When requesting photography from a cameraman, it is very important to check the average shooting fee beforehand. In the first place, it is important to understand the appropriate fee settings beforehand, such as whether it is possible to shoot within your budget, and if you can make a request, whether you are a professional photographer or an amateur photographer.
In this article, I will introduce the market price of shooting fees from professional photographers to amateur photographers and the factors that make up the fees. Also, terms related to photographers are slightly ambiguous, so they are defined as follows.
[Photographer] A person who takes pictures
[Videographer] A person who shoots videos (images/videos)
[Photographer] A person who takes photos and videos
I will introduce the market price when you ask a professional photographer to take a photo or video.
Professional photographers make a living by taking photos, so you can request a shoot with confidence.
It is something that only professionals can expect, such as suggestions at the time of shooting and dealing with problems in the unlikely event of an emergency, etc., and if quality is important, it is a good idea to request a professional photographer.
The shooting fee for a professional photographer varies depending on shooting conditions and the cameraman, but there are many cases where the fee ranges from tens of thousands of yen per hour to around 200,000 yen if it is a one-day restraint.
In addition to shooting costs, there are also cases where transportation costs to the shooting location, equipment rental costs, and retouching fees after shooting are added.
I will mainly introduce examples of photography fees actually traded at “TOTTA,” where you can request a professional photographer to take business-related shoots.
Beauty-related product photography at the house studio (photo studio). Take photos while doing lighting and styling. The photographer's restraint time is 7 hours.
I visited an orthopedic clinic and took a photo for the website. The photographer's restraint time is 3 hours.
Snapshot of a corporate anniversary party. Detention time is 2 hours.
Wedding photography starts at around 15,000 to 20,000 yen per film if you are a budding photographer, but if you are a professional photographer with a background, the average price is around 50,000 to 200,000 yen. When it comes to shooting a wedding from morning preparations to the end of the reception, you will be detained for a long time, so the fee is extra compared to shooting for a short period of time.
If you request a wedding fographer via a wedding hall, the market price is around 200,000 to 300,000 yen. (In the case of a request via a wedding hall, in most cases, an employee photographer of a photography company that has a contract with the wedding hall or an outsourced freelance photographer takes pictures)
Among wedding photographers, there are also photographers who receive requests directly from the bride and groom rather than requests from the wedding venue. The approximate average price for popular wedding photographers who receive requests directly via SNS such as Instagram is a shooting fee of around 200,000 yen per day.
If you request an album creation after shooting, you will be charged an additional fee.
The bride and groom need to be aware of the following “rules” when requesting their own photographers for wedding shoots. If you have signed up for a wedding venue, we recommend that you always check this point beforehand.
If the bride and groom request an external wedding photographer, they will lose 200,000 to 300,000 yen in sales as a wedding venue.
Therefore, when an external photographer starts shooting, it may be necessary to pay an additional fee to the wedding hall as a “carry-on fee.”
There may be places where external photographers cannot enter due to “safety reasons” or “operational reasons for the ceremony.” If you are a photographer at a wedding hall, you can take a “kiss of the oath” from the chapel center, but outside photographers cannot take pictures from the center... etc., various restrictions may apply.
In the first place, there are also ceremonial halls where requests to external photographers themselves are prohibited.
If it becomes clear that a request to an external photographer cannot be made after signing a contract, there is no choice but to request a fographer at the ceremony hall, but it seems that there are cases where it works well if pre-negotiations before the contract, such as “there is a photographer I really want to request, and if they allow the request from that photographer, I can sign a contract” before the contract.
In the case of a professional photographer who specializes in shooting Shichigosan, etc., the shooting fee is 20,000 to 30,000 yen for about 1 hour of shooting, depending on the region. (There are many cases where children's photography basically ends in about 1 hour)
If you request printing or album production after shooting, you will be charged in addition to the shooting fee.
The fee for shooting a video is much higher than the fee for shooting a photo.
If it's just shooting, the average price starts at 50,000 to 100,000 yen as a shooting fee. When it comes to video production costs with editing, the fee fluctuates greatly from 10,000 to 500,000 yen depending on the scale of shooting. It is not uncommon for large-scale shoots that require models, hair and makeup, stylists, narration, etc. to cost 1 million yen or more.
The main reason why video shooting and production costs are expensive compared to photography is that the cost of shooting equipment is high, there are many cases where not only shooting but also direction is required, and editing work also takes a lot of time and effort.
If a video production is requested along with editing, it takes 2 to 3 months to create a single video, such as editing, meetings before shooting, and exchanging previews of edited data.
In the case of wedding recording, there are variations depending on whether to shoot all of the ceremony, shoot only the first half, edit it as a digest video, or use it for end rolls, etc., but if editing is involved, it is generally around 200,000 to 400,000 yen.
When a freelance videographer shoots with a single camera, the approximate cost is around 50,000 to 100,000 yen for shooting alone, and 150,000 to 200,000 yen including editing.
There are also photographers who have other main jobs and do shooting work as a side job. There are also school photographers who take photos for children and families such as Shichigosan, shooting couple photos, shooting school events such as field days and school trips, and wedding photography as side jobs.
