# Cost of Professional Photographs



## Flame_ (13 March 2014)

What are people paying for professional pics these days? 

I did a charity ride at the weekend and was shocked that the cheapest photo price was higher than the ride entry! What do people think is reasonable for a standard size pro pic? Am I being tight thinking over a tenner is too much?

Thanks


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## Captain Bridget (13 March 2014)

Personally I think over £10 is pretty steep too! I was out hunting Sunday and have the choice between two photos from different photographers. One is £13.50 for a 7" x 5", the other is £10 for the same, or £8 for a high res digital image. Think I know who I'm going with!


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## Bazzel (13 March 2014)

my favourite local event photographers charge £7 for a 5x7 and £12.50 for A4 or £5 for just the digital image, but that is also supplied free with any purchased print. I think this is ok, especially compared to other local ones who charge anything from £12-£20. But I would buy twice as many photos if the price for one was nearer £5, anything over £10 is a bit much particularly if the picture isn't all that special.


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## Jo_x (13 March 2014)

If the pics are under £10 I will invariably buy two. If they're more than that they have to be amazing for me to buy one at all and I certainly wouldn't get two!


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## Pigeon (13 March 2014)

I wanted one from dressage and the digital copy was £20 :O No ta, lol!!


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## humblepie (14 March 2014)

I think I did a similar thread a while back.  Most of ours seem to be around £12 - £15 at the least and that puts me off buying.   I do wonder if they were cheaper if they would sell more so actually make more.


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## MagicMelon (14 March 2014)

Captain Bridget said:



			Personally I think over £10 is pretty steep too! I was out hunting Sunday and have the choice between two photos from different photographers. One is £13.50 for a 7" x 5", the other is £10 for the same, or £8 for a high res digital image. Think I know who I'm going with!
		
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As a photographer (not horsey), you guys all have to remember you're not just paying for the image - you're paying to help cover that persons travel to/from the event and spend all day there (most photographers aren't paid to be there), the equipment which is very expensive!!, insurance, training that photographer has had, time for the person to edit the photos (with expensive software) and then get them printed. £10 is not expensive for a print. £8 is actually IMO too cheap for digital, the digital images should be more expensive than the prints since you can make as many copies of that as you like. Please remember its not just some random person clicking on a cheapo camera with no overheads that you're buying from!

I don't intend to get into horse event photography as its just too difficult for the very reason that it takes an entire day in often horrid weather and horsey folk still won't pay much at the end of it! If you think an image is £10, that photographer will need to sell a lot of images to cover their days work...


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## chestnut cob (14 March 2014)

I don't mind paying the prices as long as the images are good.  There is a company who cover a lot of events local to me and they always take fantastic photos, and will often do a deal if you buy more than one.  Most photographers I've seen charge more for digital images because you can make copies, which you can't with prints.  Happy to pay £10-£12 for a print, but I don't buy many as they need to be good for that.  I went to an event last year where the photographer was charging around that price, but the photos were AWFUL.  Every horse had been caught either at the second before they leave the ground in front of a jump, or just as they'd gone over it.  Really, really bad photos, and they wondered why no one bought any.  They took about 15 pics of me and my horse, not a single one was at the right moment,  I refuse to pay £10 for an image taken too early or too late, I can get my sister to take pics like that for free


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## Jo_x (14 March 2014)

MagicMelon said:



			As a photographer (not horsey), you guys all have to remember you're not just paying for the image - you're paying to help cover that persons travel to/from the event and spend all day there (most photographers aren't paid to be there), the equipment which is very expensive!!, insurance, training that photographer has had, time for the person to edit the photos (with expensive software) and then get them printed. £10 is not expensive for a print. £8 is actually IMO too cheap for digital, the digital images should be more expensive than the prints since you can make as many copies of that as you like. Please remember its not just some random person clicking on a cheapo camera with no overheads that you're buying from!

I don't intend to get into horse event photography as its just too difficult for the very reason that it takes an entire day in often horrid weather and horsey folk still won't pay much at the end of it! If you think an image is £10, that photographer will need to sell a lot of images to cover their days work...
		
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Given that you arent just paying for the image you buy, but also the time to take all the ones you don't buy, I often wonder why there aren't better multi-buy discounts - surely once you have taken the photographs, you want to get as much money from them as you can - the overall profit being more important than the profit per print sold?


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## meardsall_millie (14 March 2014)

MagicMelon said:



			As a photographer (not horsey), you guys all have to remember you're not just paying for the image - you're paying to help cover that persons travel to/from the event and spend all day there (most photographers aren't paid to be there), the equipment which is very expensive!!, insurance, training that photographer has had, time for the person to edit the photos (with expensive software) and then get them printed. £10 is not expensive for a print. £8 is actually IMO too cheap for digital, the digital images should be more expensive than the prints since you can make as many copies of that as you like. Please remember its not just some random person clicking on a cheapo camera with no overheads that you're buying from!

I don't intend to get into horse event photography as its just too difficult for the very reason that it takes an entire day in often horrid weather and horsey folk still won't pay much at the end of it! If you think an image is £10, that photographer will need to sell a lot of images to cover their days work...
		
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Although I do appreciate the time, skill, effort, etc, that goes into event photography, this makes it sound like the photographer is doing competitors a favour by being at the event!  At the end of the day it's a business and, as another poster has said, it's about making a profit overall for the event.  The higher the prices, the less pictures that are likely to be sold, so the prices go up for the next event, less photos are sold again.  A vicious circle!

