How much would you pay for a portrait of your horse?

[MagicMelon]

Looking at a possible new business venture for our photography business and wonder how many of you would think of having a pro photographer over to your house to take really modern / artistic shots of your horse (or animals)? If you would, how much would you be willing to pay for this? And what would you want at the end of it - a large canvas for example or a simple DVD of all the images? Thanks in advance!

 

[Capriole]

Ive had some photos done once, but there was no charge for the what do you call it? Session? Shoot?
You bought the photos individually depending on size etc., or could buy them all I think.

I hate so much of the arty stuff though, dont want a picture of an ear or an eye, like I see a lot of, I want it to look like me horse!

 

[Kat]

The question isn't so much what people will pay, but what you need to charge to make it profitable. No point doing it if it doesn't pay. Set your price at a level which covers your costs and your time at a reasonable level and search out clients who are willing to pay the asking price.

With DH's portraits (art not photography) we find some people think that a portrait should be £20 (and there are people selling pictures for that) others think £800 is "very reasonable" the trick is finding the customers who match your price band. Being too cheap is as much of a problem as being to expensive as far as your customers are concerned, and of course if you aren't covering your costs that is a huge problem.

 

[Kat]

You will also find a lot of people aren't prepared to pay at all. With digital cameras, computer software and online printing services offering to print onto canvas cheaply everyone thinks they are a photographer. Sadly you will be competing with your potential client's friend/brother/mate with a hobby spec DSLR who will do it for free. You will be trying to convince people that you can do something they can't capture on their mobile phone etc.

That isn't to say that you won't find people willing to pay, somepeople recognise the skills but it won't necessarily be easy and you will have to think about how you find your clients, how you structure your pricing, and how to convince them you are worth paying for.

 

[Archangel]

A friend of mine had a photoshoot for his horse. They hung up an odd neutral background and i thought it would be dire but it was fantastic. Not the sort of thing you would could do yourself. Not sure how much he paid but thinking about it as it would take a good few hours £150 - £200 to include a disc of photos and one large print.

 

[thehorsephotographer]

I already do this for a living and it's incredibly hard to find the right clientele as Kat says being able to charge and get what you need to make a profit. The main problem I think you might face is the price that people may expect to pay for the pictures will be based around what they usually pay at shows/events - which due to the very nature of the job is quite modest since it's a numbers game at shows and the photos, as you are probably aware, are often produced on a dye sub printer or similar offering fast through put but a totally different quality to what I would expect you to be marketing as a more bespoke portrait.

There are other factors also - the time taken for the photo-shoot, the editing and the viewing. Add to this that the photo-shoot may need to be rescheduled due to the weather or any number of things and if considering this type of business I think you need to be able to produce something which is so set apart from what someone could buy at a show or produce themselves that you can charge a "proper" price for it and people will be happy to pay that price.

The key I would say is to be totally upfront with your prospective clients about what your charges are - both for the photo-shoot and afterwards so that if they want to go ahead they can budget accordingly or if they think it may be more than they want to pay then they don't waste your time or theirs.

You also need to think about how far from your base you would be willing to travel to undertake the photo-shoot and again factor in time, fuel and the weather into your calculations. Once you've worked all this out and work backwards from there then you could work out what you need to make a living from it and then do some market research to ascertain if you can secure enough clients to make a living from it.

Other factors to consider (besides the weather) is that during winter you will probably undertake many less photo-shoots due to winter coats - unless the horse is clipped most owners will say they prefer them to be photographed with their summer coat.

We enjoy an awful lot of magazine/press coverage of our work and also interest from abroad (US/Canada especially) but it isn't easy by any means despite this. Having said all of the above I absolutely love what I do and have met some really inspiring wonderful horsemen and ladies through my work and would not change it for all the tea in China!

 

[Echo Bravo]

I've had paintings done of my dogs,very expensive,but when I can afford it will have the same of my horses.

 

[Jnhuk]

I organised a photo shoot gift from a local equine photographer for a long serving committee member who was stepping down. We got for our £120 a photo shoot, one large print or two medium size prints and a bound book with their selection of photos from the shoot. I thought this was exceptional value and couldn't understand how they made money when the photographer lived about an hour away.

