Photography Pricing Calculator
Price the editing, not just the shutter — the hours behind the camera are the smaller half.
Work out what to charge for a shoot. Enter your shoot time, your editing ratio, the hourly rate you want and the job costs, and the calculator prices to your target margin ex-GST — building in the culling, editing and retouching that hourly-only quotes quietly give away for free.
A planning guide from your shoot time, editing ratio, target rate and job costs. Prices vary by genre and market — not financial advice.
How the price is worked out
Total hours first, then price to a margin
The calculator starts with the hours the job really takes: editing hours = shoot time × editing ratio, and total working hours = shoot + editing. A ratio of 2–3× the shoot is typical once you count importing, culling, colour work, retouching, export and delivery. Then it prices: price ex-GST = (total hours × target rate + job costs) ÷ (1 − margin), and adds 10% for the inc-GST figure. The margin sits on top of your labour, because the business has costs of its own.
The number-one pricing mistake is charging for shoot time only and working the editing for free. A rate that looks healthy per shoot hour collapses once it's spread across the hours you actually worked — which is why the breakdown also shows your effective rate per shoot hour.
Worked example
A 3-hour portrait shoot at a 2× ratio is 6 hours of editing — 9 working hours. At $150/hr that's $1,350 of labour, plus about $50 of job costs = $1,400, and at a 20% margin the price is 1,400 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = about $1,750 ex-GST. Scale it to a 10-hour wedding: 20 hours of editing means 30 working hours = $4,500 of labour, plus a second shooter (~$1,000) and an album (~$800) as job costs — around $7,875 ex-GST at the same margin, which sits right in the mid-tier Australian wedding market.
This is a job margin, not net profit. Marketing, tax, the gaps between jobs and your own downtime still come out of it. Use it alongside your profit margin and charge-out rate numbers, not on its own.
What rate and ratio should you use?
The price is only as good as the hours and the rate behind it. These are 2026 Australian planning baselines — always swap in your own numbers:
- Working rates — $100–500/hr. Genre, experience and market set where you land. Newer portrait work sits low; established commercial and editorial work sits high.
- Day rates — $1,200–3,500. Common for full-day commercial and event work, usually with a second shooter charged on top.
- Second shooter — $600–1,200/day. A real job cost for weddings and big events, not something to absorb.
- Mid-tier wedding packages — $4,500–7,500. A useful sanity check: if your costed number lands far outside this, re-check your hours, ratio and costs.
- Editing ratio — 2–3×. Time your own editing across a few jobs and use the real figure. Heavy retouching pushes it higher; high-volume light-edit work pulls it lower.
The biggest error in photography pricing is treating the shoot as the job. It isn't — the shoot is the part the client sees, and the editing is the part that fills your evenings. Count both, price both, and the rate looks after itself.
Job costs, margin and GST
The costs that have to be in the price
Beyond your time, every job carries real costs: travel, prints and albums, a second shooter for big events, insurance, software subscriptions and — the one everyone forgets — gear depreciation. Charge the value the kit loses, not its sticker price: a $15,000 kit that's worth about $9,000 when you replace it has shed $6,000, and spread over roughly 100 jobs that's about $60 a job in wear. Bodies, lenses and cards don't last forever, and if replacing them isn't in your pricing, you're funding it out of your own wage. Put these in as job costs and the margin becomes real instead of imaginary.
Pricing to a margin
Margin is profit as a share of the price, so you divide by one minus the margin: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). A $1,400 job at a 20% margin is 1,400 ÷ 0.80 = $1,750. That's why margin and markup differ — a 20% margin is a 25% markup on cost. The margin is what the business earns after paying you for your hours, and it's what funds the quiet months.
Where GST fits
If you're registered for GST — compulsory once turnover hits $75,000 — the 10% you add belongs to the ATO, not you. Price your margin on the ex-GST figure, then add 10% for the quote. A job priced at $1,750 ex-GST is $1,925 inc-GST. If you're not registered, there's no 10% to add and the two are the same.
❓ Frequently asked Frequently asked questions
How much should a photographer charge?
Working rates in Australia run roughly $100–500 an hour depending on genre, experience and market, with day rates commonly $1,200–3,500 and mid-tier wedding packages around $4,500–7,500. But those headline numbers only make sense once you price the real hours. A 3-hour portrait shoot with a 2× editing ratio is 9 working hours; at $150/hr plus about $50 of job costs and a 20% margin that's roughly $1,750 ex-GST. Start from the hours the job actually takes plus your costs and margin, then sanity-check the result against what your market pays — not the other way around.
How do I price a photography session?