Remember how much it's cost each competitor to be at the event - day to day care of the horse, training, tack, clothing, entry fees, start fees, diesel, cost of keeping the lorry/car/trailer on the road.....  Another £15 or so per photo is not that easy to justify at every event!


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## Capriole (14 March 2014)

Just checked the prices at the last show I went to and it starts at £17 for a 6x8 image, which is interesting as it was £20 last time I looked on the site, and a low reg digital image is £20.
I think they were slightly cheaper on the day but I was mucking out my boxes and getting ready to load up for a long journey home and forgot to go and do it.

I would *maybe* buy one or one each at that price, possibly none.  Another show with cheaper prices in the summer, I bought about 3 beautiful images of each horse.




chestnut cob said:



			I don't mind paying the prices as long as the images are good.  There is a company who cover a lot of events local to me and they always take fantastic photos, and will often do a deal if you buy more than one.  Most photographers I've seen charge more for digital images because you can make copies, which you can't with prints.  Happy to pay £10-£12 for a print, but I don't buy many as they need to be good for that.  I went to an event last year where the photographer was charging around that price, but the photos were AWFUL.  Every horse had been caught either at the second before they leave the ground in front of a jump, or just as they'd gone over it.  Really, really bad photos, and they wondered why no one bought any.  They took about 15 pics of me and my horse, not a single one was at the right moment,  I refuse to pay £10 for an image taken too early or too late, I can get my sister to take pics like that for free 

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Yes, I was disappointed first time I took one of mine to BEF futurity, with the best will in the world, money in my pocket, and an enthusiastic owner, there still wsnt a single picture that was worth buying. And this is an event I really wanted a pro pic of. They were so bad though, in case it was my horse being unphotogenic I looked at most of the horses and all the pictures were dire. Supposedly an equine photographer too. I've never bothered looking at the pics since as it's no longer important to me to have one anyway.


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## Nicky44 (14 March 2014)

Interesting, as my son is a photographer who's just 
starting out, he also does video, very handy when I'm competing. What would you consider a good price for video and photos given on a usb stick, not printed only digital image?


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## Patterdale (14 March 2014)

Can you do as good a job yourself, for less?

If not, then no, it's not too expensive.


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## 3Beasties (14 March 2014)

I always buy a digital image and then I can do what I like with them. One of the photographers that I regularly use charges £3.50 per image, the other charges £1.50. This works out brilliantly as I can buy a few images an not have to find somewhere to display them. They are stored on my laptop, used on FB and forums and I can print them as photos, onto canvas or anything else if I decide to.


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## Mardy Mare (14 March 2014)

The last event I went to, I bought 6 images (high resolution) on a CD at £5 an image.  It was a special event, we had done quite well and the photos were really good so I was happy to pay that.  The photographer also advised that if they were bought on digital format, you were allowed to post them on the Internet (i.e Facebook etc) to share with friends.  

Then, without me knowing, my husband had them all printed (large) and put into a multi-photo picture frame as an anniversary present which looked lovely!  I totally believe they were money well spent.

I have also been to the same event two years previous where a different photographer was used.  Her prints start from £15 each (7"x5"), and high resolution digital prints were 4 times the price (£20 each!) with no discount for multi purchases. I didn't buy any of hers.

I totally understand a photographer has a significant amount to spend on start-up costs, as does any self-employed businessman/woman.  However, once you have the equipment, your expenses are time, fuel costs and insurance. I totally believe that if they were a bit cheaper, more would be sold.  If they were a standard £5 for a digital image, I'd buy one at every show I went to.


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## MagicMelon (14 March 2014)

Nicky44 said:



			Interesting, as my son is a photographer who's just 
starting out, he also does video, very handy when I'm competing. What would you consider a good price for video and photos given on a usb stick, not printed only digital image?
		
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If he's just starting out, my top tip would be for him to get into wedding photography (what our company does) as its a big earner   You're out all day same as with a horse event, but you get to go to pretty mansion houses to deal with really happy people (generally!), get a nice 3 course dinner for free (normally) and then get paid a £1k - £5k for it. Baby photography that I specialise in is also a good earner, people pay lots for their baby memories   I think its very tough to be a horse event photographer but if he has the video then that'd probably be pretty popular (but he'd need several manned cameras up in places round a XC course?). We also do some video in one of our packages and present it mixed in with music and photographs - could be a unique selling point?


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## Nicky44 (14 March 2014)

Thank you for the advice, very helpful. Good idea with video, music and photos


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## Hoof_Prints (14 March 2014)

Last month I paid £6 for a low resolution digital file. never again. It's crap! can hardly make it out and good for nothing  i'd expect to pay £2 for something of that quality and £6 for a high resolution. I won't be doing that again.


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## gingerarab (14 March 2014)

I went to a training event where the photographer did a deal, 15 quid and a disk full of photos !  I have ended up with over 250 of me and the ned absolute fantastic value, really good idea !


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## Twizzel (14 March 2014)

I'll add a different side to this conversation. I am an event photographer in the south west. I cover riding club, pony club level, local agricultural shows, a few qualifier shows for bigger comps... you get the picture (ha, excuse the pun!). I am just entering my 3rd season covering events (after many many years freelancing). 

Onsite I charge £12 per mounted 9x6 print, 3 for £26, 6 for £45. Website prices for unmounted 9x6 £12, 7x5 £8.50, 12x8 £16.50 all plus postage, low res digital file £4 each. This is my revised price list, a slight increase from last year but we have done a winter with this price structure and not one person has complained about the price of prints. 