 

[thehorsephotographer]

I organised a photo shoot gift from a local equine photographer for a long serving committee member who was stepping down. We got for our £120 a photo shoot, one large print or two medium size prints and a bound book with their selection of photos from the shoot. I thought this was exceptional value and couldn't understand how they made money when the photographer lived about an hour away.

It is exceptional value and believe me, if they worked out their overheads correctly they are seriously losing money on that. Everything from their time to their fuel needs to be taken into account. I would assume that they were hoping for an upsell and that the deal they did as it stands was a loss leader for them.

 

[horsesatemymoney]

Looking at a possible new business venture for our photography business and wonder how many of you would think of having a pro photographer over to your house to take really modern / artistic shots of your horse (or animals)? If you would, how much would you be willing to pay for this? And what would you want at the end of it - a large canvas for example or a simple DVD of all the images? Thanks in advance!

If you;d have asked me this a few years ago, I would have certainly been interested. Although I am fortunate not to have been too badly impacted by the recession etc, I would rather save, say the £400 I had spent on pictures, to make sure that I had a month's rent covered if my situation changed. Obviously not everybody is a skin flint like me, but I suspect that photographs are an additional luxury that many people can't, or won't, afford at the moment. Like other people have said, with the sophistication of personal cameras, people might resort to this kind of thing instead

 

[Kat]

It is exceptional value and believe me, if they worked out their overheads correctly they are seriously losing money on that. Everything from their time to their fuel needs to be taken into account. I would assume that they were hoping for an upsell and that the deal they did as it stands was a loss leader for them.

I also can't see how they could make money on that. I can't see it working too much as a loss leader as so much is included. If they only included one print then I could understand that they would be relying upon people wanting to buy more or bigger images but it looks to be a very flawed business plan, unless they are just starting out and seeking to build a portfolio perhaps.

 

[K27]

I've had some (3) large oil paintings done by a friend of the family who normally charges a much higher amount for his (normally polo) art work. We paid £100 each which was very good value and they are brilliant quality and very life like too. i would not expect to pay less than this for a basic smaller portrait, as at the end of the day the artist has got to make a living too.

 

[Cocorules]

I would pay reasonable money for a painting but not for a photo. I cannot paint but feel I can take photos even if not as good as a pro I do not think the difference in quality would be enough to tempt me to part with cash.

I would be more tempted to have a professional photography session while at a show though.

 

[Kat]

I've had some (3) large oil paintings done by a friend of the family who normally charges a much higher amount for his (normally polo) art work. We paid £100 each which was very good value and they are brilliant quality and very life like too. i would not expect to pay less than this for a basic smaller portrait, as at the end of the day the artist has got to make a living too.

The OP is asking about photographs not paintings, would that influence what you are saying?

 

[freckles22uk]

I've had some (3) large oil paintings done by a friend of the family who normally charges a much higher amount for his (normally polo) art work. We paid £100 each which was very good value and they are brilliant quality and very life like too. i would not expect to pay less than this for a basic smaller portrait, as at the end of the day the artist has got to make a living too.

That was good value, Im not stupidly expensive but its surprising how many people think I am, and ask if I can do it cheaper, Ive worked my prices out on how long I know a portrait will take me, like you say we have to earn a living, we have bill to pay like everyone else. Ive worked mine out at £10-20 per hour, yet Ive had people expect me to work for £3 an hour :-/

OP, you just need to work out your costs, materials, fuel, and time... and work round that, no point in doing it for a loss, Its not really a case of what people will pay (Ive tried that) but what you think you are worth. But good luck with your venture.

 

[freckles22uk]

Looking at a possible new business venture for our photography business and wonder how many of you would think of having a pro photographer over to your house to take really modern / artistic shots of your horse (or animals)? If you would, how much would you be willing to pay for this? And what would you want at the end of it - a large canvas for example or a simple DVD of all the images? Thanks in advance!

Sorry and in answer to this...

