Hiring a freelancer photographer can seem overwhelming and expensive. You need to do research to find freelance photographers near you, contact the ones you shortlisted individually and ask for quotations.
Very often you will find that the photographer will not give you a quotation up-front, but will instead start asking about your budget. In reality, the photographer is trying to gauge what is the maximum amount he or she can charge you without you going elsewhere. It is not uncommon that different clients pay very different prices for similar jobs by the very same photographer. The reason this happens is simple, most photographers spend less than 30% of their time doing actual photography, so they try to maximize every opportunity for income.
You may be asking yourself if the above is true then what do photographers do with the majority for their time. The answer is quite simple, since most freelances don't have any staff (maybe an assistant), the majority of the time is spent looking for new clients, preparing photo shoots, invoicing, preparing quotations, retouching (yes, many photographers do their own retouch), etc, basically all the things a photography business needs to run, except all are done by a single person. Really, it is no wonder that pricing is high. Being a freelance photographer can be overwhelming.
At 360Refinery, we have transparent prices that are the same for everyone, and we are able to do this because we provide a service to photographers by optimizing operations and helping them save a lot of time per photo shoot, and let them spend more time doing what they do best, take photos, this allows us to get great savings, that we pass to our clients, and so we can provide beautiful photos at a good price point with straightforward semi-automated management. Our product photography prices are listed on our photography pricing page, and are a starting point of communication. If you have more complex requirements, the prices can vary, but for basic projects the listed price is the actual price we charge.