I'll explain my outgoings for a show, and you may understand why print prices are 'high' (I don't think they are, but some of you seem to think cheap is good). 
- Insurance, camera/printer equipment (cost to purchase and wear and tear), trailer equipment, staff wages, media, mounts, fuel for car, fuel for generator, payment to be at show ranging from sponsoring a class to a fee to attend, lunch. All of those things need to be paid before I even take a penny from the business for the day. My camera equipment cost in the region of £2500 and it's not top of the range, my printer was £1000 and every time I buy media it's a 3 figure bill, generator £400, sales trailer etcetc... Event photography is not cheap and requires a huge amount of financial input before you even get going.

You may all say to sell them cheap at a fiver a print, but that means more work for my sales staff to essentially turn out the same profit- my cost per print is still the same regardless of what I charge. I won't devalue my product. There will always be 'photographers' who sell them cheap and cheerful for £3 a 9x6 print, they don't stay in business very long. 

We have a very loyal, regular client base and our diary is nearly fully booked from April-September despite this being only my 3rd season running under my own name. I don't think my prices are expensive, they aren't cheap either, but we never have a show not worth going to and our diary as I said is fully booked this year- we must be doing something right! But I won't cover a show unless I know I can cover it well, and I have high standards- having worked with other photographers at Hickstead, county shows, BE events I have had fantastic experience in the event photography world before setting up on my own, their high standards have rubbed off on me and I expect that of all my photographers too. 

If you all think our prices are too expensive, please try a day in our shoes! First to get to an event, last to leave, working in all weathers, no breaks, on your feet all day. Then you get home and have to upload all the photos to your website whilst unpacking the trailer/car, cooking dinner, answering the emails asking why the pics aren't online yet... It's not as glamourous as it seems!


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## Queenbee (15 March 2014)

Twizzel said:



			I'll add a different side to this conversation. I am an event photographer in the south west. I cover riding club, pony club level, local agricultural shows, a few qualifier shows for bigger comps... you get the picture (ha, excuse the pun!). I am just entering my 3rd season covering events (after many many years freelancing). 

Onsite I charge £12 per mounted 9x6 print, 3 for £26, 6 for £45. Website prices for unmounted 9x6 £12, 7x5 £8.50, 12x8 £16.50 all plus postage, low res digital file £4 each. This is my revised price list, a slight increase from last year but we have done a winter with this price structure and not one person has complained about the price of prints. 

I'll explain my outgoings for a show, and you may understand why print prices are 'high' (I don't think they are, but some of you seem to think cheap is good). 
- Insurance, camera/printer equipment (cost to purchase and wear and tear), trailer equipment, staff wages, media, mounts, fuel for car, fuel for generator, payment to be at show ranging from sponsoring a class to a fee to attend, lunch. All of those things need to be paid before I even take a penny from the business for the day. My camera equipment cost in the region of £2500 and it's not top of the range, my printer was £1000 and every time I buy media it's a 3 figure bill, generator £400, sales trailer etcetc... Event photography is not cheap and requires a huge amount of financial input before you even get going.

You may all say to sell them cheap at a fiver a print, but that means more work for my sales staff to essentially turn out the same profit- my cost per print is still the same regardless of what I charge. I won't devalue my product. There will always be 'photographers' who sell them cheap and cheerful for £3 a 9x6 print, they don't stay in business very long. 

We have a very loyal, regular client base and our diary is nearly fully booked from April-September despite this being only my 3rd season running under my own name. I don't think my prices are expensive, they aren't cheap either, but we never have a show not worth going to and our diary as I said is fully booked this year- we must be doing something right! But I won't cover a show unless I know I can cover it well, and I have high standards- having worked with other photographers at Hickstead, county shows, BE events I have had fantastic experience in the event photography world before setting up on my own, their high standards have rubbed off on me and I expect that of all my photographers too. 

If you all think our prices are too expensive, please try a day in our shoes! First to get to an event, last to leave, working in all weathers, no breaks, on your feet all day. Then you get home and have to upload all the photos to your website whilst unpacking the trailer/car, cooking dinner, answering the emails asking why the pics aren't online yet... It's not as glamourous as it seems!
		
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And reading this I feel even more humbled because Twizzle takes a wicked photo.  Really, I don't see why people would grumble about such prices,  IMO is pennies to pay for someone capturing some beautiful memories for you.

Twizzle, I'd pay far more than you charge for these lovely memories xx


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## marmalade76 (15 March 2014)

If I can get a 7x5 for a tenner or less I'm happy, if jpegs are a fiver or less I will buy a few (and buy pics that I would not deem good enough to have as a print). Any more than that and I give them a miss. I totally understand the costs involved, my husband is also self employed and I have to do his books, but some of us have a budget to work to and sometimes it's a squeeze to get to a comp at all, let alone shelling out on pics as well.


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## Flame_ (15 March 2014)

Thanks everyone for the replies. Maybe the ride was "too cheap" but it doesn't sit right with me for the photographer to earn more out of it from me than the charity or ride organisation, and the entry being good value would be largely why there were lots of people to photograph.


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## Twizzel (15 March 2014)

It's up to the organisers what they charge for entry though. We often have to pay a fee to be there or even a percentage of what we take on the day. My prints are more expensive than an unaff show jumping round but never have any complaints, what I charge and what the organisation charges are totally separate entities. 