I would want a large canvas, (16" x 20") and copies of the other photos,

 

[wilde2]

Two answers to this! I had some done back in 2007 - it was around £800 for the shoot (approx. 3/4 hours) and then a hardback book. Other prints etc were then more or less at cost. I think this was probably a reasonable price for the service, skill and hours spent editing etc - however, I think it is a limited market for this sort of luxury service now.

My husband has recently set up a "business" doing this, but is looking only to make pocket money and cover his costs really. Even so, I think he will really struggle - I think he is very talented, but I think as thehorsephotographer said, people have no idea what is involved and there is a huge difference between someone spending 6 hours editing one image, versus the competition type photos (which I know people already consider expensive!). He has worked out his costs and on the rates he is offering now as a start up, its currently significantly below the minimum wage!

I can't name his FB page on here as it will be seen as advertising, but if you are interested please PM me - as there are examples on there of the different types - e.g comp style photos versus the edited portrait type ones.

 

[pixiebee]

That was good value, Im not stupidly expensive but its surprising how many people think I am, and ask if I can do it cheaper, Ive worked my prices out on how long I know a portrait will take me, like you say we have to earn a living, we have bill to pay like everyone else. Ive worked mine out at £10-20 per hour, yet Ive had people expect me to work for £3 an hour :-/

OP, you just need to work out your costs, materials, fuel, and time... and work round that, no point in doing it for a loss, Its not really a case of what people will pay (Ive tried that) but what you think you are worth. But good luck with your venture.

tell me about it, my paints beautiful paintings of peoples horses (amazing likeness too) and charges 150 for an oil or watercolour painting. i think this is very good value especially looking at the amount of time he puts in plus the paints arent cheap!

 

[Kat]

tell me about it, my paints beautiful paintings of peoples horses (amazing likeness too) and charges 150 for an oil or watercolour painting. i think this is very good value especially looking at the amount of time he puts in plus the paints arent cheap!

That was good value, Im not stupidly expensive but its surprising how many people think I am, and ask if I can do it cheaper, Ive worked my prices out on how long I know a portrait will take me, like you say we have to earn a living, we have bill to pay like everyone else. Ive worked mine out at £10-20 per hour, yet Ive had people expect me to work for £3 an hour :-/

OP, you just need to work out your costs, materials, fuel, and time... and work round that, no point in doing it for a loss, Its not really a case of what people will pay (Ive tried that) but what you think you are worth. But good luck with your venture.

I agree, my OH is an artist and costs his work on approximately £10 an hour and often gets people saying how expensive they are, plenty of people think they are too cheap too, but I am staggered by how many people manage to offer art incredibly cheaply and can only think that they are doing themselves a disservice. It isn't just time and materials there are all the other business expenses too, website, tax, insurance, marketing, etc etc etc.

 

[thehorsephotographer]

I think it all depends what you need from it as a person/business. For us it has to pay us a living and support two of us with all the bills etc. BUT we couldn't do it from horse photography alone - even though we are quite in demand. Part of the reason for this is because it tends to be much quieter in the winter months and also because with weather like we are currently experiencing photo-shoots are being rescheduled left, right and centre at the moment. We also photograph weddings and portraits (as in families, babies and couples etc.) and in all of these disciplines we are considered by many to be towards the top end.

It has taken years to learn how to market our businesses however and where to find our clients. You have to get right into the mindset of the people you are targeting and think how and where they may shop and what might press their buttons and meet their tastes.

Regarding setting prices if you have a main job aside from the photography business then this may be added "pocket money" for you and it may not be as critical to provide the best product/photography/service you possibly can and charge accordingly. It may be that you will consider a nominal shoot charge and include a photo or two or that you may not charge a shoot charge at all and hope to make money from the photo sales afterwards. If you attract the right clients and they are aware of what you do and charge upfront so there's no nasty surprises or feeling of pressure selling then it's really a case of working out what you NEED to charge for your business rather than what people would be willing to pay since that is like saying "how long is a piece of string?"

Product wise our best sellers are canvases and multiple image wall portraits.

I've uploaded a couple of albums to my profile if you'd like to see what type of thing we offer and whether this is something like you or your OH were thinking of doing.

 

[Merlin11]

The going rate here seems to be about £600. If it was less I may have had it done by now!