Photography & events
Photography Hourly Rate Calculator
Works a photographer's effective hourly rate, across all the hours.
Result
The billable share is the number most people get wrong. Quoting, driving, chasing parts and fixing warranty callbacks are all paid and none of them are billed, which is why the honest figure is rarely above two thirds.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Annual income divided by all hours worked, including editing, administration, marketing, enquiry handling and equipment maintenance, rather than divided by shoot hours. The effective rate is a fraction of the apparent shoot rate and it is the figure that tells a photographer whether the business works.
What moves the number
- Total hours worked against shoot hours.
- Editing hours per shoot.
- Administration, marketing and enquiry handling.
- Business costs coming out of the income.
Where this one goes wrong
A photographer charging what looks like a healthy hourly rate for a shoot can be earning very little per hour worked once the editing and administration are counted, and the gap is wide enough to explain why the business feels harder than the rate suggests. Track total hours for a month. Reducing editing hours through better capture discipline and tighter delivery counts is the most effective lever available, since it raises the effective rate without asking any client to pay more.
Before you quote
- Track total hours worked for a month before concluding anything.
- Reduce editing hours through capture discipline and tighter counts.
- Separate business costs from personal income.
Questions
About this calculator
What is a photographer's real hourly rate?
Income divided by all hours worked, including editing, administration, marketing and enquiry handling. It is a fraction of the apparent shoot rate, and the gap is wide enough to explain why the business feels harder than the rate suggests.
How can the effective rate be raised?
By reducing editing hours through better capture discipline and tighter delivery counts, which raises the rate without asking any client to pay more. Templating communication and streamlining delivery are the other levers.
Should editing time be charged separately?
It has to be recovered somewhere, whether inside the shoot price or as a separate line. What causes trouble is treating it as free, since it is usually the largest block of hours and absorbing it puts the effective rate below what the work needs.
The formula
rate = (income + overhead) / (working hours x billable share)
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How to use this calculator
- Income you need per year ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $85,000.
- Annual overhead ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $57,600.
- Working weeks per year. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 48.
- Paid hours per week. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 40.
- Share of hours you can bill (%). Travel, quoting, admin and warranty calls are paid but not billed.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to rate you need to charge, 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 |
|---|---|
| Income you need per year | $85,000 |
| Annual overhead | $57,600 |
| Working weeks per year | 48 |
| Paid hours per week | 40 |
| Share of hours you can bill | 62% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Rate you need to charge main result | $119.79 |
| Billable hours per year | 1,190 |
| Total to recover | $142,600 |
| If every hour were billable | $74.27 |
To take home $85,000 after $57,600 of overhead you need $119.79 per billable hour. Charging $74.27, the figure you get by ignoring unbillable time, leaves you short every week.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only income you need per year, this is what happens to rate you need to charge. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Income you need per year ($) | Rate you need to charge |
|---|---|
| $42,500 | $84.09 |
| $63,750 | $101.94 |
| $85,000 example above | $119.79 |
| $127,500 | $155.49 |
| $170,000 | $191.20 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Income you need per year ($)
- A money amount, starting at $85,000.
- Annual overhead ($)
- A money amount, starting at $57,600.
- Working weeks per year
- A number, between 0 and 52, starting at 48.
- Paid hours per week
- A number, between 0 and 100, starting at 40.
- Share of hours you can bill (%)
- Travel, quoting, admin and warranty calls are paid but not billed.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Rate you need to charge | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Billable hours per year | A number. |
| Total to recover | A money figure. |
| If every hour were billable | 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.