Photography & events
Photography Business Profit Calculator
Works business profit, where the photographer's own wage comes first.
Result
Net profit here is before tax and before any owner's draw that is not already inside overhead. If you pay yourself out of what is left, this figure is your wage rather than the company's profit.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Annual revenue less direct costs less overhead, giving profit and margin. The honest version pays the photographer a market wage for the shooting and editing work before the remainder is called profit, because otherwise the figure reports their labour as a return on a business with few assets.
What moves the number
- Whether the photographer's own labour is costed.
- Equipment replacement reserve.
- Overhead including studio, software and insurance.
- Shoot volume against the hours available.
Where this one goes wrong
Equipment replacement is the reserve most photography businesses do not hold, and it arrives as a sudden capital need when a body fails or a computer becomes inadequate, which is why reserving monthly rather than hoping is the difference between an expense and a crisis. The other point is capacity: a photographer at the limit of deliverable hours can only grow through price, through outsourcing editing, or through additional shooters, and those are different businesses.
Before you quote
- Pay the photographer a market wage before calling the remainder profit.
- Reserve monthly for equipment replacement.
- Decide whether growth is price, outsourcing or additional shooters.
Questions
About this calculator
Is my photography business profitable?
Only if it pays you a market wage for the shooting and editing before the remainder is called profit. A business with few assets whose apparent profit is the owner's unpaid labour is a job rather than a business.
What reserve does a photography business need?
Equipment replacement, held monthly. Bodies, lenses and computers wear out and fail, and the need arrives suddenly. Reserving for it turns a crisis into a budgeted expense, and most photography businesses do not hold one.
How does a photographer at capacity grow?
Price, outsourced editing, or additional shooters. Outsourcing editing frees the largest block of hours and is the usual first move; additional shooters is a different business with management and quality control attached.
The formula
net profit = revenue - direct costs - overhead
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How to use this calculator
- Revenue ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $22,000.
- Direct labour ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $16,000.
- Production costs and equipment ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $11,000.
- Other direct costs ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $2,200.
- Overhead ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $4,800.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to net profit, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $22,000 |
| Direct labour | $16,000 |
| Production costs and equipment | $11,000 |
| Other direct costs | $2,200 |
| Overhead | $4,800 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Net profit main result | -$12,000 |
| Net margin | -54.5% |
| Total direct cost | $29,200 |
| Profit per working day | -$545.45 |
That is -$12,000 at a -54.5% margin, about -$545.45 for every working day.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only revenue, this is what happens to net profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Revenue ($) | Net profit |
|---|---|
| $11,000 | -$23,000 |
| $16,500 | -$17,500 |
| $22,000 example above | -$12,000 |
| $33,000 | -$1,000 |
| $44,000 | $10,000 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Revenue ($)
- A money amount, starting at $22,000.
- Direct labour ($)
- A money amount, starting at $16,000.
- Production costs and equipment ($)
- A money amount, starting at $11,000.
- Other direct costs ($)
- A money amount, starting at $2,200.
- Overhead ($)
- A money amount, starting at $4,800.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Net profit | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Net margin | A percentage. |
| Total direct cost | A money figure. |
| Profit per working day | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.