I always find it interesting how many people are happy to pay for food from the caterers and neves take lunch with them, yet aren't as forthcoming when buying photos. But then we always take packed lunch to events  also how many people expect a photographer to be there and moan when  there isn't one, but never buy photos...


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## EstherYoung (15 March 2014)

We are very lucky with our normal ride photographers as they are reasonably priced, they often do offers, they take ruddy good pics, and they also support us as they let us use their pics in our publicity (so the ride does get something out of it too). 

From a personal point of view, I do take a few pics at rides myself for publicity purposes, so I do have an understanding of where ride photographers are coming from, but likewise I have an understanding of when they are taking the pee...

 I saw some really excellent ride pics from a guy I hadn't heard of just recently - they were gallopy ones in a wood and he'd got everything blurred apart from the body/head of the horse. Such a sense of speed with the exact right amount of focus where it counted. I know how hard it is to do that kind of pic  (I managed it once, by accident, and the guy taking my photo class was really impressed) so to hit the mark again and again and again, well done that photographer. I would pay over the odds for a pic like that. 

I also want the photographer to have considered the background. If I'm at a ride I want to be reminded of the ride, not just a hedge that could have been anywhere.... 

I've come across 'lazy snappers' at shows, too. You can tell the ones that understand horses and how they move, and which have just unthinkingly stuck their camera on 'sports'... We did a few big shows with our youngsters and I didn't buy any of the official pics because to be quite honest our amateur ones we'd taken from the edge of the ring were better. Felix was reserve champion Arab at Hambleton and the official photographer didn't take a single pic of him (unless you count a pic of his bum behind another horse as a pic of him) - took loads of all the others but none of him.


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## Kat (15 March 2014)

Since I have had my horse I haven't had a single pro photo taken of her at a show or hunt where a pro photographer has been there :-( 

I bought a couple years ago when I was riding other horses but would love a nice one of my girl.


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## MagicMelon (15 March 2014)

EstherYoung said:



			I also want the photographer to have considered the background. If I'm at a ride I want to be reminded of the ride, not just a hedge that could have been anywhere....
		
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Agree with this, you can tell the more "amateur" type pro photographers as they'll set themselves up at a really boring jump on the XC course for example, when really they would get a lot more sales from being at the scariest jump on the course as this is what we all want photos of ourselves doing! But at the same time, a lot has to to do with decent light as well so sometimes the scariest jump is in a dark bit of wood or something so not ideal. A proper photographer wouldn't miss special photos like Champion ones for example but they may have been elsewhere, depends if they're on their own. 

Re the photographer who charged £15 for a disk with 250 photos on it, well he won't be in business long!


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## Twizzel (15 March 2014)

MagicMelon said:



			Agree with this, you can tell the more "amateur" type pro photographers as they'll set themselves up at a really boring jump on the XC course for example, when really they would get a lot more sales from being at the scariest jump on the course as this is what we all want photos of ourselves doing! But at the same time, a lot has to to do with decent light as well so sometimes the scariest jump is in a dark bit of wood or something so not ideal. A proper photographer wouldn't miss special photos like Champion ones for example but they may have been elsewhere, depends if they're on their own. 

Re the photographer who charged £15 for a disk with 250 photos on it, well he won't be in business long!
		
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Yes agreed, £15 on a disc is too cheap, way too cheap. And were those 250 photos of any decent quality? Because without being rude even we don't produce 250 photos of every horse, a rediculous number of images. 

The problem with XC especially unaffiliated is you need to get everyone. I always put a photographer on the 2nd or 3rd jump- it may not be the scariest or biggest but you need to account for those that will also get eliminated, if you've got them going over a very early jump then they will at least have photos from 1 fence. 

Light can be an issue as can backgrounds, clean backgrounds can be hard to come across. You may have the most fantastic big jump but if the sunlight is in the wrong place it won't work. Hard one trying to please everyone! R.e championships in showing, missing one is a big no no like magicmelon says and any event photographer should always cover the championships- if they are off in another ring then they should have more staff


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## EstherYoung (15 March 2014)

MagicMelon said:



			A proper photographer wouldn't miss special photos like Champion ones for example but they may have been elsewhere, depends if they're on their own.
		
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Oh they were in the ring, they just didn't take any pics of our boy


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## noname (15 March 2014)

MagicMelon said:



			Agree with this, you can tell the more "amateur" type pro photographers as they'll set themselves up at a really boring jump on the XC course for example, when really they would get a lot more sales from being at the scariest jump on the course as this is what we all want photos of ourselves doing! But at the same time, a lot has to to do with decent light as well so sometimes the scariest jump is in a dark bit of wood or something so not ideal. A proper photographer wouldn't miss special photos like Champion ones for example but they may have been elsewhere, depends if they're on their own. 

Re the photographer who charged £15 for a disk with 250 photos on it, well he won't be in business long!
		
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I think a few photographers have said that the problem with scary fences or more difficult fences is that they may not be jumped very well so the picture would look rubbish and so is not bought! 

Re photographers costs, a good camera will cost £1,000 ( I know people using more expensive ones but your'll get decent images from around the £1,000 mark. Then you will need computers and software probably another £1,000 and then your trade stand. £££? However these are one off sunk costs and every business has set up cost. The day to day running costs are simply fuel, ink and photographic paper, mounts, CDs, USBs etc So actually the running cost of a business is very low. At a BE event or the average small to mid sized show, fun ride etc you get 200 competitors and the bigger shows a lot more so at £10 an image your on £2,000 a day. So your running costs are covered and your into profit or recouping your set up costs a lot quicker than most businesses!!! I appreciate not everyone buys a photo but some will buy two or three. 

