Photography & events
Headshot Photography Pricing Calculator
Prices headshots, where the retouching per image is the cost that scales.
Result
Overhead and margin are taken as shares of the selling price, which is why the cost is divided rather than multiplied. Adding 15% to cost does not produce a 15% margin. Gross profit is what is left after the cost of doing the job. Overhead comes out of that: the building, the office wages, the vans, insurance, software and advertising. A healthy gross margin still loses money if overhead is larger.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
The session fee for the shoot time plus retouching per selected image, with additional looks or outfit changes priced for the time they add. Headshot work is short on site and the retouching is where the hours go, which makes the number of finished images the variable that drives cost.
What moves the number
- Number of finished retouched images.
- Session length and number of looks.
- Retouching standard expected.
- Whether the shoot is in studio or on location.
Where this one goes wrong
Retouching standards vary enormously and a client expecting extensive skin and detail work on every frame is asking for something quite different from basic correction, so the standard included has to be defined rather than assumed. Price per finished image and say what finished means. Corporate work arranged on site with many subjects is a different model again, since the per-person time is short and the volume carries it.
Before you quote
- Define what retouching is included per finished image.
- Price additional looks for the time they add.
- Treat volume corporate work as a separate model.
Questions
About this calculator
What drives headshot pricing?
The number of finished retouched images, since the shoot is short and the retouching is where the hours go. Pricing per finished image rather than per session keeps the cost aligned with the work actually required.
What counts as retouching?
It needs defining, because a client expecting extensive skin and detail work is asking for something very different from basic colour and blemish correction. Stating the standard included prevents the most common headshot dispute.
How is corporate volume work priced?
Differently, since per-person time is short and the volume carries it. A day on site photographing many people has a different cost structure from an individual session, and pricing it per person at individual-session rates loses the work.
The formula
price = direct cost / (1 - overhead% - margin%)
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How to use this calculator
- Labour cost ($). Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $60.
- Other direct costs ($). Permits, disposal, equipment hire, subcontractors.
- Overhead rate (%). Overhead as a share of revenue. Work it out from last year's accounts.
- Target net margin (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 15%.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to price to quote, 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 |
|---|---|
| Labour cost | $300 |
| Materials cost | $60 |
| Other direct costs | $0 |
| Overhead rate | 22% |
| Target net margin | 15% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Price to quote main result | $571.43 |
| Direct cost | $360 |
| Overhead recovered | $125.71 |
| Net profit | $85.71 |
| Gross margin | 37.0% |
| Markup on direct cost | 58.7% |
Quote $571.43 to cover $360 of direct cost, recover $125.71 of overhead and leave $85.71 of net profit. That is a 58.7% markup on cost.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour cost, this is what happens to price to quote. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour cost ($) | Price to quote |
|---|---|
| $150 | $333.33 |
| $225 | $452.38 |
| $300 example above | $571.43 |
| $450 | $809.52 |
| $600 | $1,048 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Labour cost ($)
- Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($)
- A money amount, starting at $60.
- Other direct costs ($)
- Permits, disposal, equipment hire, subcontractors.
- Overhead rate (%)
- Overhead as a share of revenue. Work it out from last year's accounts.
- Target net margin (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 80, starting at 15%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Price to quote | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Direct cost | A money figure. |
| Overhead recovered | A money figure. |
| Net profit | A money figure. |
| Gross margin | A percentage. |
| Markup on direct cost | A percentage. |
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.