Photography salary.
Photography salaries
How much to charge and getting the price right. Are freelance photographers better off financially than staff photographers?
Many of us who are self-employed wonder from time to time about our status as freelance photographers. Are we better off going it alone or would we be better off financially if we were a staff photographer with a leading newspaper or magazine?
The answer is quite simple. The following article is a summary of wages for photographers and advice on whether you are better off having a paid salary or being self-employed.
Studies have shown that staff photographers make more money and have fewer costs. As an average, and based on figures for 2004, staff photographers earn around $38,000 per year. Some of the better staff photographers earn a lot more, with some of the newcomer’s wages being less due to inexperience.
Staff photographers have all their expenses paid and don’t have the worries of running a business. They have a secure income every month, affording them to live more comfortably.
Most freelance photographers tend to work longer hours, make less and in some situations accumulate greater costs. Freelance can cover a large range of different types of photography. Some pay a lot more than others.
For any photographer that is self-employed, wages are greater if they shoot portrait, commercial and advertisement photography. Portrait photography is probably the biggest earner for any self-employed photographers. In some cases a salary for portrait photography could be up to $100,000 a year. But remember that studio costs can be very high and will take up a large portion of the income.
There are very few fine art photographers successful enough to make a good living with their camera. Some will mix their fine art photography with other freelance work; most will have a full time job. Fine art photographers will make more selling in local exhibitions than selling on the net. Most people will buy images from places that they are familiar with.
Freelance abstract photographers sometimes fetch high amounts for individual images.
If you are self-employed try to work out your invoices to a minimum of $50.00 per hour. If you are asked for a day rate charge a minimum of two hundred and fifty dollars. Don’t take jobs that pay small and that will not cover all your expenses.
If you are fresh out of photography school you would be better off getting a job as a staff photographer for an agency or paper. Any newcomers to freelance photography would be better off to start of part-time and let their business grow gradually.
Most of the figures shown here are from The US Bureau of Labor Statistics
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