At the big events like badminton I saw more spectators buying images than riders aswell. Also don't forget the photos can be sold to magazines at a much higher rate and riders sponsors also pay really well for them! More like £50 an image. 

Also if you have the gear their is no reason just to specialise in horses! Can do weddings etc when you don't have events to go to. It's clearly a viable business as there are so many photographers. 

Last time I purchased images I got 2 standard size in mounts for £18 which I was really pleased with. If it's too expensive I don't bother!


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## Twizzel (15 March 2014)

noname said:



			I think a few photographers have said that the problem with scary fences or more difficult fences is that they may not be jumped very well so the picture would look rubbish and so is not bought! 

Re photographers costs, a good camera will cost £1,000 ( I know people using more expensive ones but your'll get decent images from around the £1,000 mark. Then you will need computers and software probably another £1,000 and then your trade stand. £££? However these are one off sunk costs and every business has set up cost. The day to day running costs are simply fuel, ink and photographic paper, mounts, CDs, USBs etc So actually the running cost of a business is very low. At a BE event or the average small to mid sized show, fun ride etc you get 200 competitors and the bigger shows a lot more so at £10 an image your on £2,000 a day. So your running costs are covered and your into profit or recouping your set up costs a lot quicker than most businesses!!! I appreciate not everyone buys a photo but some will buy two or three. 

At the big events like badminton I saw more spectators buying images than riders aswell. Also don't forget the photos can be sold to magazines at a much higher rate and riders sponsors also pay really well for them! More like £50 an image. 

Also if you have the gear their is no reason just to specialise in horses! Can do weddings etc when you don't have events to go to. It's clearly a viable business as there are so many photographers. 

Last time I purchased images I got 2 standard size in mounts for £18 which I was really pleased with. If it's too expensive I don't bother!
		
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A few points you've made I'd like to address; 

Yes startup costs are expensive (£1000 on all software and equipment no chance, the printer alone is £1k), but running costs are also expensive. A box of media (ink and paper) for my printer costs £92 + vat for 9x6  size, which gives you 360 prints. Sounds a lot, but it's not really. Fuel as we all know is costly for both my car and generator. Mounts, cds etc are not cheap when you're buying several hundred at a time with no guarantee that they will all sell. You've forgotten the fees we have to pay just to be at the event, staff wages, insurance, wear and tear on kit. Plus the time you spend at home uploading images to the website, website fees, time spent sourcing events, planning for events. We don't just rock up on the day and take pictures, there's so much more time and effort spent planning before we get there. So all of that needs to be accounted for before I even take a wage for the day, and I cost my time at £20/hr. 

You say if we get 200 competitors and each buys a print for a tenner we make £2000. No chance, the percentage of competitors we sell to especially at local events is more like 10-15% maybe 20% on a good day. 

I have all the right gear for equestrian sports... I should go into weddings right? Wrong, my gear is totally focused towards shooting high action, all weather sporting events, not portriats or weddings. Plus weddings are traditionally held on Saturdays and peak season for weddings is April-September... oh... that's when the equestrian event season is too. 

You might get good images from a camera costing £1000, but you need a lens too, and that's another £1000. Plus all the memory cards at a tenner a pop, batteries etc, plus bearing in mind these things do go wrong- my lens broke last year, the autofocus motor died- £240 later it was fixed. You've got to allow for wear and tear to gear due to the heavy use it gets. 

You might ask why we do it! Sometimes I wonder myself but I love it and cannot wait for the season to start just like you guys who can't wait to get competing, but it's not an easy thing to do and very few people actually appreciate how much work goes into running an event photography business- I certainly didn't when I started up under my own name 3 seasons ago.


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## dollymix (15 March 2014)

Twizzel said:



			A few points you've made I'd like to address; 

Yes startup costs are expensive (£1000 on all software and equipment no chance, the printer alone is £1k), but running costs are also expensive. A box of media (ink and paper) for my printer costs £92 + vat for 9x6  size, which gives you 360 prints. Sounds a lot, but it's not really. Fuel as we all know is costly for both my car and generator. Mounts, cds etc are not cheap when you're buying several hundred at a time with no guarantee that they will all sell. You've forgotten the fees we have to pay just to be at the event, staff wages, insurance, wear and tear on kit. Plus the time you spend at home uploading images to the website, website fees, time spent sourcing events, planning for events. We don't just rock up on the day and take pictures, there's so much more time and effort spent planning before we get there. So all of that needs to be accounted for before I even take a wage for the day, and I cost my time at £20/hr. 

You say if we get 200 competitors and each buys a print for a tenner we make £2000. No chance, the percentage of competitors we sell to especially at local events is more like 10-15% maybe 20% on a good day. 

I have all the right gear for equestrian sports... I should go into weddings right? Wrong, my gear is totally focused towards shooting high action, all weather sporting events, not portriats or weddings. Plus weddings are traditionally held on Saturdays and peak season for weddings is April-September... oh... that's when the equestrian event season is too. 

You might get good images from a camera costing £1000, but you need a lens too, and that's another £1000. Plus all the memory cards at a tenner a pop, batteries etc, plus bearing in mind these things do go wrong- my lens broke last year, the autofocus motor died- £240 later it was fixed. You've got to allow for wear and tear to gear due to the heavy use it gets. 

