To price photography packages, use one rule: package price = hours x your rate + costs. Count every hour a job takes, not only the shoot. Below is one worked example with made-up numbers: three tiers, a 30% deposit and one add-on, all priced from the same math. Redo it with your own rate. If you want to test the proposal side first, the trial checklist lists what to try in a free trial.
What a photography package price is (and is not)
A package is a named bundle of coverage hours, deliverables and turnaround sold for one price. It is not a copy of another studio’s price list, and it is not a number you hope clients accept. It is your rate, multiplied by the real hours the job takes, plus the costs that job creates.
It is easy to count only the hours on location. Prep, travel, culling, editing, gallery delivery and client emails all take time. If you leave them out, the editing eats your evening and your real hourly rate drops. For a wider look at tools that handle the booking side, see our best CRM for photographers guide.
How we chose the numbers
Everything here is arithmetic you can check with a calculator. We followed four rules:
- One formula. Package price = hours x rate + costs. No market-rate claims and no “typical” prices.
- Every hour counted. Shoot, prep and travel, editing and client emails are listed separately for each tier.
- Costs added on top. Gallery hosting, albums and storage are separate lines, not buried in your rate.
- Numbers that add up. Each tier, the deposit, the balance and the add-on are recomputed in the tables below.
The Workspace369 facts come from its pricing page and feature pages, read October 17, 2026.
What we did not test. We did not run a paid plan or time any task. The example is not a price anyone should charge; your rate, market and costs will differ.
Step by step: build three tiers
Step 1. Set your hourly rate from a yearly target
Pick the income you want and the hours you can really sell. In the example, the target is $60,000 a year and you can sell 600 hours of work after admin, marketing and downtime. $60,000 divided by 600 is $100 an hour. That is the example rate. Yours will differ.
Step 2. Count every hour of each job
For each tier, list four blocks: shooting, prep and travel, editing, and client emails. In this example editing is the biggest block, so count it first.
Step 3. Add costs on top
Add what the job costs you: gallery hosting, backup storage, an album, travel. Keep these as separate lines so you can see them.
Step 4. Price each tier from its own hours
Do not take your biggest package and divide it down. Halve the $3,000 Full Day and you get $1,500, which is $150 under the true $1,650 Half Day. Build each tier from its own hours and the prices follow the work.
Step 5. Add a deposit that holds the date
Take a percentage on acceptance and invoice the balance before the shoot. The example uses 30%.
Step 6. Price add-ons from the same math
An extra hour of coverage is one hour shooting plus 1.5 hours editing. That is 2.5 hours, and 2.5 x $100 is $250.
Step 7. Put the price list on one page
If a client needs a call to understand it, it is too long.
The worked example (made-up numbers)
| Tier | Shoot | Prep and travel | Editing | Emails | Hours | Hours x $100 | Costs | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Session | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | $400 | $25 gallery hosting | $425 |
| Half Day | 4 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 15 | $1,500 | $150 | $1,650 |
| Full Day | 8 | 3 | 14 | 2 | 27 | $2,700 | $300 album and storage | $3,000 |
Look at the step from Session to Half Day: 15 - 4 = 11 more hours, and $1,650 - $425 = $1,225 more. Because the numbers follow the work, a client can see why each step up costs what it does.
Deposit, balance and add-on
| Item | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Half Day price | 15 h x $100 + $150 | $1,650 |
| Deposit at 30% | 30% x $1,650 | $495 |
| Balance | $1,650 - $495 | $1,155 |
| Extra hour add-on | (1 + 1.5) h x $100 | $250 |
| Half Day with extra hour | $1,650 + $250 | $1,900 |
| Deposit at 30% | 30% x $1,900 | $570 |
| Balance | $1,900 - $570 | $1,330 |
A copyable package price list
Put these five things on every package:
- Package name, such as “Half Day”.
- What is included: hours of coverage, number of edited photos, turnaround time.
- The price, from your own table above.
- The deposit and the balance due date, for example “30% to hold the date, balance due before the shoot”.
- Add-ons, each with its own price, such as “Extra hour of coverage, $250”.
Name tiers by what the client gets (hours, edited photos, turnaround) rather than by labels alone.
Doing this in Workspace369
Here is the part of this workflow Workspace369 covers, per its pricing and feature pages (read October 17, 2026):
- Catalog. Each package can be a service in your products and catalog. The lowest plan, Cadet, holds up to 20 items.
- Proposal with an optional add-on. Add the Half Day, then the extra hour as an optional line. The client ticks it and the total updates. See quoting.
- Deposit on acceptance, as a percentage or a fixed amount, on every plan. The client pays it when they accept, so the date is held.
- Contract and balance. The contract goes out automatically when the proposal is accepted, and the balance goes out later as an invoice. The client opens one link and does not need an account.
- Price. Cadet is $29 a month, or $23.25 a month billed yearly ($278.99 a year), for one seat, with a 14-day free trial (card required).
Limitations. The catalog caps at 20 items on the lowest plan. Online booking pages and payment plans (splitting a price into scheduled installments) are on higher plans, so on Cadet the balance is a normal invoice. We did not run a paid plan.
For more on getting the balance paid, read how to get clients to pay on time, and for the proposal itself, how to write a business proposal.
Which approach fits your situation
| Your situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| You shoot a few sessions a month | Price one or two tiers from the formula and send the price list as a PDF or message. |
| You sell the same three packages repeatedly | Save them as catalog items so each proposal starts from the same names and prices. |
| Clients often ask for extras | Price add-ons from the same math and send them as optional lines. |
| You need to hold dates | Take a deposit on acceptance and show the balance date on the price list. |
| Your editing hours keep growing | Raise the tier price or cut the turnaround promise. Do not hide the hours. |
Frequently asked questions
How do you price photography packages?
Use package price = hours x your rate + costs. Count shoot, prep and travel, editing and client emails for each package, then add costs such as gallery hosting and albums.
How many hours should I count for editing?
Count what editing really takes you. In the example, editing is 2 of 4 hours for the Session, 8 of 15 for the Half Day and 14 of 27 for the Full Day. Track your own time for a few jobs to replace these guesses.
How big should a photography deposit be?
The example uses 30%, which is $495 on the $1,650 Half Day. Pick the percentage that fits your costs and cancellation risk, and state the balance due date.
How do I price an add-on?
Count its hours and use the same formula. An extra hour with 1.5 hours of editing is 2.5 hours, or $250 at $100 an hour.
Should I show my hourly rate to clients?
You do not need to. Show the package, what it includes and the price. Your rate stays behind the scenes.
Are the prices in this guide what I should charge?
No. The rate, hours and costs are made up to show the method. Your own numbers will differ.
Build your first package
Work out your own rate and three tiers with the table above. If you want to send them as a proposal with a deposit, start the Workspace369 trial (14-day free trial, card required) and send yourself one package.
