Know your time frame & be realistic.
When hiring a freelance photographer, don’t expect just a quick number that they can throw at you. Expect a one week or less turnaround time for receiving a detailed quote from a photographer. This also depends on how much information you already have about the needs for your image. The more back-and-forth between the photographer and your team means that you’ll receive an estimate later after these details are confirmed.
Often, even planning a photo shoot takes time by both you and the photographer. While getting photos done within a week after inquiry isn’t impossible, your best solution to hiring a photographer is to think far in advance about what you need.
Knowing your time frame, and being realistic about it, will help ensure that all “moving parts” to the shoot aren’t compromised, and the photographer is not rushed in planning. Moving parts include securing the best available location for your shoot, the best models available for the shoot date, and props that are needed to purchase or order.
When you know your time frame, and if it is far in advance, you will also find that the business can save money by planning a shoot in advance. You’ll find that props don’t need expedited shipping, there are more available dates for location rentals (whereas some weekends and dates have premium pricing), and the photographer has more time to arrange for the best available assistants for your shoot.
Make a Shoot Budget!
Expect to pay for the photographer’s day rate PLUS usage of images. This might be presented to you as one number, all together, or it might be a breakdown into day rate, and price of images.
For companies that serve a market that’s bigger than the town they live in, expect to pay for photographer’s day rate, or half day rate (depending on the shoot requirements) in addition to paying for images.
The wider your market is, the more extensive the reach of the images. Therefore, the images have a greater monetary value. When images have a greater monetary value, the production value (time, energy, skill, effort) is increased—there’s more on the line.
Pricing for a freelance photographer all varies. Each commercial photographer has their established day rate—the base price for what they need to make a living. This can range approximately between $2000 to $5000 depending on the photographer and their calculations of hourly rate, cost of doing business. But don’t expect to pay just the day rate. Larger companies (with more than 20 employees is what I am thinking) might expect to pay a higher day rate and a higher rate for the final images needed.
However, if you’re a small local business with less than 20 employees or so, or maybe you’re even a solopreneur—your budget for photography will be a lot less than it would be for a regional or nationwide brand. These businesses that serve a small, local market might receive a quote for a rate which includes the provision of images, or be presented with packages to choose from.
Communicate.
Communicate about expectations and vision.
I can’t stress this enough. While this seems obvious, this is a mistake that companies might make when inquiring with a freelance photographer. Before asking about pricing, you’ll need to provide to the photographer clues to what you’re looking for. If you’re not sure what you need, then you’ll need to still try to pull together some concept or ideas from online, AND let the photographer know that you’re open to the photographer’s ideas and vision for the imagery.
If there’s a photo that you see, especially taken by that photographer, that you absolutely love—or if there’s a certain “look” of a person, object, place, or image style, you need to let the photographer know in advance of your shoot. Communicate as much as you can to the photographers you’re inquiring with—and even on the day of the shoot, success is created when everybody is happy.