You might ask why we do it! Sometimes I wonder myself but I love it and cannot wait for the season to start just like you guys who can't wait to get competing, but it's not an easy thing to do and very few people actually appreciate how much work goes into running an event photography business- I certainly didn't when I started up under my own name 3 seasons ago.
		
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Very well said!


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## Pigeon (15 March 2014)

Event photography is a lot of pressure! 

I'm a pro photographer, but couldn't do what Twizzel does!! It's quite a high stress environment  

I agree, the equipment is massively expensive, and not only do you often need to pay for maintenance, but spares of everything - this is particularly important for event photography. Photoshop alone is £700, and fairly essential. I don't want to admit how much my computer cost, but it was well over a grand  You need something fairly high powered when dealing with that volume of images, the average desktop doesn't really cut it. Batteries and memory cards average out at about £30 a pop, and you can never have too many. Even things like a camera bag, are in the region of £100. 

I outsource printing because running a professional standard printer is HUGELY expensive. 

I think you COULD do event photography after an initial outlay of £2k, but it would be very difficult and stressful, and if your technology failed (which trust me, happens all the time and is quite inexplicable) you'd be really screwed, because you wouldn't be able to afford spares on that budget. 

Sorry, got a bit off topic here, but I do agree that you can't charge pittance for prints.


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## Santa_Claus (15 March 2014)

Can't really add much to what Twizzel has said.

I am also an event photographer although I don't cover many events as the official photographer I'm more often found at events as press/media or personally I do do weddings/portraits.

Because only a small percentage of my work is events I don't offer on site printing but that doesn't reduce my costs much and infact raises them as I use a third party print supplier which charges more per print than if I did them myself but sorts out all the printing/sales side of it for me.

I know I lose sales by not offering on site printing but I have to accept that. Most of the events I cover are indoors so my current print/digital file rates are actually lower than what they would be for outdoor events as no matter how good the light is inside the particular venue the photo is always going to contain a boring indoor school wall which doesn't make for an exciting photo. They are still not as cheap as some because I have to cover costs but I would call them very reasonable.

I also fed up of being asked whether I will be covering an event, and when I do and am told by competitors that the photos are great but they then don't buy any. Currently other competitors who do make it viable to cover the event but if that changes I can't cover an event for what can easily turn out at far less than minimum wage!

Also £1000 of camera equipment is fine for an outdoor event on a sunny day. Indoors on a not so day think closer £3k if not more. I easily have in region of £10k of kit in just camera bodies/lenses etc although have several for wedding/portrait work that I wouldn't normally use at an equestrian show but I don't have the top top end kit but a step below.

Another frustration and this time as both a competitor and a photographer is photographers whom cover events they are not set up to do so. I realise my limitations sales wise and therefore only cover small one arena local events, I would happily cover a ODE as part of a team but it is pointless on my own. I competed at a HT last year where there was one photographer who sited himself at a horribly boring fence he shot head on and had a second camera on a remote at a very strange angle at the same fence. End result not one single photo I would even consider buying. It wasn't even as it it was an early fence where as Twizzel said could be for strategic reasons but was about 4 from the end of a BE novice track with several great photo fences (I've covered the venue for press several times so know!) my question was WHY WHY WHY

Sorry rant over


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## Honey08 (16 March 2014)

For me it often depends on the photos.  Sometimes I've seen an absolutely wonderful shot of my horse that I've had to buy, and it wouldn't matter if it was £10 or £30.  Other times there have been loads of me, but as someone has previously said, the photographer had no idea about horses or jumping, so they were nothing special.  I've often been at major horse trials and seen photographer's stands offering portraits at home of your animals for a few hundred and considered it because the photos were just so special, yet equally I won a portrait session from an animal photographer in a raffle last year and still haven't got round to it because, to be honest, nothing on their website seemed any better than things we've taken ourselves.


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## Santa_Claus (16 March 2014)

A good home shoot should be good sadly again you get a huge variety of standards. I know local photographers who charge £30 for all your photos from an hour shoot. I couldn't afford to charge £30 even if I did no editing which they don't do either! For portrait shoots you are looking for artistic flair to come in not just taking a pretty picture!

I won't post any examples of mine as will be deemed advertising but for a home shoot look at examples of their portfolio, you need to love what they produce. Sounds like the one you have a voucher for is probably one of the entry level photographers who may well be a technically a good photographer but who can't produce that special image that you want if paying ££s


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## S D Jones. (25 January 2016)

I'm a pro photographer and as a whole images sell themselves if they are good enough. 
I will adjust my prices accordingly to accommodate certain events and the demand. 
Over £10 for anything under 8x10 is too much and I always give a discount for multiple prints. The digital file is always more expensive than a print as we all have to make a living. But coming from a horse background (none rider) I know that horse riders are very careful with there money. But the low down is that image quality and knowing the subject will always come first. However I know of certain photographers that charge over £30/£40 for prints.


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## JenTaz (26 January 2016)

I've only bought photos from the yard I compete on at uni, mainly because its the only place i've competed at which has had a photographer. I think they charge £8/9 for a 6x4 but you get the digital image for free, I usually buy 2/3 photos at a dressage event and 2 at a showjumping so that's 4/5 pictures a month, I've never grumbled about their prices, they are lovely friendly people who run the photography business and I understand how expensive kit they use, I have my own camera which was near on £500 just for taking photos of my friends riding and holidays etc.