Work out the total working hours first: editing hours = shoot hours × your editing ratio, then add the shoot itself. Multiply the total by the hourly rate you want, add the job costs (travel, prints, second shooter, gear depreciation, insurance), then divide by one minus your target margin: price ex-GST = (total hours × target rate + job costs) ÷ (1 − margin). Add 10% GST on top if you're registered. Pricing this way means the editing, the travel and the gear are all paid for, rather than quietly coming out of your own pocket.
How long does photo editing take?
Typically two to three times the shoot time once you count importing, culling, colour work, retouching, export and delivery. A 3-hour shoot means roughly 6 hours of editing, so 9 working hours all up; a 10-hour wedding can mean 20+ hours at the desk. The ratio climbs for heavy retouching and drops for high-volume work with a light edit. This is the single most under-counted part of photography pricing — time your own editing across a few jobs and use your real ratio rather than a hopeful guess.
Should I charge hourly, a day rate or packages?
Most photographers blend all three. Hourly pricing — with the editing built in, as this calculator does — suits variable and short jobs. A day rate, commonly $1,200–3,500 in Australia and often with a second shooter charged on top at $600–1,200 a day, is simpler for full-day commercial and event work. Packages that bundle prints, albums and galleries move the client's attention from your time to the product and usually earn the most. Whichever you quote, work the number out from total hours plus costs plus margin first — the pricing model is just how you present it.
Why do photographers underprice?
Because they price the visible hours and forget the invisible ones. The number-one mistake is charging for shoot time only and working the editing for free — but admin, marketing, travel, insurance, software, tax and the gaps between jobs are all unpaid too, and gear wears out (a $15,000 kit that loses about $6,000 of value across roughly 100 jobs is around $60 a job). A $1,750 portrait session sounds generous for 3 hours until you notice it's about $583 per shoot hour spread over 9 real hours, before costs. Pricing on total work plus costs plus a genuine margin is what turns a hobby that pays into a business that lasts.
Where these figures come from
Photography pricing is a standard service-business costing method, not a legislated figure. The method here follows mainstream margin pricing practice, with the GST handling set to Australia's 10% goods and services tax.
- Total working hours — editing hours = shoot × ratio (typically 2–3×); total = shoot + editing.
- Price to a margin — price ex-GST = (total hours × target rate + job costs) ÷ (1 − margin); margin is profit as a share of price.
- Job costs — travel, prints and albums, second shooter, insurance, software and gear depreciation (a $15,000 kit losing ~$6,000 of value across ~100 jobs ≈ $60/job).
- GST — Australia's goods and services tax is 10%; a registered photographer adds 10% to the ex-GST price (registration compulsory at $75,000 turnover).
- Baselines — 2026 planning figures only: working rates $100–500/hr, day rates $1,200–3,500, second shooter $600–1,200/day, mid-tier wedding packages $4,500–7,500. Use your own costs.
Last checked: July 2026. This is a planning estimate, not financial or tax advice. Rates, costs and editing times vary by genre, experience and region — use your own figures and confirm your GST treatment with your accountant or the ATO.
Select the question that matches where you are right now.
The headline number is the price to quote for the job ex-GST — your total working hours at your target rate, plus job costs, marked up to your margin. The breakdown splits the shoot from the editing, shows the labour and costs, and gives the inc-GST figure and your effective rate per shoot hour.
Use it as the floor for your quote. If the market won't bear it, either tighten the editing ratio, trim job costs, or accept a thinner margin — the breakdown shows which lever moves the most.
It's not your net profit. Marketing, tax, downtime and the gaps between jobs come out of the job margin, and it isn't tax advice — confirm GST treatment with your accountant.
Watch the rate per shoot hour. It's the number that exposes hourly-only quoting — a job that looks like $580 an hour is really $150 an hour once the editing is counted.
Three things move the price: how long you shoot, how long you edit, and what the job costs you before you've earned a cent.
The most powerful input on the page. At 2× a 3-hour shoot is 9 working hours; at 3× it's 12. Guess it low and you'll work the difference for free.
Travel, prints, a second shooter, insurance and gear depreciation — about $60 a job on a $15k kit. Uncosted, they come straight out of your margin.
The hourly rate pays you for your working time; the margin pays the business on top. Nudge either and watch the ex-GST price and the effective rate per shoot hour move together.
A few habits keep pricing honest across every job, not just the one you're quoting.
Track the desk hours on a few jobs and use your real ratio. Most photographers discover it's higher than the number they'd been assuming.
Divide the kit over the jobs it will shoot before replacement. It's a real cost of every frame, not a one-off you absorbed years ago.
Package prints, albums and galleries so the client buys the product, not your hours — the margin holds and the perceived value rises.
Job pricing is one lever. Model the rest of the business alongside it.