Photography & events
Photography Profit Calculator
Works profit on a shoot, where the editing hours decide it.
Result
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
Fee less the direct costs of the shoot and the photographer's cost for all the hours it consumed, giving profit and margin. Because the fee is fixed and the hours are not, profitability on a shoot is almost entirely a question of whether the editing came in at the time expected.
What moves the number
- Actual editing hours against expected.
- Deliverable count and any revision rounds.
- Direct costs: travel, assistants, rentals, permits.
- Client communication, which varies enormously.
Where this one goes wrong
Client communication is the variable nobody prices, and a client who wants extensive back and forth, multiple selection rounds and repeated revisions can consume as many hours as the shoot and the editing combined. Defining revision rounds in the agreement is what bounds it. Tracking actual hours per shoot is the discipline that improves pricing, since the pattern of which shoot types overrun is systematic rather than random.
Before you quote
- Define revision rounds in the agreement.
- Track actual hours per shoot against expected.
- Review which shoot types consistently overrun.
Questions
About this calculator
What makes a shoot unprofitable?
Hours, specifically editing and client communication. The fee is fixed and the hours are not, and a client wanting extensive selection rounds and revisions can consume as many hours as the shoot and the editing combined.
How are revisions controlled?
By defining the rounds included in the agreement, with further rounds charged. That is normal professional practice rather than being difficult, and it gives both sides a clear expectation instead of an open-ended obligation.
Why track hours per shoot?
Because the overruns are systematic rather than random. A particular shoot type or client type consistently takes longer, which means the price for it has been wrong every time, and only measurement reveals which one it is.
The formula
gross profit = revenue - direct costs
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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.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to gross 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 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross profit main result | -$7,200 |
| Gross margin | -32.7% |
| Total direct cost | $29,200 |
| Profit per working day | -$327.27 |
That is -$7,200 at a -32.7% margin, about -$327.27 for every working day. Overhead still has to come out of it.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only revenue, this is what happens to gross profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Revenue ($) | Gross profit |
|---|---|
| $11,000 | -$18,200 |
| $16,500 | -$12,700 |
| $22,000 example above | -$7,200 |
| $33,000 | $3,800 |
| $44,000 | $14,800 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Revenue ($)
- 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.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Gross profit | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Gross 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.