I have however been to one show while away from uni and the photographer was wanting £20 for a printed photo which was blurry! I think as long as you have a good photographer taking the pictures, no one should moan about the price, at the end of the day they're a luxury item, they're going to have a luxury price tag too.


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## Girlracer (26 January 2016)

I went to an event in September and a digital image was £18! It wasn't a big event, it was an unaffiliated 80.... 

I think around 10-12 is fair, I actually prefer to buy a digital image which of course cuts down their costs too so I would expect that to be a little less.


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## StableMum (11 July 2016)

I've just paid £25 for two digital images on USB thinking I could get some nice canvases. When I got them home found out that they were very low resolution - only 1mp and not much use for anything other than the smallest print or facebook. There was nothing to suggest that they would be anything other than a normal photo.  Feeling cheated.


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## FfionWinnie (11 July 2016)

At the end of the day who will buy them other than the owner of the horse.  Personally if I were an event photographer, I would want over all profit to be up ie high sales over high price per image. 

There is a company that does events near me and their show day multi buys are fair enough but after the fact it is extortionate and I won't often see one I like enough to buy. If they were cheaper for digital images, I would buy a photo I was less keen on. 

Often my OH will have got as good or better images than the pro tog anyway and he had no training whatsoever (other than my disappointed face in the early days when he missed the fence, cut her legs off etc etc lol) and a fairly low end bridge camera. 

Unless it's an absolutely outstanding pic, and let's face it rarely does everything come together for me where I am completely happy with the whole thing and don't have a stupid expression on my face (!) all I want to do with it is post it on FB and I want a decent image for that not a low res rubbish one.


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## FlyingCircus (11 July 2016)

FfionWinnie said:



			At the end of the day who will buy them other than the owner of the horse.  Personally if I were an event photographer, I would want over all profit to be up ie high sales over high price per image. 

There is a company that does events near me and their show day multi buys are fair enough but after the fact it is extortionate and I won't often see one I like enough to buy. If they were cheaper for digital images, I would buy a photo I was less keen on. 

Often my OH will have got as good or better images than the pro tog anyway and he had no training whatsoever (other than my disappointed face in the early days when he missed the fence, cut her legs off etc etc lol) and a fairly low end bridge camera. 

Unless it's an absolutely outstanding pic, and let's face it rarely does everything come together for me where I am completely happy with the whole thing and don't have a stupid expression on my face (!) all I want to do with it is post it on FB and I want a decent image for that not a low res rubbish one.
		
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Agree with this. I'm more likely to buy 5 £5 pics that are abit "meh" looking to stick on FB as a memory of the day than I am to buy 1 £10 pic that is also abit "meh".


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## chestnut cob (11 July 2016)

I actually very rarely buy pro photos.  Most events I've been to seem to hire photographers who take all of their pics at just the wrong second - that awful moment when a horse is just about to take off over a fence and it looks like an elephant, or the wrong part of a trot or canter stride.  My OH takes better pics that that so I only buy the photos if they're really special.


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## rachk89 (11 July 2016)

I recently bought 2 £5 photos for a multi picture frame I have to fill with pictures of my horse. Love the photos, I look like crap (but doesnt everyone think they look awful in photos?), but the horse looks amazing. Well timed photos and the rest on the site were too really, wasnt often the guy got one wrong.

Think it just depends on the photographer. We have a couple of great photographers up here, not seen a bad one yet.


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## lannerch (11 July 2016)

I have a lot of pro photos of my horse, so I am not interested in buying more at high prices.
What I will always be interested in buying us low resolution jpegs for no more than £5. For Facebook,  However these are rarely available, and if they are well overpriced ( £10 each at Warwick hall event last weekend and this for low resolution) if reasonably priced I would buy several at every event. Instead I buy nothing as they never are!


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## FabioandFreddy (12 July 2016)

I remember years back one of my first dressage competitions on my old horse, Julia Shearwood was doing the photography and done a deal for the lot on disc. I wish more photographers would do that as like others have said - the pictures are usless to anyone else bar the horses owner and i generally like more than one pic (if the photographer is good at their job! I more often than not buy more than one picture anyway as my husband will usually be videoing rather than photographing so its nice to have memories of the day. I think people would be swayed to buy more for deals like that rather than extortionate prices for one picture. But then even if i think they're overpriced i will buy anyway!!


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## HufflyPuffly (12 July 2016)

I'm now feeling super lucky with the togs round by me, generally I can get 10-15 low res jpegs for facebook for the £20-£30 mark ! I'll buy a printed out picture if it's a champs or a particularly fab result (baby horses first win, show pony winning at an agri show, etc), but much prefer to buy a bunch of low res ones for social media, as I'm generally on my own so it's a nice way of getting some memento's or an insight to what we actually looked like .


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## spacefaer (12 July 2016)

Round here, there is a fairly well established pro photographer and another one just setting up, going full time this season.

They charge £2.50/£3 for a fb friendly low res image, with a 4 for £10 offer. You pay on their website and the images are immediately emailed to you. They do a lot of fun rides and local showjumping. 

You can also order prints, both onsite and from the website, but I would imagine that the majority of their sales from those events are from the digital images - they're cheap and fun, and to be honest, those sort of events are rarely likely to produce images that need printable pics!


