Freelance RateSetting a rate as a photographer and videographer
How this work is usually priced, where the unpaid hours hide, and a worked example you can change to your own numbers.
How this work is priced
Photographers sell packages for an event or a shoot, but the paid hours at the event are small beside the hours before and after: travel, set-up, culling, editing, backup and delivery often double the time.
The unpaid work
Hours that no client pays for here include client calls, location visits, travel, culling and editing, backups, album design, waiting for selections. They are the reason a billable share of 40% is used in the example, not 100%.
Costs to count
Camera bodies and lenses and their wear, memory cards and storage, editing software, insurance for equipment, a car or travel budget. Each belongs in the yearly costs box.
A worked example
These figures are made up to show the working in Indian rupee. Use your own.
| Take-home wanted | ₹7,00,000 |
| Business costs | ₹1,80,000 |
| Profit needed before tax and savings (15% + 10%) | ₹9,33,333 |
| Income to bill in the year | ₹11,13,333 |
| Billable hours (44 weeks, 40 hours, 40% billed) | 704 |
| Hourly floor | ₹1,581 |
| Day rate floor | ₹10,543 |
What changes the answer
- If your billable share falls by 10 points to 30%, the hourly floor rises from ₹1,581 to ₹2,109.
- If you take 3 more weeks off, it rises to ₹1,697.
- If your costs are 25% higher than you planned, it rises to ₹1,645.
A tip for this work
Price on the whole job, not the hours at the event: add shooting, travel and editing hours, then add the share of your equipment cost that this job uses.
Try your own figures
Common questions
Why are the costs so high in this example?
Equipment is the biggest cost for a photographer. Spread its price over the years you will use it, add repairs and replacement, and the yearly cost can be a large part of the income needed.
Should editing time be billed separately?
It is cleaner to include it in the package price, with a number of finished images or hours of edited video promised, so the client compares packages and not hours.
Keep going
Example figures on this site are made up to show the working. They are not market rates or averages. Tax, social-insurance, sales-tax and holiday rules differ by country and change, so this site does not state them: ask the tax authority of your country or an accountant. Checked 14 November 2026.