Hellobee Boards

I've generally followed the rule that you mentioned - someone self employed does not get a tip. If they go above and beyond, I do like to tip though. I struggle with this a lot and am interested in seeing more responses.

only If they work for someone else, if they are the business owners, its not expected to tip, but if they go above and beyond, I would tip!

I'm a photog and have never been tipped nor have I ever heard of someone tipping...

I've never tipped a photog.

Never tipped because photographers we have used have always owned their own business.

I have rounded up a bit when I feel like they did a great job. Usually I am paying in cash so I will just go with whatever number I can pay in the 20 dollar bills from the ATM - so it is usually only rounded up $5-10.

I heard about the owner or non-owner rule.

I do most of my photos DIY but I did recently use one for mat photos and even though she was the owner of her own business, I believe she did certain things that went above and beyond what I expected, so I tipped her 10% more. I plan to use her for our newborn photos so I'll decide later if I tip her more. She could easily charge us for a separate newborn session but said she could charge is for the mat & newborn combo price so that is super nice of her.
Plus, I know it is stated on her website but I was very surprised to see her turn around our photos in less than a week. She actually had two sneak peek photos the afternoon of our session.