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## Sukistokes2 (12 July 2016)

I usually go to shows on my own so unless a friend happens to be there i do not get many opportunities to have pictures of me riding. Thanks to our local pro I have some lovely shots of my horses and even me, although I am shocked that he can't make me look size 12!!! I usually have digital versions but have bought photos when the shots have been stunning. The range of options open it to all pockets and I feel that all in all they are value for money, esp when you have a superb photographer on site.
<<<<<< That is  a shot taken and BOUGHT from a pro.  Alec Murrell


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## nikkimariet (12 July 2016)

I love photos of Fig. But I'm a one horse owner, not doing this for an owner or yard etc. It's all for me. I sometimes wince at another £20/30 but hey screw it I'll get the pic anyway!

In fact the only ones I've been disappointed with recently were some digital images that were rubbish quality! And they still cost me a tenner each! Would rather fork out more for the real thing and then scan and edit it myself!


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## MagicMelon (12 July 2016)

Sorry but the cheapness is why so many event photographers dont last long. Its extremely expensive to be a professional photographer (if done properly), we have huge outlays on things like equipment, insurance, software etc. We personally do most types of photography including events but only those we are paid to attend in the first place, we'd never consider doing horse events just turning up and hoping to make a profit in sales because it just doesn't happen. As there are photographers at most shows these days, they have to work extremely hard to get that lucky shot that gets someone to buy it - otherwise, they're all pretty samey. I know when I compete, I dont always buy the photograph - it has to be quite special. I don't really know why some photographers bother with horse events, they can't possibly make much considering the time they've spent at the event and then editing and sending out images after... its great they're there in that I like to see what they get but I can only imagine they do it for fun as opposed to actually making a decent living off it. 

nikkimariet - you realise thats actually illegal to make a copy of the print and edit it yourself... copyright rules mean you're not allowed to do that to someone else's work!  I'd be livid if someone did that to me! (and no you do not buy the copyright when you purchase a jpeg or print, the copyright legally remains with the photographer).


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## Bexx (12 July 2016)

I don't mind paying for good quality photos that come in a nice mount or something, some photographers round here to deals or put 2 photos together and caption it for you, which I really like. However I was disappointed at Aske the other week when 2 photos, not in a mount or anything cost me £28! I thought that was pretty overpriced


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## Jnhuk (12 July 2016)

What folks also don't realise the time it takes to edit, sort and upload all those event photos so event the jpeg ones that are emailed out have had attention to them

I will always try to purchase off an event photographer if the photo is decent even if just a small jpeg for social media use as I love photos and appreciate having them there.

I just recently did walk the walk and there was an event photographer there taking pictures - they were £30 each and they were not great even though we posed for the photos so not even an action shot so made me appreciate our horsey togs!


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## Boulty (13 July 2016)

It does seem to have quite a lot of variation.  I always prefer to buy digital images as the main thing I do with them is stick them on social media.  It has to be a VERY nice pic for me to decide to buy a print by choice. (although if it's somewhere doing print on the day then I'm more inclined to do that)  Going rate seems to be anything up to about £5 for a digital image of facebook quality (I have paid a little more for high-res versions) and maybe about £10 for a 7x5.  I'm another that may buy several pics that are just "ok" if on a deal where I would maybe only have bought one or none otherwise.


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## FfionWinnie (13 July 2016)

I'm quite aware of what it costs to run a business but it makes sense to make more money over all surely. 

I can't see the benefit of selling a couple of highly priced prints, over selling at least one image to everyone there and making more money. 

The photos are completely worthless except to the owner of the horse. 

There has to be a bottom line as to what it costs them to be there for the day then profit worked on top of that. 

It's not really relevant to say oh but they could earn 5k at a wedding, if they were able to earn 5k at a wedding I'm sure they would be there earning it!


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## HufflyPuffly (13 July 2016)

FfionWinnie said:



			I'm quite aware of what it costs to run a business but it makes sense to make more money over all surely. 

I can't see the benefit of selling a couple of highly priced prints, over selling at least one image to everyone there and making more money. 

The photos are completely worthless except to the owner of the horse. 

There has to be a bottom line as to what it costs them to be there for the day then profit worked on top of that. 

It's not really relevant to say oh but they could earn 5k at a wedding, if they were able to earn 5k at a wedding I'm sure they would be there earning it!
		
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This entirely, it must make more sense to try and earn that x amount of pounds per dressage test/competitor, than get a few highly priced prints per day? Cutting your nose off by not offering a budget option only hurts your own business, as there are lots of people happy to have lower quality pictures taken by friends and family for social media... 

I love that there are a couple of brill photographer's at some of the venues I frequent, without them I would never have pictures of my day. However I will only buy low res jpegs for a few pounds each as a) I cannot afford more than that and b) I much prefer to have a few pictures showing the test than only one of one moment in time.

My ideal is when the video people are there, as I can look back on my test, review and assess!


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## supsup (13 July 2016)

I have a favourite photographer who does amazing pictures - they are art, not just a snapshot. He doesn't sell on the day, but with about a day's delay via his webpage, and you can order digital or prints. I tend to go for the good quality digital ones, as I like putting them on social media, but will also have a print made of the occasional one (sometimes as a picture/wallart, or on a mug, calendar...). I pay £10 per picture, and think that is very a reasonable price for what I get. Got two new ones just the other weekend 
I've also had some rather mediocre pictures taken at other events. If the picture is only just a snapshot of the day and doesn't stand out particularly, I am less tempted to get it.


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