selling them if someone wants to, but it's not my personal philosophy to require them
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That seems pretty steep. Our area is lower cost of living, but still, I pay 65$ for an hour session + all print rights with a photographer we've used for years. It's a great deal but even so, I couldn't/wouldn't pay 1k!
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Yeah that seems like a lot! 1k is what I paid for my wedding photog, and that included a cd of all pics, re-touched.
For our family session last Summer, we had bought a package deal around Mother's Day for our moms. I think it was 300 or 350, which included about an hour of shooting (she came to us) and 15 re-touched digital files to do whatever we wanted with them. (ie, order prints online wherever.) And then a souvenir cd of all the shots with a watermark.
Maybe sign up for Groupon or those types of webistes in your area? I often see photography deals on there.
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That sounds like a lot and I won't use a photog that has a print min. I like to just get the digital images. I booked one for beginning of nov. I put down a 250 deposit, no session fee. Deposit goes toward print or disc order. All digital images are 600 i believe and 10 images are 300. A little pricey for me, but I really liked the photog and she seemed like a real professional so I decided the extra cost will hopefully be worth it.
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@Mrs. High Heels: I was just going to suggest this. I spent a day scoping out local photogs' facebook pages and blogs, found a few that I liked, and followed for their mini-sessions announcements. We just booked a 30-minute session with digital printing rights and holiday cards for $175.
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$1k seems like a LOT. I live in the Boston area and it's not as expensive as that. Our newborn session (with digital images) will be $600, the other photog I considered was going to be $150 (session fee) plus $300+ for digital images. So probably around $500 or $600 as well. Not cheap, but $1k seems outrageous.
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@littlek: I think it's best to find a photographer who gives you all of the images, either on disc or emailed to a Dropbox. My wedding photographer charges a flat fee of something like $500 for family sessions, spends about 2 or more hours with the families, and then edits and provides upwards of 100 or so images.
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I'm in San Francisco and I think that price is crazy high!!
We have a photographer that is very reputable and good for $450 with disk with like 60+ edited hi-res images. I'd find someone else.
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The young lady we love, charges $75 a session! We get unlimited clothing changes, and long sessions (2 hours). The $75 also gets us a CD with all printing rights.
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This weekend we are doing a mini-session for 45 minutes including a cd with all the high-res images for $150 with the photog who took our wedding photos.
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Oh, my. I think $1K is a lot, but our photog (midwest) also does fam session for $175 - that includes sitting fee, editing, prints, and high-res CD. We're spoiled by how great she is, though. I think the average family session in this area is $200-400.
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I spent that much last year and I'm not doing it again. This photographer had a property complete with lake, large props, full studio so we got lots of different looks and poses, and they turned out great, but of course it was the package of prints that costs money (sitting fee was like $200). This year I found a girl who comes highly recomended by a coworker i trust, and who charges roughly the same sitting fee but gives you the digital negatives to print. She didn't have a studio but we shot it at a local park. I hope they turn out just as good!
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Sounds like a lot. We typically spend about $500 ($200ish for session fee, $300ish for digitals).
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This summer we did a mini session with our photographer. It was $375 for a 30 min session and 15 digital files. She ended up giving us 30 digital files because she loved them so much and couldn't decide which ones were best. She also just did a holiday mini session with I think under 10 digital files for $175. I live in Seattle. Her normal prices are more like $250 fee and digital collections start at $450.
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In my area, with good photographers, sessions with images/prints can easily cost around that. There were a few "mini-sessons" for the fall which includes a 30 minute session and like 5 edited images (with print rights) for $400. That's a good deal.
I just booked my daughter's 2-year session and paid $200 session fee and the package option I will get afterwards will be an additional $400 and will include image rights (for about 10 images or so) and some prints. Usually I like to own the images and you can print them pretty cheap on Mpix.
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DH's friend is an amazing photographer. She charges us less but she standardly charges $200 for an outdoor shoot, that includes 100 photos edited, on a disc.
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@littlek: I'd do a mini session. I don't find that it's worth doing a full session, especially if we'll do a few a year.
We did a mini session for $75 and got 10 digital prints. Because we weren't happy with our session, she gave us all the digitals at no extra cost.
We had another mini session (in a more expensive city) that was $500. There was a groupon so the sitting fee was $60 and we had to use the $500 towards prints or digital copies. I really disliked that, since you could probably find photographers who'll give you the entire session's digital prints.
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Our Christmas photos last year were super inexpensive. We paid $150 for a 20-minute mini session and got 60 images (digital rights). And it is not like she was an ameture photog....the pics were beautiful!
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@littlek: when i do full sessions, it can cost that much for the session+a full disk of images, but mostly people order prints or just the digital images they want. i also 2nd @Mrs. High Heels: suggestion to find someone doing mini sessions! that should include at least a couple of images and be in the more $200-$300 range (guessing from the prices you're getting from other photogs in your area!)
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We did an hour session in boston for about $300, including disc of all images and a good number of edited ones. Get a slight deal for being a repeat customer. I do think its pricier in the fall and around holidays because they are busier. Definitely look for up and comers in your area that may be cheaper! Prices are all over the map.
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most photographers are around $500/hour here in ny.
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$1k seems insanely expensive for any part of the country!
We're doing a holiday mini session, 30 mins, 5 hi-res images on a disc, for $120.
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That sounds kind of steep..
So far we've spent nothing.
We have a Canon 5d Mark and a tripod!
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@Rainbow Sprinkles: I can't believe that's all you paid. Your pics were B-E-A-utiful last year!
We don't pay for it...I am too cheap. My sister and 2 friends both have DSLR cameras, so I am happy with them taking good quality pictures in outdoor light. They work fine for a Christmas card. My sister will take ours this year and I am SO excited.
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43 comments