The shooting fee for amateur photographers is generally around a few thousand yen to 20,000 yen, depending on the shooting content and the photographer who is dealing with it.
There are many cases where shooting equipment is cheaper than professional photographers, and there are also cases where there is no preparation for a backup secondary camera in the unlikely event that the main camera breaks. Other than that, if you use a camera that cannot back up and store photo and video data on 2 SD cards, etc., there is a risk that there is no remedy if the data on the SD card becomes unreadable.
(There are cases where data is transferred even on SD cards used by professionals. (That's why I use a camera that can save 2 images at the same time)
Therefore, when requesting photography from an amateur photographer, it is recommended to check in advance what kind of equipment they are using, whether they have a backup device, and whether they are storing an SD card at the same time.
The main contents where shooting fees fluctuate are as follows.
There are many cases where photographers with little shooting experience, such as budding photographers, can be requested at low cost in order to gain experience or enhance their own portfolios (work collections).
Also, there are many cases where shooting fees are estimated based on shooting guarantees that you usually receive. Therefore, if you are a cameraman who regularly handles shooting sites where high skill is required on a regular basis, the shooting fee will naturally increase.
It is not uncommon for professional cameraman matching site TOTTA to present shooting fees in the range of 50,000 to 300,000 yen despite the same shooting content.
Examples include the following cases.
Examples include the following cases.
In addition to shooting videos, various additional costs may be incurred when performing production such as editing and direction. Below is an example.
It depends on the photographer's way of thinking, but if you are asked to shoot a film that many people can see, you may be presented with a higher shooting fee than normal, considering its influence. Conversely, if it's a big project, it's also a track record of “being in charge of this shooting,” so it's true that there are photographers who want to receive requests even at a discount.
There are many photographers who calculate fees based on time of detention. The longer the restraint period, the higher the shooting fee.
If the restraint time is not fixed, it is difficult for the cameraman to present a shooting fee. Therefore, it would be nice to be able to present even a certain amount of restraint time in advance when consulting with a photographer about photography.
If the shooting location is far away, additional distance fees and accommodation fees may be added in addition to transportation expenses.
Retouching is a very time-consuming process.
There are many cases where the work called RAW processing to correct color and brightness after shooting is included in the shooting fee, but tasks such as cleaning the skin and erasing electric wires hanging from the building take a reasonable amount of time.
If you wish to have detailed retouching, you will need to pay an additional fee based on the data delivered after shooting.
After shooting, photo data is generally delivered after performing photo selection work (selection) and work called RAW development to adjust color and brightness.
If the delivery date is accelerated, the work will be prioritized over delivery work for other shoots, so additional fees may be charged.
If video data is delivered as it has been shot, no major work will occur after shooting, so in many cases the fee does not change, but when editing as one package after shooting, it generally takes about a month or more, depending on the shooting and volume.
When this process is accelerated, as is the case with photos, it is handled with priority over time for other shooting and editing tasks, so additional fees may be incurred.
Also, when it comes to video editing, in the case of business-related videos, the edit data does not arrive immediately after shooting, and confirmation work is carried out step by step and proceeding while obtaining approval.
Therefore, when speeding up video delivery, not only the videographer but also the requester side is required to respond as soon as possible.
Professional photographers make a living by shooting, so they shoot on a daily basis. I have experienced various types of shooting, and I have learned from experience how to respond to the situation for the best shooting.
Also, the job of a professional photographer is to listen to the photos and images that clients are looking for and then shape them. On the other hand, when shooting as a hobby, there are no clients, so professional photographers are far superior in their skill of “hearing what is being sought and putting it into shape.”
Also, when it comes to shooting equipment, we have models for professionals. The image changes drastically depending on the camera, lens, and certification used to shoot.
Therefore, if your budget allows, we recommend that you request an important shooting from a professional photographer who makes a living.
The photographer's technical ability and experience points have a big impact on shooting fees. Generally, fees for rookie photographers are lower than for veteran photographers. This reflects the fact that new photographers have little track record and that their technical skills still have room to grow.
On the other hand, veteran photographers have high technical skills based on abundant experience and achievements, so there are many cases where higher rewards are required. However, since even new photographers have unique perspectives and sensitivities, there are also clients who bet on that possibility and make requests. It is important to consider not only price but also technical ability, sensibility, and ability to fulfill requests.
However, new photographers need to take into account the possibility that problems may occur due to lack of technical skills or experience.
Also, there is a possibility that you have not yet acquired basic professional attitudes and abilities, such as presenting appropriate fees and meeting delivery dates. In such cases, there may be disadvantages greater than the price, so be careful. On the other hand, some new photographers have high potential, so it is important to build a relationship of trust through discussions and discussions.
The shooting request platform “TOTTA” for professional photographers is a service where you can check the profiles of professional photographers that have been screened, such as their work and career, and send direct messages to discuss photography.
Also, by publicly recruiting photographers, recruitment can be submitted to the entire professional photographer network registered with TOTTA.
If you have an “important shot,” be sure to look for a professional photographer on TOTTA.
